Ripper

Thanks mate. yep...no joy on the hole saw If it doesn't arrive within the week, i'm gonna try and use the wood hole saw on a piece of sheet metal and see how it goes. Since these are thinner gauge metal it might go through. I can buy a couple and sacrifice them if need be cos they are cheap. Wanted a nice finish and i feel the metal hole saw would be the best bet though. Noticed a small error on the handle today morning so gonna have to cut that out and re-weld it in place. It's slightly slanted to one side...by like 3-4mm.

two weld magnets holding a handle piece bench drill chuck can't hold smaller bits. using a smaller chuck i got off a parts shop to hold smaller bits. Handle welded in place. Plan is to cover the front part of the handle with wood. Two wood strips will have a center groove to allow the steel bit to fit in and hopefully epoxy should hold them together. If that fails, can use a screw...hence the center hole Temp gauge off ebay. test fitted this in. thinking of having a metal surround to this so the dial wont get bust up when transporting etc. Will have to get in oxy welded in from a shop as my arc can't handle sheet metal. Gotta wait for the weekend to sort out the rest. next on the list... Firebox, vents, top lid holding mechanism, wood working bits, finishing and painting.

All levelling up Celebrating little victories. It's great when things fall into place right. Center locking brace clamped in for welding fully welded and folded. Locked in place and more than capable of handling a heavy load Top lid tack welded in with 3 hinges Grill with handles welded in. will need to use oven gloves when handling this

Early start. cutting 1.5" square pipe for the stand. 45 degree cuts with the angle grinder is a bit hard. Chop saw is still at the motor shop so no choice but to use the grinder. cuts are not very accurate. gotta fill it up when welding. Drilling a pilot hole for the bench drill to grab onto. Used a punch to guide the smaller bit too. The big boy gets to work Two SS bolts holding it in place. Used some cut off 2x4's from a saw horse project to raise the stand up and tie the legs with rope. This is to get the height right before i weld a support brace in place.

Thanks MD. And thanks for the support in my queries to find everything from heat paint to ratcheting gears Thank you! Looks like the first usage will be in nuwara eliya. Nothing like good company, cold beer and some grilled meat in a cold place Heh heh... there's the super special, "bbq chicken wing's at MD's house" group. I doubt this little unit is enough to cater to anything larger than that sadly. Might have to cut open a tanker truck to serve autolankans

Thanks. Re: heat control... i was thinking of having a 6" inch diameter circle with four 40mm holes. It's the standard model you get where when you rotate the wheel you can go from full open position to fully closed position. The barrel will have the 4 holes and the disc that comes on top of it will either fully open or fully close the vents. These will come in either side to have even air flow if i want to or have one side more hot than the other. The top lid is not fully air tight once it's closed, so moisture, fumes etc will have a way out. But i thought of adding a single vent on one side with four 20mm holes, on the same disc adjusting method. I checked panchi shops for hole saws and they aint cheap. AC paul quoter 5k something for a 40mm hole saw with the mandrel. i only have woodworking hole saws in my tool chest. So got one off ebay for less than 2k but the darn thing still didn't show up As for rust. what happens to me after each bbq session is that i top up quite a bit on beer and others end up having to close shop after a session. So maintaining the grill doesn't quite happen the way it should. And for sanity in all fronts, having the stainless still grill is a huge relief for me. Gotta see how the thing holds up though. I heard SS tend to buckle easier at higher temps so that's why i went for 8mm rods instead of thinner ones. Also i used them across the shorter gap and ran two rods underneath too. i read all over not to use any kind of paint inside the unit, certainly not a on the grill. So gonna stick to that Only going to paint the exterior with high heat paint. I got some from slave island paint shops...matte black that's intended to be used on exhausts. Not gonna bother painting the firebox as it will come into direct contact with hot coal and i doubt any paint can hold upto that. And there's a good chance of fumes getting released as the paint breaks down. can't risk that. I read on other diy forums about how people just clean things up properly and spraying the interior bits with simple vegetable oil. Gonna try that option and see how it goes. If mild rust shows up, i can always attend to it. And if it's the firebox, re-welding another one after a few years of usage is no biggie. Gonna do the stand, mount the top lid, firebox and hopefully the woodworking stuff too over the weekend Drilling temp control holes are stalled until the darn hole saw arrives.

