Hey, all, I looked at several articles regarding steel warpage with
welding and cutting and some on hot-rolled versus cold-rolled steel
but I still have a problem I don't have an answer for: how can I
prevent (and correct if it does happen) warpage of the doors of a
smoker when the doors are cut and when the strap (to cover the gap) is
applied?

What I did is I took a piece of 24 inch steel pipe (1/4 inch wall, I'm
not sure if it's hot or cold rolled) and capped it with 1/4 inch plate
to make a smoker. I cut two doors from the side of the pipe for doors
using oxy/acetylene (I have a plasma torch but it's maximum
recommended material thickness is 3/8ths of an inch so it's kind of
slow for cutting this 1/4 inch material). I cut the four sides of the
door except for about 1/4 inch tags at each end of each cut so, when I
was done I had 8 tags of uncut material, two at each corner. I let
the tube cool overnight (in case that might matter) and then welded
hinges on the doors prior to separating the tags to free the doors.
When I did free the doors they moved a little, but nothing terribly
objectionable. I then applied 1 1/4 inch wide, 1/8th inch thick strap
to the doors to overhang the gap. I pre-bent the pieces to be used on
the curved areas of the door to try to prevent warpage. I tacked it
all into place with my wire welder (gas-flux) and then began to weld
it fully into place. I welded a little here, a little there, across
two doors and maybe took an hour to weld them up fully (I didn't time
it, but it took a long time). When I started to weld the strap fully
to the doors it was flush and almost perfectly contacting the body of
the smoker but by the time I had fully welded it into place it was
gapped, particularly at the bottom (farthest from the hinges).

I understand that steel tends to warp towards the weld but I don't
know what I could do to prevent it or fix it (I'm embarrassed to say
that I did, in fact, attempt to "adjust" the doors with a sledgehammer
which was just slightly worse than completely useless for this
problem). The doors are not useless, but they're not perfect,
either. I went to Cabela's today and looked at a Brinkmann smoker
there, specifically:

http://www.brinkmann.net/Shop/Detail...-3724-0&id=314

If that doesn't pull correctly just hit www.brinkmann.net and look for
Trailer Units under Outdoor Cooking then on 30" Deluxe Roadmaster.

They had used 1/4 inch material for the smoker tube, and they had
applied 1/8th inch thick strap (appeared to be 1inch wide instead of
the 1 1/4 inch I had used) and it was fully welded (and a big, thick
bead, not a piddly drizzle), however it looked like it was all done in
one pass instead of a bunch of little welds like I did and the doors
did not appear to be warped and they had good fitment of the strap to
the smoker body (much better than mine). I did not see any evidence
(and I was looking for it) of metal that might have been welded into
the inside-curve of the door to counteract warpage, nor did I see any
hammer-marks or discolorations (at least on the inside of the door,
the outside is painted) from torch-heating.

So, it appears that it can be done, I just don't know how. Any
suggestions or help is appreciated. Thank you for your time.

--HC

I would speculate the door material is stressed as beiing part of the
rollled pipe, and you didn't warp them, but just relieved them when
they were heated.
The Brinkman unit uses rolled panels for the doors, not cut from the
body of the smoker...see?

JR
Dweller in the cellar

On Sat, 24 May 2008 21:16:15 -0700 (PDT), HC wrote:

Hey, all, I looked at several articles regarding steel warpage with
welding and cutting and some on hot-rolled versus cold-rolled steel
but I still have a problem I don't have an answer for: how can I
prevent (and correct if it does happen) warpage of the doors of a
smoker when the doors are cut and when the strap (to cover the gap) is
applied?

What I did is I took a piece of 24 inch steel pipe (1/4 inch wall, I'm
not sure if it's hot or cold rolled) and capped it with 1/4 inch plate
to make a smoker. I cut two doors from the side of the pipe for doors
using oxy/acetylene (I have a plasma torch but it's maximum
recommended material thickness is 3/8ths of an inch so it's kind of
slow for cutting this 1/4 inch material). I cut the four sides of the
door except for about 1/4 inch tags at each end of each cut so, when I
was done I had 8 tags of uncut material, two at each corner. I let
the tube cool overnight (in case that might matter) and then welded
hinges on the doors prior to separating the tags to free the doors.
When I did free the doors they moved a little, but nothing terribly
objectionable. I then applied 1 1/4 inch wide, 1/8th inch thick strap
to the doors to overhang the gap. I pre-bent the pieces to be used on
the curved areas of the door to try to prevent warpage. I tacked it
all into place with my wire welder (gas-flux) and then began to weld
it fully into place. I welded a little here, a little there, across
two doors and maybe took an hour to weld them up fully (I didn't time
it, but it took a long time). When I started to weld the strap fully
to the doors it was flush and almost perfectly contacting the body of
the smoker but by the time I had fully welded it into place it was
gapped, particularly at the bottom (farthest from the hinges).

I understand that steel tends to warp towards the weld but I don't
know what I could do to prevent it or fix it (I'm embarrassed to say
that I did, in fact, attempt to "adjust" the doors with a sledgehammer
which was just slightly worse than completely useless for this
problem). The doors are not useless, but they're not perfect,
either. I went to Cabela's today and looked at a Brinkmann smoker
there, specifically:

http://www.brinkmann.net/Shop/Detail...-3724-0&id=314

If that doesn't pull correctly just hit www.brinkmann.net and look for
Trailer Units under Outdoor Cooking then on 30" Deluxe Roadmaster.

