Home Made Smoker

[The Apprentices]

Another home made smoker

Here is the pictures of my second home made smoker as promised.

Made from an old MAPP gas cylider, top cut off which has a sturdy wall thickness, glad I never throw anything away.

The top is an idea that I found on the net but has a shut off valve to prolong burn time, in between smokings the fuel, again a 3 inch deep tightly cardboard roll which lasted over 3 hours in between shut off's and pumps.

The 1/4inch outlet tubes fan out and give a full frame spread of smoke holding the device level.

When the valve is left open a steady burn is achieved as if on tickover like my clockwork Vulcan on its lowest speed.

The fuel canister gets fairly hot but not enough to burn your hand, so doesn't need a gaurd around it.

The bellows are walnut and leather and held in place by upholstery studs I had left over.

The valve is an old half crown and brass valve rod which seals stopping against a brass tube inser, it works much better than I expected.

 

[The Apprentices]

to clean up from the silver soldering.

Glad about that - at least it's not made with plumbers or electrical solder!

Regards, RAB

I tried normal solder which gave up after an hour, lots of seperate parts on the deck

 

[RoseCottage]

I'm not one with practical skills and have a prejudiced view that means I typically am cynical of Heath-Robinson attempts at producing objects easily bought elsewhere.

However, I have to say well done. I have actually got tool envy. Quite bad.

The first image of a gleaming, hand-built, smoker made me think of art and like another poster I felt it would be too nice to see tarnished with age and use.

Then the second image of an object less elegant superficially but more so in practical design really made me admire your work.

I have to say you have given a man tool envy and so well done,

If you ever have any you want good money for (shameless I know) ...

Sam

 

[The Apprentices]

I'm not one with practical skills and have a prejudiced view that means I typically am cynical of Heath-Robinson attempts at producing objects easily bought elsewhere.

However, I have to say well done. I have actually got tool envy. Quite bad.

The first image of a gleaming, hand-built, smoker made me think of art and like another poster I felt it would be too nice to see tarnished with age and use.

Then the second image of an object less elegant superficially but more so in practical design really made me admire your work.

I have to say you have given a man tool envy and so well done,

If you ever have any you want good money for (shameless I know) ...

Sam

The second smoker is not as pleasing to the eye, but works well, I'm currently making Mk2 of the fan type, made from an old brass military shell and retaining the valve system, made entirely from brass, bellows are going to be round and hand stiched

 

[RoseCottage]

Sounds wonderful but you know a man needs but one smoker...

Hopefully you will post pics too

Is there a section for beekeeping porn???

Sam

 

[Alabamaeee]

A useful trick for smokers is to get an old soup/baked bean tin the correct diameter and use it as an inner lining.

Very effective and is supposed to be derived from the Rauchboy German smoker that is very popular,

here is some details...

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesmisc.htm#smokerinsert

 

[The Apprentices]

A useful trick for smokers is to get an old soup/baked bean tin the correct diameter and use it as an inner lining.

Very effective and is supposed to be derived from the Rauchboy German smoker that is very popular,

here is some details...

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesmisc.htm#smokerinsert

I have seen the double skin system on the RBoy and was thinking of incorporating this in my next project, as you can see I love making things, especially now I'm tertired.

 

[The Apprentices]

I'm not one with practical skills and have a prejudiced view that means I typically am cynical of Heath-Robinson attempts at producing objects easily bought elsewhere.

However, I have to say well done. I have actually got tool envy. Quite bad.

The first image of a gleaming, hand-built, smoker made me think of art and like another poster I felt it would be too nice to see tarnished with age and use.

Then the second image of an object less elegant superficially but more so in practical design really made me admire your work.

I have to say you have given a man tool envy and so well done,

If you ever have any you want good money for (shameless I know) ...

Sam

Have tool envy no more follow these instructions and you should be able to cobble her together.

I will do it in detailed stages and try not to miss anything out.

Here goes and for others who might have some basic tools or a woodturning freind.

Purchase some 2 inch brass tubing 16 guage wall thickness 5 inches long.

Drill a 1/2" hole near one end say 3/4 from end.

 

[The Apprentices]

Now for some more component parts.

Purchase some 1/2" brass tube again 16 gauge, one at 2 inches long for the baffle at the back which will prevent hot ashes from exiting the back of the smoker body/tube and two more smaller lengths at 1/2".
Also cut a blanking plate for the rear pannel, again 16 gauge you can use lighter gauge but 16 will last a lifetime.

 

[The Apprentices]

Then fit the 2 inch tube into the blow hole and fit the back pannel so they are a nice tight fit and won't fall out when moved.

The tube needs to stick out a couple of millimeters so you can solder it in easier.

 

[The Apprentices]

Before you solder anything in place all surfaces must be very clean, I have polished the tubes in the wood lathe and by hand.
Solder needs to he silver solder easyflow flux should be a good quality plumbers type or silverflow flux for the job in hand, either should suffice.

Gas torch I use is a Rothenberger Surefire 2 and MAPP gas cylinder which gives a more pinpoint heat for brass.

 

[The Apprentices]

Now take the two 1/2" tubes and profile one end on both tubes to match the curve of the main body tube, basically scribe them in to fit, using a half round file until they sit on top of the tube like so, the better the fit the easier it will be to solder in place, don't solder anything in place yet.

