Insulated Vertical Reverse Flow cabinet

[strength_and_pow]

Onto the doors. I did a stair step door on both top and bottom. Each step was 1” thick and I used 1” Rockwool in each pan. Not that I needed to as Rockwool is pretty firm but I welded 7/8” roofing nails inside the pan to hold the Rockwool in place. The outer pan which sits outside the body has an 11ga skin with a 14ga inner pan. The 14ga was necessary as the stove gasket’s clips would not grab 11ga. I fully welded the two pans together then ground the welds flat for the gasket to lay. The inner pan was built in the same fashion but with 11ga on both sides. If you were to look at a cross section of the doors, it would look like this
11ga
1” Rockwool
14ga
11ga
1” Rockwool
11ga
So 2”s on insulation and 7/16” of steel. Firebox door was 40ish pounds. I didn’t weight the cook chamber door but I’m sure it’s pushing 100#s.



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[strength_and_pow]

The inner inner walls sit 1” inside the main body to allow glorious smoke to travel upwards from the firebox before falling down and exiting via the chimney whose opening is at the bottom of the cook chamber. My fab shop cut slots in the side walls and matching tabs in the shelf guides and I practiced my TIG welding on the backside. I would like to say I became an expert TIG welder with this practice which would be a lie but my tungsten grinding skills definitely improved through repetition



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[strength_and_pow]

Once the wall sub assemblies were complete I installed them in the body after marking and drilling my through holes for probes and gas torch preheat. The firebox to cook chamber divider was installed at this time as well. Now it’s starting to look like a smoker



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[strength_and_pow]

Latches went on next. I used a side mount freezer latch. The catch is adjustable. I went halfway on the in/out of the latch giving me room if I change gaskets etc. Very impressed with the latches, latches easy with a solid feel. Also installed the Tel Tru analog thermometer and some bling to the doors. Any penetration through the body was sleeved with tubing and welded on both sides to seal off the insulation



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[strength_and_pow]

Air inlets came next. I got some 2” stainless ball valves online. This was one of the parts where the calculator and similar smokers differed. I decided to do two air inlets figuring the extra air will help with getting to temp and if I don’t need it, I can just block it off. I used stainless flanges and stainless Tri clamp hardware since I think it looks cool. The same friend with the plasma table was kind enough to TIG the visible seam from the flange to some 2.5” stainless exhaust tubing. I punched the through holes in the body using a hole saw which reminded me why I dislike hole saws, too much chatter and walking. If I make another one I will use a mag drill and anular cutter


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[strength_and_pow]

Next step was to paint. Hit the exterior with a D/A then metal etch. Inside got a soap and water wash to get some of the oil residue off. Based on the flash rust, the soap and water did pretty good. Masked off the inside and shot a quart of high temp black. Getting it into the sun, I was pleased I didn’t tiger stripe it as I usually do when I paint. Win.



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[strength_and_pow]

Decided on 1/4” plasma cut shelves instead of expanded metal. Priced out expanded metal and flat bar against what my friend quoted per shelf and the difference was small enough to just have him cut them. I also fell into a bit of a time crunch to finish this as a friend of 20 years asked for pulled pork for his 5 year sober celebration end of the month. Plus the plasma cut shelves better fit the overkill and overbuild theme I’m known for.


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[strength_and_pow]

32#s of charcoal went into the bin. I lit off 3/4 of a chimney and ran the i let’s wide open to start the seasoning process. Ran it for 2 hours dry then pulled the shelves, sprayed the walls with PAM, sprayed the shelves with PAM and let it go. Started closing off the air inlets after a couple more hours, it holds heat very well. Temp probes top middle and bottom showed a 40* difference with the bottom running hotter. Not unexpected as it is closer to the fire but also I’m thinking the 1/2” divider plate soaked up a ton of the higher temps and in future runs where I hit my temp on the way up instead of the way down the difference will be even less. Ran a biscuit test and am pretty pleased with the heat distribution.
Also got a Thermoworks Signals and Bellows unit which I will play with after I machine a plate for the blower.
And it is finished



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[bsooner75]

First class rig you built


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[spacetrucker]

Looks to good!!
its nice to see some one with the right tools, the job looks so much better I had to piece mill the things I did in the past. I'm very jealous ...

[k.a.m.]

Completely Awesome build Sir. Nicely done.
I am a bit jealous of your shop oh the trouble I could get into there.

[GRailsback]

Very nice craftsmanship for sure. And that is also some heavy duty grating. I wonder if they restrict airflow a little bit versus expanded metal?

[strength_and_pow]

Looks to good!!
its nice to see some one with the right tools, the job looks so much better I had to piece mill the things I did in the past. I'm very jealous ...

If you are in the Dallas area and need a hand on a project, give me a shout. Falling down the tool rabbit hole is one I may never get out of. Next on my agenda is to buy a mag drill and start popping 5/8” holes on my table in a 2” grid so I can start amassing fixture table clamps and tooling. I figure investing in good tools ultimately saves me time which I never seem to have enough of nor can I make more of.


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[hogaboomer]

That thing looks amazing!

[strength_and_pow]

Completely Awesome build Sir. Nicely done.
I am a bit jealous of your shop oh the trouble I could get into there.

The shop is my work’s. I just borrow some space and provide my skills when needed. I had a small commercial space that was my little slice of heaven for 7 years but decided to let it go and save for some land with a house and a shop. Having use of a forklift definitely comes in handy.


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