My Stumps Clone build

My Stumps Clone Build

I would like to say thank you to Walter Stump McDowell for his great idea.

In Nov 2014 I began my Stumps Clone project. My design is on the large side but that's my personality. More is better. Until I realized that the finished product will be about 900Lbs. I started by doing hours of research online at different BBQ sites and reading about other builds. The steel work part is easy for me being that I have been welding and fabricating for over 30 years. I have been out of the business for more then 10 years but its like riding a bicycle, it comes back real easy. The real challenge was the equipment I would need to perform the work. Fortunately my friend had a Lincoln flux core mig welder that he had bought and never used.

But that still left the cutting , shearing , bending & torch cutting to figure out. I am a General contractor and I have an awesome subcontractor ( Mastercraft in Fayetteville NC that does all of my sheet metal work so that took care of that part. If I can draw it David and his guys can make it! My brother and teammate in our competition BBQ team (SMOKIN DOPES) had access to a cutting torch set, Thanks Bro. All of the other cutting in my shop was done with a side grinder with a cutting wheel and a sawzall, The raw material I purchased from some friends in the steel fab business and local supply houses, In this blog I will attempt to go from start to finish giving as much description and pictures in order to be a reference for anyone who would like to attempt a build. Please feel free to contact me anytime with questions ( jsteinb456@gmail.com). Well lets get to it.

The Design.

Below are a few pages from my design. The actual location of the grease drain is in the center. Another change was the exhaust is acually exiting the box on the left side wall. I have also added a compartment on the top right front to house the Cyber Q Wifi device complete with electrical outlets, more detail on that later

The Build

The frame is constructed of 1 1/2" Sq tubing 11Ga wall.The connecting joints are welded completely and sanded down for appearance

If you notice in the pictures below there is 2 areas or divisions in the frame. The larger one being the smoking chamber and the small or narrow one is the are in which I mounted the fire box and charcoal chute.

At this point I have reached a stopping point. I needed to design and order the materials I needed for the inside sheet metal for the smoking chamber and the plate & tubing I needed for the fire box and charcoal chute. I took precise dimensions for the sheet steel (16GA) and faxed the drawings to David at Mastercraft. Then I took some time to design and measure the firebox, ash box and charcoal chute. I took a ride to visit a steel fab shop that I used to work at 27 Years ago to place the order for the plate and tubing. After 2 hrs of telling some old stories with the guys there I ordered the pcs needed and would need to wait a few days due to the Thanksgiving holiday. I was able to pick up all the items ordered the following week. Below are some pictures of the fire box and charcoal chute in a mock up prior to installing in the frame.Please note that these pictures do not include the ash box which goes below the 12X12 fire box which you will see in later pictures.

The fire box was fabricated from 1/2" plate. The charcoal chute is an 8"X8" SQ tube.The tube that goes into the smoking chamber is 4"X4" SQ tube. The ash box that goes below the fire box is 1/4" plate. In hindsight in future builds I would reduce the firebox to 14" plate. The 1/2" is definitly overkill. 

   The pan I had fabricated for the bottom of the smoking chamber is cross broke to create a 1" drop to the center for the grease drain. Any sheet metal shop can perform this task. You will see later that I welded a 3/4" pipe drain in the center of the pan

The next few evenings I spent some time getting the pan and the inside sheet metal panels in place and tack welded. I decided to stitch weld the panels on the vertical sides to prevent any warping from the excessive heat that welding it solid would have created. In a later picture you will see how I sealed up the panels to prevent and airflow or heat loss. The grease pan in the bottom is welded solid all the way around to prevent any grease from exiting the chamber. 

It was a little challenging doing this project with a fluxcore welder. I would highly recommend a MIG setup working with the sheet metal. I can convert the machine I have but at this point if I spend any more money on this project I will need the smoker to cook my meals because I will be living outside when my wife locks me out. (Just Kidding Honey).