Thanks mate. I got the barrel from dam street...there was this large barrel shop that sold everything from half cut barrels to plastic ones. This was the size i preferred and unlike most used barrels you get...these were relatively dent free. So you guys bring down the chemicals i'm guessing... Went for these assuming it wasn't hazardous. Anyway i plan on taking this to a friend who's got a gas blow torch to do a full burn. To get rid of old paint and any traces of chemicals.

Round steel rods welded in to connect the two L iron pieces from either side This was to stop from the bottom ribs getting distorted when the heavy grill top moves in. It will also reduce strain on the pop rivets There was a a gap between the two l irons with the barrel sheet metal sandwiched in between. I welded a 1/2 pattam piece to cover that up welds are ugly and need fair bit of grinding to clean up Starting on the grill... I ran out of SS steel half way through the build. Bought 3nos 12ft rods but i ended up using a total of 6 rods. These were the pricey ones with one rod priced at 1200 bucks. With rising power bills, switched to the hacksaw and a high speed blade to cut these and gave the grinders a break sizes were ok. ground the edges a bit on the bench grinder as the saw cuts left rough edges. Welding the grill was the scariest part as i was told repeatedly by friends how hard SS welding is on an AC welding unit This was untrue as i found SS welding pretty easy. Keeping the metal rods in place and making sure everything was true... this was a effing nightmare. I tried making a wooden jig with holes spaced evenly but found drilling holes with a 16mm gap wasn't easy at all even with a bench drill. Finally used the wooden thing as a frame, placed nails to hold the first few rods in place and use those as a guide for the next rod. Overall quite happy how it came out. It's a bit on heavy side as rods are 8mm but the thought of not having rust to deal with is pretty awesome I've added handles to either side but forgot to take a pic of it. Over this weekend, i plan to finish up the stand and mate the top cover with hinges to the main barrel body. Also need to drill and fix the grill heat gauge i got off ebay, start on the wooden sliding table top and the firebox

Lid kept on the barrel to check fit Almost a perfect fit.... there was like a 3mm difference on one side. Once the hinges come in i'll try to correct that. fabricating lift handles out of 1" square pipe cutting 45 angles was a tad hard without the chop saw. these were cut with the grinder. managed to fill the gaps while welding. I employed a oxy welding steel rod as a filler rod in addition to the weld rod. Saw a pro welder doing this and a nicked it from the guy Trying to use only metal to fill things and keep fillers away as much as i can. These lift handles need to be perfectly square so did all i could to ensure accuracy. The barrel base was leveled with a spirit level before each marking or welding job. Used a squares to mark angles Found a sharpened "concrete nail" to be the best a scribe to mark steel. I got a cheapo chinese scribe tool that doesn't perform nearly as good and hold it's edge. Took less than five mins to make on the bench grinder handles welded in I used an L iron to hold the handle and weld that into the barrel rim. Barrel rim is thick and strong and can take the heat from an arc welder. The sheet metal wont be able to take the finished weight of the unit. Also the plan is to have a sliding in wooden table top bit that goes into this handle. Adding interior ribs this is to hold the firebox cos i don't want it to sit directly on top of the barrel sheet itself. The thin metal will weaken due to high heat exposure over long periods. The plan is to fabricate a firebox that will sit on these ribs.... somehow i'm yet to fully figure out that one. Installing L iron on the internal ribs to hold the grill. The ribs will be riveted to the barrel and these L iron will hold the grill in place

steel "pattam" added to strengthen the cut edges. these are riveted to the barrel with pop rivets as my welder can't be used on thin sheet metal. adding these also take out any risk of cuts from sharp edges of the barrel. I did sand paper the edges with 80grit paper to smoothen them in any case. Making a support frame for the top cover/lid with steel pattam bending these to shape takes a bit of time. i used just two blocks of wood and a hammer as a simple bender. Top cover frame welded in fully Top cover frame riveted in place to the cut off barrel piece. L iron "stopper" added to the barrel so when the lid is close...it has something to rest on

