The Adapt-a-Damper - Open Source Project


 
before I made a burner, I used this setup, a sink drain, sink pipe, and my fan went on pipe........sinkdrain was on one of the vents.
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I bought a Mill about 6 months ago that I'm slowly converting to CNC. Hopefully, I'll have an Aluminum (maybe stainless?) version of the Adapt-a-Damper before the end of the year. There are probably going to be some changes to make it CAM friendly. It will utilize the same Delta fan, but I may have to go with a larger servo (ergo, larger power supply). Stay tuned.
 
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I'm so glad I check back here every once in a while. Thanks for the new threads, Wbegg!...and thanks for the open sharing of the design.

Printing one tonight.
 
Any advice on PID settings? I smoked pork tenderloin and the pit temp would never get down to setpoint. Setpoint was 225F but pit temp would go down to about 221F and then go up to 240F and stay there. Then I raised setpoint to 350F then pit temp would go past 350F and stay around 380F to 400F.
 
Was damper closing?
Servos can be crap

Air leaks, poor door, or unsealed lid can also contribute

But p=3 to 4
I= .02-.03
D=4-8

Blower on above 20-30, 20-50%
Should work
 
Arlo Poa said:
Any advice on PID settings? I smoked pork tenderloin and the pit temp would never get down to setpoint. Setpoint was 225F but pit temp would go down to about 221F and then go up to 240F and stay there. Then I raised setpoint to 350F then pit temp would go past 350F and stay around 380F to 400F.
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You should post a graph because it is much easier to see what's going on. There's no PID setting that's the key to getting good accuracy in controlling the temperature, which is why there are so many settings. I can say that if the "Output" of the HeaterMeter was 0% when the temperature was staying too high, then you've got too much air getting in somehow and that's beyond any setting. When the output is 0%, the temperature should start dropping quickly within a few minutes.

If that's working properly, and it is just overshoot, then you can reduce that by reducing the blower usage through a number of different parameters (lower P, lower I, higher D, higher blower on above, lower max blower, etc).
 
The damper was closing and the servo seems to be working fine. I will look into air leaks or lid not being sealed well. Thanks for the suggestions.
 
I will see if I can dig up the graph. From what I remember when temperature was too high the Heatermeter was at 0% and temperature did not drop quickly. It sounds like I have air leaks. I will look into that and then move on to fine tuning the PID. Thank you.
 
Sounds good. A helpful tool is to use the "Archive" page and just hit "Stash" when you're done with a cook or test. It will save the database so you can easily look at the graph again in the future. They don't take up much space so you don't have to worry too much about running out of storage unless you've got hundreds of them.
 
Arlo Poa said:
I will see if I can dig up the graph. From what I remember when temperature was too high the Heatermeter was at 0% and temperature did not drop quickly. It sounds like I have air leaks. I will look into that and then move on to fine tuning the PID. Thank you.
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I had problem once, one of my bottom vents had gotten inadvertently bumped open. I never touch them, so i never look. Theres also door leakage, that depends on lid fit. If the lid leaks, it drafts more thru door cracks than it does with just the single top vent. You can pinch top vent off dome, half way wont hurt anything with blower, blower will run higher output. But natural draft will be reduced when blower off
 
BrianDickens said:
Hey, it's been a few years since this got answered. Is this still better to print with ABS vs PLA? If so I have to go buy some ABS.
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I've done a lot of testing (well, several days of live testing) and even the cheap Inland PLA from Micro Center holds up fine with no deformation. Testing was done 1hr 400F, 300F for 2 hours, then 250F for 8 hours connected with the standard steel pipe nipple on a plate to my large big green egg. I did it first with ABS long time ago, then wanted to see if PETG could hold up as well and it was fine. Then I thought I'd get crazy and try PLA and no issues there either. Conveniently, the higher the temperature, the more the blower is used to stoke the fire, which cools the plastic since it is always getting cool outside air passed through it.

I'd recommend against dark colored materials though, as there's a larger chance that the body could become deformed from the combination of being heated by the sun and the heat from the grill causing the less dense parts of the 3D print to soften. A black PLA version sitting in the sun on a 400F cook would almost certainly be at risk, since even black PLA HeaterMeter cases can get squishy.
 
Thanks Bryan! I've got a grey case for the heatermeter and am doing the damper in red, so hopefully those are light enough. I'll give the damper a test run and see how it holds up before i set it to go for a butt smoke.
 
Another question: What Delta fan is the BottomCase_V2_Delta meant to fit? The fan that my HM kit came with doesn't fit into the box. I can get it in most of the way, but the blower outlet doesn't entirely line up with the hole in the box. This is a Delta BFB0512VHD.

If there is a better blower fan to use, let me know and I'll order it.
 
That's the right blower. Which dimension isn't fitting? If it is vertically, make sure there's not too much material hanging down from the top that's blocking it. Sometimes I need to cut a few of the strands off to get it in. I just insert the blower outlet into the hole at like a 30 degree angle and push it forward until it goes in enough to click the back in. The fit is tight but it is slightly larger than the blower outlet.
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EDIT: That is BottomCase_V2_Delta.stl dated 2/20/2016, but run through Microsoft's Netfabb online STL fixer because Slic3r probably told me it had errors.
 
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Yeah, that was designed pretty tight. i sometimes have to scrape the inside corners of the case to get it started. Maybe I should design in some chamfers to aid in installation?
 
WBegg said:
Yeah, that was designed pretty tight. i sometimes have to scrape the inside corners of the case to get it started. Maybe I should design in some chamfers to aid in installation?
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Maybe? I got it in there eventually. I had a long post written up with pics and everything, but then I realized what I was doing wrong and got everything where it need to be. I don't think it's ever coming out though. I got my servo today too so I'll be putting this all together this week. I'm sure I'll have more questions.
 
WBegg said:
Yeah, that was designed pretty tight. i sometimes have to scrape the inside corners of the case to get it started. Maybe I should design in some chamfers to aid in installation?
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Perhaps that could help. I know the secret that helped me with all of these designs is to not try to put the fixed in in and lever the tab end in-- it is just too hard to bend the tab in enough to get it in. I just take the jack and press it straight in and both pop into place at the same time. The tab also doesn't return to 90 degrees so maybe that side is ever-so-slightly too small? I'm not sure, although I've only built a couple so I'm far from being an expert.

Brian: Once your jack was in did the tab end of the jack return to its fully unsprung position or is it still depressed even when it is locked in place? Actually, haha I'm not sure, that might be how they're normally supposed to be when installed in commercial keystones.
 
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