Well, I took three steps forward and two steps back today! Started off with a trip to the hardware store to pick up the last couple things I need. Next, welder trouble. I spent an hour screwing around with it. It wasn't feeding wire after I changed the spool. Turns out that a piece of wire broke of inside of the torch and was holding things up!
Once I got that figured out I finished up welding on the lid. I moved on to trying the straighten the warped metal on the bottom side of the door opening. This was rediculously frustrating and I never got it all the way straight, but its close enough to seal with a little furnace tape.
Furnace tape.... I'm not sure if the tube of cement I bought was bad, but it sure didn't seem like its working. I put a bead down ( I've never had to squeeze so hard just to get a little tiny bit out of a tube in my life!), lightly dampened the rope, laid it down and closes the door.
It seemed to harden up nicely, but hardly stuck to the rope. I guess I'll check it the the morning to see if its gotten any better.
Next I decided to do something easy. I drilled a hole at the bottom of the end of the cook chamber and welded on some 1/2 inch threaded pipe to add my grease drain.
That was the only easy part of the day.
Next I started on the firebox door. I built a square frame out of 1/8x1 1/4 flat stock. Tacked it together, checked for square, then stuck it for good. Next I took the sheet I cut out, centered it up and tacked it in. Just 4 little 1/4 inch beads at the corners. I proceed to tac around, working on one side then moving to the other and so on. By the time I had a dozen tacs it was warped nearly an inch from flat. This is where it gets "fun".
I'll save the details, but I spent about 2 hours getting it straight and decided its time to add the hinge and put it on. Next I figured I'd weld it up tight, but I'll go slower as to not warp the door again....
Well, that didn't happen. It warped again. This time so badly that the lower corner stands two inches off of the side of the fire box when it's closed. Out comes the hammer! I beat on it for a while and got it pretty close, but it's going to need a little more love. That wil have to wait till tomorrow! I spent 8 hours on this thing today. Doing all you see in the pictures.
Maybe I'll actually get to light it up next weekend.
Wow that took a long time to post with my iPhone!