RalphTrimble
TVWBB Diamond Member
I like the idea to cut a slot for the servo in the PVC tube, nice job!Got v2 of my servo damper complete tonight.
Won't really be able to test it till Saturday or Sunday.
Servo / Damper pictures
- Thread starter John Case
- Start date
RalphTrimble
TVWBB Diamond Member
I just received the metal geared servo's from the Ebay seller discussed above. They were delivered really fast, 2 days actually. They shipped from Cali, but be careful to choose the auction from this seller that says ships from USA, cause apparently they sell the same servo's in other auctions that will ship directly from China.
Will it melt?
First smoke with New Heater Meter and Servo.
So here is the full setup.
probe 0 -pit
probe 1 -direct contact with servo
probe 2 -steaks
probe 3 - internal heatermeter
Akorn smoker out side temp about 100 6 hour test.
The results
I started at 295 for an hour. 350 2 and a half hours. 375 the rest.
So 90% of the time it was 10-15 deg higher than ambient. It hit 143 when I had the lid open removing the steaks and cleaning. The lid detection failed to catch that one but no big deal. I verified the temps with my fluke. It was never too hot to touch. My probes are not the high heat models but i plan to test higher temps. There was still 50-70 degress before hitting the melting point.
My killawatt said the entire cook was .03 ah for the 6 hour cook.
no melt this time.
First smoke with New Heater Meter and Servo.
So here is the full setup.
probe 0 -pit
probe 1 -direct contact with servo
probe 2 -steaks
probe 3 - internal heatermeter
Akorn smoker out side temp about 100 6 hour test.
The results
I started at 295 for an hour. 350 2 and a half hours. 375 the rest.
So 90% of the time it was 10-15 deg higher than ambient. It hit 143 when I had the lid open removing the steaks and cleaning. The lid detection failed to catch that one but no big deal. I verified the temps with my fluke. It was never too hot to touch. My probes are not the high heat models but i plan to test higher temps. There was still 50-70 degress before hitting the melting point.
My killawatt said the entire cook was .03 ah for the 6 hour cook.
no melt this time.
RalphTrimble
TVWBB Diamond Member
I think with the metal plate and gasket material between the vent and the servo parts you should be fine as long as you stick to low and slow cooking... Well done!
I like the direct drive idea, been throwing around the idea of direct drive myself, not sure yet which method I prefer. While direct drive has a clean look and would be impossible for something to interfere with the moving link, I actually like seeing the link, it tells me what the damper position is at a glance and I like watching the HM work the damper.... Makes for good conversation around the smoker... So I am on the fence as to go for the clean direct drive look or stick with the link as I have it....
At any rate, congrats on the good ideas and nice execution....
I like the direct drive idea, been throwing around the idea of direct drive myself, not sure yet which method I prefer. While direct drive has a clean look and would be impossible for something to interfere with the moving link, I actually like seeing the link, it tells me what the damper position is at a glance and I like watching the HM work the damper.... Makes for good conversation around the smoker... So I am on the fence as to go for the clean direct drive look or stick with the link as I have it....
At any rate, congrats on the good ideas and nice execution....
if you look closely you can see an arrow. This tells you where the damper is,
I stopped at 400 degress becuse i didnt want to ruin my probes. I ordered the high heat probes so I will test high temps. What is the highest temp you use on your smoker?
I cook steaks at 350-375 everything else i use much lower temps.
RalphTrimble
TVWBB Diamond Member
Very nice! I like the position indicator as well.... Would be nice to print that indicator part with a different color plastic...
I cook pizza's between 600-700 degrees, I tend to shoot for mid 600's cause the high heat maverick probes are only good up to 716... I've already melted two of them, so I've had the FauxMado well above that... Judging from how fast the pizza's cooked that night I would say it was around 800.
BTW, I just noticed it looks like you are running a "FauxMado" grill too... AKA Char-Griller Akorn Kamado Kooker... You should get yourself a pizza stone.....
I had to use parchment paper on the stone at the time I shot the picture cause i didnt have a pizza peel yet... It worked really well actually, pizza comes out just like when I cook directly on the stone....
I cook pizza's between 600-700 degrees, I tend to shoot for mid 600's cause the high heat maverick probes are only good up to 716... I've already melted two of them, so I've had the FauxMado well above that... Judging from how fast the pizza's cooked that night I would say it was around 800.
BTW, I just noticed it looks like you are running a "FauxMado" grill too... AKA Char-Griller Akorn Kamado Kooker... You should get yourself a pizza stone.....
I had to use parchment paper on the stone at the time I shot the picture cause i didnt have a pizza peel yet... It worked really well actually, pizza comes out just like when I cook directly on the stone....
