jd-santaclarita
Got Wood.
- Joined
- Dec 6, 2008
- Location
- Santa...
Hi all - I'm gearing up to take the plunge to build a vertical pit. In a nutshell, it'll be around 5'6" tall, made from a piece of 3/8" thick 24" diameter pipe. I'll weld on a bottom and a top and cut an access door on the lower end for the fire/coal basket and have ~4 cooking racks starting about 24" above the bottom of the fire basket. TBD still on how/if on a heat diffuser of some kind (noodling some kind of adjustable baffle, so i can close it off completely when opening the access doors and tending the food).
That design gives me a large access door for the cook chamber (little over 3' tall) and a smaller access door for the fire box. At 3/8" thick, I imagine its gonna be heavy. That brings me to my questions. I'm a beginner in the welding world, so I don't want to make my own parts and would rather buy quality hinges/latches that I can weld on to increase my chances of success. Are there some clear winners for those I should get? I'm guessing I should try to get the adjustable latches? Is there a rule of thumb for how many hinges and latches for these size doors?
Any advice on how to cut the door and process to get the easiest/best chance of success for air tight doors would be greatly appreciated as well.
Thanks all,
JD
That design gives me a large access door for the cook chamber (little over 3' tall) and a smaller access door for the fire box. At 3/8" thick, I imagine its gonna be heavy. That brings me to my questions. I'm a beginner in the welding world, so I don't want to make my own parts and would rather buy quality hinges/latches that I can weld on to increase my chances of success. Are there some clear winners for those I should get? I'm guessing I should try to get the adjustable latches? Is there a rule of thumb for how many hinges and latches for these size doors?
Any advice on how to cut the door and process to get the easiest/best chance of success for air tight doors would be greatly appreciated as well.
Thanks all,
JD