Saturday, September 15, 2007

Finishing the Grate

Last time I rough-cut the rods for my grate, but I needed to get the ends looking better. Thus, BEHOLD!....

My ghetto rig to hold them in place so I can grind them all at once, to exactly the same length. Man, I really like those long-jawed vice grips.


Lookin' Good...


Bob suggested I add a middle bar for stability. It hadn't occurred to me, but it was a good idea. I checked out an old Weber grill that's lying around the metal shop, and sure enough, it had some crossbraces. It was a quick and easy procedure to cut the right length and weld it in.


I used a chisel to punch some indentations every 3/4 inch, where all the rods will go. I figured they would sit there and not roll around, so I could do my welding a lot faster. Don't have a heart attack about the chisel - I sharpened it afterward.


Turned out pretty good... the assembly was very fast using MIG welding.


Finally, I added some handles and sandblasted the whole thing, to get rid of all the oil and welding residue. I am going to be eating off this thing, after all! Next time, I will start building the grill body, so stay tuned!

4 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

If you laid the rods on the chisel notches, how did you weld from the underside of the cooking surface?

Does your grill have a nickname yet?

7:55 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

James-
Your project looks good! Are you planning to use aluminum for the body? If so, how will you be welding this material? When welding repeated pieces as you have done with the grate, it can also be done with two removable spacers, so that after the first cross piece of the grate is welded carefully into place, the two spacers define the gap betwen the next piece. After welding piece two, the spacers hop ahead to the next piece, etc., etc. This way, you dont have to worry about getting the pieces parallel or do all that chisel work.
I'll keep in touch!
ARP

7:45 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I've never seen a ghetto rig before. How does it get its name? My name is JPP.

8:54 AM  
Blogger James said...

dids: I only welded the middle bar from underneath. The ends are welded from above. And it doesn't have a nickname other than the title of this blog...

ARP: dang, I should have thought of that, it would have saved a lot of time. I'm using steel for the grill body (see later post), but I also want an ash box, a fuel box, and a cabinet for tools. I was thinking Aluminum would be good for those, mainly to keep the weight down, but also so I don't have to paint them. I like the look of some bare metal mixed with painted surfaces.

JPP- I'm pretty sure I know who you are... and a ghetto rig is anything you make up in lieu of the proper tool for the job!

7:24 PM  

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