[THEFERMANATOR]

Well I have officially called it, and I did not make the deadline to have it done in time to do smoked ham and turkey for Thanksgiving. The last 2 days have been nothing but road block after road block. I have spent close to 7 hours trying to straighten the door out and get it to line up correctly. I had it REALLY close one time, but it pulled back out when I went to weld the perimeter on it. I only spot welded it, but it pulled back out, so another 2 hours getting it back to where I started. The firebox has also been a hurdle, but mostly my own doing. Fabricating at midnight, dead tired, and pushing through it, your bound to make some mistakes. So I ended up wasting another 1 and a half fixing my screw up there after spending 2 hours building the basket. Almost done with the firebox, just have to weld on my latch assembly I built, cut some wood for my handles, and make the latch catch, and it will be done. But that friggen door for the smoker is still kicking my but.

Heres how I'm having to straighten the door out, along with my 60 ton press to get the curveature back in it.


My water/drip pan I built out of 12 gauge material. You can also see on the left the drain that routes outside the smoker for draining so no drippings stay in the smoker.


The wood basket on slides. I will probably add a smaller side to the front of it before I finish it up.


My firebox air intakes, slider plate to cover them, and above them you can see the water/drip pan drain(still have to get a cap for it.


And I got the chimney on it as well as the damper on top.