Made som progress today. Got it up on the frame, casters welded on and cut the CC door seals. I cut them at a 45 angle because I thought they would look better but who knows.
How high above the door strapping (seal) do the hinges need to be so the door strapping doesn't make contact with the CC when I open the lid? Is my pivet point in the right spot? Here's a picture of the design I have so far but it seems like they are higher than they need to be. Any input would be helpful.
You may be surprised to learn about bullet hinges. I sure was, I never thought that they would work so well. You can weld half of it to the CC and the other half to the "door strapping". They work like a dream. The 2 main things is: turn them opposite of each other and line them up straight. The other is if you're going to gasket the flange add something 1/2 the thickness of the gasket material before welding them on. You can even get them with grease fittings. Mine has them on the FB door and they work so smooth I have never even greased them.
Making memories!
Current Smokers: Backyard RF Offset and Hybrid RF Offset trailer rig with Cowboy cooker and fish fryer, always room for more........
I know it doesn't matter but I'm sure it looks better one way or another so I'll ask. I'm using expanded metal for my cooking grate. Which way will the diamond patter look better? Long ways right to left or long ways back to front?
lol. now you starting to think like me. I prefer to have it long ways, left to right but if I'm using a piece of a sheet of x metal and it works out better going front to back, I'll do it that way. The main thing to me is that all of the racks are going the same direction but as you stated there's no difference in how it works.
I went ahead and did the diamond long ways left to right on the cooking grate. I also opted for the weld on bullet hinges only because I got so many recommendations on them. I had it in my head to fabricate my own hinges so it was a battle in my head until I finally decide to go with the bullet hinges. 2 for the lid and 2 for the fire box door.
Ok so I had to take some time off to go chase bugling elk around the mountains with my bow. It went good. My buddy and I both killed bulls.
I think this elk tenderloin is going to be great if I cook it right.
The air intake on the fire box has been one thing that is baffling me for some reason. After multiple redesigns, such as a rectangle box, two pies, two triangles, 5 circles and what ever else I scratched, this it what I finally came up with.
The yellow part will be my butter fly wheel and the bottom white quarter circle will be the cut out in the door. The dotted line going horizontal is the height of the fire grate. The reason I don't cut the opening lower, is because I wanted around 1.5"-2" lip at the bottom so no coals or embers roll out and cause a fire hazard. What do you guys think of this design?