Stumps junior clone

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pikopocho

Newbie
Original poster
Sep 25, 2017
5
0
I wanted to share my progress on a stumps clone build and am open to feedback on a couple things.
1. I was able to procure a 14 foot long stainless steel sink counter to to use for the cooking chamber inner skin. All tubing is regular steel. Because of this i chose to screw the stainless steel panels onto frame instead of weld. Does this present any issues?
2. My welder can only handle up to 3/16 thickness. Should i just make firebox and chute out if 3/16 or try to use 1/4" which i see most people using and potentially have weak welds?
3. My cooking chamber is 24h x 19w x 19d and my planned firebox is 10w x 10d x 8h with 18in chute above. Will this be sufficient because i came across bbq pit calculators that recommend a certain percentage of chamber volume for the firebox and mine is way under that percentage.
4. Where can i get those rope gaskets i see on the stumps doors? And can anyone confirm how they are installed? It looks to me like its stuck between the inner skin of the door and the frame.
Here are my pics of progress to date
 
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I am not a smoker builder nor a welder.. (well, I know the basics of how to weld but it always looks like a 6 year old did it:D)

Yours, on the other hand, looks great to me!

We do have some smoker builders and welders in the forum who should be able to give you some knowledgeable advice on this soon.
 
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I think Jeff was talking about his own welding skills.

Chris
 
haha. Well, its not like I was disagreeing with you but I get it now.
 
One thing you can do if your welder doesn't get hot enough for thicker steel is to preheat the steel with a torch. This in theory requires fewer amps to get good penetration. You can weld stainless steel to mild steel but you will have to clean your weld joints to remove all oils and other contaminants. I recommend using a flap grinding disk and clean about 1/2" on each side of joint. Also, stainless holds heat longer so if you make a continuous bead, you will have to concentrate your weld puddle more on the mild steel. At least it's the RF plate so if your first time welding 2 indifferent metals doesn't look pretty, no one will know but you! Lol
 
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Thanks for the welding tips. I ended up sticking with screwing the stainless to the mild steel tubes, mostly because I could not find any flux core stainless welding wire at the stores in my area. Also, it was way simpler. I did go with the 1/4 inch thick steel for the firebox even though my welder was not rated for it, and I just used the max setting. It looks like it welded okay to me. More pics here
 
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