Sealing question for UDS

dealm9 · Sep 23, 2018

It's been several years since my last UDS build. My old one has finally gotten to the point where building a new one is less of a hassle than trying to restore it. For this one i wanted to really make sure I had a good fit for my lid to make it as air tight as possible. The lid I am using does not fit very well to the drum so my idea was to bolt some stock metal on the inside for the lid to sit on and also create a shelf for some sort of gasket/sealing device for the lid to sit on to help seal the lid better. Other than noticing the poor job at bending and bolting the stock metal to the inside of the drum, does anyone have any experience doing this and if so any advice/tips. I'm also considering hinges and a clamp for the lid to help press it into the gasket once installed.

Here are the options I was looking at for gaskets that would sit on the shelf between the stock metal and lip of the drum:
Gasket 1
Gasket 2
Gasket 3

I've attached some pictures of the smoker so far so you can see what I am talking about.

Nuco59 · Sep 23, 2018

I feel your pain...really. Got a SS 55 drum for a good price - "free". It was closed head but I figured I could seal it up - no prob. I probably spent $75.00 trying just that. I tried all the standard "fixes" you will find here or on the net. A donor piece of the bowl of a weber kettle, a strip of 1/8" thick x 3" aluminum (like you did), asst diameters of stove gasket, some silicone gasket. They all sorta worked but nothing was "as tight as a drum" so I kept pecking at it. The only thing that did the trick was to go with the drum rim naked. I pounded the rim of the dome flat and fitted it to the rim of the drum with a 3# hammer and and a rubber mallet.

I'm happy with it now- just wish I had used that last option first. Did not want to ding up the porcelain on the lid...yeah right. It took a couple of cooks- I'd look for wisps of smoke and use the mallet on it. Turned out very smooth- I painted it and it's almost not noticeable..... if it's sorta dark and you are 10 feet away. But it works damned good now.

guero_gordo · Sep 23, 2018

I just ground the lip down to fit the lid.

Sealing question for UDS

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