seattlepitboss's discada build in progress

seattlepitboss · Last edited by seattlepitboss on Wed Jun 08 11 2:18 am; edited 1 time in total

I ordered a 24mm x 3-1/2" disc from agrisupply today. They show a few discs on their site that have the same spec; I wound up calling them to make certain I got one that they call "coned" and I surely hope it's the right one!

I've already got a jet-type wok burner set up for propane, and a buddy of mine has an old truck brake drum that will make a fine base, clean looking too. So it should go together quick once I get all the parts.

I'm planning to remove the scale from the disc, probably by an acid dip followed by hot water rinse followed by oiling.

seattlepitboss
current build:
http://www.thesmokering.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=42652

TrailerBuilder · Posted: Fri May 27 11 7:58 pm Post subject:

Looking forward to seeing the finished product. Im on the hunt for a disc as well, all the awesome cooks I have been seeing has put a disc build at the top of the list!
_________________
Trailers By Troy

X2 Finished Build
Disco Time

GF · Posted: Sat May 28 11 1:20 am Post subject:

seattlepitboss, I just got a 20" disk from them. The shipping was included and fast. When you get it going, you will love it. Just make sure you have all your fixins close, it goes pretty quick. Good luck with it.

seattlepitboss · Posted: Wed Jun 08 11 2:25 am Post subject:

After making a killer test batch of the northern Mexican dish called discada in my 16" wok, I realized I had to build a heavy burner and do whatever it took to get a harrow disk and make it into what the Mexican's call a discada.

I like to use what I have on hand, and design things that I can build with the equipment and skills I have. Years ago I picked up a piece of 14" pipe about 30" long with 3/8" walls. I know there are two kinds of supports generally used in commercial wok installations. One kind has fingers, so the hot gases can flow between the fingers up the side of the wok. The other is a ring, actually a short section of cone or cylinder, with holes in it for the hot gases to pass through. I decided to make a 2" ring from a slice of my 14" pipe. The biggest rotabroach cutter I own is 1-5/16" so planned to use that to cut 12 holes evenly arranged around the ring. After doing a lot of layout, it was time to drill the holes. I used my mag drill on a shop-made base which I hold to the pipe with 2 small tacks. It's easy to cut the tacks and clean up on the belt sander between holes.

Here's the pipe with all the holes cut, ready to slice:

After I cut off the ring with a torch, I took it to a buddy who has a 22" Graziano lathe, and he kindly faced it off for me. Here's the cut edge all cleaned up:

You'll notice it's sitting on the replacement harrow disk I received today. You can call me many things, but a country boy isn't one of them, so I ordered one new. I had a picture in my mind of a spun steel disc, shaped like it was sliced off a sphere. What showed up sure wasn't that. This is cast steel and shaped more like a cone, except for the center which is more rounded. It was made in Brazil, and its center hole is an 8-sided figure which you get by rotating a 1-1/4" square 45 degrees and dropping it on top of a 1-1/8" square. I'm still considering how I want to weld it up. Meantime, here's the actual item that showed up on my porch today. I ordered it from agrisupply.com, their part number 25790, a 24" disk with nominal 3-1/4" concavity (although mine measured 4" but who cares?), 6mm or 1/4" thick. It's got a thick coat of black paint on it which is going to have to come off. Being a casting, I doubt I'll have to worry about removing scale, since this wasn't formed from hot-rolled plate. See:

I know a lot of guys on this forum like the 35k BTU burners they sell on Amazon, but here in Seattle they have a lot of excellent Asian restaurant supply houses, and I bought a 2-piece wok burner which has 20 brass nozzles jetted for propane. They sell burners like this on ebay and the sellers claim up to 125k BTU but of course probably 2/3rds of that is marketing and it all depends on how far you crank up the regulator anyway. The castings are very rough and had lots of flashing still evident, so I stripped them in a pan of hot water with about 1/4 cup of Cascade dishwashing detergent, then ground off the flashing myself and wire brushed them completely clean. I masked off the threaded holes by cutting little squares of paper and rolling them up loosely, letting them unroll until they catch the hole ID closely. I took the brass nozzles and put them into the vibratory tumbler to clean them up. Here are the two casting pieces ready to paint:

