275 Gal Oil Tank Build (pron)

Back from the deadddddd!!!! It's the ZOMBIE PITTTTTTTTTT!!!!!! thread.

The original thread is here if you want to catch up.

It's been a hell of a journey. Life's been crappy the past 18 months, but despite everything i managed to get the electric service to my house upgraded: new breaker panel, GFI's in the basement, new meter AND new high amp plugs in the basement workshop area and the garage to run my welder!!!!!!! Now i can weld stuff without the fear of overloading the lines and burning the house down!!!!

Yesterday i bit the bullet and bought some steel to build a better firebox.



So, it's going to be smaller than using the 55 gal drum, but it will be much thicker, hold heat better and waaaay easier to insulate.

I scored a ton (~4 sheets) of diamond plate from my POS job before they canned me, so I plan to wrap the fire box with rock wool or something similar and skin it with the diamond plate.

This does mean I will have to make to changes to the existing frame, but i have to do that anyway since the one caster i put on can't hold the weight of the rig so I have to add another one.

Just hope my welding skills come back quick- it's been a lifetime since i've welded anything and i just recently made a mess of my UDS.

Good news is, there'll be miles of straight, easy welds for me to practice on with building the new fire box and they won't even be seen after i insulate it, so they can be ugly as all get out!!!

Anyway, i'll post more pics as i make progress- should get some stuff done over the weekend.

Thanks for lookin!















BRAIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNSSSSSSS!!!!!!!

Made a little progress today. Got the old cross beam and attached wheel cut out.

Went to HF and bought the additional wheel. Get back to the lab and go to cut off the corners of the frame....out of cutting discs :doh::doh::doh::doh::doh::doh:

Looks like i'm going back to HF tomorrow. Got some stuff coming up this weekend all of a sudden, so don't know when i'll get to work on this again. Also, starting new job monday....:doh:

When i do make more progress: more pics.

Thanks for lookin!

Had a few hours to work today:



Cut the bottom corners of the frame off and welded new "inside" corners on to accommodate 2 wheels instead of one.



Ground down some of the welds and got one wheel welded on before I ran out of time.

Probably be a couple days before I get back to work, but I hope to finish cleaning up the welds, get the other wheel welded on and possibly the handle.

Thanks for lookin!

Snuck in some play-time today despite the unbearable humidity and heat.

Did some welding, some grinding and got the other wheel attached.



Rolls much better now, but tires are a little wishy-washy. Gonna check next time and make sure they're properly inflated.

Now i have to make some design decisions:

A) Do I want the burn basket to come out on the swivel wheel side or the stationary wheel side?

2) How am i going to mount the fire box now that i am going with a rectangle shape instead of the drum? Plus, i have to take the insulation and outer skin into account.

III) Need to pick a plan for the doors and seals and go with it. I've been going back and forth as far as having a lip and gasket inside the door opening or welding on a lip on the outside edge of the door. If i go with the outside option, i may need to remove the existing hinges and fab some new ones, but i think it will be easier to get a good seal that way.

Decisions decisions....

Thanks for looking!

Got a couple things done today.

Tacked 3 of the 5 sides of the fire box together:



Sides completely welded and cut the opening for smoke tube:



Man, cutting that hole with an angle grinder was a SOB! Think i might be looking into a plasma cutter soon.

Thanks for looking!

Things have been busy the last week and a half, but finally got some work done today.

Started by cutting some flat bar to make rail supports.



Salvaged the rails out of the old firebox/drum.



Welded the rail supports in place. I only built 3 sides of the new firebox to start with so i could have access- good thing i did.



Rails attached.



Test fit- everything looks great!



Thanks for looking!

Snuck in a few hrs of play-time while wifey was taking a nap.



Got the other side of the fire box welded on and lining up the back.



Back panel welded on. Some welds came out pretty decent. Others, not so much. My little stick welder was working overtime. I'd get maybe 8" of a seam welded and it would shut off from over-heating. Must have happened a dozen times. Oh well.

Thanks for looking!

Ran out to the metal store after work today and picked up what I needed to build the front of the FB and got it welded up.



The top piece is 3" wide, the sides and bottom are all 2.5" wide. It leaves just about 1/4" of clearance all the way around and gives me plenty of overhang to lay in a gasket and get a good seal.



Test fit.



Air intake door cut.



Air intake hole cut. There's 1/4" overlap all the way around the door.

I decided to go with a sliding door type intake for simplicity. The opening is just about 5" x 7" so I shouldn't have any issues getting the temps up.

Hopefully get some more stuff done this weekend.

Thanks for looking!

I need some advice from my fellow Brethren on how to attach the fire box to the cooking chamber and base.

I am worried that the thin walls of the oil tank won't be strong enough to support all that weight but I also want to avoid running long lengths of angel iron from one end of the frame to the other because of the added weight (and expense).

Would I be able to get away with relying on the smoke transfer tube welds to support the back-end of the fire box and maybe just do one crossbar on the end of the frame to support the rest of the weight??

The orange side-ways "L" near the lower left corner of the FB would be the crossbar i'm referring to.

I suppose i could weld 2 "legs" at the back corners of the FB, going down to the bottom rail of the frame, but there would be some tricky angles involved.