120 Gallon Tank Build (lots of pics)

[speers90]

Originally Posted by el_matt

I'm a little confused (not hard to do that to me). Are you making this a vertical smoker, like a Bandera, or a horizontal smoker? I'm hoping it'll be like a Bandera, cause I have a tank that I need to get working on, and that's my plan.

Matt

Matt, I am making a horizontal, reverse flow offset out of this tank. It would make a wonderful vertical smoker though. I just happen to like cooking on offset stickburners.

[tish]

I love watching these builds. Especially when you don't have the tools with all the dingers, buzzers, and bells. The most fascinating builds, for me, are the "make do with what you've got" builds. Love to watch the creative mind at work!

[speers90]

Originally Posted by tish

I love watching these builds. Especially when you don't have the tools with all the dingers, buzzers, and bells. The most fascinating builds, for me, are the "make do with what you've got" builds. Love to watch the creative mind at work!

Thanks Tish, I think it makes you appreciate the nice tools once you finally get them, but there is usually more than one way to get something done.

[speers90]

Today I got the majority of the remaining materials ordered for this build and went to home depot to pick up a few things so that I can make some progress this weekend. I am sure it will be next week before I can pick up my order.

On a side note, I said that at the end of the build I would detail what my exact cost is. I had previously estimated between $600 - $700, but I must have forgotten some materials when I did that off the top of my head estimate. When I wrote everything out I came up with between $900 - $1100.

[morgaj1]

Would you mind posting a materials list and cost? I am tossing around building my own horizontal smoker.

[speers90]

For the most part this is what I just ordered, I don't have a plasma cutter so I went ahead and had them cut the steel plate to the dimensions that I need for the firebox and deflector plate. This cost me another $100, but it might have ended up costing me nearly that much in cutting wheels for my angle grinder.

This doesn't include whatever you decide to use for the actual cooking chamber. And don't forget to factor in sales taxes if you live in a state that has one.

4X8 Sheet 1/4" steel - $390
*for firebox and deflector plate, you may need more than this depending on the size of your firebox and deflector plate

6X6 Square Tube by 30" - $55
*for exhaust pipe, you could use round pipe but I like the look of square

2 - 4'X8' Sheets of Expanded Steel -$75
*for meat racks, firebox racks, and shelving

10 feet of 3" x 3" square tubing - $60
*for the frame/legs, i like the square tubing but you could use angle for this

10 feet of 1/4" round bar - $4
* for various handles

40 feet of 1" angle - $55
* for rack slides, racks, hinges

24 feet of 3/4" flat bar - $25
* for rack bracing and locking handles

24 feet of 1 1/4" flat bar - $35
* for door strapping

Plus a couple feet of 1/2" round bar - $5
* for hinges

[TTNuge]

What size expanded metal did you go with? I thought when I priced that stuff out it was like $125 a sheet.

[speers90]

Originally Posted by TTNuge

What size expanded metal did you go with? I thought when I priced that stuff out it was like $125 a sheet.

I wanted to go with 3/4" X 13# which would have been like $55 a sheet, after I placed the order they called and said that they don't have that in stock. So went with 3/4" X 16# since I was already planning on adding bracing to my racks. But I would have much prefered to have the 13#

[TTNuge]

Wow, I jut checked and it's a HUGE difference when you step up to #9. Could definitely save some coin there.

[speers90]

Originally Posted by TTNuge

Wow, I jut checked and it's a HUGE difference when you step up to #9. Could definitely save some coin there.

Yeah, I went through all the choices to see which product you were looking at. I used #13 for my last build and thought it might even be a little heavier than you'd need, but I would have actually preferred it again. We will see if the #16 will work, if not then I'll find the #13 some where.

[speers90]

I got back to work today, started by making the hinges. I went with a pretty simple design, just a piece of angle iron with round bar. The hardest part was getting the round bar bent to a 90 degree angle. To do this I cutoff a 12" section of bar and made a line at 5". Next, I drilled a 1/2" inch hole in a double 2X4 post that I have in my garage. Then I slid the bar into the hole to the 5" mark and proceed to pound the heck out of it until it was at a 90 degree angle.

I cut the top edge of the door and down each side about 2", then I tacked the top edge strapping in place. After the top edge strapping was in place I welder the round bar to the door to complete the hinge.

Next I cut both sides of the door and about 2" on each of the bottom corners. I pre-bent the strapping for the sides over the small collar that I cut off the top of the tank. It ended up being a pretty decent fit after the bend, just a little tweaking and it fit nicely. Oh yeah, I cut the strapping for the door sides about 5" long so that I could get a good bend and fit, once they were tacked in place I cut them off to the proper length with the angle grinder.

Then it was time to cut out the bottom door edge and install that strapping.

I can tell you it seems a heck of a lot bigger on the inside than I was expecting, which is a good thing because I have still been second guessing myself on whether I am going to be happy with this tank size.

Planning on a tank burnout tomorrow, after that I am kind of at a stand still until the other materials are ready to be picked up. In the meantime, I have some scrap lumber laying around so I will probably build a temporary stand to get it up off the ground and easier to work on.

[speers90]

Wasn't much that I could do today but I did get the burnout done.

[morgaj1]

Looking good. BTW, did you put the calipers on it to see how thick the metal is?

[speers90]

Originally Posted by morgaj1

Looking good. BTW, did you put the calipers on it to see how thick the metal is?

No I didn't. Today was the first day that I glanced at it and I would bet it is 3/16. It is definately more than 1/8 but doesn't look like it is 1/4.

[speers90]

I was able to get the tank on a temporary stand that I threw together this morning. Still haven't heard back from the metal supplier, so won't be able to do to much in the meantime.