Weber bottom for UDS lid.

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coachmccoy543

Knows what a fatty is.
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How's it going this fine fall day?

I am building another uds (6 to date) and I am using a bottom of a Weber for my lid. It is the kind with the long exhaust holes and 3 fins inside. Sorry no pic to show. There is quite a bit of slop in the assembly and I am wanting to mod it so it will be good and tight when closed off (no pun intended :)). Has anyone done any good mods to this or have any advice about any?

This version has a nut (approx 3/4 and about 1"long) that the fins slide over with an over sized washer on the bottom. It gets fed up thru the grill where another fender like washer sits on top of the grill surface. Finally it has just a rod slid inside and a thumb screw on top and the only tension is the diameter of the fender washer on top.

Thanks for any help! Much appreciated!
 
Good luck. With my OTG, I can cruise along at 275F most the day with the bottom vent completely shut so it seem like getting it to seal up will be a challenge.
 
coachmccoy543 said:
Really just wanting it to be tight when done smoking to save fuel consumption.
Click to expand...
And that's what I mean...it leaks plenty when closed. Can you just tape some foil strips over top of them when you are done?

Short of having a fabricator make something, formed to fit the holes, I have no elegant suggestions.
 
Use flexible magnets over the rectangular holes on the weber base to seal them. YOu can reuse them after each cook.
 
Would the residual heat in the basket make the dome too hot for them to be effective? I bought some super strong Neodymium magnets to use to cover intake holes on my mini WSM and 30 minutes into the heat, they became permanently unusable as the heat reduced their strength. Granted the heat load in my case was probably a fair bit higher than dome temps on a UDS due to the proximity to the heat source...

I know people use them for UDS air intake control, but dome temps will be a fair bit higher than intake pipe temps on a UDS, no?
 
Si, I have the same problem with my UDS. I also used the bottom of a Weber and it works great till you go to shut it down. I am working on a solution, but so far I haven't figured it out. I'll post something as soon as I do.
 
I got a bottom that looks kinda rough that has the 3 round vents like the one on the lid that i'm think about using for a top , anybody used one of these ?
 
I have been using flexible strip magnets on the 8 holes I drilled in the flat lid that came with the drum without any problems. Your exhaust will be further from the heat source than mine is.
 
I'd remove the Y controller vent/ash remover and block the bolt hole. Then I would make slider vents out of cheap aluminum flashing. Easy to bend, will form to the curve of the bottom/top quite easily. Similar the lower vents on the eggs/primo's etc. I would probably block 1/2 of each slot completely with the flashing as you should need that much opening and make each one large enough you can pop rivet them on. Then make your slider so it will easily slide to what ever opening you want and still slide to be closed. The flashing can take heat as I have cooked many times over 700 deg with out a problem. Beside if any were to fail the $7 I spent on the smallest roll I still have enough to make a lot more and I already made some for friends. Here is a couple examples on uses.
sjf8.jpg

r35a.jpg

dsc00355large.jpg

wnkl.jpg
 
This was a lid, not a bottom, but I cut out the vent holes to make one large one. Then I put in a piece of ducting, JB welded it in to seal it off, and made my own damper out of a thin piece of sheet metal, a 90* tab, and a couple nuts/bolts.

20130928_174545_zpsa942651d.jpg


Rather than try to make the existing vent work, you could go that route.
 
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