uds project close lid vs open lid

[BBQfanatic629]

hey guys

I was able to contact one of my good friend who works for the food industry
he has a 55 g drum but there's no lid _ I would have to cut the top off my self

should I get the one my friend has or go on craiglist to look for a drum that has a lid?
what's the difference ? Has anyone been in my situation ?
which is easier? As in building and etc

thanks yah

[Frank_Cox]

Open head is definitely easier. Beware of the lined drums tho. some guys use them with the liner intact, but I do not. If you want the liner removed it is a pain.
closed heads can be cut open and you can save the lid if you cut under the bead and then use a flat screwdriver and a hammer to remove it.

[SmokinFF]

I've never tried a closed head drum. I would recommend the open head and post pics!!!

[Frank_Cox]

on another note, the bottom of the drum is sometimes a different diameter than the top, I have seen but never tried bolting the lid on for permanent and cutting the other end off. then you could (If it is the right diameter) use a weber kettle lid with little trouble and a few "field modifications" (term from my refrigeration days lol)
Or with an open head drum you could do this.... How I make a dome lid for a open head drum UDS.

[dogknot]

Open head is definitely easier. Beware of the lined drums tho. some guys use them with the liner intact, but I do not. If you want the liner removed it is a pain.
closed heads can be cut open and you can save the lid if you cut under the bead and then use a flat screwdriver and a hammer to remove it.

how go they get away with leaving the liner in the drum,would that not be dangerous?

[Frank_Cox]

I would think so. I Have always removed it personally.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Forum Runner

[gatewood iron]

this was my solution to an open top drum. I just made a top for it. the next one i do will be better though, of course.

UDS.jpg (10.56 KiB) Viewed 379 times

[jon in mass]

hears a thread from the pickled pig on refurbished drom suppliers

http://www.thepickledpig.com/forums/gen ... drums.html

[SoloQue]

Just tossing in a paint tidbit here. I'm guessing that when y'all encounter lined drums they are a real bugger to burn out and probably even blasting is fairly stubborn. My company is one of the producers for those drum liner paints. We cure them out 12 minutes at 600F in the lab to test performance. I have soaked coated metal in solvent for weeks at a time and have never seen any weakening of the adhesion to the metal. With all that said, a very high percentage of those liner coatings contain phenolics which give them the resistance to acidity and corrosion and the last thing you would want is to fail to get that stuff out of the tank if you are gonna cook in it. From my viewpoint, starting with an unlined drum has got to be a better option if given the choice. If you ever smell something similar to bandaids when cooking in a recently converted drum you are most likely smelling remnants of the phenolic liner that had bonded with the drum interior and thats not a good thing.
Not trying to kick a hornets nest but felt it was worth sharing.

[BBQfanatic629]

Thanks for the suggestions -

All these tips and suggestions are making me nervous -

Questions -
1. There's no way to use the top portion as my lid after its being but right ?
2. What is a liner of the drum ?
3. There will be more questions - lol

Thanks a bunch people -
I can't wait till my vaca so I can start ASAP

Happy early holidays !!

[dogknot]

Thanks for the suggestions -

All these tips and suggestions are making me nervous -

Questions -
1. There's no way to use the top portion as my lid after its being but right ?
2. What is a liner of the drum ?
3. There will be more questions - lol

Thanks a bunch people -
I can't wait till my vaca so I can start ASAP

Happy early holidays !!

I am new to this ,but have built 2 UDS smokers.I removed the liner material by doing a burn out,then just getting in there and grinding the rest out using a die grinder and other various grinding equipment.Just get a good dust mask ,eye and ear protection and prepare to get dirty my friend.

[Frank_Cox]

Thanks for the suggestions -

All these tips and suggestions are making me nervous -

Questions -
1. There's no way to use the top portion as my lid after its being but right ?
2. What is a liner of the drum ?
3. There will be more questions - lol

Thanks a bunch people -
I can't wait till my vaca so I can start ASAP

Happy early holidays !!

I am new to this ,but have built 2 UDS smokers.I removed the liner material by doing a burn out,then just getting in there and grinding the rest out using a die grinder and other various grinding equipment.Just get a good dust mask ,eye and ear protection and prepare to get dirty my friend.

Best way to remove the liner (brown, green, or red epoxy like coating painted inside the drum) is to drill your air inlet holes, then burn the barrel out and I mean HOT... I use a shop Vac in "Blow" mode to feed air to the fire through the air inlets, then once the burn out is done use good ol fashioned powdered comet and a nylon heavy 2" long bristle kinda scrub brush to remove the residue. if the paint didn't burn off the outside of the drum completely, then you did not get the drum hot enough...

[Frank_Cox]

If you cut under the bead of the drum lid and use a flat head screw driver and a hammer to tap the lid off the drum without destroying it, then you can use a dead blow hammer to make a lip and re use the lid....
viewtopic.php?f=30&t=233#p1544

[Tom_Heath]

Just some easy reading. Here is the post of my second drum, its been a day or two since this post was active.

viewtopic.php?f=12&t=15

I am still looking for the pics of how I made this lid, it was a closed head drum to start with. Basically I used my sandpaper flap disc and gently grinded around the lower lip of the rolled edge, then poped the lid off. Welded a weber bottom to the original top, then cut out the center, Just like frank did in one of the earlier posted threads.

PS I like to leave the leg holders in place when I use the webber bottom. Its a good place to put the trampoline springs and art work.

[gatewood iron]

PS I like to leave the leg holders in place when I use the webber bottom. Its a good place to put the trampoline springs and art work.


Thats cool Tom.