Increasing Cajun Bandit door curve for a better air seal


 

Mache

TVWBB Fan
I purchased a stainless steel door from Cajun Bandit a few years ago and installed it with a Southco latch on my very old 18.5" WSM. Recently I added gasket material (Nomex) around the edges with the hopes of sealing the door from air leaks. Instead, the door splayed out and flatened. As a result, the two top corners show a visible gap from the WSM body and the door leaks a lot of air. I tried to increase the door curvature by clamping it into a vise and pulling on it but the metal is too thick and springs back to its original flatter shape. A friend has suggested that I clamp the door to a thick plywood form that mirrors the curve of the WSM and heat the door up with a torch. His theory is that this approach will change the door curve to match the WSM.

Any suggestions or comments?
 
It's all about the curvature of the door. It may be that the 18.5 is harder to bend because of the smaller size but I did it on my 22.5 door fine. I just basically squeezed the ends of the door together to increase the curvature. You need to push it slightly past the shape you want so it will spring back to where you want it. It's sort of like doing a butterfly press with weights. Again my experience is only with 22.5 door.
 
Instead, the door splayed out and flattened.

A friend has suggested that I clamp the door to a thick plywood form that mirrors the curve of the WSM and heat the door up with a torch.

Any suggestions or comments?

Putting a gasket on it and closing it flattened it but you think you need a mold/form and a torch to move it back? Just find anything with a curve and mold it back in place by hand. As Dustin stated, you need to go a little bit beyond where you when it to end up, but it will certainly bend without heat.
 
I plan on using a heavy duty rachet tie-down to increase the curve of the door and leave it under pressure for a few days. Hopefully that should solve my problem.
 
Locking it into shape for a couple days is not going to do anything. Metal doesn't work that way. You need to find something round like a baseball bat or round metal fence post - the bigger the curvature the better (but less than the WSM), and roll it into shape.
 
SS is hard metal to work with and bending it could be a pain. Have you contacted the folks @ Cajun Bandit? Maybe they have an easy fix.
Me, I would take a bar clamp or quick grip and pull the top side in gently, you want to curve it not fold it.
But I still have my OEM doors and they be easy to fix.:wsm:
Tim
 
I found slipping one of the vertical sides in the the slot between my deck boards over a joist and using my body weight to compress the door worked well for me. The groove in the deck kept the door from moving and I could increase the bend small amounts at a time until I was happy with the fit. Hope this helps (and made sense).
 
When my WSM was new I was real hung ho about improving it and the Cajun Bandit door was in the shopping cart many times.
Thankfully the only thing I did to the WSM was to connect the charcoal ring to the grate with stainless steel zip ties.
Way to many reports of this expensive door not fitting correctly out of the box and zero response or a reply of bend it to fit from CB when that is the case.
For the price of this product it should fit perfectly since the circumference of the WSM is very well established.

To form the curve in the SS you will have to bend it past the correct radius and let it spring back.
This might be tricky, maybe try making the curve in the door sweep more sharply towards the edges and let the door lock pull the middle to the side of the WSM to form a tight seal across the entire perimeter.
Good luck to you.
 
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