Saturday, September 15, 2007

Frame finished, Second grate, Vent lid

I surreptitiously stepped in the shop without a camera one day and finished welding the frame. You didn't miss much, but here it is in all its glory:



It's solid.



I want to attach a hefty round tube handle to the frame, and I will use these pieces of flat bar to do that. But first, I want to round them off on one end for aesthetic reasons. I'm using these vice grips so I can grind them both equally.



The finished product.


/
It will look like this...



Now I need to attach the handle to the frame. I grind down the inside corner of the end pieces, so the weld will have a gap to fill. This also means I can get away with no weld on the outside edge, so it will look nicer.



Voila!



Next item on the list: a second grate to hold the charcoal a couple of inches above the grill bottom. I could make this the same way I made the first grill, but that took a while. I decide to use this prefab heavy duty mesh:

It would be bad for the top grate, because I want grill lines on my food, not grill diamonds. But with a couple of angle irons welded on the ends for strength, it will be fine for holding charcoal.




First I shape some handles to attach to the ends...



And attach them to the angle irons...



And weld the whole thing together.



I attach some tabs on the inside of the bowl to hold it up...



...and they work.



Now, something I've been putting off: this ugly hole in the top of my lid. If you recall, I cut it out after failing to do a Weber-style rotating disc vent. Now it's time to deal with it.



I decide that I want a simple sliding door to cover or open the vent. It will be held on with a frame that is not easily described with words, so I will show you instead:
I start with two strips of thin gage, cold-rolled sheet steel.



I spot weld the two strips together, with a 1/2" overlap and 1/4" hanging off either end. The overhang will hold down the vent door, but let it slide back and forth.



I cut it into four strips with 45 degree angles, to make a square bracket.



And here it is, ready for a door. I can't attach this yet- I need to make and paint the door first.


That's all for now folks- next I will build an ash catcher, and the tool and charcoal cabinets.

4 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Looks like she's starting to come together. I'm impressed with your metalworking skills and creativity with the design. The final product ought to be pretty badass. I still cant conceptualize how that vent will work, but Ill find out soon enough. It sure looks cool with those spot welds though.

One love

7:50 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wow, you've gone turbo on this thing. It's very interesting to see you work through these challenges.

How do you hold the surfaces in contact when doing a horizontal weld like the handle to the frame?

Do you need ventilation under the charcoal grate to provide oxygen when grilling w/the lid closed?

8:29 PM  
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