Great CAD work. Like PHPaul, I have played around with some CAD programs and decided that without proper training I was never going to figger it out. Waining to see the grill when it is done.

quote:

Originally posted by molachi:
Great CAD work. Like PHPaul, I have played around with some CAD programs and decided that without proper training I was never going to figger it out. Waining to see the grill when it is done.

CAD, especially solid modelers, are all about drawing 2d shapes, then stretching them into a 3rd dimension.

To draw a cylinder, start with a 2d circle on the xy plane. Then stretch it up the z axis.

To draw a 1"x1"x1" cube, start by drawing a 1x1 square on the xy plane, then stretch it 1" up the z axis.

To drill a 1/2" hole in that previous cube. Select the top face of the cube as a new x,y plane, then draw a circle on it. Now, stretch that circle downward, negative in the z direction for 1". Select the operation type as a "remove/boolean".

To draw a 1" diameter, .9" id, .05" wall, section of pipe, its as simple as drawing a 1" circle on the x,y plane. Then drawing a .9" circle inside it. Think of the 2d, citcle within a circle drawing as being a cross-section view of the pipe. Then, extrude the pipe up the z axis.

AutoCad was my favorite program when I was still working. Learned it OJT over several years, but never really learned it if you know what I mean. Unbelievable capabilities. Mine was all civil engineering. No 3D. Nothing like what you are doing. It was the only program I could enjoy working with while listening to music thru a headset.

^^

I did AutoCAD 11 many moons ago, strictly flat 2D stuff documenting layouts and dimensions when installing electronic equipment for the Navy.

Used maybe one tenth of one percent of the program's capabilities, but still like it when I'm in the design phase of a project to check dimensions and possible layouts.

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:
^^

I did AutoCAD 11 many moons ago, strictly flat 2D stuff documenting layouts and dimensions when installing electronic equipment for the Navy.

Used maybe one tenth of one percent of the program's capabilities, but still like it when I'm in the design phase of a project to check dimensions and possible layouts.

AutoCad is phenominal. My final project for the "Engineering Graphics with AutoCad" course for an Engineering Technology degree, was a complete drafting package.

I had to design an automotive manual transmission.

Solid model cases, shafts, gears, bearings. Do old-school pen/paper stress analysis, a paper technical drawings package and bill of materials.

At the time, i was already pretty competent with Solidworks. I remember how much more difficult AutoCad was for modeling parts, but how much more detailed everything was.

Oh, and the bitch of it was, for all the isometric views, i absolutely could not solid model a part, and rotate it in 3 dimensions to capture an isometric image for paper space (the way you can with Inventor or Solidworks.

Had to actually draw it out, skewed at 60°' to create an isometric view. Took forever to get the hang of drawing isocircles. Sometimes I resorted to using trig identities to calculate line segments lengths, to cheat at isocircles.

Its almost done!





what gas stations are open 24 hours

closest gas station to my location right now

Memories. We used EZ-Mill, EZ-Turn and EZ-EDM. Forgot the name for our welder and Sheetmetal punch guys.
Very nice work. Thanks for sharing.

Should have insulated a he fire box. Will help maintain temps in colder weather and rain.

I too am in for the Karma...not the smoker but the smoker's PRODUCT when cooked. I will email my shipping address should I win this most generous of Karmas.

Seriously, that is WAY COOL. I have mechanic skills, I do it for a living, but NOTHING like this. That is amazing.

Now that is very cool, well done!

quote:

Originally posted by kg5388:
Should have insulated a he fire box. Will help maintain temps in colder weather and rain.

The part of the firebox directly above the flame has an insulated chamber, used to capture heat and conduct it up to the warming cabinet. The sides and bottom aren' insulated.

I can double wall and insulate the sides of the firebox any time i like, should the 130',000 btu/hr firebox be insufficient to heat a cook chamber that requires 30,000 btu/hr to heat.

Ill just have to see how it works, then compare the cost of wood to the cost of steel plate.

It came out beautiful. What color paint? What kind of vertical mill do you have? Oh, and you've a engine lathe hiding in there some where.

Wow! I'm curious what something on that level cost.

quote:

Originally posted by David Lee:
It came out beautiful. What color paint? What kind of vertical mill do you have? Oh, and you've a engine lathe hiding in there some where.

Im going to paint it with Rust-Oleum 1200° bbq grill paint, in semi gloss black.

Theres a Precision Mathews PM935 mill, a Birmingham 13x40 lathe and an Optimum CNC vertical milling center hiding from the grinding dust under tarps.

quote:

Originally posted by flesheatingvirus:
Wow! I'm curious what something on that level cost.

The customer im building it for, is into it for 7000$ in steel plate, axles, springs, wheels and tires, welding gas, wire, etc. Since the steel tariffs have kicked it, steel prices are way up.

I'm into it for about 300 hrs of labor.

A new smoker this size and so-equipped will typically cost about 10,000 or more.

A shop set up specifically to manufacture smokers can bulk purchase to get the steel costs a little lower and build fixtures to reduce labor costs.

That is very cool!

Just a quick follow up on this 3 year old thread.

The smoker has been running like a champ for 3 years, and produced lots of good stuff.







With protection!




Notice the security guard I the background, eyes
Bugging out and waiting impatiently for his security fee!

quote:

Originally posted by c1steve:
Impressive, but it is too heavy. After all that work, he will some day say it is too heavy, and needs a lighter one.

When actually what he needs is a bigger truck.

That's darned nice, Ken!