DPP clone build

[k.a.m.]

dlockha, your cooker is looking fantastic. I like the snouts where you have them. I look forward to seeing some more pics and updates.
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Always remember slow and steady wins the race.

Hybrid Cooker

[dlockha]

I got my exhaust welded on today and couldn't wait till I got my fire box doors built to try it out. I put a little bit of old wood in the fire grate I built and fired it up. Holy smoke batman it works. It works better than I would have thought I didn't checked the temp but I just wanted to make sure it would draw properly. I really can't wait to get it finished so I can put it to work.

As you can see it is chugging along like its supposed to. I know it is white smoke but the wood was some old lumber that was a little damp.

[Smoldering Coals]

Looking very good!!

I built a big fire inside of the propane tank when I built mine. We did this before it got painted. I was trying to make sure I got rid of any gas residue in the tank.

[dlockha]

Thanks I plan on building a fire in the smoke chamber too this was a NH3 tank so I want to get it really clean.

[dlockha]

I finally had time to work on my smoker this past weekend. I got the tongue installed and built all of my shelves and got the doors for the fire box fitted up. Hopefully I'll be able to get the hinges on the fire box doors this week.

Here you can see the fire box doors. Yes they are discs I'm going to fill the center in before I'm done.

The bottom grate is 44"x 36". The top grate is 44"x 32"

I put 2 braces on the bottom and 1 on top. There are 9" between the grates
_________________
When all else fails...get a bigger hammer.
KCCO!

[auto5man]

Hi dlocka, your build is looking great! Made any more progress? I have a build going using the exact same tank so I'll be curious to see how yours performs. Have you cooked on it yet? I was contemplating three, maybe even four snouts so I'm wondering how yours does with two? Also I'm curious about your stack location being oriented towards the firebox and inside the seams. Does it leave cold spots in the ends? I was leaning towards placing mine amidships and outside the seams fairly close to the ends (roughly grate level). My thinking is that the heat will come in the snouts and then spread sideways (if snout caps are placed) and flow to the ends then up and out.
_________________
New Braunfels el Cheapo offset
Born in the Que-S-A Comp Team
36in x 120in Homebuilt
DPP Clone Build in progress: http://www.thesmokering.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=65139&start=0

[dlockha]

Auto5man I have it finished for the most part still have to do add details like smoke box door handle and fire box latches. I have cooked some chicken thighs on it as a test cook and used two oven thermometers to kinda map it out. I had it running about 250 to 275 for 4 hours and there wasn't much tempature difference between the top and bottom shelf and the ends didn't change much either. I moved the thermometers all over the grates and at most there was a 10 degree difference. I didn't put caps on the snouts and the smoke did like I thought it rolled out the front then toward the back. I also played with a laser temp gun to see any external differences and depending on where the fire was in the fire box made one snout hotter than the other but I really didn't see the difference in the smoke box. I was impressed with how it was burning and I was cooking in 30mph gust it chugged right along. I still need to work on fire management to get it dialed in but for the most part I'm really happy with how it worked.
Here are some pics

Really need to get it painted



_________________
When all else fails...get a bigger hammer.
KCCO!

[auto5man]

dlocka, thanks for the update and posting more pix. It really looks great! Good to hear it's performing well based on your thermometer tests. Give's me more confidence mine is going to do well....I think I was sweating over small details too much. My stacks are on and look great, firebox being built now....it's five feet long and will have at least 3 snouts, maybe 4.
_________________
New Braunfels el Cheapo offset
Born in the Que-S-A Comp Team
36in x 120in Homebuilt
DPP Clone Build in progress: http://www.thesmokering.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=65139&start=0

[auto5man]

one more question dlocka. Looks like the lower border of your door is cut at 3 o'clock, right? And how hard is it to lift your door? My door was already cut when I got the tank, and poorly cut at that, approx 4 inches above three o'clock. Initially I had planned to work around it and live with it, but the more i think about it the more it bothers me. I just know it will be a pain splicing the door pieces back together and recutting. My welder says he can do it, but I'm uneasy reading all the problems builders have with door fitting.
_________________
New Braunfels el Cheapo offset
Born in the Que-S-A Comp Team
36in x 120in Homebuilt
DPP Clone Build in progress: http://www.thesmokering.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=65139&start=0

[dlockha]

Yes it is at just below 3 o'clock it isn't light I need to make a counter weight system to help lift it. It probably weights 50 lbs and luckily I'm 6'6" because it is a long way up to the top. When I figured where the bottom was I wanted to maximize the amount of shelf space and make it easier to pull the bottom one out.
_________________
When all else fails...get a bigger hammer.
KCCO!

[auto5man]

Thanks for your responses dlocka, your build has been very helpful for me. Told my welder tonight to recut the door to one inch below 3 'o'clock. At some point I will start a new thread and get some pics up. My project has started and stopped so many times, I'm waiting til I have a slew of progress pics to post them.
_________________
New Braunfels el Cheapo offset
Born in the Que-S-A Comp Team
36in x 120in Homebuilt
DPP Clone Build in progress: http://www.thesmokering.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=65139&start=0