My first RF smoker build, any help would be appreciated

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ALMOST DONE !

Got some more welding done last night, just a few things left to do before its off to the sandblaster and spray paint booth, here are last nights results.


Hung the door,


Finished the FG, just needs a handle


Put some expanded metal behind the air inlets


Finished the door latch and air intake


Finished the smoke stack


Attached the fold out shelf, I put barrel hinges on so I can slide it to the left and remove it if I need to


Finished the cooking rack, just needs pull out handles


And here is an overall view.
 
...............
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............      Looks good to me.....   I like it.....     

Dave
 
Counter Weight Question ?

Is there any science to figuring out a counter weight for the cooking chamber door?


This is what I was thinking, I'm using 1 1/2" square tube for the arms and 3" square tube for the actual counter weight.

1: Is there a science to figuring out the angle in which the arms are placed or their length? 

2: Does it matter how long the actual counter weight is?

3: How far down from the top of the door should the arms be placed?
 
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I like the weight to be on the door side of the hinge for the last one or so inches of movement at close.

arms mounted as close to hinge as possible.

arms as short as possible.

and I want it to look good.

So, my recommendation is to use the same size pipe as your exhaust , tack weld it in position with some scrap angle or flat bar and load up the pipe with scrap until you get everything balance just perfect , then fab the arms accordingly
 
Im going to do a very small counterweight on my patio build, door ended up being heavier than expected and I want it to be easy to handle with one hand. I'll probably mess around with it some one evening this week, so I'll post some pics if that will help.
 
I'm Back ! Man its funny how life has a tendency of getting in the way sometimes. Well it has legs and now we are working on getting a friends flatbed trailer to get it to the sandblaster. Its getting closer ! Take a look at the recent pictures.




And now to get sandblasted,


Thinking about putting some expanded metal across the leg supports to use as storage.
 
(Ribwizzrd, Dave and Sqwib)  Any thoughts on this?

I have an idea about the FB heat baffle that needs to extend into the CC. Here is a drawing,


If I take a piece of uni-strut and weld it to the top of the FB. Then drill holes in the Baffle, to allow me to bolt it to the uni-strut, allowing the baffle to slide along the uni-strut. This would allow me to slide the baffle either further into CC, or pull it out of the CC to adjust for hot spot.

1. would it give me more control over the hot spot issue?

2. Would the fact that the uni-strut is only 1/8" thick be a problem from the heat generated in the FB?

3. Would I have more control this way over just bolting or welding baffle in one spot?


Here's the uni-strut and bolt setup.


Here is where I would weld the uni-strut in the top of the FB.

Any thoughts from you guys, or anyone else ?
 
I would bolt the strut and take advantage of the slots for expansion...  then secure the plate to the strut...  Dave 
 
I was reading the thread and maybe missed it... What did you do to fix the door issue?  Great looking build!!!!
 
To fix the door issue my buddy up the street who is actually a structural iron worker did the following:

Since it was the bottom lip that was not sealing right, he placed a piece of 1/4" thick flat bar across the opening  (middle) of the CC then closed the lid on top of it

Then he took something called a choker (which looked like a chain come along) placed one on either end of the door, placed a 2x4 across the length of bottom of the door and tighten the chokers while heating it with a torch.

We actually over corrected it a bit so that when we released it, and it sprang back a little, it ended up being pretty darn close.

We then placed ribs on the door to keep it from reoccurring again.


 
Great job on the door!

Be careful using the uni-strut nuts, they are usually galvanized and shouldn't be used in the smoke stream into the cook chamber. You can make some by tapping a piece of flat plate to accomplish the same function and won't produce the zinc poison gas when heated.
 
Well after the post about galvanized bolts and zinc poisonous gases, I axed the uni-strut idea and I'm just going to bolt the heat baffle in according to Dave's drawing's he sent me. Again Thanks Dave! here are some photos.


I have a total of 6 bolts running 3 to a side being used as gap spacers.


Then one in the middle at two different points, these will thread into the FB and then ground off flush on the outside (top of FB)


Here is a wide shot.
 
Looks good....   I think you will like the results...  Especially with the bolts ground flush, it will disappear .....     Can't wait to see it up and running...

Dave
 
Well one step closer, the heat baffle is in I went with Dave's drawings/design. Its 1/4" plate, 18"X24", I left 12" inside the FB and 12" going into CC under the RF plate.


I placed 2 bolts in the middle to mount the plate, they are threaded into the top of the FB and it actually held it up there rather nicely.


The one that was exposed on the top of the FB was ground flush and with paint you shouldn't even see it.


The other one that was exposed inside the CC I left and put a nut on it just for added insurance.


Here it is coming into the CC 12"

Only thing left are the thermometers and the RF plates. For the RF plates I think the back one will get welded in and the front one will be removable for cleaning. Still bouncing that around though.

Any Thoughts on the removable front RF plate?
 
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