Propane Conversion (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Sep 19, 2012
Threads
12
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768
Location
Athens, GA
If you were hoping to click on this thread and get some truck tech, this is not the place :flipoff2:. On the contrary, this thread may give you some ideas for your next grill fabrication project.

So the story begins, where all stories begin - I've gotten tired of the shoddy products available nowadays and I didn't want to spend my money on something that would only reliably work for a year or two. The goal for the project is a propane / charcoal hybrid grill that may be able to serve as a halfway decent smoker. I'm trying to do this thing on the cheap with the only new parts related to the propane burners.

This thing started it's life as an air compressor (~ 50 gal) and will end its life cooking food:

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Went with greaseable bullet hinges left over from a previous smoker build:

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The next step which is kind of a bitch is building the flanges for the door. Stole these ideas from others, but they work well. The way that I affixed the flange to the door is by grinding slots in the door, clamping the flange, and then filling the slot with weld. This keeps the grinding work to a minimum, does not interfere with the door closing, and keeps the front of the door clean.

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To mount the flange on the vertical (rounded side of the door), get all the c-clamps you can find and start bending. The flange is 1/8" flat stock, so it bends relatively easily.

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And the finished flanged door. I've had pretty good luck running a bead of high temp RTV as a sealer along the flange.

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Never seen a grill with the ends missing. Is that to let more air in or let the smoke out when you’re grilling. :grinpimp:
 
A water scoop :flush:

Nope, a snorkel - I heard they add at least 15hp.

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Put the divider in. Left side will be propane, right will be charcoal.

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Here is the burner assembly. Ordered the Venturi and valve online and will piece together the rest. The black iron pipe will be the burner after it gets a bunch of holes drilled in it.

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Not a ton of progress but checking things off. Ran out of gas and switched back to flux - damn it sucks.

Charcoal basket and cooking grate.
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You gonna smoke some butts at AOP for us?

Sure, but not with this thing - we'd need a fork lift to get it on and off the trailer. I have been toying around with the idea of a trailer hitch mounted grill just for those types of occasions - might have to put that one in the que. We'll talk.
 
Few updates. Unfortunately worked on this instead of wheeling this week.

Burners done at 128 total holes - only took about 8 drill bits until I borrowed a drill press which I need to add to the tool aresenal.

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Handle

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Cheap/ghetto hinged door to access the charcoal basket. Ran out of gas and burned up an old spool of flux - as this board suggested in the truck build, I’ll never go back unless I have to.

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Starting to check things off the list. The burners were one of the last big hurdles.

The burners extend through the tank and will mount to the front shelf. Getting all of this aligned was a pain.

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The propane inlet will mount on the open side of the tee. The brass manifold will affix under the shelf and will be hidden by the wood insert.

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And the wood insert that slides in the shelf. I wanted this removable so it could be washed and brought in out of the weather if needed.

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Couple of minor updates.

Grease guards/heat deflectors. The angle iron will sit on the end pieces so they can be removed to access the burners if necessary.

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And trying to figure out the legs. I tried to build a jig to keep both legs equivalent. I’m a little worried about cutting the angles on the bottom of the legs square to the ground. Don’t want a wobbly grill.

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Got a lot done today. Pretty much done with the fab work. Now I just need to spend some time with the grinder making everything look pretty.

Put it on casters so I could move it around and more importantly get it out of the garage and to the deck.

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Air intake for the charcoal side.

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And a little redneck diesel stack inspiration on the exhaust.

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Done and in its final resting place! May end up cutting the casters off now that it’s on the deck - we’ll see though. Also gotta build a box for the propane to keep the wifey happy. First cook is happening tomorrow.

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