Found Tank New Build

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Nothing wrong with that at all Ron... in fact I was thinking of changing mine from "Fat Boy" to "Chunk" (reference to Goonies and I call my 7 month old 30lb son Chunk. HA) or "Moose" (was my dad's nickname... and boy did he love bbq!). Even if I stuck with Fat Boy, it'd only bother me if you were my neighbor and built one exactly like mine... then it'd be on!

Looking forward to your build!
When I saw that tank, my first thought was Fat Boy, as the tank was "Fat". Who knows, I may change it later.
 
I am sure not a liquid oxygen tank guru but I suspect that it is either very well insulated or some form of a vacuum tank (think mega-Thermos).

Lance
 
Not sure what I can use the oxygen tank for (better burning fire? Will look at it next week. Gonna try to go to the shop tomorrow and get started on the smoker. Tape and cut the doors out and the firebox opening.

Have a question, assuming the fb calculater not counting the area below the fire grate, should I add a couple inches to make up for my ash tray? Wouldn't hurt to add a couple inches overall?

I am going to put the stack inside the top of the tank as the door and use the fb top for either a warming box or cooktop for the future. I saw somewhere they have a lid to open so I can BBQ using direct heat. Kinda like that idea. I also thought about doing a lid and add a removable warming box whenever I need it. Maybe overkill? Hope i don't screw it up.

For now it will be just a firebox and I can modify later.

Ron
 
Finally got me some steel plate 1/2" THICK for the firebox. Somewhere here said the thicker the better, all FREE....

Now I can finally stop worrying about where I am going to come up with some dough and good weather to get started.

Depending on if I get calls this weekend on the job, I'll get the tank cut open. Going to use the zip cutter instead of the plasma to cut the door open to prevent it from warping. Hope I can come up with some idea to get a trailer made for it, might look at the oxygen tank trailer to see if it will work. Otherwise I will build from scratch.

Will keep posted.

Ron
 
 
Got the door cut open and hinges installed. Used a zip cutter as I didn't want to warp the door. I decided to use the drain plugs as a handle as they are rusted in there pretty good.

So far so good, I can almost taste the smoked meats I am gonna cook. Next step, the firebox. Noticed the shop welder, they must have welded the setting selector switch. Cannot get it set to go hotter as I need to weld 1/2" plate. Need to get that fixed.

Ron


 
Supposed to go look at a trailer, hopefully tonight. Just been busy. Anxious to get this monster finished.

Have a question, Told a customer about my smoker build and he said not to use steel for the cook rack as it can cause some sort of life threatening bacteria. Not sure what he was talking about and he says he does jerky making. Assuming he meant that due to the lower temps in curing jerky???

I am looking for what is best for the cook rack, I have access to many different types of steel including scrap woven steel used in gravel yard. (unless bad for you?)

What is the best and what size is best? I am sure it's been mentioned here somewhere, just have few moments of time to research as I have been getting home late.

Thanks,

Ron
 
Ron, morning....  Mild steel is fine.... not much different than a wok....   Expanded metal works, or expanded and flattened...  After heating the smoker up to get rid of the oils used in milling, coat all the steel inside with lard or veggie oil ....  spray or wipe on....  like conditioning a cast iron pan.....     I'm not sure of the sizes of steel when it come to expanded....   You want it fairly thick so it doesn't sag and stretch under the weight of the meat...  for flipping burgers, you might get a small piece of expanded flattened to set on top of your regular grates.. smaller holes...  and you're in business....  

someone will have a number for the exp. metal for the cooking grates to look at......

Dave
 
I went even a little heavier then what ribwizzard recommended and went flat ground 3/4 x 9 mild steel and seasoned them like you would a cast iron skillet I have used this for all my different cook racks needed and have not had one sag yet, and one rack at one point had 60lbs on it.
 
what did you frame it with? I have used square and angle and round and Im still not sure what I like the best.  On my current build, I was thinking 3/8 stainless rod and 1/2 stainless angle at both ends instead of flat expanded metal, and thats only becouse Im adding gas burner so It can be used as a grill as well.

But flat expanded is great, once seasoned good its hard to beat for a smoker. And its so much easier to clean than the round rod when your talking big grates.  Its just not good to put above a gas burner, thats all.
 
I used 3/4 x 9 for my racks too. The frame is 1" x .120" wall square tubing. I put the tubing 16" apart for addes support, worked out good that way with 48" wide grates. I have never heard of any type of poising from steel cooking surfaces. I have eaten a lot of food off of a steel grate grill or smoker and I aint dead yet.

Just a hint, take your time when welding whatever you use to the frame, it will warp pretty easy. I was in a hurry when I did mine and it warped some. I had to straighten them so the bottom rack would not hang on the door opening when I tried to pull it out.
 
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I did notice that  the square tubing warped the easiest, angle a little less, and no warpage on the 1/2 round bar. ( Im talking about when welding)   but then again, Im spotting it with the .045 wire.
 
I use 3/4x1/8 angle iron. I notch it out 45° on either side of the center line on one "leg" of the angle iron. This leaves just a 3/4" piece to bend 90° to form a nice rounded corner and then I just have to weld a single seam and they are very quick to make.

Here is a picture of one of my grates, this one is on a stumps clone and still getting seasoned up.

Here I describe it a little better and have a model of it to help explain it a bit better. This is explaining how to make the rack for the one pictured above you could just substitute your own numbers to fit your size of rack needed.
 
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I did notice that  the square tubing warped the easiest, angle a little less, and no warpage on the 1/2 round bar. ( Im talking about when welding)   but then again, Im spotting it with the .045 wire.
 I like the .045 dual shielded wire myself, and c channel is probably the second best after round bar for not warping when welding.
 
Yeah, the .045 feels more like stick welding, and thats what I learned on. Ive been running Kobelco, but Lincoln rep just gave me a 44lb of ultra core that Im checking out. Smokes a little more and slower freeze rate, but did produce a very nice, clean weld with no splatter.

Im seriosely looking at the power mig 350mp, that is such a nice little unit for fabrication work.
 
I was thinking of the flat expanded metal welded to 1/2" angle. I may make a couple extras with different openings. At least they are removable. Another thought is to make a birquet (sp) pan to put on top of the rf plate for direct heat to cook hamburgers, hot dogs, etc. That way no mess to clean up, just remove pan and clean.

Hope to get fb built and installed this weekend.

Thank You for all your ideas, I am open to more suggestions.

Ron
 
I am liking the idea of the coal basket to grill with definitely will more then likely make one for myself. I think what I will do is build it as an ash pan, that way it catches the coal in my firebox. I could just turn around and grab it throw it on the r/f plate and start cooking right away.

I have been running Corex brand by Hobart and really like it, pretty similar to the lincoln wire.  And I break the stick welder out every now and then as well, just depends what I am welding.
 
Ive gone back and forth on the charcoal basket ideal for the cooking chamber for doing burgers and steaks, Right now Im leaning towards a propane burner, just becouse I think it will give more room with a reverse plate in there.   Not 100% on that just yet, still trying to decide, but propane is winning right now.
 
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