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Tommy B

Tommy B

TVWBB Pro
I have had a busy weekend building my Mini! I started with a Smokey Joe gold. I understand I will have to make a charcoal basket but I would have had to build a snorkel for the vent had I got a silver. I like the idea of controlling my temp similar to my 18''.

Anyways I ended up buying the Imusa steamer pot on walmart.com. I was hoping it fit well but it did not… The smokey joe lid did not fit on the top of the pot. I really didn’t want to deal with the hassle of crimping the pot so I returned it. I went to academy sports and outdoors and bought the Outdoor Gourment 36qt pot. It was basically double the price, $39.99 but was anxious to get going so I pulled the trigger. It fits great. It also came with the extra basket deal. I am going to attempt to use that to make a charcoal basket.




I drilled holes for bolts to hold the heat diffuser and two grates. All of the hardware used is stainless steel and 1/4. Bolts for the heat diffuser are 3'' long and the bolts to hold the grates are 1/4'' long. I drilled a bunch of holes in the bottom of the pot instead of cutting it out. I am going to give it a few runs and see how it works. I can always cut out the bottom down the road.



I ran into a problem with my hole placement of the heat diffuser bolts. I put them too low on the pot and the pot would not sit flush on the bottom of the smokey joe. I ended up heading back to homedepot and buying a diffrent type bolt that had a lower profile. With the bolts and a couple of whacks from the hammer the pot sits well in the smokey joe.




Check update below for how I painted.







 
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Nice job Tommy, looks like that pot is a little taller than the Vasconia giving lots of room from the 1st grate to the lid. I just painted mine last week and in the 7 day wait to put it back together and do a cure burn. Will post pictures towards the end of the week.
 
Nice looking build! Glad to know that there is another good fitting option out there for pots. Adding it to the list. I would caution on using the aluminum steamer basket as a charcoal basket. I tried one in my latest UDS smoker. I burnt through it after two smokes. It's pretty easy to fabricate one out of the charcoal grate that comes with the smokey joe and a sheet of expanded metal. If you don't weld you can wire it together. That's how I made my first basket for my first mini and it lasted several years before the wires failed. I used rebar ties.

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And the new welded version:

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CaseT-

Thanks for the advice. I was planning on drilling a few more holes for ventilation on the basket. When you say burned through did it basically melt? I guess i'll go the expanded metal route. I am not a welder. What did you use to cut the expanded metal or did you just buy a sheet that height? I don't have a tool set up to cut metal.
 
Tommy B said:
CaseT-

Thanks for the advice. I was planning on drilling a few more holes for ventilation on the basket. When you say burned through did it basically melt? I guess i'll go the expanded metal route. I am not a welder. What did you use to cut the expanded metal or did you just buy a sheet that height? I don't have a tool set up to cut metal.
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Yes the Aluminum basket actually melted, I have a photo somewhere. I have made two baskets now. For the first one I used straight cutting tin snips and that worked just fine. For the second basket I used my jigsaw with metal blade. That also worked. I used the expanded metal sheets that you can buy at HD or Lowes 12"x24" I think that it is 16 gauge, could be 18.
 
Doug Selman said:
Nice job Tommy, looks like that pot is a little taller than the Vasconia giving lots of room from the 1st grate to the lid. I just painted mine last week and in the 7 day wait to put it back together and do a cure burn. Will post pictures towards the end of the week.
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Thanks for the comments. This is my first mini build but I think you are correct that my pot is a little taller. I'll have to get a measurement for comparison. I was planning on placing the top grate 4 inches below the lid of the pot but 4 inches was right where the rivets holding the handle were located. I ended going down about another half inch so the grate would sit flush below the rivets.
 
UPDATE!
I have painted.... I went with a 3 color design and was pretty happy with the result. I know a co owner of Tumbleweed TexStyles They gave me permission to use their "TX BBQ" t-shirt design. I had a Decal printed up and started painting! I used flameproof header paint. I did 3 coats of each color. I primed then taped off the section of the pot I would be creating the design. I laid down 3 coats of white and when dry put the Texas decal on. I then sprayed 3 coats of red and when dry placed the BBQ and star in the shape of Texas. I removed the tape and painted the whole pot blue. After 3 coats of blue I removed the decal and did 3 coats of clearcoat. In between each coat I sanded as necessary with 400 and 600 grit sandpaper. I'll post some pictures when I put it all together and fire it up this weekend! Sorry for all the pictures! If I did it over again I would not tape off the section where I painted the design. after 3 coats of white, 3 coats of red and 3 coats of blue you can see it sticks up above the rest of the painted pot. Not crazy noticeable but I can be a little OCD with these sorts of projects.




















 
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Case-
What kind of wire did you use to make the basket? I am not a welder nor have any friends to weld for me...
 
Nice job Tommy, that came out great! I used a 12"x24" sheet of expanded metal ($10) from home depot for a charcoal basket. Also put some on the charcoal grate to keep it from falling through so soon.
 
Doug Selman said:
Nice job Tommy, that came out great! I used a 12"x24" sheet of expanded metal ($10) from home depot for a charcoal basket. Also put some on the charcoal grate to keep it from falling through so soon.
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Did you connect the expanded metal to the charcoal grate? If so what did you use to connect them? I am not a welder!
 
Tommy B said:
Did you connect the expanded metal to the charcoal grate? If so what did you use to connect them? I am not a welder!
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I don't have a welder even if I could either, lol. I tied them all together with some thin but very strong stainless steel wire that I have. I doubled it around the outside ring of the grate then twisted the ends tight and folded them over. I like being able to lift the basket and grate out as one unit to shake the ash through. If you use the 12 x 24 sheet, I cut 2 strips 3 1/2" wide, that was the exact space I had between the grate to the bottom of my pot. I measured around the outside of the charcoal grate and it was 33", so I used 1 24" and 1 11" length put together by using a vice and bending 1/2" of the ends of 1 section the same direction, and the opposite direction on the other section so they "interlocked" together, and evenly flattened the "joints" with a hammer on the vice.
Oh, and btw wear gloves when working with that stuff, the ends WILL cut your hands up!

 
This bad boy looks sweet! I am about to embark on the building process myself, other than finding that damn pot, what do you think was the hardest part of the build? Any suggestions to a first time builder?
 
William Ham said:
This bad boy looks sweet! I am about to embark on the building process myself, other than finding that damn pot, what do you think was the hardest part of the build? Any suggestions to a first time builder?
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I had a tough time finding the pot as well. Painting was the toughest part for me. I am not a real artie/creative person so it was not easy! My only advice is read through the forum there is a wealth of knowledge here if you take the time to read!
 
I almost bought the same pot for my upcoming build. Do you know if the lid can be used on the bottom like Case builds his minis? It would be nice to have more options for some minor expansion in the future, should the need arise..
 
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