ww8j
Wandering around with a bag of matchlight, looking for a match.
I Joined the Brethren a few months ago, after picking through the vast amount of input by it's members. I am very grateful to all from whom I've gleaned information.
I call this UDS the SmokEye, as I am an avid Walleye fisherman and have decided to smoke some of my catch. This is my second build. The first, went to another home, and this UDS will remain with me until one of us is no longer functional.
Most of this build was from ideas that I found on this web site.
I welded a 1/8" x 3" steel plate, 3 wheel platform with a 120 degree wheel spacing to the base of the drum.
Air intake is the standard (2) 3/4" ball valves and (1) 1" ball valve to accommodate an Auber 20 CFM Fan driven by an Auber SYL-2615 PID controller. The addition of the (2) 3/4" valves were provided incase there were a failure in the controller/fan system. I have operated at length, without a controller, and find the same stable results that other manually adjusted UDS users have conveyed.
Adding a controller to the UDS is not a necessity. They operate quite well on their own once you get the hang of it.
I'm an elderly gent, and I tend to nap while the smoker is in operation, so I decided that rather than having cold or burned duck for dinner, I would be better off using a bit of technology to lend a hand. There is nothing worse than waking up to a frozen duck in your UDS at Christmas time.
I used AutoCad to work out the geometry for the wheel base and to vector the .JPEG Walleye image to work with a CNC plasma cutter, owned by a friend.
The exhaust is made from scrap pieces of 1 3/16" ID DOM .
The Charcoal basket is 1/8" x 12"H x 18"Dia. expanded metal.
As an experiment, I decided not to remove all of the exterior paint. I left the upper 3rd of the drum untouched except for sanding to scuff the surface in preperation for high temp. paint.
Thus far, the paint hasn't peeled.
I purchased two 55 gallon drums from Albie's, a food wholesaler, located at Gaylord, Michigan. These drums contained grape jelly sealed in plastic bags. Once empty, Albie's sell the 55 gallon drums for $15.00 each, pick-up only. I also found someone to sandblast both drums for $25.00 ea..
The completed UDS shown here is my second project, and just as much fun to build, as the first. Average build time for me was about 20-25 hours over a seven day period for UDS number two. I'm old, and slow, just like a UDS.
Thanks again to all of you for contributing your great ideas. I sure enjoyed using most of them.
I call this UDS the SmokEye, as I am an avid Walleye fisherman and have decided to smoke some of my catch. This is my second build. The first, went to another home, and this UDS will remain with me until one of us is no longer functional.
Most of this build was from ideas that I found on this web site.
I welded a 1/8" x 3" steel plate, 3 wheel platform with a 120 degree wheel spacing to the base of the drum.
Air intake is the standard (2) 3/4" ball valves and (1) 1" ball valve to accommodate an Auber 20 CFM Fan driven by an Auber SYL-2615 PID controller. The addition of the (2) 3/4" valves were provided incase there were a failure in the controller/fan system. I have operated at length, without a controller, and find the same stable results that other manually adjusted UDS users have conveyed.
Adding a controller to the UDS is not a necessity. They operate quite well on their own once you get the hang of it.
I'm an elderly gent, and I tend to nap while the smoker is in operation, so I decided that rather than having cold or burned duck for dinner, I would be better off using a bit of technology to lend a hand. There is nothing worse than waking up to a frozen duck in your UDS at Christmas time.
I used AutoCad to work out the geometry for the wheel base and to vector the .JPEG Walleye image to work with a CNC plasma cutter, owned by a friend.
The exhaust is made from scrap pieces of 1 3/16" ID DOM .
The Charcoal basket is 1/8" x 12"H x 18"Dia. expanded metal.
As an experiment, I decided not to remove all of the exterior paint. I left the upper 3rd of the drum untouched except for sanding to scuff the surface in preperation for high temp. paint.
Thus far, the paint hasn't peeled.
I purchased two 55 gallon drums from Albie's, a food wholesaler, located at Gaylord, Michigan. These drums contained grape jelly sealed in plastic bags. Once empty, Albie's sell the 55 gallon drums for $15.00 each, pick-up only. I also found someone to sandblast both drums for $25.00 ea..
The completed UDS shown here is my second project, and just as much fun to build, as the first. Average build time for me was about 20-25 hours over a seven day period for UDS number two. I'm old, and slow, just like a UDS.
Thanks again to all of you for contributing your great ideas. I sure enjoyed using most of them.
