[av8or1]

The plate that will become the end caps for the smoker was ready for pickup today. They also had a 12'-and-then-some length of schedule 40 pipe sitting around that they were looking to unload. So they made me a deal on it if I would take the whole (shortened) stick and I agreed. The son and I went to the steel yard in the afternoon to bring it home. First was the pipe:

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They offered to cut the plate into 24" discs for me but only charge a few bucks so I agreed to that as well, why not?

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[av8or1]

I decided that I wanted to use my new welding table to complete this job, so I loaded the burn and main chambers onto the table via the gantry:

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The plan tomorrow is to elevate the main chamber to the mating point that will result in an approximately 11+ inch chord line of the football shaped opening between the two, tack them together, cut off supports for the main chamber from scrap angle iron I have lying around and then tack those in place as temporary legs while I work on the two chambers. I'll then hoist the result back up via the gantry, strap it to the sides and move it off of the table onto the legs that I'll have cut and positioned to accept the chambers. Weld those together, then do the finish work, which will include high temp paint.

I think I'll just run 7018 on this project since I have a fair amount of that sitting around in cans. The very first task however will be to grind the ends of those chambers down smooth. They are rough cut at present and have already put a small gouge into my beautiful new table!

I hope and intend to get started tomorrow, we'll see what family stuff supersedes that.

[Oscar]

Please stop making progress on this, you're making me look bad, lol.

[av8or1]

Well I don't know about that. I'm sure that the more experienced in this forum, folk such as yourself Oscar, can out-project me any day of the week. As I've mentioned I still consider myself a fabrication newbie, even though I've been at it for a couple of years plus now.

Speaking of the current project, things are already running a tad slow today. I needed new tires on The 5-O (pronounced "The Five-Oohhh" - my 2010 Ford CVPI (retired)) and so we had to head out to the tire shop this morning. Waiting on that to finish at present. I should be able to at least get 'round to the grinding this afternoon though. TBD.

Anyway thanks!

[av8or1]

I forgot to mention that I ran the numbers on the chimney stack length today while we were waiting on the tire thing.

The stack that came free with the tubing we purchased is actually 6" ID (wow!) and they gave me almost-5 feet of it. The calculator states that I'll need about 33" for the exhaust stack. So not quite 3'. That'll leave just a tad over 2' remaining...

Hmmmmmm...gonna need to think about that one. Seems like a short exhaust stack somehow; but given the diameter then perhaps it makes sense...

I also ran the numbers to see how big of an air inlet opening I'll need for this BBQ smoker. The calculator reckons that I'll need 55.30 sq-in. Originally I had planned on cutting 2" holes using the 2" holesaw. The calculator however tells me that I'd need 18 of those buggers in order to generate the amount of air intake necessary for a smoker of this size. Gheez! I don't EVEN want to drill that many holes, despite the fact that it would have a w-e-i-r-d appearance if I did, and crazily so. If I cut 4" squares for the air inlets the calculator reckons I'll need 4 of those. So I dunno. I'll have to go in that direction. That said, think about that ... the size of the entire disc is only 24" in diameter. So you're telling me that I need 16" of that 24" for the air openings? Gonna have to go sketch that out on one of the discs to see how much sense that even makes. Right now, just throwing it around in my newbie brain ... yeah it doesn't make much. TBD.

[av8or1]

Alright, I ground the edges of both chambers down to smooth, bare metal such that I can grab the ends with my bare hands and not run the risk of a cut.

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As a first time BBQ smoker builder, I gotta ask: what should be done regarding the inner walls of the chambers, if anything? Should I grind them clean to bare metal too? Seems like I wouldn't need to do that. Perhaps just a good cleaning with a scotch brite. Should you paint the inside as a the outside or just the outside? Feedback appreciated.

Thanks

[Oscar]

Definitely don't paint the inside, lol. I'd take grinder and a cup wire wheel and get all the rust and scale off and that's about it.

I wish I had more time to take on projects, so no I can't out-project anybody when I sit at a desk 8-12 hours a day 5-days a week. Right now I'm on vacation, so I'm doing my best to take advantage of it, but I can't spend all day every day fabricating as there's lots to do like clean the house, tidy things up, all that boring house-hold chore crap, lol. Trust me, you've done more in the last 3 months than I have all 2020

As for your calculations and measurements, I will not bother with such things which is why I love my vertical smoker, and plan to replicate it. No calculations needed aside from internal size/space.

[av8or1]

Alright thank you for the feedback. I wouldn't have thought that you should paint the inside, but wanted to verify. I've read about the "burn it out" business, as well as the seasoning deal. Never done those things though. The first is straightforward; the second doesn't seem too bad either, but we'll see.

Boy do I ever understand general time availability, or lack thereof, due to the demands of routine daily life. I think I'm slow generally speaking, especially when the unexpected crops up, as it did yesterday with new tires for The 5-O. And that impacts the budget too dontchaknow.

Regarding measurements, well the one that gives me the most doubt is the size of the opening between the two chambers. 11.16" just doesn't appear to be enough to these untrained eyes. There was mention of a 1.5x factor, which would yield an opening of 16.74" in my case. So I dunno I might try that on for size. One key suggestion was to mate the to chambers and then take a step back to see how they look. Ergo trust yourself based on proportions to arrive at your result. I'll do just that and see what comes of it.

Limiting yourself to vertical smokers certainly removes all of this number crunching so I can understand why you do that Oscar! In my case, I showed various pictures of different smokers to the wife-eee. She didn't like the boxy look of the hexagonal offset variants and boasted some kind of cringed look when she saw the vertical stuff. Nope, she wanted to build a cylindrical offset variant. She also didn't want the square firebox. Everything must be round basically.

And so I began by looking into propane tanks and air compressors. That's when I came across this CL ad for tubing at a remarkably cheap price. It was thicker than I had planned at 3/8" but the cost was too good to pass up. And that's how I arrived at the sourcing solution for raw materials. Wife-eee input and cost. I'm taking her request to the 9's. The legs will be pipe (ergo "round"), as will be the smokestack, as will be everything else that I can make round on this build. Still working through an air inlet to the burn chamber that can have the right sized opening but be contained on a circular disc. Even thinking of making the burn chamber (fire box) door round too!