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Very nice! I like the position indicator as well.... Would be nice to print that indicator part with a different color plastic...
I cook pizza's between 600-700 degrees, I tend to shoot for mid 600's cause the high heat maverick probes are only good up to 716... I've already melted two of them, so I've had the FauxMado well above that... Judging from how fast the pizza's cooked that night I would say it was around 800.
BTW, I just noticed it looks like you are running a "FauxMado" grill too... AKA Char-Griller Akorn Kamado Kooker... You should get yourself a pizza stone.....
I had to use parchment paper on the stone at the time I shot the picture cause i didnt have a pizza peel yet... It worked really well actually, pizza comes out just like when I cook directly on the stone....
looks good but I cant eat wheat(celiac) :< Good news is I lost 60 pounds when I stopped eating it. Now I make meatzas, pizza but with a hamburger meat crust. :>
RalphTrimble
TVWBB Diamond Member
Hmm, meat crust... why not! Make it Bacon and you might really be on to something! LOL
RalphTrimble
TVWBB Diamond Member
I did some chicken on my FauxMado this evening at 375 with the servo damper + fan, fan set to run at max only. Here is the graph.
It's roughly a two hour period from where the pit first hit temp to the end of the graph....
It's roughly a two hour period from where the pit first hit temp to the end of the graph....
Those results are nothing short of amazing!
I hate to admit it, but I really need to get a servo going
I've just been too busy on my meat chamber curing project. I need to smoke some ribs this weekend so I'll have to setup my servo and give it a shot.
The smoker will respond differently on the fan vs the servo, do you run the servo pid settings in this mode?
dave
I hate to admit it, but I really need to get a servo going
I've just been too busy on my meat chamber curing project. I need to smoke some ribs this weekend so I'll have to setup my servo and give it a shot.The smoker will respond differently on the fan vs the servo, do you run the servo pid settings in this mode?
dave
RalphTrimble
TVWBB Diamond Member
I had to alter the standard PID settings to get it dialed in on my FauxMado (even before I had the servo), I'm still working on that. Running the servo the temps had a tendancy to run between 1-5 degrees low, but stable. After the second lid open last night I did some more tweaking of the PID settings, I had started out with standard PID settings except I had the P cranked up to 10, in the end last night I had cranked up B to 10 and D to 8. This seemed to get the temp much closer to being right on the set point.
The servo system is WAY BETTER IMHO than using the fan on a Kamado style grill, or any grill that can hold the heat well. The fan just pushes too much air and forces the heat out of the top vent, which eventually stokes the fire too much to control and you get overshoot. With the fan alone I had to really close down the top vent almost all the way. With the servo I can leave the top vent open wide, last night the top vent was half way open for the cook shown in the graph. On the other hand, with my cheapo thin walled water smoker the fan works wonderfully because that smoker leaks so much heat it pretty much needs constant stoking from the fan. So I don't think I will ever move over to a servo system on that smoker.
BTW, on the FauxMado I run both the fan and the servo, fan set to run at max only. This works great, the fan blows until the temp approaches the set point, then it kicks off and the servo takes over, easing the temp right onto the target temperature. I was very happy to see the servo running in the 30% range last night and not going down to 0, that tells me I have the rest of the grill sealed up well cause it needs to get it's air through the servo damper.When I do pizza cooks I flip the configuration around, I let the fan run all the time and set the servo to be fully open/fully closed only. This way the fan will feed enough air to the fire to keep it stoked up in the 600 degree range, and if it wants to get out of control the servo damper will close off and keep the temp in check....
The servo system is WAY BETTER IMHO than using the fan on a Kamado style grill, or any grill that can hold the heat well. The fan just pushes too much air and forces the heat out of the top vent, which eventually stokes the fire too much to control and you get overshoot. With the fan alone I had to really close down the top vent almost all the way. With the servo I can leave the top vent open wide, last night the top vent was half way open for the cook shown in the graph. On the other hand, with my cheapo thin walled water smoker the fan works wonderfully because that smoker leaks so much heat it pretty much needs constant stoking from the fan. So I don't think I will ever move over to a servo system on that smoker.
BTW, on the FauxMado I run both the fan and the servo, fan set to run at max only. This works great, the fan blows until the temp approaches the set point, then it kicks off and the servo takes over, easing the temp right onto the target temperature. I was very happy to see the servo running in the 30% range last night and not going down to 0, that tells me I have the rest of the grill sealed up well cause it needs to get it's air through the servo damper.When I do pizza cooks I flip the configuration around, I let the fan run all the time and set the servo to be fully open/fully closed only. This way the fan will feed enough air to the fire to keep it stoked up in the 600 degree range, and if it wants to get out of control the servo damper will close off and keep the temp in check....
