Uds lid question...

I was wodering same thing . I thought maybe if you ground gently around the top it wwould slip out like it does on a pop can. It leaves a smooth edge like a cup. ( things that make you go hmm)

I ground the outside corner to the right of this arrow, then filed the sharp edge off. worked great...

Firby13 said:

I ground the outside corner to the right of this arrow, then filed the sharp edge off. worked great...

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Just for clarification, this leaves you with a reusable lid, although it will probably only go back on one way.
You could probably grind the side as well, but it would be a lot more work.

Are oil barrels not recomended? I prob could get one of those. I've been looking 4 food grade. Don( they all have liners that need to be taken out

Food grade drums do have that nasty epoxy liner in them and have to be burned out (which we all know). Oil drums should be burned out too. You can go the old Comet route and that would work also. Both will work. The oil drums are less time consuming.

You can rent a drum opener at most rental places (about $10/day). It's pretty much an oversized can opener. I personally have not had luck with it, but know people who have.

Free oil barrel, had new 5-30 in it. I picked one that had new oil as opposed to used so I new that there had not been any gas in it for grinding safety.

I laid it on its side and used an angle grinder on the outside top corner at about 30 - 45 deg in relation to the side of the barrel.
Grind until you just see the 2nd layer of metal and continue all of the way around the top.

Make a mark on the top and side for re installation then grab the top through the big bung and pop it off.
You WILL have a razor sharp edge on the top that will have to be dealt with.
I filed mine flat with minor blood loss.

I then drained out the 3/4 qt of oil left in the barrel and poured it in my car, then left the barrel upside down in the driveway for a couple of days while I made the charcoal basket etc. Then I washed it out as well as i could, drilled 3 13/16 intake holes, (13/16 holes fit wine corks perfectly), loaded up the charcoal basket with KB and fired it up with the top off and let it go for an hr or so, then dropped the top on with both bungs out and let it go until the charcoal was gone.

The next day I dumped out the ashes etc. and scrubbed out the varnish made by the oil left in the drum added the bolts for the racks, coated with veggie oil and burned one more load. There was no more oil smell or anything so on the next day i cooked a cheap fatty which came out fine.
I've been cooking on it ever since.

Still has the original paint but I did pull the 5-30 sticker off the top.

YMMV
Steve

Here is a pic of the oil drum and lid. Note the thin line on the lip of the lid to the left of the Bung and Rack bolt, That is the separation point:

Firby13 said:

Here is a pic of the oil drum and lid. Note the thin line on the lip of the lid to the left of the Bung and Rack bolt, That is the separation point:

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That's brilliant.....

That's brilliant.....

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Wish I could take credit.
All of the info, including the diagram I posted was already out there... But I did research it ....:biggrin1:

I'd like to see what you guys are using to grind off that lid where it laps over the lip. I am going to have to try this

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4" angle grinder. Mine's a Craftsmen but any will do:

Or HF 19.99 or 15.99 w/20% coupon

I was just grinding the lid off the top of an oil barrel for this very project. Be careful that you dont grind too much in one spot. I kinda fubar'd my barrel. So now I need to get another one. But that is ok.. I am going to still work on getting this drum up and running... so that I can make all my other mistakes on this drum. Then have them all out of the way for my next.

-Jeep

I have a good ryobi (sp?) one but I don't know if you just use a grinder wheel or some other wheel.....

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Regular grinding wheel. Just grind carefully around the line that the cutting wheel in the picture below would make. Go slowly and just go through the 1st layer of metal. You will see two edges and the next layer of steel. The metal will turn blue just before you penetrate, from heat and very thin steel. I laid the barrel on its side, and ground at the point where the cutter is hitting the drum with the grinding wheel roughly parallel to the line above the words "Cutter wheel". You are grinding like normal, not using like a cutoff wheel.

I'll try to get a better picture of the resulting rim and post it later.

Once again this was with a drum that only had new non explosive lube in it.

Does that explain it better?