QuliMetal Grates

[Jon Tofte]

How much were the quilimetal FB's? Are they 16 gauge?

Bruce,

Yes, they are 16 gauge and like their grates are nicely finished. Non-magnetic.

I recently bought a 5 bar set for the Silver A for $33.99 delivered (before my "points"). Looks like $39.99 now.

I bought a 5 bar set for the Genesis Silver B/Gold/Platinum last year for $36.99. Looks like $37.99 now. They definitely play around with their prices. These are just about as good as you are likely to get at a fair - not cheap - price. They don't make 13 bar sets that I know of. Dave Santana/rcplanebuyer makes the best for these older Genesis grills. I don't think he has any meaningful competition for 13 bar sets.

 

[George Si]

Yes 304 ss 16ga. $37.99 for Silver B size

 

[Jon Tofte]

Stainless rod comparison update

Thanks Jon. I'm looking forward to your reviews.

I am working on getting things together to do my ultimate stainless rod grate showdown. My order of a set of BBQParts.com came today. Very well packaged in double boxing and promptly shipped. I am posting this just to let everyone know that I am working on this.

I will say that these grates look very nice. Like a number of stainless grates I have tested with a fairly strong magnet, it shows only the slightest of magnetic attraction. I did do a quick comparison to the Summit grates I am planning on cutting down to fit in the Genesis. Those grates have very thick rods but a total of 13 per side. The BBQParts.com grates are not as thick, but with 16 rods per side the space BETWEEN the rods was almost identical to the Summit grates. Interesting ...

Looking forward to trying to do a thorough and fair comparison. I don’t really expect there to be a “winner” but rather hopefully some good information to use in making decisions.

 

[Bruce]

Looking forward to it Jon.

 

[Greg M]

Thanks again Jon.

 

[Jon Tofte]

Surprise Update! Yes I am over the top...

Well, I decided that if I was going to really do a serious comparison, there was no way that I could not include rcplanebuyer. I have purchased a number of sets of his 13-bar Genesis flavorizers and at least one set of flavorizers for the sidewinder 300 and also a few of his 300 series heat deflectors for the front control 300 series Genesis. (In fact, I helped Dave with these by sending him an old one to use as a template.) However, I have never owned my own set of his grates that I have seen you all extol here on TVWBB.

My BBQParts.com set arrived this morning and rcplanebuyer ones arrived this afternoon. I am not wanting to start my comparison here, but just a couple quick observations:

These things are HEAVY. Having 15 bars the same thickness as Weber Summit grates which "only" have 13 really puts on the pounds.

Dave obviously has plenty of experience shipping and maxes out the USPS non-weight restricted "flat rate" packaging. Not as elegant as BBQParts but enough bubble wrap to make it work. They are tough and appear to be perfectly fine.

I pulled out the same magnet I have been using and you may be surprised to hear that these rcplanebuyer grates also show just a very slight magnetic attraction. So, a number of the better stainless rod grates all show this characteristic. I have to conclude that as George posted earlier, the process of making 304 stainless grates, especially with heavy welding to connect the bars, creates a very mild magnetic attraction even in pure 304 stainless. So, Qlimetal, Hongso and certainly US made BBQParts.com cannot be dismissed as not being true 304. On the other hand, other "stainless" grates grab my magnet with a whack. These are NOT 304 quite obviously.

This is going to be a really interesting comparison! Give me some time and I will do my best.

p.s. Having been able to look at rcplanebuyer grates in person I am now about positive that the Craigslist grill in the other thread I started about in "rcplanebuyer grates in hiding" DOES have his grates and flavorizer bars. The seller's price is too high, even with these, but I plan to keep an eye on it to see if he caves in to something more realistic. Grabbing a set of grates and bars to use on a nicely restored grill could be a big plus.

 

[Bruce]

Jon, give it a week, and if the grill is still up and hasn't been reduced, throw out a low ball offer and see where it goes. Good luck. PS, you should be getting your Genesis 1000 parts later this week.

 

[LMichaels]

Jon you could only imagine how heavy my Wolf grates were then Because each one is as deep (front to back as a Genesis is totally wide) and he custom made mine with extra bars for tighter spacing and on top of that it's as wide as a Summit 6 burner grill. When they came the mail delivery lady would not lift the box and since she knows I'm retired and I was home (car in drive way) she rang my bell to get them outta her truck LOL. They must have been cursing those "if it fits it ships" ads LOL

 

[Bruce]

Larry, there is a weight limit on those flat rate boxes....I think it is 70 lbs and I bet your box was getting close to the limit.

 

[LMichaels]

Oh yeah I bet it was very close

 

[RobertKM]

My hunch is that high grade 304 stainless (like on my Broilmaster) is not at all magnetic but commonly used 430 stainless is very magnetic. So, these grates that show just a slight level of magnetism can't be written off as 430 but perhaps are not pure, high-grade 304 stainless.

Jon, you might be interested in this article in Scientific American.

"At room temperature, the thermodynamically stable crystal structure of 304 stainless steel is body centred cubic (bcc); nevertheless, the alloy's nickel concentration, as well as the small amounts of manganese (about 1 percent), carbon (less than 0.08 percent) and nitrogen (about 0.06 percent), maintains a face centred cubic (fcc) structure and therefore the alloy is nonmagnetic. If the alloy is mechanically deformed, i.e. bent, at room temperature, it will partially transform to the ferritic phase and will be partly magnetic, or ferromagnetic, as it is more precisely termed."

So it seems to be mechanical deformation of 304 at room temperature that introduces the partial magnetism rather than any impurity or welding. It would return to a completely non-magnetic form by annealing at a suitably high temperature, but I doubt it will get hot enough in use on the grill for that.

 

[Richard in NS]

Robert, that would explain why the burner tubes I got were slightly magnetic only at the ends where they are pinched, hence deformed. I wondered about that! Thanks for the informative post.