I want to cook on this thing on Friday, so I plan to finish it tomorrow or the next day. Thanks for looking!

killswitch505 · Posted: Thu Jun 09 11 2:40 am Post subject:

looks pretty cool man glad you joined the club
_________________
Club Disco

Inner10 · Posted: Thu Jun 09 11 4:53 am Post subject:

This thread makes me want a mag drill bad.

seattlepitboss · Posted: Thu Jun 09 11 5:35 am Post subject:

I got the whole top burner assembly done today, just needs a bit more hi-temp paint. Here are a couple of pix with the burner installed, one with the burner hood and the other without:

Tomorrow I'll finish off the whole burner and get cracking on the disc. Might even have time to get a pic of the thing burning!

ChuckieD · BBQ Super Pro Joined: 07 Oct 2009 Posts: 1116

seattlepitboss,
Welcome to the Disco Club! Very Happy

That is an awesome burner bro! Cool

Nice work.
Is it for your wok too?
_________________
SEE YA!
Chuckie D.

Big Green Egg XL
UDS build
The Old Brick Barbecue Project!

seattlepitboss · Posted: Mon Jun 13 11 2:02 pm Post subject:

KAKid · Posted: Tue Jun 14 11 10:26 pm Post subject:

That is an awesome setup and great workmanship. Cool

Makes my build look like a rookie job... Oh, wait! It is. Laughing

_________________
I was taught to respect my elders. It's just getting harder to find them.

Chargriller Outlaw w/SFB and Mods
Pair of UDS's
10 gal CI Chili/Jambalaya pot

seattlepitboss · Posted: Wed Jun 15 11 12:41 am Post subject:

k.a.m. · Posted: Wed Jun 15 11 12:52 am Post subject:

seattlepitboss · Posted: Wed Jun 15 11 2:40 am Post subject:

Kevin, I already brazed up the leaks. A quick test burn shows the burner now much more stable without the leaks. Here's a pic (sorry, long exposure, I shook ..) showing the burner just idling along, like it has 20 pilot lights:

And here it is turned up some. These burners really rock .. this wasn't up that high at all and the heat was already intense.

seattlepitboss · Posted: Thu Jun 16 11 9:26 pm Post subject:

No more pix for you guys, but I wanted to say if you never cook on your disc it makes a dandy dinner bell! I hit mine with a hammer (gently) and wow! loud, clear, pure, lasted for minutes!

seattlepitboss

killswitch505 · Posted: Fri Jun 17 11 1:28 am Post subject:

lookin good SPB but should your flame be a little more blue then yellow
_________________
Club Disco

seattlepitboss · Posted: Fri Jun 17 11 1:56 am Post subject:

seattlepitboss · Posted: Mon Jun 20 11 8:39 pm Post subject:

Got the disc cooker finished and even started seasoning the disc, though still without handles. Here's a shot of the cooker with the burner raised up for disc cooking:

Hope you guys like the flex stainless hose. Once upon a time it was used for liquid nitrogen. I'd hate to buy a replacement new! The regulator is a 3-stage Rego which I've been using for a long time on my gassers. Really stable at ultra-low pressures. Here's the cooker in its short configuration for using tall pots (or for really short cooks):

If you look really closely at the base of the pipe you will see the tommy bolt I use to adjust the height with.

Here's a shot that will likely look familiar to those of you experienced in disc cooking (that's rock salt in the bottom of the disc, said to keep the smoke down but which didn't):

KAKid · Posted: Mon Jun 20 11 9:42 pm Post subject:

GF · Posted: Mon Jun 20 11 11:10 pm Post subject:

seattlepitboss, very nice looking build. The base looks very sturdy and the adjustments are a big plus. Great job. Smile

killswitch505 · Posted: Tue Jun 21 11 12:52 am Post subject:

pretty cool build SPB
_________________
Club Disco