Also notice in the pictures how everything looks when in place including the base plate which screws to the top belows board, but more on that later.

 

[The Apprentices]

Next stage is making the front cone and overtube which slides onto the main body.

To get a large diameter tube to fit perfectly is nigh on impossible, so these parts must be hand rolled from flat stock.

The overtube is a strip 2" wide and we need to work out the circumfrence of the main body so it fit properly later.

To work out how long the blank needs to be is a simple maths lesson, simply measure the main body tubes diameter, in this case its a two inch tube but measure it properly.
Take this reading and the add the thickness of rolling blank material together, in this instance I'm using 0.90mm.

So add the diameter of the tube to the thickness of the plate material and X it by pye, or 3.14, this gives you the total legth of rolling blank/ strip to fit neatly around the tube afterwards, do not forget to add the plate/sheet thickness before you pye, or the over tube will be too tight.

Also notice the front cone blank which also needs to be formed- rolled into shape.

Before forming these components heat them to cherry red to anneal soften them and let things cool slowly, do not quench them in cold water to cool them down.

 

[The Apprentices]

More to follow tomorrow, time to push out some ZZZZZZZZ's.

 

[The Apprentices]

Back again.

Next stage is hand rolling of the cone and cone support ring.

Heat the ready cut plate and roll the plain ring around the main body which it will slide over when finished, if there are any mistakes they will show now.
After pre-forming the now rolled tube it needs to be closed using plain reath wire so the twisted ebds are adjacent the seam to be soldered.
Wrap the wire around the tube or ferrule and close the gap by twisting the two ends together.
Just before the gap totally closes apply the flux paste in the gap from the inside surface not the outside, if you get any on the outer polished surface it might need a lot of cleaning up later as the solder follows the cleaning stage when heating.
Same goes for the cone, for this you need to make a paper pattern first, notice the shape of the cone blank from the previous stage.
When you have the desired size, length of cone by sticking it together with sellotape you need to make a wooden forming cone, mine is made from Holly which is nice and hard.

 

[The Apprentices]

measure twice, cut once

Back again.

Next stage is hand rolling of the cone and cone support ring.

Heat the ready cut plate and roll the plain ring around the main body which it will slide over when finished, if there are any mistakes they will show now.

After pre-forming the now rolled tube it needs to be closed using plain reath wire so the twisted ends are adjacent the seam to be soldered, the very bottom of the twist leaves a tiny gap which enables the removal later, if the twist is against a plain surface and any solder wanders onto the polished surface it makes removing the wires more difficult, this should not occur if you don't use too much flux and solder.
Wrap the wire around the tube or ferrule and close the gap by twisting the two ends together.

Just before the gap totally closes apply the flux paste liberally in the gap from the inside surface not the outside, if you get any on the outer polished surface it might need a lot of cleaning up later as the solder tends to follows the cleaning stage when heating when finally closing the seam/gap let it dry and recheck the wires for firmness and scrape away any excess flux, remember the tighter and flatter the seam or joint is, yhe better it will solder requiring very little solder at all.

Same goes for the cone, for this you need to make a paper pattern first, notice the shape of the finished cone blank from the previous stage, this shape is almost the proper shape when soldered or very near and needs only minimal adjust ment to get a interferance fit inside the cone support tube that slides over the main body.

When you have the desired size, length of cone by sticking the paper pattern together with sellotape, you can try the pattern inside the cone support tube till its right.
Now you need to make a wooden forming cone, mine is made from Holly which is nice and hard.
When forming the cone you will need 0.70mm plate plate anything thicker is much harder to form.
You should after annealing be able to form 90 percent of the shape, the rest will need a metal bar inside to form the very edges of the seam area which must be level/round and not peaked or the joint will be harder to solder.

 

[The Apprentices]

Next you need to wire amd flux up the cone, because your trying to close a taper the wires will slip down towards the point, so twist so far then slide the wire along towards the wider end and then fold the tails over the lip.

 

[The Apprentices]

Solder the cone and clean thongs up, now solder the front cone to the guide, to line it up straight fit the guide to withon a few millimeters and insert the cone until is touching the main body inside, then remove guide and cone, flux up and solder, making sure that the two original soldered seam do not match/ line up, stagger them so they do not desolder themselves in the process.
To help prevent this you can use a slightly lower melting point silver solder.

 

[Bee-Key-Pur]

Man you just have to much time on your hands, heck I used to do stuff like that in my spare time working at ABB until I got bored, so built a yacht instead and sailed it around the world very slowly, the trip took me 20yrs.

That cured me of this little affliction. Looks good though, great job....

Brian

 

[The Apprentices]

Man you just have to much time on your hands, heck I used to do stuff like that in my spare time working at ABB until I got bored, so built a yacht instead and sailed it around the world very slowly, the trip took me 20yrs.

That cured me of this little affliction. Looks good though, great job....

Brian

Hi Brian

yes I do have a fair bit of time to spare but only the evenings, the garden greenhouse and self pelf takes most of our daylight away.

I could make a boat but sadly I do not have the sea legs even on the calmest of lake, hughieee.