Bros, lots of good designs for the fire baskets have been posted. The 24 inch clearance is from the bottom of the fire basket to the bottom of the grate. However you build the basket...still measure the bottom of the fire basket. Just my understanding of the UDS build and knowing that works.

Step drill
 

Yeh, they do get the job done and mine was $14 at Harbor, but they don't make very clean holes compared to the nice $44 step bit at HD. I have the nice one, but it doesn't go to 1'', but it cuts super clean and like butter. But the Harbor freight bit will get er done, but you might need to file out the burrs.

Masiewiz

Brand new drum: $35
Weber Gold CL score: $20
Ball valve & nipples: $15
All other parts: $0 <--- The benefits of a friend with a shop. :biggrin:
Fully assembled UDS: Priceless


The "Binford UDS 1000" is 99% complete. Enough to smoke on anyways... :D

Weber lid was not an easy fit. Had to hammer out the lip and then reshape it on the drum... Fits great now! LOL! Need another rack and eventually will get a turkey fryer thermo, but for now I'll just use the digital stuff. Plan on building a "vest" (UDS version of a BGE's "nest"). The charcoal basket (looks HUGE btw... LOL) needs to be wired to the grate, but that will be done this weekend. Other than that... here she is:

http://img512.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=pic0172.jpg

So i started my usd in the fall. i got the barrel, burned it, wire brushed it, took it to the car wash, rubbed it down with manteca, and drilled 3 intake holes. then found a cheep 22.5 inch weberlike grill at walmart on clearance for 20 bucks. This was all in sept/oct. it has been sitting in the back yard unfinished since.
so yesterday i decided to get back after it. suprisingly there was very little rust in the inside of the barrel. the outside is rusted pretty good.

I am a cheapguy, so i decided to try to use the weberlike bottom for my charcoal pan. I cut it with tin snips, so it will fit inside the drum. i drilled about 10 or so 7/8 inch holes in it, and a whole bunch of 1/4 inch holes. then i mounted it to a round cookie sheet/pizza pan thingy(to catch the ashes). Right now it sits about 3.5 inches above the bottom of the drum. but it is mounted with all thread, so i could lower it or raise it if need be.
I had it all planned out 7 months ago, but i can't remember how high i should mount the grill above the fire basket.
I remember it was pretty close to the top, but having trouble remembering if there was general consensus as to how far up from the charcoal it should be.
So how far should i be up?

Once i mount this grill, it will be ready to go, except for a paint job :)

24" from the bottom of the charcoal basket. so in ur case 27.5" from the bottom of the barrel. :biggrin:

thanks.
i just noticed, someone else wrote that at the top of this page:roll:

i should have read:-D

im gonna go get after it. i took some pics when i started, hopefully my wife didn't delete them yet :oops:

On top of all this... Mom just showed up and handed me 2 grocery bags and says... "here... i brought your new DDS (couldn't remember UDS) a birthday present."... inside was a 10 lb picnic and 2 chickens, and then handed me the keys and told me to grab the bag of charcoal out of the trunk... LMAO! I LOVE MY MOMMA!

Hey JTank, the charcoal basket is 8" tall and the grate is wired on 3" above the bottom of the basket. I have never had to fill all 5" for a cook. The diameter is the size of the Weber charcoal grate.

Hey Digi, Where did you find a new drum for $35?

New paint
 

do you all think normal spray paint can take the heat? I never go above 275 and I hate the engine block paint colors. Does anyone use rustoleum paint? 8)

I used good ol' Krylon primer and paint on the last one.
Had it up to 400° last weekend without any problems.

This thing has about two dozen cooks to it's credit.

Weiser

help please
 

anyone got any ideas about this stuff? Is heat the answer? Thanks for all help.

Barbarian, thank you. I can make two of those out of my hunk of expanded metal then(planning ahead for UDS # 2).

That is good news. Mine will be 1/4" shorter (7 3/4") than yours is but I am sure it will be fine. The charcoal grate is the only part of the puzzle I am missing at this point. I am going to go get it tomorrow night.

I started out having trouble finding a barrel and now I have Five of them.
The first one (not in photo)was a freebie from my boss but I was a little unsure about it because it smelled a tiny bit like fuel oil.

The next two (yellow and blue in pic) I got off Craig list for $25 with extra lids. They are food grad and had mango and cranberry puree’ sp. In them. The blue one has the red liner in it and it seems to be thick and tough. The yellow one is a much lighter barrel but it has a tan liner that looks like it would be easily burned out. Because of this I think the yellow one is going to be my best bet. Even though My favorite barrel is the blue one because it is a nice heavy drum.

The last two (black ones in pic) were free and had a water boune non toxic biodegradable coating (paint) in them. The paint was actually in a heavy duty bag inside the barrel too. These two have a orange liner but it does not look as thick or tough as the liner in the blue barrel.

The two black ones came with the interesting lids with two 2” bungs. One right in the center of the lids.

This past week has been extremely high fire danger in my area. It is going to rain all day tomorrow and part of Saturday so I hope I can do some drum burning this weekend.

Thanks to everyone for all your help thus far.
I will update with more pics As I go.

That thing is Smokin' Even when it is not smoking. Is that a vinyl decal?

Oh Crap!!!
 

I posted the wrong photo!
I'm in trouble now. :icon_smil

Actually it is one of those flexible magnet things.
Like the ones that are attached to every new phone book you get,
only bigger.
This looks horrible up close, I thought I was purchasing a neat piece of airbrushed nose art.

Weiser