Welding Intakes

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erik

Fire Starter
Original poster
Sep 8, 2009
51
20
Belleville, MI
Howdy everyone,

  What type of welding does everyone do for welding the intakes to the drum? I had a friend help me weld together the firebasket by doing some arc welding, but he wasn't sure it wanted to try the steel drum and intakes with his setup. So I wanted to get everyone's opinion one what they do.

  Long term, I'm looking to get a home setup so I can do this type of small welding on my own. Live and learn.
 
Most people just use conduit nuts or just thread them into the hole.

That's one of the great things about the UDS -- no welding required.
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Dave
 
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Yep! I just used conduit nuts on mine. It's cheap/easy and the intakes can be removed if ever need be. I did my whole drum with out welding anything. This way every single piece can be replaced if need be.
 
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No welds on mine either, I'm still working on a few extras to make it "special" and am striving for a no weld completion.
 
ohh and dont try to weld on the lid because that warps it just like using the torch on it, found out the hard way lol
 
ohh and dont try to weld on the lid because that warps it just like using the torch on it, found out the hard way lol
 
May just need to get a relatively cheap arc welding then. Thanks for the responses!

What I've done at this point is pull out the pipe nipples on the sides and used magnets to open/close those. I keep the one with the ball valve on it and am just dealing with it for now. The fit of that pipe nipple isn't perfect, but it's on there pretty good. Was thinking of putting on conduit lock nut on both the front and back for now.
 
Mine are on with conduit nuts, and all three intakes hold well. 

What your issue might be with a cheap arc welder is that you may blow a hole through the steel of the barrel.
 
Mine are on with conduit nuts, and all three intakes hold well. 

What your issue might be with a cheap arc welder is that you may blow a hole through the steel of the barrel.
yep lol did it a few times well one on each barrel, its all good i have never welded so its all learning jb weld fixed it up. its a mig type but not mig just electric wire fed, i did good on the charcoal baskets am damn proud of the welds on them i will get pics with my good camera
 
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Nice work Pan,

Welding is kinda like smoking, once you try it, its like the flu. A bad bug that wont go away. It makes you look for stuff to weld up.

If you only burned thru a few times you are doing great man. And especially since you are using flux core wire. A few things to think about are maybe try using some cheep cooking spray as a anti splatter spray. It helps greatly for the clean up. If you have trouble burning thru try using a piece of flat copper as a heat sink on the back side. Alot of times just a scrap piece of 1/2 or 3/4 inch tubing will work after you smash it flat.

Hey, look at it this way. Its a drum, no structural parts involved so play with it. Turn it up turn it down run fast run slow and so on. BUT pay attention to gun angle, and how much stick out you have between the tip and the part.  This is where most trouble starts. 

I have never ran any real thin material with my stick welder, just 1/16" stainless. Maybe I could go thinner on stainless but I bet not on mild steel. This is only my opinion of course.

Pan from experience I can say usually the pics will turn out better in natural light vs flash. The weld tends to reflect the light very bad making a really shinny picture.

Nice Work and good luck with your welding future.
 
Thanks Tom, your so right about it being addictive haha im looking for anything i can weld now lol.

Hell i at least welding doesnt make you fat like the bbq addiction haha

I am starting to get an eye as to seeing the melted bead and can see to move or stop for a spot weld
 
I welded mine but after the first use I wanted to add one more 3/4 nipple so i could use a poker rod to jiggle the coal basket. My buddy took his welder back so I just threaded a nipple into the hold I drilled and used a product called expando which is a sealant used for high pressure water of steam lines.

and it's been holding up very nice. You can find a can of expando at your local plumbing supply houes.

Have fun. Oh you only want to add a touch of water at a time to get the expando into a thick paste.

Dan
 
I welded mine but after the first use I wanted to add one more 3/4 nipple so i could use a poker rod to jiggle the coal basket. My buddy took his welder back so I just threaded a nipple into the hold I drilled and used a product called expando which is a sealant used for high pressure water of steam lines.

and it's been holding up very nice. You can find a can of expando at your local plumbing supply houes.

Have fun. Oh you only want to add a touch of water at a time to get the expando into a thick paste.

Dan
Wow thats weird because I just was thinking of making a way to shake the basket today without using a long hook from the top like i do, its a pain when you have food covering the grate. have you done it yet? does it work good?
 
Yes I added a 3/4 x 2 1/2" long nipple. The expando is holding tight after 6 smokes.

I use a metal rod that slips through both the nipple and the mesh coal basket, which allows me to bounch the basket up and down without removing my lid. It also allows more air in to bring my temps up to right around 350- 400* for grilling.

Hope this helps ya out !

Dan
 
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