RF vertical smoker, Finished with pics!!!!!

ChancySamp2 · Joined: 26 May 2010 Posts: 7

Want to start with cooker is looking great. Thinking about building one myself. Was just wondering which one of the insulations you got off of mcmaster.com There are several ones, which has me confused. i was also wondering about the rope insulation for the door. any info would be greatly appreciated. Thansk

ggarner · Posted: Wed Dec 08 10 5:36 am Post subject:

KAM: Thanks. I found a couple web pages that described how to do it for mig welding and figured it couldn't be all that different! Just like icing a cupcake! HAHA

John D.Q. Thanks! Its coming along slowly but shurley! Thought I would have it finished a couple weeks ago, but oh well just keep grinding away at it!

ChancySamp2: Thank you! The insulation ordered was called High-Temperature Sheeting. I got some of the 2" thick 9356K13 and some of the 1" thick 9356K11 for the doors.

This mineral wool would also work. Just depends ow much you want to spend 9328K43

I have not actually ordered my rope insulation for the doors yet, but was thinking that Extra-High Temperature Adhesive-Backed Strips would work well. 1/8" thick 4057K3

Or this may also work well but not sure exactly how to attach it to the doors 87575K87 Same with this stuff, but i thing 1/2" thick may be a bit much 9379K91[/u]
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Santa Maria BBQ
Insulated RF Vertical Smoker

Smoken-Brewer · Posted: Wed Dec 08 10 12:29 pm Post subject:

Are the fibers in the door gasket a concern?
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What goes together better than BBQ, Cigars, Beer, Bourbon, and Scotch? I think I need to open a joint with all of these Wink

Maverick ET-732
IGrill
OS RF
http://www.thesmokering.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=45885

ggarner · Posted: Wed Dec 08 10 6:07 pm Post subject:

Smoken-Brewer · Posted: Wed Dec 08 10 8:23 pm Post subject:

Im just thinking of my wood stove. Sometimes when putting wood in and not touching the fibers i see them flake and i still feel the itch. I could just imagine what that would feel like going down the throat Confused

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What goes together better than BBQ, Cigars, Beer, Bourbon, and Scotch? I think I need to open a joint with all of these Wink

Maverick ET-732
IGrill
OS RF
http://www.thesmokering.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=45885

ggarner · Posted: Sat Dec 11 10 11:18 pm Post subject:

Smoken-Brewer: That is good info to know. I can either put my insulation on the door, or on the frame where it will contact the door. I guess if I put it on the door it would be less of an issue to worry about. Thanks for the heads up!

Here is the back skin of the smoker going on. I drilled 1/4" holes every 4" and then there is a 2" long slit cut with my angle grinder so that I can do the plug weld and then continue welding through the keyhole made and get a solid connection between the 2 surfaces

Here is what it looked like after all the welding was done.

Here i am making what will be the exhaust tubing for smoke to exit the cooking chamber. I cut a slit half way through the 12ga steel and then used a hammer to get a good straight edge.

I then welded the cut edge and ground off the excess weld, and this was the final product

And finally a picture of my helper after getting a bath because she was kinda stinky!

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Santa Maria BBQ
Insulated RF Vertical Smoker

k.a.m. · Posted: Sat Dec 11 10 11:43 pm Post subject:

ggarner, your hammering this baby out in a fine fashion. Very Happy

Awesome job on your exhaust tubes they look fantastic. Very Happy

I love the pic of your helper, very nice indeed. Very Happy

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Always remember slow and steady wins the race.

Reverse Flow
Hybrid Cooker

ggarner · Posted: Wed Dec 15 10 1:48 am Post subject:

Thanks KAM, things are coming along slowly but surely!

Over the past couple days I was able to knock out a few more things.

Here is am putting in the frame that the firebox door will close against. It is made from 1" square tubing which was welded all around the frame to make an airtight seal

Here is a closer photo before I started attaching it to the frame

I was also able to get the exhaust stacks installed. This proved to be more of a challenge than originally anticipated because I forgot to mark on the roof when I welded it on and welded the entire roof piece on. So I had to use the grinder and grind off the weld and then cut the piece out with the cut off blade. I ended up using some 6011 rod and cranked up the amperage to make the 1" cut to the edge of the frame because that was the only way I could thing of doing it in such a confined space. It actually turned out really well and the rod made a nice square cut.

Here you can see the smoker on its side, and how the exhaust vents will eventually connect together. I am planning on attaching them with a couple pieces of 12ga sheet metal and they will be sloped towards the cooker so that condensation does not build up. I am thinking I will make a 4x4 tube for the final exhaust to exit the top of the cooker.

This is just a close up of one of the exhaust ports exiting the roof of the cooker.

Still quite a bit of work left to do but I can finally see the end in sight! Next thing on the agenda is to get the door seal framed in for the cooking area and then add the supports for the shelves. I also have to go pick up some more sheet metal to use for the 2 exterior sides because they were out when i purchased all my material at the start of this.
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Santa Maria BBQ
Insulated RF Vertical Smoker

ChancySamp2 · Joined: 26 May 2010 Posts: 7

coming along nicely!! had a question on the wall plate that comes from the firebox for the vent. Did you cut out a hole for it or leave a gap between the interior wall. also what size is the firebox. thanks

ggarner · Posted: Wed Dec 15 10 4:53 am Post subject:

ggarner · Posted: Thu Dec 16 10 1:37 am Post subject:

Well had a bunch of stuff going on today but still got a little bit of work done. I was cutting some of the sheet metal to finish framing in the exhaust and messed up when I measured it and it was too short. But the length ended up being perfect for making the exhaust pipe so I went ahead and did that instead.

