After much searching, I finally scored a drum and started my build. It's not toast, or even rocket science, but here goes.
First I'll introduce you folks to my drum. It had kerosene originally, then used motor oil.
My PlanA to remove the drum lid was to grind off the curled edge, thinking the curl was of the same thin steel as the lid itself. After several minutes of grinding with a new wheel, this is as far as I got.
The rust you see on the edge is because it took awhile to come up with PlanB and have decent working weather. This is North Dakota, after all!
I thought I should have my dome lid and do a test fit on the drum before I settle on a PlanB. After much fruitless searching for a used Weber and one false alarm that turned out to be a square Weber I could have had for free, off to Wally-world I went.
The test fit. This is the lid from the grill on my drum. The grill bottom was smaller, and could fit inside the lip of my drum. I didn't want that.
I modded the grill lid to fit my drum. I bent (unbent?) the lip flat. This was way easy to do with just a pair of pliers and paint was flying all over, to the point that I stopped to get safety glasses before I was blinded.
Once the original lip bend was taken out I set the lid right side up on my deck and tapped it completely flat with a claw hammer, centered it on my drum, and kept some downward pressure to hold it in place while forming a new lip.
I started out with a couple taps on one side, a couple on the opposite side, change angles and repeat, to keep the lid centered. Here's what I ended up with.
Finally, PlanB! Since the drum has been sitting in the hot sun I removed the bungs to release the internal gas pressure so it wouldn't blow me up. After we both let out a sigh of relief I drilled a pilot hole
as close to the edge as I could, then used a jigsaw
to do the real work. The shims were to balance the jigsaw and keep it cutting vertically, but they proved to be unnecessary. The saw rode the curved edge of the drum just fine without them.
No pesky liner!
At this point, my camera told me my memory card was full, so I had to quit.
First I'll introduce you folks to my drum. It had kerosene originally, then used motor oil.
My PlanA to remove the drum lid was to grind off the curled edge, thinking the curl was of the same thin steel as the lid itself. After several minutes of grinding with a new wheel, this is as far as I got.
The rust you see on the edge is because it took awhile to come up with PlanB and have decent working weather. This is North Dakota, after all!
I thought I should have my dome lid and do a test fit on the drum before I settle on a PlanB. After much fruitless searching for a used Weber and one false alarm that turned out to be a square Weber I could have had for free, off to Wally-world I went.
The test fit. This is the lid from the grill on my drum. The grill bottom was smaller, and could fit inside the lip of my drum. I didn't want that.
I modded the grill lid to fit my drum. I bent (unbent?) the lip flat. This was way easy to do with just a pair of pliers and paint was flying all over, to the point that I stopped to get safety glasses before I was blinded.
Once the original lip bend was taken out I set the lid right side up on my deck and tapped it completely flat with a claw hammer, centered it on my drum, and kept some downward pressure to hold it in place while forming a new lip.
I started out with a couple taps on one side, a couple on the opposite side, change angles and repeat, to keep the lid centered. Here's what I ended up with.
Finally, PlanB! Since the drum has been sitting in the hot sun I removed the bungs to release the internal gas pressure so it wouldn't blow me up. After we both let out a sigh of relief I drilled a pilot hole
as close to the edge as I could, then used a jigsaw
to do the real work. The shims were to balance the jigsaw and keep it cutting vertically, but they proved to be unnecessary. The saw rode the curved edge of the drum just fine without them.
No pesky liner!
At this point, my camera told me my memory card was full, so I had to quit.
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