Started a VRF build with a couple of things in mind:
1 - wanted to teach myself to weld (still a work in progress - don't zoom any of these pics!)
2 - unhappy with the ability of my little/cheap side-by-side to hold heat. figured a heavy vertical has to heat better, right?
So I sketched up some basic ideas and went to work.
- 1.5"x1" tube is my frame - 1" provides me an insulation dimension on the outside. 1.5" provides my dimension for the vertical runners.
- 1/4" plate for the floor of the cook chamber and the fire box. so the baffle is 1/4" steel (plus any water pan I may throw in)
- 2x4" 1/8" wall rectangle tube for the exhaust.
- 2x 2" ball valves for intake (one high, one low, centered)
- 16ga for all the inner walls.
- 1" ceramic blanket insulation.
- silicon tadpole gakset for doors.
- cheap amazon hinges and latches.
- 20ga for outer walls.
- various angle and scrap as needed (inner door frames, etc)
Got the frame and inner walls together, along with the doors and door frames. Ran my first test fire last night. No basket so just a few coals and a hunk of wood on the floor of the fire box. Got a very good looking draw. A few minor leaks as expected. Didn't see the temp push past 150 in the cook chamber, even with the valves full open. Hoping that this is just due to the coals on the floor, and the short load of coals. But, I also didn't do any real math on this thing. So I'm wondering if I need to tune (embiggen) my exhaust opening a bit. Right now it's a ~2.5x2.5" hole I chopped out with a cutting disk. Maybe pull my inside walls down some too. Hopefully raising the fire will be the easy way to get some temp though.
Outer walls and insulation aren't on yet, obviously (also racks and rack runners aren't in, less obviously.) Wanted to run a few test fires to find my leaks before I put on the insulation and skin so I'm not smoking my insulation too bad.
1 - wanted to teach myself to weld (still a work in progress - don't zoom any of these pics!)
2 - unhappy with the ability of my little/cheap side-by-side to hold heat. figured a heavy vertical has to heat better, right?
So I sketched up some basic ideas and went to work.
- 1.5"x1" tube is my frame - 1" provides me an insulation dimension on the outside. 1.5" provides my dimension for the vertical runners.
- 1/4" plate for the floor of the cook chamber and the fire box. so the baffle is 1/4" steel (plus any water pan I may throw in)
- 2x4" 1/8" wall rectangle tube for the exhaust.
- 2x 2" ball valves for intake (one high, one low, centered)
- 16ga for all the inner walls.
- 1" ceramic blanket insulation.
- silicon tadpole gakset for doors.
- cheap amazon hinges and latches.
- 20ga for outer walls.
- various angle and scrap as needed (inner door frames, etc)
Got the frame and inner walls together, along with the doors and door frames. Ran my first test fire last night. No basket so just a few coals and a hunk of wood on the floor of the fire box. Got a very good looking draw. A few minor leaks as expected. Didn't see the temp push past 150 in the cook chamber, even with the valves full open. Hoping that this is just due to the coals on the floor, and the short load of coals. But, I also didn't do any real math on this thing. So I'm wondering if I need to tune (embiggen) my exhaust opening a bit. Right now it's a ~2.5x2.5" hole I chopped out with a cutting disk. Maybe pull my inside walls down some too. Hopefully raising the fire will be the easy way to get some temp though.
Outer walls and insulation aren't on yet, obviously (also racks and rack runners aren't in, less obviously.) Wanted to run a few test fires to find my leaks before I put on the insulation and skin so I'm not smoking my insulation too bad.