Dude, this thread makes me grin from ear to ear. My khaki pants have Shout applied at every wash. 
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Wowsa! What army will you be cooking for on that beast? You’ve got some mad fabrication skillz. Can’t wait to see the final build pic.Comment
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Just for fun. May do some odds and ends large cooks, but no specific plans for commercial use or anything. Just got the tank for free and decided to see what we could do with it. Went big on the doors for possoble whole hog cooks. Did a medium hog on a cooker with 30" doors and it was a bit of a hassle getting it in and out.
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Very Cool Rig
Now I understand why you needed those massive Rib Racks!
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Lotta interesting updates from yesterday.
I posted about my palsy cutting doors... I've thought a number of times about getting one of those flexible straightedges, and I think I will order one, soon, although... not really a need for it on THIS cooker anymore!
BEHOLD THE GLORIOUS errr.... errrrmmm.... holes. <cough> Ahem.
I'm actually embarrassed by those door cuts. At least the one on the right. It's terrible.
So I was having a TON of trouble with my Yeswelder plasma cutter yesterday. Some of it was user error at times, I had it set to 4T and was using it like 2T for the first lower door cut. If you don't know, 2T is continuous trigger pull - you hold the trigger, it fires, you let off, it stops. 4T is the opposite - pull the trigger, hold a couple seconds to make sure the arc is ignited and it is fully powered up, then let go and it stays on. You hit the trigger again to stop it. So I was holding the trigger down, it kept trying to continuously ignite the pilot arc but I don't think it was getting up to full power. I was having HELL, trying to get that thing to cut. It was seemingly severely underpowered for the thickness of this tank (a bit over 5/16"). I couldn't understand it - I mean, it worked great in cutting the top edges of the doors. <sigh> Then when I realized I had it on 4T, I started using it properly, and the left door bottom edge cut in about 3 minutes with minimal problem, 1000x cleaner cut, etc. Just a dumbass moment. For reference, I spent over 30 minutes on the right door bottom edge and it looked terrible. And still had to be cut with grinder cutoff wheels later due to all the sh***y areas it didn't cut through. <sigh>
Then when I started cutting the vertical cuts on the right door, I was having my own palsy problems, but it just couldn't get a good ground. Actually swapped out my ground clamp for a heavier-duty one I bought a couple months ago and never got around to - still not working. I just could NOT find a good place to ground on this tank - don't ask me why the left bottom edge door cut was great, but it went back to semi-crap again after that, and I never COULD get the thing to make power like I wanted it it. I eventually gave up and used grinder cutoff wheels to finish out the doors - went through a good number of the 4.5" - I tried using the 9", but God, that thing is SO heavy and TORQUE-y (is that a word??), I was killing myself trying to use it vertically, while standing on a step stool or the trailer sides, etc., it was just DANGEROUS. So I did one vertical door cut with it and went back to the 4.5". Took a little while, but my $35 Metabo cheapie from Lowe's has been a godsend for me, it's held up to anything I ask of it. I need to run to Hobo Freight and pick up some more cutting wheels, I'm down to 5 or so, I think.
Later I had similar grounding problems with the welder, when tacking strips on the inside of the doors, it would NOT ground well - so I ended up moving the ground to one of the standoff supports for the trailer, which is welded to the tank and of course, my grounding issues got 100% better. So I think if I had taken the time to look for or clean off a better spot for my plasma to ground, I might have saved myself a TON of work, time and FRUSTRATION in getting those doors cut - not to mention having PRETTIER cuts! I cleaned 'em up some with the grinder, but God, that right door looks like HELL!
Oh well - that's what door trim is for! lol
Continued in next post...Last edited by DogFaced PonySoldier; April 16, 2023, 06:36 AM.Comment
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Well, the problem I think is just 40 damned years of rust and mill scale. If I take a grinder wheel and clean off a spot down to clean, bright bare metal, I think it will be fine - probably. I just didn't take the time to do that. I may do that today. -
I started taking off all the mill scale for my ground, even on new metal.
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With the doors cut out, surprisingly they did NOT spring much more than they had already, or minimally so. But with our tank being misshapen in multiple areas, we decided to try to rig up our own version of a Porta Power hydraulic ram. I think "Mr. T" worked out pretty well...
I gotta say, "Mr. T" is a stud!
We had a notable depression in the center of the doorspan. This was obvious when looking down the length of the tank from the rear, along the bottom door cuts. I had 'scribed' the door edges in with a grinder a month ago, but as it sat outside (not up close in the shop) I could see it wasn't even or level, the bottom edge of the right door was trending upward. So I remeasured the door bottom edges about 1000 times, tacked on a piece of 1" x 1/8" I had laying around and used that for my straightedge, bottom of the doors were great (well, excepting my crappy plasma work on the right one!).