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if you look closely you can see an arrow. This tells you where the damper is
Do you have a source for the direct drive servo damper and/or instructions on how you created this whole set-up?
Bryan Mayland
TVWBB Hall of Fame
I'm also working on a direct drive servo + blower system.
The fan mount is a removable piece, both for ease of printing and for flexibility in use. Overall assembled height would be 60mm, same as the blower. I figure the larger damper chamber would reduce the airflow restriction, and I might experiment with using a venturi to draw in secondary airflow to increase the effective input area because I've found that 1140mm^2 (1.5" PVC pipe) is too small for much more than 250F without a blower. This 20x25mm input (500mm^2) might struggle to keep 225F if it could at all.
The fan mount is a removable piece, both for ease of printing and for flexibility in use. Overall assembled height would be 60mm, same as the blower. I figure the larger damper chamber would reduce the airflow restriction, and I might experiment with using a venturi to draw in secondary airflow to increase the effective input area because I've found that 1140mm^2 (1.5" PVC pipe) is too small for much more than 250F without a blower. This 20x25mm input (500mm^2) might struggle to keep 225F if it could at all.
I'm looking at to how I mount it to my egg. I'm thinking that with the egg I might be able to keep the metal attachment piece small and leave the original sheet metal in place so I can open it wider for hotter temps and then have the servo do the fine control work for me. I'm surprised you are only getting 250 with PVC though. I haven't added mine yet but with a 1/16 to 1/8 inch crack in the bottom vent I can keep 225+. I would have thought 1.5" pvc would have been even greater.
Maybe we could make the the servo control the OEM egg air intake vent? That would give you the full air intake range and the fine control. I'm thinking make a mount that attaches to the two screws on the right so we count mount the servo to a bracket and then push/pull the original intake.
Maybe we could make the the servo control the OEM egg air intake vent? That would give you the full air intake range and the fine control. I'm thinking make a mount that attaches to the two screws on the right so we count mount the servo to a bracket and then push/pull the original intake.
I really like this idea of just moving the sliding vent door on the BGE. I think the issue you're going to run into is having enough force to move that door. Maybe some gearing would be involved, or possibly a screw drive, like used in the chicken coup door opener.
I'm also working on a direct drive servo + blower system.
The fan mount is a removable piece, both for ease of printing and for flexibility in use. Overall assembled height would be 60mm, same as the blower. I figure the larger damper chamber would reduce the airflow restriction, and I might experiment with using a venturi to draw in secondary airflow to increase the effective input area because I've found that 1140mm^2 (1.5" PVC pipe) is too small for much more than 250F without a blower. This 20x25mm input (500mm^2) might struggle to keep 225F if it could at all.
I like this concept, but couldn't you get a one piece design if you went with something like this, just with it chopped off to where it would attach to the BGE instead of the 90 degree turn to come up from the bottom of the smoker.
Nevermind, I could see where you mentioned "flexibility in use". Having it removable would allow for just using the damper or using the damper with fan.
RalphTrimble
TVWBB Diamond Member
A couple issues come to mind when thinking about moving the actual vent door...
I don't have a BGE but I expect a fair amount of force would be required to move it, I'm not sure the servo is up to that. If you have never run the HM in damper mode you will probably be surprised how much the damper moves. It's not going to just tap the vent open or closed a tiny bit to adjust the temp (like you would do manually), the HM is going to be opening and closing the vent quite a bit compared to that. So, with the amount of force required to move the vent and the amount of movement the HM will do that is going to be tough for one of these tiny servo's to do... a stepper motor would probably be more suited to do this job, but that's a whole other ball of wax.... and I wonder if you really want your BGE vent to be moving THAT much anyway? I'm wondering if you could wear the vent out with that much movement? (again, not a BGE owner so I have to just speculate about the vent here) I wouldn't attempt to move the vent on my FauxMado grill that much...
I don't have a BGE but I expect a fair amount of force would be required to move it, I'm not sure the servo is up to that. If you have never run the HM in damper mode you will probably be surprised how much the damper moves. It's not going to just tap the vent open or closed a tiny bit to adjust the temp (like you would do manually), the HM is going to be opening and closing the vent quite a bit compared to that. So, with the amount of force required to move the vent and the amount of movement the HM will do that is going to be tough for one of these tiny servo's to do... a stepper motor would probably be more suited to do this job, but that's a whole other ball of wax.... and I wonder if you really want your BGE vent to be moving THAT much anyway? I'm wondering if you could wear the vent out with that much movement? (again, not a BGE owner so I have to just speculate about the vent here) I wouldn't attempt to move the vent on my FauxMado grill that much...
that's awesome jbond, thanks so much. I think everyone should use this service with us getting so much into 3d printing.