Hello all!
I have a vexing Vortex question for all you metallurgists and people who are smarter than I am. I am a sheet metal fabricator, and rather than paying $40 friggen bucks for a Vortex, I decided to draw my own frustum up in CAD, cut, and fab it. It turned out pretty well, matches the dimensions of the medium size Vortex to (semi) reasonable tolerances, but I might have a material issue on my hands.
The quickest way to fab this was with mill finish .063 ALUMINUM. Obviously, a 22 or lower gauge steel would have been preferable, but I am lazy. Will the aluminum be able to withstand the heat of the coals piled up inside it? I know the melting point of AL is right around 1,200° F, assuming I'm using briquettes, will they burn hot enough to melt the aluminum and ruin my Weber Kettle?
I used the aluminum thinking that PK grills and Grill Grates are aluminum products, but I'm not sure if they use some crazy alloys or anodization that protect their products from high heat. The more I considered this the more gun shy I became about dumping an entire chimney of screaming hot coals into my homemade conical section.
If any of you have any insight I to this matter, I would most appreciate it. Thanks for hearing me out.
I have a vexing Vortex question for all you metallurgists and people who are smarter than I am. I am a sheet metal fabricator, and rather than paying $40 friggen bucks for a Vortex, I decided to draw my own frustum up in CAD, cut, and fab it. It turned out pretty well, matches the dimensions of the medium size Vortex to (semi) reasonable tolerances, but I might have a material issue on my hands.
The quickest way to fab this was with mill finish .063 ALUMINUM. Obviously, a 22 or lower gauge steel would have been preferable, but I am lazy. Will the aluminum be able to withstand the heat of the coals piled up inside it? I know the melting point of AL is right around 1,200° F, assuming I'm using briquettes, will they burn hot enough to melt the aluminum and ruin my Weber Kettle?
I used the aluminum thinking that PK grills and Grill Grates are aluminum products, but I'm not sure if they use some crazy alloys or anodization that protect their products from high heat. The more I considered this the more gun shy I became about dumping an entire chimney of screaming hot coals into my homemade conical section.
If any of you have any insight I to this matter, I would most appreciate it. Thanks for hearing me out.
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