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Slow motion reverse flow 300 gal.

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I'd love to know what you think of the PLasma cutter and which eBayer you bought it from.  Is it 110v?  Can you use a regular Sears upright air compressor?

I just looked at them on eBay and didn't realize they were that cheap.  I may buy one on your suggestion.
 
When I bought my plasma torch, the welding shop recommended an air filter to keep moisture and stuff out of the system....  I bought a "motor guard" filter housing that uses TP for a filter element...  I have had no problems with my torch.... I think they gave me good advice....    Dave

http://motorguard.com/air_2_2.html   
M-30.jpg
 
Thanks guys. The plasma is the new style inverter. It runs 110 or 220. I hooked mine up 220. I bought an air compressor from HB on sale for $169 an upright 2.5 HP 21 gal. 125 psi. It keeps ups just fine.

I think the seller was ubargain09 in Sunnyvale Ca. Since I live close to the Bay Area my neighbor picked it up in person. We didn't go through eBay and I was under $300 out the door with an extra 20 piece tip set.

The plasma comes with a moister filter Dave. That's a good point as moisture can be the death of plasma units.

Now on the sellers eBay ad they have a video showing the plasma cutting a piece of 3/4" flat bar! You have to go slow but they did it. I cut a 1/4" thick tank and other than a little learning curve it does its job.
 
I'm sold on the little plasma.

firebox to smoke chamber damper holes 004.JPG

firebox to smoke chamber damper holes 004.JPG


 I cut the damper holes from firebox to smoke chamber. This plasma doesn't have a high freq. so it has to touch metal. It doesn't blast that little arc out the end when it's not in contact with the cutting surface. I'm used to the other kind. We have that at work.

After smoking 16 turkeys I'm a believer in the center fired RF. 6 were 20 lbs. 4 or 5 were about 14 to 16 lbs. and the rest were 10 to 12 lbs. I positioned the large birds in the middle, the medium on the right side and the smaller on the left. The quirks of the Dragon's Breath brought all the birds done at the same time. I'm new at this but we pulled them all out after 5 hours.

I believe the analog temp probes an the front are 20 to 30 degrees below actual. I kept the temp between 230 and 245 the whole smoke time, center temp probe.

I think that's why they finished so soon. Most of the smaller birds had pop ups which I left in and I put an external digital in the biggest bird. They were all pulled when the digital hit 171 and let rest for 1 hour. We had to save 4 of the smallest birds for the deep fryer. Total 20 birds! They all came out juicy and smokey flavored.

Dave Omak I wanted to ask you, what size should the firebox be? The tank is 300 gal. 30" O.D. 117" O.S. After my experiences with the last one I found I would like to fudge the size to the large end. Do you think I will gain enough cooking time to justify a slightly larger fire box? I ordered 2 sheets of 1/4" plate that will be in this week sometime. Also I have a piece of 6" pipe for the chimney. What length do you think is optimum? I'm going to put a tangital entrance at center of tank like I did on my first one. Thanks. I see that you are always helping out on the forum and I value you input.
 
Dave Omak I wanted to ask you, what size should the firebox be? The tank is 300 gal. 30" O.D. 117" O.S. After my experiences with the last one I found I would like to fudge the size to the large end.

Do you think I will gain enough cooking time to justify a slightly larger fire box? You could gain ash storage under the grate... You are adding splits every 1/2 hour or so anyway so I do not know how a larger FB would gain cooking time...

I ordered 2 sheets of 1/4" plate that will be in this week sometime. Also I have a piece of 6" pipe for the chimney. What length do you think is optimum? I'm going to put a tangital entrance at center of tank like I did on my first one. Thanks. I see that you are always helping out on the forum and I value you input.

http://www.feldoncentral.com/bbqcalculator.html

23,100 cu in. FB recommended for a 300 gallon tank..  30x30x30 is 27,000 cu in. @ 117% of recommended..

6" exhaust stack needs to be 48" above the smoker... plus what ever you do about lowering the intake closer to the cooking grate....
 
Thanks Dave. You're right to the point. That's exactly the information I needed.

I only add small logs, peach and plum, 3 or 4 times during the smoke. The smoker is almost a set it and forget it. I normally use a 40 lb. bag of mesquite to run the smoker. It lasts for 6 or so hours without any help. The reason for a larger firebox would be to start with more mesquite. I use the Jim Minion starting method. It's awesome.

Also I think the smoker must be running a little hot otherwise how did such large birds get to temp in 4.5 to 5 hours? The temp probes are mounted a little low in my opinion, but at this point I think I'm stuck with them. This build I will position them higher.
 
Dragon, if it's not a digital gauge then I don't trust it.  Period.  I have never seen one that is as accurate as my digital ones.  I will not even be installing them on my build.  I will create small bung holes for each grate level about 1/3 of the way from each end.  That would be 6 bungs for my probes.  This way I know exactly what the temps are from end to end and top to bottom.  I know it is overkill, but I have always been a little anal that way.  Analogue gauges are good for a reference but, in my opinion, never for actual temps!
 
Jabbo said:
Dragon, if it's not a digital gauge then I don't trust it.  Period.  I have never seen one that is as accurate as my digital ones.  I will not even be installing them on my build.  I will create small bung holes for each grate level about 1/3 of the way from each end.  That would be 6 bungs for my probes.  This way I know exactly what the temps are from end to end and top to bottom.  I know it is overkill, but I have always been a little anal that way.  Analogue gauges are good for a reference but, in my opinion, never for actual temps!
Click to expand...
I agree Jabbo. The analog are there for reference only. The real deal is digital. I have two 1/4" NPT couplings welded on the back of my smoker, 15" apart, off center. I can get 2 probes in each hole. The probes have about 3' of cable so they will reach any area in the smoker. But I only use them for internal meat temps.
 
Dragon, I like to use a rubber cork with a hole drilled through it and put one of my probes in it.  This way, I can get an accurate air temp.  I use the second probe for the meat.  I can move them from place to place or meat to meat and guaranty that my temps are as close to perfect as possible.  I'm sure you probably do something like this already, but it might be new to someone else.  Happy cooking, brother!
 
Home alone.

I have to figure someway to get the bottom of the firebox up on the fire box. It's 34" x 36" 3/8" plate.

firebox 014 (2).JPG

firebox 014 (2).JPG


This should fire the old girl up just fine. According to the Calc. Dave posted it will be about 117%. Some of the volume gets taken by the tank so it'll all work out. The firebox is 26" tall.

I could be wrong, but I think the centered fire is more fuel efficient, by keeping the heat directly under the smoke chamber. I've found that most of my smokes have different meat in different sizes allowing the use of the different temp. areas.

Happy smoking!
 
With all that rigging you have there? Weld a mounting point to it and hoist it into place. I weighs a little less than 130 pounds, right? You Cali boys crack me up!
 
Thanks for the encouragement.

My neighbor came over and we lifted it on to the tabs. It probably only weighed 80 pounds, but real awkward.

All my rigging was tide up holding the pit level!

I almost went to Harbour Freight!
 
"[color= rgb(24, 24, 24)]I wish I had some of them [/color]Tennessee[color= rgb(24, 24, 24)] boys as neighbors so I could get a little help."[/color]

[color= rgb(24, 24, 24)]I know that's right!!! LMAO! I wish I was close enough to help (and barrow that plasma cutter). [/color]
welder.gif


Looks awesome brother!
 
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