I did fair bit of research online to figure out an easy way to design and build. I couldn't find anything that fitted the bill that matched my requirement and skill set. So i kinda designed my own thing many sketches later, and running through the building process in my head...i kinda settled for this In a nutshell... it's a horizontally placed barrel with an opening flap. It will be ventilated with two adjustable vents. One for intake and one for exhaust Grill to be made with stainless steel and internal firebox to be fabricated so no coal sit on the barrel surface itself This whole unit will sit on a collapsible scissor stand made out of square tubing. The tools u need Welding unit - i'm using a small AC plant. 250amps on 3phase. Angle Grinder with grinding and cutting discs, A chop saw will make things faster to cut - mine blew a coil while building this and i was limited only to using the grinders. Drill - i used a bench drill too but a hand drill will still work Bench grinder - this will make finishing things faster, angle grinder too will work but more time consuming and harder to control in some cases G clamps, rivet gun, and misc hand tools like hammers, pliers etc if adding the wooden side table thing, you'll need some wood working tools as well Supplies Barrel, L angle steel, 1.5 sq pipe, 1" and 3/4" metal "pattang" I used 8mm stainless steel rods to make the grill top. regular and SS weld rods plenty of cutting discs for the grinder Safety It's really important to use safety glasses, gloves, hearing protection when using power tools. In my case i have a curious 5 year old running around my work area and two rotties so safety becomes even more critical. All powertools should be disconnected from power the moment you're done with them. Got the barrel from dam street for 1500 bucks Finding one without dents was really hard this too had a small dent. since it's slightly heave gauge metal, beating this back to shape isn't really easy. especially since i don't have a blow torch to heat things up as yet. But i did manage to hammer this one out This barrel used to carry chemicals needed to make incense sticks... bloody thing still has the fragrance... I will do a full burn before painting the exterior with high heat paint so all traces of the chemicals will be taken out. measured and cut the flap open with the angle grinder this was a new disc . barrel ate it up good

Posting on AL after a long long break I believe making a BBQ grill was discussed a few years back and thought of documenting my build as a build log here so it will hopefully inspire another to do the same. Or at least help to avoid a few issues i face during my shot at this. As of now, i've complete about 80% of the build. Another two weekends and i should be through to the finish line Simply put...I love beer and grilled meat. Have a been huge fan for a while and i've been using two grills at home. One was this large oil drum grill i got made from a weld shop a few years back It got the job done beautifully. Have had many great times with friends and family with many cold ones. The only real complains was that it was really poor in aesthetics, wasn't portable, was prone to rust, fire box wasn't good, and had no way of controlling the heat I had it for good five years and have used it pretty often. But now finally it's started to show age and rust away. I also have a smaller portable grill that used to go in the truck with me on trips and the likes. Its store bought... highly portable but quite small in size and flimsy. I do love DIY and consider myself to be a tool addict Over time i've collected a bit of equipment so thought of building a grill myself as a weekend project. Objective was to fix or at least reduce the issues i had with the large barrel unit. Make it portable so it can go with me in the truck without taking too much of space etc.

heh heh... progress stalled since my chop saw packed up. commutator in the motor was damaged with brush debris i think and it has busted a coil pack. so hunting for a new armature these days.. if that aint working it's a rewound... joys of diy

thanks sylvi...gotta wait till the weekend to go that side. i should be ok with about 20kg for the moment

Lanka Brass seems to be a supplier of foundry items. chances are they'll have coal and other foundry related stuff too...

Thanks rumesh. Much appreciated Shall pay a visit and see. Not at all experienced in this but I read coal is the best as it stays for longer than coconut she'll charcoal. Also gives higher temps with enough aeration.

