My First project - SS Barbecue Burners

[nanoplane]

I have a "Kirkland" brand SS Barbecue that I bought from Costco several years ago that has gone through two three sets of Cast Iron burners.. I've had enough and decided for my first TIG project I would build some new ones..

This Post is split into two parts...

As you can tell, the Old burners are a bit worn out:


I had a friend provide some Schedule 40 316L SS, 1" pipe that I'll used for the burner tubes.. I bought a piece of 2" round 304SS that I'll turn and mill for the Venturi mixing chambers and air valves. And I bought some 1 x 2" .1" rectangular 304SS for the cross piece..

I figure having heavier metal will be easier to weld... that thin stuff just seems too sensitive for a first project.

The Parts.. cut but not processed:


I turned the mixing chambers on my lathe, milled the slots in the burner tubes and the cross pieces on my mill (I have an Emco Mill Lathe Combo that works fairly well for this task. I also drilled about 200 little tiny #50 holes (stainless is hard to drill). Had to continuously squirt coolant on the drill:



I sliced off some chunks of 1" round 304SS and faced them on the lathe to create the end caps for the burner tubes.. These are the first welds on the project:

Ready to weld


Welded:


Man those are ugly welds..

But it grinds up ok :-)


Welding the Air Valves onto the mixing Chamber:


Welding the feeder tube onto the crossbar. The welds seem to be getting a little better but still pretty ugly:


... More in the second part.

[nanoplane]

Welding the cross bar to the burner tubes... I think this is a pretty weld :-):



Tacking the "U" end onto the burner tubes... Looking good...


But.... Wait a minute... what the crap??


I welded the dang thing upside down... get out the moto-tool and the cut-off wheel...

Ok, first one is all welded. The welds are not all the pretty, but hey, that's what the flap wheels are for... aren't they?


The weld holding the mixing chamber to the feeder tube:


All ground and shiny:


So what are the top 5 things I learned on the first one??
5. Thicker metal is a whole lot easier to weld than the thin stuff.. sometimes you don't even need filler..
4. Make sure the valve on the argon tank is turned on before you start welding... otherwise just the noise tells you something is wrong...
3. Keep the tungsten sharp.. it makes a hell of a difference in being able to control the arc.
2. When you have parts that fit symmetrically but aren't symmetrical... make sure you examine what you're doing before you start melting the metal..
1.. And the number one thing I learned on this first one was ... keep your foot away from the pedal when you have the torch resting on your lap... That dang high frequency arc will go through anything to get you your body parts... Willy is still twitching...

One to the Second one:

One other thing I learned from the first one is "planing". It was really tough welding the cross bar to the burner with the feeder tube already attached (I had about an inch of space to try and squeeze the torch in... and it just didn't go really well.. So this time, I'm welding the cross bar first, then the feeder tube..



And here are both burners, finished:



So things I learned from the second one:
1. Arc Length... The shorter I can keep the arc length, the more control I have and the better the completed weld looks.. I've got a long way to go before I would want to weld something structural, but it's getting easier all the time... And it helps a lot to have a welder that just seems to work right.
2. I'd like a lighter torch.. the basic torch that comes with the PM256 is a water cooled torch (been using it air cooled) and it works fine, but it seems to be heavy and bulky compared to some other's I've seen.


And finally, here are the burners installed and running in the old barbecue... I don't expect to have to replace these for a very long time...

[everlastsupport]

Great idea for a project. They look nice and will last a long time, if you can get a deal on SS. I just convert a char-boil to a smoker because I was replacing the burners once a year. The one from the stores just do not last.

I cracked up on the Willy comment. Hope he is back to normal. Made my with that one.

[geezer]

I'm not sure how cost effective the rebuild is, but it is surely the ROLEX of burner rebuilds. Very nice work

[nanoplane]

Well, the replacement cast iron burners that were wearing out every two years cost $160 a pair.... I think the SS ones were a great deal.. :-)

I'm not sure how cost effective the rebuild is, but it is surely the ROLEX of burner rebuilds. Very nice work

[geezer]

In that case @ $160 a pair, you not only do nice work, but smart work also.

[performance]

That is a nice burner. However, I can pick up the cast iron ones locally quite cheap so, I may stick with those. But wow, nice craftsmenship. Its nice to see guys who can actually build something quality like that.

[dwdw]

Thats a Great project!!
Was that you I saw in front of Costco yesterday selling SS burners for a sacrificed price of $125.00 each? LOL

Just kidding! but maybe an idea!

Where you drilled all the holes in the SS tube, how deep was the slot/flat? Was it just to make the drilling easier on a flat or was that to act as a cover/overhang to keep the grease or charred food from running directly into the holes?
Thank You
dwdw

[nanoplane]

The flat wasn't very deep at all only about .030 or so. The primary reason was to give me a flat spot to drill, but the "offset" was to provide the overhang.. interesting of you to notice :-)

I have my doubts that the overhang will make any difference though

--marcel

Thats a Great project!!
Was that you I saw in front of Costco yesterday selling SS burners for a sacrificed price of $125.00 each? LOL

Just kidding! but maybe an idea!

Where you drilled all the holes in the SS tube, how deep was the slot/flat? Was it just to make the drilling easier on a flat or was that to act as a cover/overhang to keep the grease or charred food from running directly into the holes?
Thank You
dwdw