I scored 3 lines into the sheet metal with the angle grinder and then bend the piece into a square.

Welding up the seem. I used some 1/16" 6013 and it worked very well.

A little bit of a cold start on this one, but nothing that the grinder and a sanding disk wont make short work of.

Now tomorrow I will work on finishing the exhaust hopefully with correct measurements this time Wink

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Santa Maria BBQ
Insulated RF Vertical Smoker

mrcustomsteel · Posted: Sat Dec 18 10 5:09 am Post subject:

Great idea for making the box.
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D. Tillery
Texan transplanted in Billings, MT
www.mrcustomsteel.com

TrailerBuilder · Posted: Sat Dec 18 10 1:41 pm Post subject:

ggarner, you have some serious skills my friend. After seeing your Santa Maria, which was a beauty, and now following this build. You put together one nice pit. Awesome work and keep those pictures coming.
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Trailers By Troy

X2 Finished Build
Disco Time

ggarner · Posted: Sat Dec 18 10 8:22 pm Post subject:

Mrcustomsteel: Thank you! I have always been a fan of trying to make the most out of what you have, so i really hate to waste anything due to a screw up with a measurement. I got it all polished up and welded on yesterday but didnt take any pictures. I get some of the finished product on monday. I was actually pretty impressed with the results myself, as I had never done this before.

TrailerBuilder: Thank you very much! I am sort of just learning as I go along. Luckily I am pretty mechanically inclined and pick things up pretty quickly, as well as sort of just seeing things in my head. I dont have any sort of experience doing this type of stuff. I taught myself to weld about a year ago, and aside from always watching the new yankee workshop and assorted other wood working shows and a little american chopper and jesse james tv shows I have no experience metal working at all!

I have my Ph.D. in organic chemistry, but since the economy is so stellar right now I am unemployed and doing this to keep from going stir crazy in between applying for what few jobs there are in my actual field of expertise.

I do have a few pics that I took the other day of the exhaust work being wrapped up.

Everything clamped in and doing a test fit

got the bottom portion welded in and then test fitting the top of the tubing

I cut a 4x4 hole to fit the exhaust stack that I made. Then got that all fitted up and leveled and welded in but no pics of that. Then I also had to make some small patches to fill in some 1x1 holes that you can see in the corners from where I had bent the tubing where it came out of the roof.

I dont have the angle iron to make the sliders for the shelves, or the shelves yet, so I guess the next step is to make the cooker and firebox doors.
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Santa Maria BBQ
Insulated RF Vertical Smoker

McSmoke · Posted: Sat Dec 18 10 10:32 pm Post subject:

ggarner · Posted: Wed Dec 22 10 1:17 am Post subject:

Thanks McSmoke! I got her about a year ago when she was 7 months old, and she has been a great dog. A bit of a spaz but a great pup none the less.

Well it has been consistently raining here all day every day since sunday... so progress has been slow to say the least.

I did manage to get the 1" square tubing welded in that will act as the seal that the door will close against and it looks real nice.

Next on the agenda is to get the doors fabbed up and but some hinges and get them welded on. Thinking of getting these little guys from McMaster 1071A22

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Santa Maria BBQ
Insulated RF Vertical Smoker

k.a.m. · Posted: Wed Dec 22 10 1:32 am Post subject:

ggarner, Your coming along nicely. Very Happy

I love reading your posts and seeing your progress. You post a lot of pics and explain as you go. Something I wish I would do more often during a build. The hinges you are looking at are very nice. I have used them before. My welding supply company sells them in house. If you go this route roll the hinge up a bit on its edge to give you some clearance on the opposing side. I look forward to seeing some more pics and updates. Very Happy

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Always remember slow and steady wins the race.

Reverse Flow
Hybrid Cooker

Tom C · Posted: Wed Dec 22 10 4:34 am Post subject:

ggarner,

Very nice fab. skills! The smoker is looking great!
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Homemade offset smoker 24"x48"
Charbroil CB900 grill

ggarner · Posted: Tue Dec 28 10 7:08 am Post subject:

KAM: Thanks for the suggestion on the hinges! I will def have to check it out once they come in. I try to take a lot of pics, but must admit that sometimes I forget. Really trying to show people that with only a little bit of skills and some planning most people should be able to do this.

Tom C: Thank you, its always nice when things come together as well in reality as they do in my head! HAHA

Well today I got the last of my parts hopefully ordered.

I ordered 20' of 1/2" tightly woven fiberglass rope, so hopefully this is the right size for sealing the cooking and firebox doors. Not really sure it was sort of just a guess. It was only a buck a foot, so if it doesnt work out I will at least know if i need to go larger or smaller.

I saw that they also sold High-Temperature Silicate Adhesive for bonding fiberglass rope insulation to steel, and for only 7 bucks I figured it was worth a try. Its good to 2000 degrees so hopefully it does the trick, and i dont have to mess with screws, or rivets etc.

I also ordered 2 of these slam latches that I think should do the trick

As well as 5 of these barrel hinges which were 2 bucks a pop.

I am planning on getting the 2 doors finished tomorrow, and all the supplies I ordered should be here by Wednesday so hopefully I can get them mounted then.
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Santa Maria BBQ
Insulated RF Vertical Smoker

TrailerBuilder · Posted: Tue Dec 28 10 4:02 pm Post subject:

ggarner, you are coming along nicely my friend. You have this building thing going on man! You are doing some nice work.

I think you will like those hinges, I have them readily available and think I will look into them for my smoker build. I use them alot on trailer builds and have had great luck with them so far.

Keep up the good work and the updates!
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Trailers By Troy

X2 Finished Build
Disco Time