Building my own

[Browser]

Sorreeee *hangs head in shame mod*:redface:

Every bleedin' time I get close to the garage to do any work on it summat else crops up (like Christmas, or work, or my daughters birthday) and nabs all of my time. I WILL, however, be spending one full day next week out in the garage which, with luck and a following wind, might see the thing finished. A lot of the outstanding stuff is welding (handle brackets onto lid, ash catcher onto bottom, air inlet pipes together, trolley frame together etc) then it'll be done. Then all I'll have to do is bring it to work for a paint removal burn, paint the exterior and give it a conditioning burn then start smokin'
See you in about six months then:biggrin:

 

[Dr_KY]

I think you ment to say..''see you this same time NEXT weeked.''

lol

Did you get any snow yesterday? We didn't any at all over here.

 

[Barbarian]

good to see a couple guys in England wanting to Smoke. I get over that way every couple of years for croquet but never seen any Q there.

 

[Browser]

I think you ment to say..''see you this same time NEXT weeked.''

Ah, yes of course I did!:wink: Silly me, forgetting that (sheesh):biggrin:

Did you get any snow yesterday? We didn't any at all over here.

Did we 'eck as like! It never snows when the weathermen say it will, then catches us unawares, drops an inch of powder and the whole blummin' country grinds to a halt:icon_blush: We get very little anyway on the East coast, and I'm in one of the driest areas in the country., Still 'n all, makes for more weather to Q in:-D

 

[jestridge]

Browser if you need any hints on welding drop me an email. I teach welding. Also today I hit a gold mine , we didnt have school today so my friend and I visit a scrape yard they give us 4 air tank that came off rail cars 21' in D the longest is 70 " the other 3 are around 38' 1/4" thick. These will make great welding projects.

 

[Dr_KY]

Those would be bigger than the average garden here. lol

 

[jestridge]

Not rail car air storage tank for a rail car LOL

 

[Dr_KY]

Same differance.lol

 

[Browser]

Well, I've finally taken some piccies, not terribly interesting I'm afraid but they show some sort of progress:redface:

Finished the lid

That blummin airvent took longer than it had any right to, but I didn't want to shell out for a gate valve and unlike some people we impoverished English folk can't score free Weber kettles to cannibalise for parts:wink: Here's a closer look at it.

Put the fifth (I think) coat of PU varnish on the lid handles, I WILL get the brackets welded on this week so that will be the lid done. See if you can pick out the handles amongst the clutter of crap on my workbench:icon_blush:

Finally, here's the ash catcher. The bowl is the bottom of an old gas cylinder cut off, the conical part is a flat piece of mild steel cut & bent into a cone. I'll go into more detail about this when it's welded to the bottom of the drum.

 

[Dr_KY]

Man that lid is ob original bad a**!

Are you going to paint the tip or leave it clean?

 

[Browser]

Unpainted, definitely. Can't se the point of scoring a ready-made stainless cone like that and then painting the thing! I am going to buy some more stainless polishing mops and will try to give it a more even satin finish.

 

[Dr_KY]

That's a relief I thought I was going to have to talk you out of slapping on the paint. lol Yesterday at work I was cleaning inside a seperator and laughtd to myself when I saw the chinamans hat in there.
Whats the inside of the hat... lid look like?

Great progress there Browser.

 

[Browser]

Kinda boring, I'll take a pic later and post it.

 

[Browser]

Update of the latest work done. Finally got the ash chute stuck together, cut the bottom off the drum and welded said ash chute on:

Cutting the drum. And before anyone else says it, yes, there is no air hose on that nibbler, I'd taken it off for a second:-D

The chute in position and being tacked on. Due to the metal being thin and a lack of overlap in places leading to a couple of burn-throughs, I used the tack-around-the-edge-'til-all-the-tacks-join-up method.

Fitting the first air intake pipe, in through the side of the ashu chute, below where the fire grate will sit. This was some thinwalled 1.5" dia steel handrail left over from a job at work and rescued from the skip by me. It is only galvaniswed on the outside for some strange reason, suits me though as I can utillise it for this job:-D It wasn't welded in here, I was just trying it for hole fit. The idea with thaving the air intakes below the fire grate is taken from several open fire grates and wood burning stoves I've seen which use the same air intake method, so if it works for them........:wink:

Trial fit of the ash pan. Those tabs sticking out will eventually be bent over to form a sort of bayonet coupling to hold the ash pan on (pics will follow). I need to 're-shape'the mating flanges a little as they aren't air-tight at present, but they will be after mr copper/hide hammer's had a word with them:mrgreen:
This has been the biggest 'wheel re-invention' part of my UDS build, my advice is either don't bother with an ash pan or if you must have one, get one of those Weber copies from Sears and cannibalise it for parts.

Next step will be to finish fitting the air inlet pipe to it's hole properly then weld it in, fit the other pipe opposite this one, make the trolley and weld it on to the drum, drill holes for & fit the grate supports, drill holes for temp probes then burn out the drum to remove crud & paint. Easy when you say it quickly:icon_smil

 

[Dr_KY]

Glad to see you kept your appointment. lol

Question - Are you hand building to trolly?

 

[Browser]

Question - Are you hand building to trolly?

Yuurs, I don't have one handy to adapt/butcher, but I do have several lengths of round, square & rectangular steel tube rescued at various times from the works' scrap metal skip, so they will be utillised. I'll probably use the round tube as it's been sat in my store the longest and it's in the best lengths for this job. I scored some nice 8" pneumatic-tyred wheels, again from the works' skip, which I'm gonna use as I can see myself having to wheel the UDS to the furthest reaches of the garden to avoid smoking out the neighbours and castors just wouldn't hack crossing my lawn:redface:.
Forgot to say before, I proved my own theory right about not going into tool shops unless I have something specific to buy as I have no will power at all. I had to go to BOC for a new argoshield cylinder yesterday and spotted a 4.5" hook-and-loop backing pad and it's associated abrasive discs, both designed for polishing stainless steel, on a display stand, so I had to buy one and two pads for lid polishing. Will get this done at the end of the job.

 

[Dr_KY]

Hell I could use the new toy on my stainles lid. Flat and booring but it was free too. I'm waiting on a two inch by say seven inch stainless threaded pipe to it the skip to go with this ball valve. lol


I figure the trolly for yours should take a que from dart flights. Yes I was i the pub yestersay

 

[Browser]

You can be sure I'll post pics when it's under way!

 

[Dr_KY]

lol I must be close.lol

 

[Mark]

Browser:

Your lid reminds of of Madonna's left tit; or maybe her right. I'm not sure.