Brand New Damper Design - "The Micro Damper"


 
Uggghhh! A bearing seized on my printer, so I'm currently down until a new one comes in which will take 2 or 3 days. I'll leave MicroDamper.com online and still allow orders to go through but keep in mind shipping will be delayed a couple days. For those of you who have put in orders recently you can still expect your shipment to be timely, unless you are the one person I have already contacted via email. Sorry for the inconvenience!
 
I finally got my heatermeter and the micro damper put together. I have a large big green egg and need some advice.

When I normally do a low and slow manually, I use a mapp torch to light 3 spots of the charcoal. I start adjusting my vents as the temp is coming up.

With the heatermeter and micro damper should I light my fire the same way?

For my settings I am planning on using the ones SteveCK uses for his akorn.

P,I,D = 4 , .0035, 5

Fan pulse. on above 0, min fan 5% , max fan 60%. Startup max 100%
Servo fully open at 100%
 
Bryan Mayland, if he ever reads here, might be able to help you out since he runs a large BGE with a MicroDamper. Others do too, but I don't remember them by name. Perhaps he can give you a more tuned in PID.

If I were you I'd start the pit the same way you are used to. You might want to dial back your startup max to 60-80% the first couple times so you don't overshoot. I'm able to get away with 100% startup because I've mastered how to start my akorn. The biggest thing with kamados is learning how to start it for your HM and MD to not overshoot. Don't panic if it does overshoot though, just roll with it. I've had cooks with a large overshoot and then they tune itself down to +/-2 degree swings. I'd try the first two cooks with how you are used to starting it and if you get huge overshoot, then try modifying how you start it. Also, the top vent: if you can run your pit manually the top vent should be just a touch closed in comparison to natural draft, and of course open it up depending on how high you are cooking (like 600* pizza cooks).
 
Update: The part to fix my printer will be delivered tomorrow, Saturday Nov 12. So any orders placed now will be delayed a little bit and will be shipped on Monday. From then on I will be back on regular schedule - that is, I'll ship same day if order is placed early or next day if the order comes in later. Thanks yall!
 
I installed your MicroDamper on my new Fire Magic Smoker this past weekend and it worked great! I still have some testing to do, but I was able to watch the Cowboys game from a neighbor's house a couple miles away while I smoked a pork butt and some ribs. I'm still using my Akorn settings at the moment. I'm using a "dog bowl" adapter and will probably keep it that way because it fits so well. I highly recommend the MD!
 
Glad you like it! I'm not familiar with the Fire Magic line of smokers, could you post a link to the exact pit you're running?
 
Anyone found a source for the female 3.5mm besides someplace like mouser or digikey. They seem over priced for what they are and then to have to pay shipping on top of that for just one connector seems crazy. I've tried looking up and down on eBay without any luck.
 
I source mine from Digikey because when you choose USPS First Class shipping you are more-or-less paying exact shipping cost on them, I don't know of anywhere else that has them
 
think I may have finally found a couple on eBay that will work.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/141778007434
http://www.ebay.com/itm/141778007428

Although I don't need 10, the price is still just under what it would cost to get one from digikey or mouser.

Edit:
Actually, I looked at the pinnings in the item descriptions and I don't think the second ones will work but pretty sure the first ones are good. Also, it's shorter so it will be even better for clearance.
 
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It also comes from china - 3 or 4 week wait. Honestly they look kinda cheap, I'll stick to the metal body that the SJ5-43502PM from Mouser/Digikey has. It might cost an extra buck but at least it's a bit sturdier. This piece receives a good amount of usage so I'm not so sure I'd like to cheap on it.

I recently got a faulty servos which prompted me to start getting official Tower Pro SG90s servos which I now include in my kits. I also personally test each and every servo before it ships out, so I know there aren't any problems. Sometimes it's worth the extra buck or so to make sure you're getting a quality product.
 
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I'm overseas a the moment so they will be there when I get home. I will try them and let you know how good they are.
 
Steve, what are the chances of a higher quality STL being released? The thread area of this damper is very chopped up and needs more segments. If you take a look at other dampers released here, or just other threaded parts in general, you will see what I mean. I've inserted images, your microdamper threads vs Ralph's RD3 threads. Is there a chance of you releasing the source files that maybe I could import into Rhino?

9MNfE31.jpg
E2Ad36S.jpg
 
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