^^^ Thank you for posting that. Sorry... I've been off the site for a few days (I hate working...). That post may be a bit rambling, so if you need some pictures, let me know. I haven't tried it yet (...work, dammit) but really hope to this weekend.
For the handles (asked earlier), I got some 1.25" dia 303 Stainless from Onlinemetals.com. Now in reading, 303 is supposed to have the corrosion resistance of 304 but be easier to machine, and the machine part is right. We'll see about the corrosion resistance. I cut the bars to length (just over 7" in my case) and drilled and tapped each end for a 1/4-20 screw. I did this in a lathe. This is where the 303 stainless sure seemed easier than 304 stainless, because I hate tapping. Then I turned it on the lathe and added the two groves on each end. I just eyeballed the distance from the ends (3/4" if i remember right and about an inch apart) and depth, which was about 1/8". It seemed to work out well. Then I just used a polishing compound and it polished up very very easy. All in all, the handles were easier than I thought, but that's with a caveat.... I didn't use my lathe, which is a bit smaller, I used a friends, which had a deep enough chuck to hold the 1 1/4 diameter bar easily. If you can do that, it's a very easy project.
Note on the handles.... The way Jambo attached the "floppy" handles on the backyard is, there is a 1/2" chunk of steel rod that was welded into each side. That's what the tube rests on. Half inch. I say this, because to cut them off, I started with a hacksaw and never made it. Then I used an angle grinder and that worked, but it's not fun with that tube flopping around.
I'll try to smoke something this weekend and report back on the damper. If you guys have questions that I can help with, PM me, so I get an email and I can respond to you. And if you want, I'll shoot you some pictures.
Keith