But that inward deflection near the center kinda sucked. So we used Mr. T to push that out several times and it is pretty darn straight now. Several areas we pushed on had actual dents in them in the center region of the tank - slight depressions from some kind of oilfield trauma from decades ago. Got some of these to flatten out a little bit, but they'll never go completely away. The problem with all that is, it pulled that center door divider inward some, we've got to work on pushing that back out and NOT pulling the front face of the tank back IN. It's a complicated process, but one I have some experience with, from working with Frank Cox a little.
Also, our doors need a little shaping - they are a little bowed outward, and worse now that we've reshaped the tank a bit. My partner and I went back and forth a bit with where to reshape things. With SOME of the reshaping of the tank we did last night, it made the doors fit worse. Luckily, we have a 20 ton press we can use, and we did some work on the right side door, but it's going to take some serious flattening to close the gaps. Luckily he was able to help the second half of the day yesterday, but I doubt he will be able to do so today - consequences of yesterday. Family time issues - wife and 3 kids.
At 85 lbs apiece, I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to do much door work by myself, but I do have a couple of metal sawhorses I can set up in front of the press, and we did clear some space last night and pulled it out away from the wall. I THINK I can probably manage some door work myself, but fitting it up to the tank is I think mostly a 2-man job. <sigh> We'll see what I can come up with.
Here's the size of a door outside the smoker:
I can manhandle it solo, but it's not particularly safe trying to get it back on the smoker for test fitting. So I dunno...
Overall, we've made some significant progress on the big smoker this week, but we've got some challenges to overcome. But I think they're doable. Just gonna take some time and some of it's a 2-man job.
Hope you made it through the longwinded updates. I just like to try to explain some of the pics, for those who are trying to understand the thought processes behind all the madness. lolLast edited by DogFaced PonySoldier; April 16, 2023, 06:40 AM.Comment
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DogFaced PonySoldier Have you thought of going to Harbor freight and getting what we call a cherry picker. The first one we had was used to set engines in cars. You may need to tack a chain hook here or there but they are very maneuverable. It will save your back. Once you get used to having it you will use it a lot.
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Those doors will need counter weights.Comment
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Definitely part of the plan from the beginning. I have no desire for rotator cuff surgery... my shoulders are bad enough as it is! -
Oakgrovebacon Says a guy with a counterweight practically on top of his head.
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Cool, cool, cool!Comment
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Today I did just a little project.
Our firebox is a 3/8" pipe, 30" dia, 42" long. We cut the top arc off and laid it inverted in the bottom to double the thickness. There was a small gap in the bottom, maybe 1" or so. No biggie, air gap insulation, right?
So today cut some scrap I had laying around with the plasma into a semi-matching 'smilie face' arc. Ground it down to shape it until it just fit in flush.
Then I welded it in to close off the space.
We wanted it flush because our firebox door is going to close on this face, so I ground down my typically ugly welds to smooth it all flush.
I think I'm going to tell people it's solid 2" plate I cut with a pair of tin snips and shaped by hand.
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Good going! fun to watch this build come together.Comment
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Not sure what to do now... I'm limited in my ability to do much until I can get the doors and tank completed - and my partner has limited ability to contribute. The doors are so big, I'm afraid they're too heavy for just me to test-fit them solo.
I guess I'll give it a try and hope I don't kill myself. lol I think I can manipulate them in the 20-ton press with some sawhorses for support, but the test-fitting back and forth and back and forth is going to be the biggest issue.
Wish me luck, I guess!
I'm hoping to be able to get this completed to cook on for my son's graduation in a month. I don't know how reasonable or realistic that is.Comment
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You don't have a receiver mounted winch somewhere close? My winch is a deer hoist. Without that, yikes. -
Clark don't think he needs another partner with a worsened case of limited ability.
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Ok, well it's been a while since I updated this... mostly due to not having any help to get my doors shaped properly - neither my partner in crime had time, nor my 17-year old son (now 18 and off at college officially this week) were able to do so. So... sadly, this build has been SITTING.
As some of you who have followed these two builds know, I have completed "The Duck", my Ugly Duckling, and have moved her to my backyard and have used her for a number of successful smokes already. But... without being able to get my warped doors shaped to fit my equally, but differently warped tank, this build has been sitting for several months.
I did get some work done on the firebox a while back... I got the griddle top welded on to the firebox. Looks like this pic was July 9th, and I believe this was the last time I was out at the shop before today.
