My Oil Drum project

[esselle]

Early pic this one. I have now had two custom stays made (a bit like old style car bonnet stays). I couldn't find anyway of making the grill and ashpan so have had to order that from a company online and that is my next step. I will put the next pics on when that arrives.

[Steve]

Great to see your project underway.

To answer your question about painting the inside...

Now I'm no expert but you said you wanted to grill in the main chamber too, I don't think even VHT paint will cope with that. My UDS is painted on the outside with VHT engine paint which is rated to 600C but I wouldn't trust it inside. You have to remember the bottom and top of an Excel are porcelain coated and the stackers aren't rated for direct heat.

I've just seasoned the inside of the UDS with cooking oil. I.e. I rubbed it down with oil then I gave it a nice long burn at around 300F. This should hopefully protect it from rusting.

Are you planning to spot weld a bit of flat bar around your door to get a good seal? Also you said you were building an offset, what you making your firebox out of? 1/4"?

[esselle]

I did get some strip to weld on the door but I think it's a bit thick - it's about 1/4 inch I think- what would you suggest - and any suggestions for the offset would be greatly appreciated too thanks again

[Steve]

Hopefully Al will comment as he's the BBQ building expert on here. Like I said I'm no expert but I'll share what I think.

For your firebox I reckon you'd be best served with decent gauge metal otherwise it will oxidise away to nothing in no time. There's also a formula for working out the size a firebox needs to be for a particular cooking chamber volume. I'll try to find it for you.

Are you going with a typical side mounted firebox? Normal or reverse flow?

I saw pictures of one recently done in a diamond configuration that was made out of a 45 gallon drum and a 20(ish) gallon drum as a firebox. If you've got the capability to cut stainless steel then a stainless beer barrel might make a firebox.

[esselle]

OK, well I was thinking of a typical side mounted firebox. Sorry to sound dim but what's the difference between normal and reverse flow?

[Steve]

Mate, you don't sound dim, I didn't know until recently and I had to google it

Normal flow would be heat source at one end, exhaust at the other so the smoke and heat travel from one end of the smoker to the exhaust at the other end.

Reverse flow smokers have the firebox and exhaust at the same end with a baffle under the grill. The smoke travels under the baffle and round to get out of the exhaust at the same end.

[County4x4]

Tell you what - I'm gutted.

We scrapped a bunch of brand new stainless steel barrels at work recently - only small ones about the size of beer kegs. They looked nice just as "a thing" - never mind being a useful thing! I have a real problem with chucking good stuff away, but have to steel myself sometimes as I can't keep hold of everything I like. I'll bet these would have been ideal for some of you guys

Andy

[Steve]

Andy, i liked you until you said that

Only joking mate, but if you get any more let us know, I'm thinking stainless steel MUDS (mini UDS)

When Al sees this thread he's going to have a heart attack

[County4x4]

I'll certainly keep my eye out mate. These were in a part of our company that deals with auto industry wastes - we process all sorts of waste paints, thinners, high tech aircraft coatings systems and so on. I don't often work in this area, but hate it when I do as there are pallets and pallets of good stuff - slightly bent drums, discontinued paint lines, loads of industrial coatings that cost a fortune - you name it. All the volatiles etc get processed and blended into fuel for cement kilns and all the metals are shredded for recycling. And of course there were these barrels which were stainless, unmarked and brand new. Like I said, they looked nice just as an object

Reckon I need my own warehouse.......

Andy

[esselle]

Mate, you don't sound dim, I didn't know until recently and I had to google it

Normal flow would be heat source at one end, exhaust at the other so the smoke and heat travel from one end of the smoker to the exhaust at the other end.

Reverse flow smokers have the firebox and exhaust at the same end with a baffle under the grill. The smoke travels under the baffle and round to get out of the exhaust at the same end.

definately normal flow then