Built by Guy on Craigslist for $400

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craigk

Newbie
Original poster
Jul 25, 2010
16
12
Fernandina Beach, Florida
Found a guys in Jacksonville, Florida to build this for me.  I knew what I wanted, but he normally does charcoal grills out of 55 gallon drums, so this took some explaining.
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He really had no understanding of a side firebox, but made this one out of 1/4 plate steel.

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I can still fit a chimney starter inside and 24 inch pieces of what ever wood I'm in the mood for.

With the large groups I tend to feed, I wanted double racks, another thing he was not used to.  I can smoke 11 full slabs of pork ribs and still have room for a 1/4 sheet hotel pan for moisture.

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Last but not least my son thought we should name it so he picked out the font and pig graphic, I cut it all out with an exacto and he painted it.
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I put in Temp guage when I first got it homw. and it was done.

In its final resting place.  Door does not seal as well as I would like but other then that I love it.

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Looks like a nice unit!!
 
Wow 450 sounds like a deal.

Did he supply the tank and the plate for the firebox or did you have to supply that part? Sure looks like a nice rig man.
 
That's what was so great, he supplied the tank and the plate steel.  He damn sure wasn't in a hurry, took him two months to finish but the only complaint now is that he didn't cut out the full diameter of the stack, so I don't get the flow I want.  I need some advice as to what to use inside the smoker to cut out the threaded fill nub (was an old heating oil tank - don't need a lot of those in Florida)
 
Try to take a couple pics and post um up, maybe one of us will have an idea on a good way to get ya fixed up and running the way you want. Even at 2 months thats a pretty fantastic deal.
 
If you look at the pic in this post (The Hog Heaven one) you will see on the left or to the left on the top of the unit a threaded fill hole for the old usage as a heating tank.  The stack, same pic, is actually 4 in. which would be perfect for flow, but he welded it directly over another 2 in threaded fill hole.  I need to know how to cut out the 2in threaded fill in order to open up the stack to its full 4 in. potential.  I know a plasma cutter would do it but I don't have access to one.  Should I try to just drill additional holes in side the stack circumference?  If so what type of bit?  Like a said its an old heating oil tank, so some very thick material.  Will try to post an additional pic from the inside

Top of the smoker same exact threaded area like on the left, inside the stack.

.
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Close up of thread inlet on left ( sorry, didnt realise how out of focus this was.

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View from inside of smoker, up stack.  You can faintly see the actual weld line of the 4in stack.  Need to cut out threaded portion to open the stack for better flow.

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Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
 
Jigsaw with a metal blade, then grind it down???  I will let some of the other pros chime in on this one.
 
How about tacking, or screwing a plate over the hole and cut the tank with a hole saw that is a smaller diameter than the weld line, or, like has already been suggested, a jig saw with a metal cutting blade.

Gene
 
 
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Now thats a nice set up you have there. I really like the new smoker and the whole covered wagon with the grills and smoker set up to. It's looks like the one I built but with wood. I'm close to you in Oceanway off main street. I sure would like to see this monster in action too. 
 
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