So that was like 6 weeks ago - and we've had ridiculous heat and humidity, except for last week, and I recently had the stupid virus again and had to take a week off work and sit at home twiddling my damned thumbs. <sigh>
But we have family visiting from out of the country, and my brother-in-law agreed to come help out this morning, so I made a run to Harbor Freight and picked up some tools I've been wanting to help me do some straightening on the tank and fitting of the doors - BEHOLD, my new toys!
So this morning, my BIL and I went out and set up the new sawhorses to support the doors while we put them in the 20-ton press and did some flattening work on them, then went to work on the tank with that 10-ton power ram and I'm amazed, we made some SERIOUS progress! It's awesome to have a hand, even if it's for just a few hours, but that's what I needed!
The doors... OMG, those are heavy, dangerous beasts to fit up, but we made good work of it and while they're not totally 'perfect', they're close enough for both government AND redneck work!
I was EXTREMELY pleased with the progress we made, and moved immediately to hinges, so we could call the doors 'done' and I could pull those holding straps and we could get OUT OF THAT HEAT!
I'm still not a hinge 'expert', and they do bind a bit at the top of their arc, but with some oil, they'll be just fine in the end.
When it was all said and done, we left the shop, it was right at 100ºF outside with a heat index of over 110ºF, and I felt like I'd been swimming in my full clothing.
Now that the doors are attached and reasonably straight and functional, the rest of the work on this beast, I can manage by myself, without any assistance.
Sometime, that is, when we get a break from this heat!
I'm excited to be 'back in business'!Comment
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I should add, it's really not all that much left to do:
1: Attach firebox, which at 600 lbs seems daunting. But, with the gantry and chain hoist we built, it will make that a WHOLE lot easier, and really, something I can do myself if need be.
2. Internal racks and grates.
3. Collector and smoke stack.
4. Door counterweights. These are DEFINITELY needed. I believe the doors are 46" long and weigh about 85 lbs apiece.
So, over the next couple of months I'll work on these piecemeal. Definitely on the weekends - too hot to go out in the evenings for probably another month or so, after working all day. If I could go in the mornings, it would be better, but... with a full time job, that is kinda restricted to the weekend.Comment
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Lookin' good and I'm glad this is starting to move along again.Comment
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Got a little more done - weather is improving so I can stand to be out in the shop some... yay!
I put on the firebox door the other day - I think Monday, Labor Day. I didn't take any pics of that for some reason. Stupid, I guess.
But I've been out a couple evenings to mess around with trying to get the firebox mounted to the trailer. This is a task, now... a task. This firebox is about 600lbs, as near as I can tell. So... luckily we have the gantry we built to get it up and into position. Trying to get it oriented right and level and all that is going to be a bit of a challenge, but, oh well - gotta do what ya gotta do, right?
First off, have to trim off the flange and endcap ribs off the tank. This is a look back at last Nov (I think) when we moved this tank over to the shop:
The tank is 5/16" (prolly a hair over) but the endcaps are, I think, 1/2" and those cross-shaped 'ribs' are also 1/2". My stupid cheap Chinese plasma wasn't enjoying the work, I probably didn't have a good enough ground on it, is my guess, but I also needed to learn and practice with the acetylene cutting torch. I've let this thing intimidate me for far too long, so I decided to play with it, took my time and learned kind of how to get it to work. So... here's what I ended up with last night. Took me... I dunno. an hour, hour and a half?
Gotta figure out how to 'nestle' that firebox into place and see if I can get it oriented exactly how I want it before I tack it in place and then move it into the shop for more completely final welds.
So here's where I'm at for now:
Picked up this little smoker yesterday as well:
This one's for my partner, he has a 175-gallon tank we're going to build out for him, but he wanted a decent small offset to do just some little basic stuff on, and we can do plenty of 'mods' on these OK Joe's units, like upgrading exhaust, lining the firebox with firebrick and even adding a baffle plate inside to even out temps. They've got potential, and the price was right, so I grabbed it for him and now he's got his own little smoker to play with, so we don't have to fire up the 230-gallon sitting out there for everything. That's my other friend's (he is the one who 'gifted' me this tank), it's been out at our shop off and on (mostly on) for most of the last year. I keep telling him to come get it, he just doesn't use it hardly at all, so... it sits at our place. lol
But once we get 'Big Bertha' finished, it'll definitely go back out to his place for good.
So today (and maybe tomorrow) I hope to get the tank fully welded back on the trailer (we cut that front support in an effort to do some straightening) and then get the firebox heavily tacked in place.
<edit> Oh yeah, you can see the firebox door here:
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