i used ss zip ties on my charcoal basket too. they have held up good so far.

Is there a part # for the lid that you're mentioning?

I decided to try to build one of these. we got hold of a 55 gallon olive oil drum. Cut the top off with the plasma cutter, then we burned it out over the weekend. Will be welding it up this week. I've been taking pictures as I have been working

Thank you to everyone for posting their ideas/experiences!!!!

Eureka! That's what I lack on mine, a bottle opener! :-P I knew it was something! Thanks.

Ya gotta have a bottle opener for style points :biggrin::biggrin:

heh...iffit had just OO in it why burn it out? :mrgreen: just roll it around a bit and
build a fire on the grate and let 'er season....

:shock:

Started on mine today... welded in the air intake, scrubbed the barrel down and hit it with a dose of naval jelly as it is a bit rusty..pressure washed with antibacterial simple green and rinsed, force dried with a
bullet heater, and primed...I've got a god awful hunter green paint to put on it, and a can of yellow for the name...I like the idea of the bottle opener, but I think I'll wait until I've made few and get one I am happy with and performs well before I make one look like a Turkish bazaar.


Has anyone been cliche enough to do one in Harley Davidson?

I was thinking 40's rat rod with pinstriping...

Question about drums?
 

This has probably been answered in this monster thread somwhere but I am too lazy to read all the way back through. I can get 4 drums for free that held high octane racing gas. Of course I would wash them out really well with dawn dish soap and water before I did any cutting or drilling. My question is would there be any toxic effects from the fuel that could not be removed by scrubbing and a good burn?

nope

Hi guys - I'm hoping you can help me out with some advice. I did try the other UDS thread but it dropped off so I'm hoping this will lead me in the right direction.

The drum I have is 34" tall. I am using 3 - 3.50in bolts as feet for the fire basket. So the bottom of the basket will be around 3.25in from the bottom of the drum. Going 24 in up from there puts me at 6.75in from the top of the drum. Is that too close to the top for a two cooking grate setup? Lower grate would be at 6.75" from the top and the upper would be .5" from the top.

Can I go any closer to the fire basket than the suggested 24" min or can I use shorter bolts for the feet of the basket?

Thanks for the help.

You certainly can go with a shorter dim. to the lower grate. I have a 34" drum and the first grate is 26" from the barrels bottom and the second is 32" from the bottom. The charcoal grate sits about 3" off the bottom of the drum, so that leaves 23" from cooking grate to bottom of charcoal basket. I do use a donor lid from a kettle as a lid instead of the flat one. 24" is a suggestion and I bet there are some drums out there with as little as 20" charcoal grate to cooking grate.

I appreciate the reply. I think I am just thinking about this too much. It's time to just build it and see what happens!

if it winds up too klose you can always put a baffle on top of the charcoal grate to cut the radiant heat a bit...

I only have 21 3/4 inches between the bottom of my cooking grate and the bottom of my charcoal basket in my mini UDS (30 gal drum) and have no problem with it.

http://http://i829.photobucket.com/a...2/DSCF5251.jpghere you go if it works???

Paul B

http://i829.photobucket.com/albums/z...2/DSCF5252.jpg

I think it worked this time!!

Paul B