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My BBQ Build Thread

krzemienr

Member
Joined
Mar 25, 2011
Messages
22
Location
Schaumburg, IL
I started the project in February and finished today. Here are some pictures:

Found a 55 gallon barrel, cut out an opening for the door, welded a piano hinge for the door:
DSC_0778.jpg



my poor welding (this was my first time welding sheet metal and it was def. a learning experience):
DSC_0779.jpg



welds grinded down a bit:
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cut out bottom grate for the charcoal:
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welded on a smoke stack, it's 2.25" mandrel bent exhaust tubing:
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welded in brackets for bottom charcoal grate and top food grate:
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Here is my air/temp control welded up at the bottom (since this picture was taken I have opened up the hole to 3/4"):
DSC_0783.jpg



Had to tack on some rod to the door as the metal is thin, the door bent everytime you tried to open/close it. This made it much more sturdy:
DSC_0785.jpg



I modified one of the 2 wood racks I have built previously to fit the bbq and added some brackets for the front shelf and handle:
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Cut a 1" wooden dowel in half and wrapped the handle:
DSC_0789.jpg



Fabricated and welded the side shelf on:
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Cut pieces of 1x4 to length and bolted them on:
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Found a 2" pipe cap and welded it together on the smoke stack (you can't see it in the pictures, but there are 3 steel rods welded to the cap and the stack leaving a 1/2" space between the 2):
DSC_0792.jpg



Progress thus far:
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welded 6" locking casters to one side and just cut pieces of angle to make the feet on the other:
DSC_0803.jpg

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I got all of the wood stained, and I countersunk all of the screws for the handle, filled all gaps with flexible/stainable wood filler and made it look like one piece with not bolts showing:
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Primed the BBQ. I use Rustoleum high heat primer (it is rated for 2000*). I have to say it is the weirdest primer I have ever used. When you spray it, it almost looks like it's gray primer with clear mixed (the clear part I'm assuming is the ceramic part of the coating). I ended up using 4 cans for 2 coats.
After 1 coat:
DSC_0830.jpg



After 2 coats:
DSC_0831.jpg



I already painted the "barrel" area at this point and just need to paint everything else. Overall I'm really happy with this bbq paint. It goes on smooth and dries very quickly. The green color needed much more coats than the black to cover the primer, but I was doing light coats about 20 min apart with 70-75 degree weather. As far as paint goes:

4 cans of primer
6 cans of green bbq paint
2 cans of black bbq paint
All Rustoleum products

DSC_0832.jpg



Finished:
DSC_0836.jpg

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Thanks for looking
Rafal
 
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Garage5.9

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 26, 2011
Messages
2,508
Location
Maui,Hawaii
nice job , was this a food grade drum ? if it is it looks like there is that nasty *** hard to burn off liner in there
 
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krzemienr

Member
Joined
Mar 25, 2011
Messages
22
Location
Schaumburg, IL
Nice Job. It looks great.
Have you tried it out yet?
I am wondering if it needs a small "Bung" or Air inlet on the the other side also.

have not cooked anything in it yet. I want to burn it out a couple more times just to be safe that the paint is fully cured and all vapors from it are gone. As far as the "bung" I was considering that, that is why I left the cap in the small threaded hole under the smoke stack.... in case I need to add one.

Rafal
 
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Plump

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 22, 2009
Messages
537
Location
SE Wisconsin
Looks really great. I have a similar set up except mine is on a trailer and the barrel is about 300 gallons. I too, have air intakes on the bottom of the grill which I actually put bricks over and let it fill up with ash to keep it from burning too hot (and basically vaporizing all the charcoal/wood you can put in it WAY too fast). I use side air intakes to control heat much more efficiently.

Very interested to hear how the paint holds us. Mine is unpainted and I'm looking to dress it up. A buddy suggested just burning a low fire in it and slathering it with lard to keep it from rusting too much. Anyone tried that?
 

nunan0219

Active member
Joined
Apr 9, 2010
Messages
26
its the same way they season cast iron to keep it from rusting, so it should work on regular steel in similar fashion
 
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krzemienr

Member
Joined
Mar 25, 2011
Messages
22
Location
Schaumburg, IL
Looks really great. I have a similar set up except mine is on a trailer and the barrel is about 300 gallons. I too, have air intakes on the bottom of the grill which I actually put bricks over and let it fill up with ash to keep it from burning too hot (and basically vaporizing all the charcoal/wood you can put in it WAY too fast). I use side air intakes to control heat much more efficiently.

Very interested to hear how the paint holds us. Mine is unpainted and I'm looking to dress it up. A buddy suggested just burning a low fire in it and slathering it with lard to keep it from rusting too much. Anyone tried that?

That is how i treated in the inside since I didn't want any paint. When I first burned it out, I had a pretty large fire going for about 6 hours to try to burn out whatever was left on the inside. I scrubbed the **** out of it at this point and cleaned it all out. The second time I burned it out, I actually kept the fire to about 200-300* and when it started to cool off I would rub lard all of the inside and bring the fire back up. The third time I used just charcoal and did the same with the lard.

The paint had to be baked on as well which was a process all of its own... After the 2 coats of primer I used charcoal again to bring the heat up to around 200-250* for about 30 min then I let it cool off, and then again using charcoal I had to bring the temp up to 600* for another 30 min and then let it cool off. I used the same process after painting.

Rafal
 
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krzemienr

Member
Joined
Mar 25, 2011
Messages
22
Location
Schaumburg, IL
What keeps the ashes from clogging up the 'air hole' in the bottom?

I actually use more indirect heat when using charcoal. I place all of my charcoal on one side of the rack keeping most of my grilling area away from the direct heat of the charcoal. The ashes pile up on one side of the bbq and don't fall into the vents.... some will of course, but not enough to clog anything up. When the grill cools, i scoop up all of the ash and discard.

Rafal
 

abbeylives

Member
Joined
Feb 3, 2012
Messages
17
Nice project, thanks for in depth documentation. Is there any reason you chose not to clean weld area before welding? What kind of welder and setup did you use?
 

89GLH

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 24, 2011
Messages
1,057
Location
Westminster, MD
I'm with Abbey, why not clean the barrel a bit first?

I made a similar grill out of a steel planter (the insert that goes into the big concrete planters at say a shopping mall parking lot) and we naval jellied it, and painted it with high temp paint. Stenciled on it "The Meat Machine." I had to use old refrigerator racks and I welded tabs to hold the stainless replacement surface you get from HD or Lowes. Used 2 old 3" exhaust pipes from an old car with the diesel flapper on top to keep the rain out. Can cook like 20 burgers at once, rather impressive.
 

mcckkey

Member
Joined
Oct 18, 2009
Messages
8
I'm curious to hear how it works after cooking you're first meal on it and weather you get any foul taste from whatever paint or chemical residue left on the inside of the barrel.A few years back I made a smoker with a 55 gal drum ( not food grade) that I bought it from some guy on craigslist.I'm not sure what type of chemical was stored in the drum but even after loading it half full of firewood and buring the inside paint off a few times I figures it would fine and ready to cook.

First time I loaded the firebox with charcoal and decided to cook some burgers and a steak I was stoked on how well it worked and the food looked great until I took a bite and all I could taste the chemical residue left over on the inside of the drum.

Needless to say it turned out to be a big waste of my time and money I ended up using the 55 gal drum as a burn barrel and said screw it and bought a large big green egg.

I know now if I ever get the urge to build another barrel smoker it will be with a brand new food grade barrel or a small used propane tank.
 
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