60 gallon build with woodstove Update- Are Cast Iron Wheels Strong Enough??

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tobycat

Meat Mopper
Original poster
Mar 20, 2013
151
13
Santa Cruz Ca.
I had planned on waiting till spring for my next build but I have to look at this tank and wood stove every time I walk outside.  Something about the style of the wood stove and the shape of the tank  (and a couple barley soda's) inspired me to draw this sketch. I would really like to have a small propane tank with rounded ends but it should still work. The firebox is 16" x 20" and the tank is 53" x 20" I drew it as a reverse flow but I think I want to make this a tuning plate setup. The door weight is styled after a traditional Japanese Shinto Gate and I thought I would add a Gong as a dinner bell.






Here is the (bad) sketch I drew

 
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finished re-sealing the roof today and had some time to start on the tank.  I cut off the mount for the compressor pump and ground down the welds.



Not sure what I am going to do for the door position, Those two bungs at the top are right at 12 o'clock , I don't really want to deal with cutting them out  and trying to re-weld a piece in.
 
Could you not rotate the tank to take the bungs out of the equation? If it has a base, you can either get ride of it all together or cut it off and weld it back on after you have the tank in a position of your liking.
 
I ran my numbers on the feldons pit calculator.  60 gallon cook chamber with 16 x 20 firebox and it says I am 13% too small on the firebox. I know a little too big would be ok but how much can I get away with on the small side?.   
 
You will be just fine. I made one and went by the recommended  size and it is way more then needed. Even in 4 degree weather, a little fire keeps it at 225 easy!

Good luck

Bman
 
I ran the numbers for a Lang 48 which is 24" x 48" with an 18" x 18" firebox and it came out at 80% so I think I should be alright.
 
Have you read RB posts on his thoughts for the FB size ???? worth reading.....

Dave
Morning Dave, are you referring to RibWizzards posts?  He is the cause of the constant popcorn shortage at my house!
popcorn.gif
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.   Yes I read everything RW and yourself put up. Usually the cookchamber is the constant in a build but in my case I can't change the size of my firebox/woodstove. I thought about shortening the cook chamber but that gave me a vision problem...I just can't see myself doing it. Here are my numbers in the Feldons link, my woodstove has a 6" outlet and 8 x 1.25" air intakes. Hope your getting some snow up there Dave.

http://feldoncentral.com/bbqcalcula....01&fi=0,0,1.25,12.06,9.83&fc=6.40,9.05,32.17
 
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My error..... go with what you've got... This smoker stuff ain't cast in bronze.... Iffin it was, there would be a definitive algorithm describing what EXACTLY had to be done..... and maybe they would tell you why......

SNOW..... Hey, it's been snowing for 12 hours here.... been below freezing pretty much since Nov. 20th.... couple of afternoons it got to 45 for 3-4 hours..... Here is our snow.....





Dave
 
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How about this.....

Fabricate a new bottom for the stove/firebox that would extend the bottom down,..basically a square bottom , allowing you to now place the firewood grate where the bottom of the stove is now.

Your going to want that extra head room for your fire, keep the stove, just rework it some! It would give you room for ash pan as we'll, a piece of 1/4" plate, some four inch flat bar is all you need.
 
Drill the holes in the bottom before you weld the new bottom on, turning that bottom into the actual fire grate
Ribwizzard my firebox is round for this build, but I have been thinking about doing exactly what you described to my mini reverse flow. On my ScubaQ mini even though the numbers work in the calculator there is hardly enough room for 3-4 fist size chunks of wood and an ash drawer would help a lot.

Here is a pick of my woodstove/firebox for this build.


This woodstove is 3/8" x 16" x 20" and I only have a Lincoln 100 weldpak so I will not be attempting to modify it.

Rib any advice on chimney size knowing my firebox is a tad small?.  I used 4" in the calculator and it said 16" length, also does it make a difference where I mount the chimney? I noticed on your model #20 you have the chimney outlet at about the center of the tank.
 
I had an Orly wood stove... there is a baffle inside the FB partially blocking the exhaust.... If you can, have it cut out... maybe grind the welds so the plate can be removed...
 
Tobycat,

A couple things about that stove:

It is cool, and is going to look really neat on that smoker, but remember- it is a stove! Designed to radiate the heat toward the top cooking surface, as much as you don't want to. You going to have to modify it if you want that cooker to perform well. At the very least, you need to cut that deflector shield out from inside of it.
 
Tobycat,

A couple things about that stove:

It is cool, and is going to look really neat on that smoker, but remember- it is a stove! Designed to radiate the heat toward the top cooking surface, as much as you don't want to. You going to have to modify it if you want that cooker to perform well. At the very least, you need to cut that deflector shield out from inside of it.
I had an Orly wood stove... there is a baffle inside the FB partially blocking the exhaust.... If you can, have it cut out... maybe grind the welds so the plate can be removed...
When I brought the stove home I stuck my angle grinder in through the door to see about cutting that deflector plate out, will have to do it one handed. I plan on leaving it in for the first burn because I am curious to see how much it will affect temps and air flow. 

I have two back up plans if I can't hit proper temps.

B. Add a round bulkhead to the far end of the tank to reduce cook chamber volume

C. Remove wood stove and cut the round inlet hole into a half moon and build a square firebox, then use the woodstove for a vertical build or smaller reverse flow.
 
I have been wanting to make this smoker build unique and have been playing with the idea of using hammered sheet copper and brass on the tank. I am going to practice some more on thin steel first.  As I discovered when I built my mini from the scuba tank Shiny metal looks really cool but if you ever try and cook on a sunny day you will go blind. Here are a couple pics of  two small pieces of copper and brass I practiced on and held against the tank. I am still planning on bolting my door flange using bronze carriage bolts. I figured I would hold the seams of the copper and brass down with the bolted hoops of 1/8"x 1 1/2" like in my very poor sketch
.

So what's everyone think...am I nuts?
 
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