Xxx Heh heh. Nothing major machang. My little diy steel work stuff is getting limited without a way to heat metal effectively to high temps. So gonna build myself a brake drum furnace lit by coal. I got a big centrifugal blower with me do can use that to aerate. Building a barrel bbq that can be taken apart for transporting and also a pit barrel smoker type smoker unit. Both will look better if I can bend and deform metal. I got a barrel grill made by a welding shop but aesthetics are poor. Sylvi Thanks again. I dint intend to melt metal. At least not right now. Need to get metal heated enough to bend, shape on an anvil. Need to get an anvil too Not too hot on gas bottles due to safety concerns. My workspace is quite tight. Got a very curious 5yo son and two Rottweilers who can run through virtually anything. If I get a gas bottle it'll only be co2 or argon to run the future mig machine I intend on getting I assumed coal will be available in SL cos we do have a running steam train still and one coal fired power plant. Will keep on looking. Thank u all for replies

Thanks Sylvi for the response. I'm looking at coal for some blacksmith work. In the process of making a fire pit with an electric blower And I've been told coal is the best So if I could get like a 50kg bag i would be happy. I've been told due to costs blacksmiths use coconut shell charcoal

Does anybody know where to buy coal from? The type used in furnaces, steam trains etc not the charcoal variety that goes in grills n stuff.

I was copped once for having DRL on my bike cop took the time to explain the law about how once cant power up their headbeams until sunset Great to see some sanity returning... The ban on full face helmets been lifted and now the DRL As a rider i really didn't notice anything with the DRL...it just was there from the factory But as a driver i certainly feel bikers with DRL's do get noticed...especially when going and out of your blind spot. The bright light does register more even in sunny sl There is science and research behind manufacturers adding on DRL's in the first place I see a lot of people slamming bikers, gosl and generally cribbing about this whole thing though I feel, recklessness and poor road skills isn't limited to bikers alone and the two issues are seperate.

1+ of PIAA's...even their 55/60 is really bright imo compared to many others. Also genuine hellas too are good.

1. IMHO, the whole increasing of brightness isn't a huge deal with a relay. With a relay you will have a tad bit more voltage to the bulb since the + power line is more or less a direct line from the battery. In reality relays are mostly used to save switches since when the active circuit has a larger load like in the case of high powered bulbs, sparks created inside the switch contact points are more. More heat, more wastage and quick failure. A relay is nothing a but a magnetically operated switch. The switch you activate will charge an electro magnet that in turn either engage or disengage the internal switch of the relay. 2. look at the maximum wattage you'd be using and choose a relay or two relays with that ampere rating. wattage=voltage x current. Use your existing wires to drive the primary coil of the relay. pins 85 and 86. 85 is ground. these are marked on the relay. have a direct line from the battery that gets connected to pin 30. pin 87 will be the one that gives this direct battery current to your lights once the switch is activated. make sure you have a fuse as close to the battery as possible when you get the direct battery line. 3. yeah get a 4 pin relay. used jap denzo ones are way better than the cheap crap they sell brand new at most shops. As for the wire gauge, i run two 100w lights with somewhat thicker automotive wire. no idea of gauge though. obviously the thicker the better. but for a 100w bulbs it's doesn't have to be really heavy gauge. not like the stuff you used to wire car amps and stufff. 4. + should come from the battery. never at the alternator. also as stated above, use a fuse as close to the battery as possible for this line 5 n 6. It sounds like you don't really know your way around wiring bits. I feel its best you get another who knows their way around these kinda stuff to guide you through this. It's pretty straight forward easy stuff but quality control dept its best you get somebody with a bit more experience. imho

When the engine is cool. open the radiator cap and start the engine. top up water as needed and see if you notice any air bubbles. Just came out of a head replacement myself. Engine temp went up 80% or so on the highway and would come down rapidly if i slowed down to say 80 or even 90. No over heating in regular running. No noticeable loss off cooling fluid either Traced it to a tiny crack on the head that was leaking combusted gases into the water jacket. New head, new valve train and now it's all good.

i have heard that some hardtops are heavier than others. especially a certain locally made brand is supposed to be significantly heavy vs a carryboy. got a carryboy meself... the benefits of having one far outweighs any possible fuel related issues No idea where to buy one from though as once my lock got busted and i had to source a replacement online.

yep most modern cars have ECT sensor for the engine temp reading. It's simply measuring the coolant temp and if the sensor isn't surrounded with coolant, it can't give a proper reading. Some diesels including mine have a heat reading off the block itself and not from ECT (engine coolant temp) sensor If you check around your engine bay, you can spot this pretty easily.