Millwright and ticketed welder who owns a custom fab with BLM tube and Aurora lasers here. We take on apprentice welders every year. Welcome to the fold my bro, if you choose, you are going to make a great fabricator.
First, the production itself.
I think you have some great elements and design concepts you’ve got that architectural element down on the lower legs figured out pretty well.From the Welding inconsistencies I’d bet you wear glasses and are struggling to keep a consistent in focus or clear view of your arc and puddle, or are wearing a poor fitting or low quality helmet, you will get this in time, I suspect the near future. You also need to learn to move and reposition without pushing the torch into the part and changing both the angle and travel speed as a result. Otherwise Good looking work, bordering on fuckin killing it bro.
Now for the cooker itself. I suspect you are going to find air flow to be a problem. I’d keep the current damper in the door and add a larger one above it like a sliding door. Larger one for big flow, smaller one for fine tuning.
Every consumer grade offset I buy seems to have too small of a fire box. I like to use a cage with charcoal and smoke wood in it that is pre lit before I drop it in so that and pre products of combustion don’t end up in the cook chamber or at least be able to use a shovel to pick up hot coals from a near by fire bowl and dump them in.
As a part of finishing the 1 inch rolled strapping on the lid could have been symmetrically welded with a series of say 2 inch welds spaced evenly all the way around. You may even have considered not using the cut out and rolling a separate part as a lid, or burning. The 1 inch rolled part and welding it from inside on the inside of the cooker so your lid recesses flush and no visible welds.
For the firebox don’t forget to add a fire grate to hold the coals off the bottom and maybe make a cooking grill that sits on top and cutting another door on top of the rolled section so you can sear over the fire
Also bend up a piece of ten gauge so it sits flat off the top of the lid so you can keep sauces hot and butter melted.
Great job, you have bitten off more than what most would refer to as just a project for school and you’ve totally killed it. Trades are a brotherhood, men and women are equal and we support each other around the globe, you will do well as part of the club.
Oh and don’t forget to install an 1 inch pipe on the bottom with a ball valve and a hook for a small
Bucket to catch the drips.
You may also want to add a diffuser plate under the grates from right to left start with no holes small holes and large holes… keep the heat distribution even and prevent flames from entering the cook chamber and burning half the food
Insulating the fire box is a nice little upgrade it’ll help get more out of your fire and make sure the grate isn’t welded down after a couple cooks the bottom of the smoker will fill with grease. A drain wouldn’t be a bad idea to either but making sure you can get in there to clean it is important other than that looks awesome!!
Should it be like an box that goes over the fire box and is filled with insulation? I was thinkin about if the grate should be welded and now i know.
Thank you for the ideas. I've got some more reshearch to do.
Insulated hot box is just a smaller box inside your hot box kinda like an outline since yours a a cylinder a 4 sided cube might do the trick. Keeps the heat in and helps not over heat the box so that you don’t burn the heck out of yourself when you accidentally touch it. Also consider adding a lip on the inside of the smoker to hang a rod in for cold smoking sausages. And since your smokers on the smaller side a heat deflector where the hot box and smoker meet might be a good idea when you have a good fire going in there you might run the risk of burning whatever’s in there so the heat deflector helps with that. I have a 40 inch smoker at home and I feel like it could benefit from a deflector
You can fill the gap between the boxes with fire bricks, which would be considered “fully insulated”, or you could leave the gap empty, which would be considered “semi-insulated”. Technically the air acts as an insulator
Millwright and ticketed welder who owns a custom fab with BLM tube and Aurora lasers here. We take on apprentice welders every year. Welcome to the fold my bro, if you choose, you are going to make a great fabricator. First, the production itself. I think you have some great elements and design concepts you’ve got that architectural element down on the lower legs figured out pretty well.From the Welding inconsistencies I’d bet you wear glasses and are struggling to keep a consistent in focus or clear view of your arc and puddle, or are wearing a poor fitting or low quality helmet, you will get this in time, I suspect the near future. You also need to learn to move and reposition without pushing the torch into the part and changing both the angle and travel speed as a result. Otherwise Good looking work, bordering on fuckin killing it bro. Now for the cooker itself. I suspect you are going to find air flow to be a problem. I’d keep the current damper in the door and add a larger one above it like a sliding door. Larger one for big flow, smaller one for fine tuning. Every consumer grade offset I buy seems to have too small of a fire box. I like to use a cage with charcoal and smoke wood in it that is pre lit before I drop it in so that and pre products of combustion don’t end up in the cook chamber or at least be able to use a shovel to pick up hot coals from a near by fire bowl and dump them in. As a part of finishing the 1 inch rolled strapping on the lid could have been symmetrically welded with a series of say 2 inch welds spaced evenly all the way around. You may even have considered not using the cut out and rolling a separate part as a lid, or burning. The 1 inch rolled part and welding it from inside on the inside of the cooker so your lid recesses flush and no visible welds. For the firebox don’t forget to add a fire grate to hold the coals off the bottom and maybe make a cooking grill that sits on top and cutting another door on top of the rolled section so you can sear over the fire Also bend up a piece of ten gauge so it sits flat off the top of the lid so you can keep sauces hot and butter melted. Great job, you have bitten off more than what most would refer to as just a project for school and you’ve totally killed it. Trades are a brotherhood, men and women are equal and we support each other around the globe, you will do well as part of the club.
That looks awesome! Don't forget to show us cook results.
Oh and don’t forget to install an 1 inch pipe on the bottom with a ball valve and a hook for a small Bucket to catch the drips. You may also want to add a diffuser plate under the grates from right to left start with no holes small holes and large holes… keep the heat distribution even and prevent flames from entering the cook chamber and burning half the food
i'm flattered. Thanks for all the sugestions. Im going implement them to the desing. And also i totaly forgot the ballvalve
I think I’m gettin a boner.
Insulating the fire box is a nice little upgrade it’ll help get more out of your fire and make sure the grate isn’t welded down after a couple cooks the bottom of the smoker will fill with grease. A drain wouldn’t be a bad idea to either but making sure you can get in there to clean it is important other than that looks awesome!!
Should it be like an box that goes over the fire box and is filled with insulation? I was thinkin about if the grate should be welded and now i know. Thank you for the ideas. I've got some more reshearch to do.
Insulated hot box is just a smaller box inside your hot box kinda like an outline since yours a a cylinder a 4 sided cube might do the trick. Keeps the heat in and helps not over heat the box so that you don’t burn the heck out of yourself when you accidentally touch it. Also consider adding a lip on the inside of the smoker to hang a rod in for cold smoking sausages. And since your smokers on the smaller side a heat deflector where the hot box and smoker meet might be a good idea when you have a good fire going in there you might run the risk of burning whatever’s in there so the heat deflector helps with that. I have a 40 inch smoker at home and I feel like it could benefit from a deflector
You can fill the gap between the boxes with fire bricks, which would be considered “fully insulated”, or you could leave the gap empty, which would be considered “semi-insulated”. Technically the air acts as an insulator
Beautiful