UDS 1.0 Revisited

[DDave]

Some background . . . my first foray into the UDS world started on November 2008 with this . . .



unfortunately it had the "dreaded red liner"



After a burn out and SEVERAL hours of wire wheeling and a week of coughing up shit (I did not have a proper mask ) this is what it looked like.



Conventional wisdom back then was that you had to get the inside to bare metal to be safe because of the epoxy phenolic resin liner. So . . . I said the hell with it, found a drum without a liner and built the UDS that you see in my avatar.

The first drum had been relegated to the "junk corner" of my yard.



and from time to time, I toyed with the idea of trying to get that liner out and finish it. Thought about tossing in 40 pounds of mesquite lump and lighting it off. Figured it would be fun to watch even if it didn't get the liner out.

I never got around to that though. But it seems the conventional wisdom has shifted. Even BBQ Bubba who originally told me it had to be down to bare metal says don't worry about the liner anymore. And as a result of info received in this thread, particularly this quote by Curious Aardvark,

general consensus is that it's harmless. Anything that might be dodgy will be burned out in the initial hi-temp 'burn out'.

So if you can't get all the crap off - seriously, it's not a problem just ignore it.

You're never going to clean the inside of the drum, so after a while it'll be covered in smoke residue anyway.

made me think about revisiting it.

It seems that time and good ol' fashioned oxidation has taken its toll on what was left of the liner.



There seems to be more rust than liner so maybe with a PROPER mask and some wire wheeling, I can get the insides cleaned out to my liking and give it a go..

I still have the lid, had it all drilled and everything



but I don't care much for the flat lids on a drum.

I have the bottom of the donor kettle that I used in my yellow drum so maybe my BIL, who offered me the use of his welding skills at a recent family gathering can do something with the bottom and the original lid.



Perhaps weld the bottom to the original lid and cut the inner circle of the lid out? Or maybe I'll search for another Weber lid or a Uniflame knockoff or something.

Of course Ann will want to know why I want to build another one. Wives can be so silly, can't they?

Dave

[Squirrel]

Man! I wish I had somebody to build me one of those! Just sayin'. Crap, I gotta go take a class or something.

[Mark R]

Go for it!

Wives can be so silly, can't they?

Dave

That's redundant.

[Richtee]

Poi-nts for "relegated"

[chefrob]

love diggin up old stuff to mess with.......again..................

[THE ICEMAN]

It seems that time and good ol' fashioned oxidation has taken its toll on what was left of the liner.

Watch out for them damned black widows. I hate them bastiches.

[DDave]

Man! I wish I had somebody to build me one of those! Just sayin'. Crap, I gotta go take a class or something.

If I lived closer, I'd be glad to build you one.

But I'm sure you could do it. All you need to know how to operate is a drill, pliers, wrenches, wire cutters and a hand saw if you want to make a dolly like the one on my yellow drum.

You can make a charcoal basket with no welding.

Depending on how you do the lid, you can do the whole thing with hand tools. If you have a welding shop close by that can cut the expanded metal, that's a big help though.

But the entire UDS can be built without welding and real simple tools.

Dave

[Fishawn]

Dave, does the porcelain enamel area of the lid need to be sanded or ground to be welded to the drum top?.... I think this has been brought up before somewhere, but can't remember the outcome..... Good luck with her

[DDave]

Dave, does the porcelain enamel area of the lid need to be sanded or ground to be welded to the drum top?.... I think this has been brought up before somewhere, but can't remember the outcome..... Good luck with her

I have no idea whatsoever. I know nothing about welding. If I had to guess, I would guess that it would have to be ground off to expose decent metal. I don't even know if the kettle is weldable or if it is pot metal.

I might keep my eye out for another Weber lid and swipe one of the bottom vents off the donor bottom to add a second vent to the regular lid. I really like the range I get since I added the second vent.

On my walk tonight I saw some guy's Weber in his front yard. It'd be a shame for him to lose his lid. Just kidding.

Dave

[Fishawn]

On my walk tonight I saw some guy's Weber in his front yard. It'd be a shame for him to lose his lid. Just kidding.

Dave

........ I'm bad that way also..... Hmmm.... Wonder what that guy would take for that Weber

[DDave]

........ I'm bad that way also..... Hmmm.... Wonder what that guy would take for that Weber

Maybe I'll offer him a couple of racks of ribs.

Dave

[Pandemonium]

Dont forget the water pan hahah

[DDave]

Dont forget the water pan hahah

It WILL have a deflector that can be used at appropriate times.

Dave

[Earache_My_Eye]

Yeh, you'll probably need to get some or all of that porcelain off before welding it to your drum lid, otherwise it'll cough and sputter and make for a crappy weld.

I think it's been stated before that to weld it to the flat lid like you want to, you should have him tack it on opposite sides...then rotate 90* and tack again....then tack it in between those. Do that several times and weld in short little bursts in opposing areas to help keep the two lids from twisting everything out of shape.

On my drum it's just several short welds and hi-temp epoxy to seal the rest.

As they say, there's more than one way to skin a cat.

L8r,
Eric

[DDave]

Yeh, you'll probably need to get some or all of that porcelain off before welding it to your drum lid, otherwise it'll cough and sputter and make for a crappy weld.

I'm not totally committed to the "weld the two lids together" plan. I think I'll just be on the lookout for another lid and probably put a strip of metal around the inside of the drum for the lid to sit on like Tip did.

I had a little time (and motivation ) after work today so I decided to put the little wire wheel on the drill and see if I could clean up the top 1/3 of the drum.

It was coming off pretty well so I just stuck with it. Of course I was just using the cheap paper mask and did not have the patience (good sense) to go to the hardware store and get a good mask. Seems I mentioned the need for that earler in this thread??

There seems to be more rust than liner so maybe with a PROPER mask and some wire wheeling, I can get the insides cleaned out to my liking and give it a go..

Oh yes, there it was. But since I did not take the time to do that, I'm coughing up shit again. Not as bad as last time but irritating none the less.

The good news is that now the drum looks like this.







Those of you who have built a UDS know that that is the hardest part. Getting the inside of the drum clean (or at least acceptable). The rest is easy.

I already had the intakes drilled from last time. I need to go get some nipples, caps, and a valve and some bolts and get the rest of the drilling done. Hopefully I can do a seasoning burn this weekend.

Dave