DIY Homemade smoker - hinge and assembly question

I'm converting an old water well pressure tank into a smoker. I've just recently tack-welded some pieces on and wonder if I could post and get suggestions or opinions on what/how I'm doing before I go ahead and finish welding.

Once cutting the tank open, it revealed its flimsiness. I needed to expand the area between the smoker bottom and top cover/lid in order to put a felt seal between the two. I've added a couple pieces of flat stock (one inside and one outside the tank) in order to build up this area. I think I might need to add one more on the outside of the top and bottom.

Since the tank is round, I needed to add a flat base to put some hinges on. I plan on drilling holes through the hinges and running a pin between them. I'm trying to think up a way to put a spring around the pin so it acts like a damper when opening and closing the top. Not sure if that's possible. The red areas are where the holes/pin will be.

Any glaring mistakes? Any tips or suggestions?

Yes, I'm an amateur welder. Don't laugh too loudly.

Thanks.

Here are some pictures.

I just went ahead and welded (well, I call it welding anyway. I'm a really bad welder. Probably have the wrong settings and wrong technique).

Here it is and I'm going to test it today. http://heat-makarios.ddns.net/
I changed the PID to 7, .01, 4 since I think this is about the same size as the UDS - and that's what I've seen others use.
Actually, my tank was a 64gal pressure tank, so it may be a little bigger than the UDSs.

Shoot.... I should have noticed your location before. I'm halfway between the Twin Cities & Rochester.

Welding thin, rusty, sheetmetal is difficult at best, burn-throughs are pretty easy. That looks like a 110v wirefeed welder, that should have more than enough power. Are you welding with gas (difficult to use outdoors with any sort of a breeze,) or flux core wire?

Personally, I think I'd have cut a door in it, as opposed to cutting it in half, but that's my preference.

It's a 165A 240v welder. And I think I had the voltage/power setting too high for most of the welding. I lowered the power and it seemed to work a little better, though the welds still don't look good. Yes, I did burn through the tank a couple times. I was able to fill it back in.

There's no felt gasket between the top/bottom or on the exhaust vent. It's still holding pretty good at 250F. I have the top vent closed completely, except for the room it takes to get the thermocouple probe in.

It'll take a bit more work to finish and then to make it look decent, but I'm thinking it may actually work pretty well once i get the air leaks taken care of.

BTW, I'm in Plymouth MN.

Here was the test today:


Here is what was left for coals after the test cook above. I think I need to bunch them up more so it will burn all the coals to nothing. Maybe a smaller basket to put the coals together into.



Not a bad start.

You might want to read this thread and contact the guy that sells replacement gaskets for Primo grills. I'll bet it would work great for your application.

http://primogrillforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=712