They had used 1/4 inch material for the smoker tube, and they had
applied 1/8th inch thick strap (appeared to be 1inch wide instead of
the 1 1/4 inch I had used) and it was fully welded (and a big, thick
bead, not a piddly drizzle), however it looked like it was all done in
one pass instead of a bunch of little welds like I did and the doors
did not appear to be warped and they had good fitment of the strap to
the smoker body (much better than mine). I did not see any evidence
(and I was looking for it) of metal that might have been welded into
the inside-curve of the door to counteract warpage, nor did I see any
hammer-marks or discolorations (at least on the inside of the door,
the outside is painted) from torch-heating.

So, it appears that it can be done, I just don't know how. Any
suggestions or help is appreciated. Thank you for your time.

--HC
--------------------------------------------------------------
Home Page: http://www.seanet.com/~jasonrnorth
If you're not the lead dog, the view never changes
Doubt yourself, and the real world will eat you alive
The world doesn't revolve around you, it revolves around me
No skeletons in the closet; just decomposing corpses
--------------------------------------------------------------
Dependence is Vulnerability:
--------------------------------------------------------------
"Open the Pod Bay Doors please, Hal"
"I'm sorry, Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that.."

On May 25, 9:40 am, JR North wrote:
I would speculate the door material is stressed as beiing part of the
rollled pipe, and you didn't warp them, but just relieved them when
they were heated.
The Brinkman unit uses rolled panels for the doors, not cut from the
body of the smoker...see?

JR
Dweller in the cellar



On Sat, 24 May 2008 21:16:15 -0700 (PDT), HC wrote:
Hey, all, I looked at several articles regarding steel warpage with
welding and cutting and some on hot-rolled versus cold-rolled steel
but I still have a problem I don't have an answer for: how can I
prevent (and correct if it does happen) warpage of the doors of a
smoker when the doors are cut and when the strap (to cover the gap) is
applied?

What I did is I took a piece of 24 inch steel pipe (1/4 inch wall, I'm
not sure if it's hot or cold rolled) and capped it with 1/4 inch plate
to make a smoker. I cut two doors from the side of the pipe for doors
using oxy/acetylene (I have a plasma torch but it's maximum
recommended material thickness is 3/8ths of an inch so it's kind of
slow for cutting this 1/4 inch material). I cut the four sides of the
door except for about 1/4 inch tags at each end of each cut so, when I
was done I had 8 tags of uncut material, two at each corner. I let
the tube cool overnight (in case that might matter) and then welded
hinges on the doors prior to separating the tags to free the doors.
When I did free the doors they moved a little, but nothing terribly
objectionable. I then applied 1 1/4 inch wide, 1/8th inch thick strap
to the doors to overhang the gap. I pre-bent the pieces to be used on
the curved areas of the door to try to prevent warpage. I tacked it
all into place with my wire welder (gas-flux) and then began to weld
it fully into place. I welded a little here, a little there, across
two doors and maybe took an hour to weld them up fully (I didn't time
it, but it took a long time). When I started to weld the strap fully
to the doors it was flush and almost perfectly contacting the body of
the smoker but by the time I had fully welded it into place it was
gapped, particularly at the bottom (farthest from the hinges).

I understand that steel tends to warp towards the weld but I don't
know what I could do to prevent it or fix it (I'm embarrassed to say
that I did, in fact, attempt to "adjust" the doors with a sledgehammer
which was just slightly worse than completely useless for this
problem). The doors are not useless, but they're not perfect,
either. I went to Cabela's today and looked at a Brinkmann smoker
there, specifically:

http://www.brinkmann.net/Shop/Detail...oor+Cooking&su...

If that doesn't pull correctly just hitwww.brinkmann.netand look for
Trailer Units under Outdoor Cooking then on 30" Deluxe Roadmaster.

They had used 1/4 inch material for the smoker tube, and they had
applied 1/8th inch thick strap (appeared to be 1inch wide instead of
the 1 1/4 inch I had used) and it was fully welded (and a big, thick
bead, not a piddly drizzle), however it looked like it was all done in
one pass instead of a bunch of little welds like I did and the doors
did not appear to be warped and they had good fitment of the strap to
the smoker body (much better than mine). I did not see any evidence
(and I was looking for it) of metal that might have been welded into
the inside-curve of the door to counteract warpage, nor did I see any
hammer-marks or discolorations (at least on the inside of the door,
the outside is painted) from torch-heating.

So, it appears that it can be done, I just don't know how. Any
suggestions or help is appreciated. Thank you for your time.

--HC

--------------------------------------------------------------
Home Page:http://www.seanet.com/~jasonrnorth
If you're not the lead dog, the view never changes
Doubt yourself, and the real world will eat you alive
The world doesn't revolve around you, it revolves around me
No skeletons in the closet; just decomposing corpses
--------------------------------------------------------------
Dependence is Vulnerability:
--------------------------------------------------------------
"Open the Pod Bay Doors please, Hal"
"I'm sorry, Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that.."


Hey, JR, that would make a lot of sense. I was not looking at it in
terms of maybe the doors being created separately (I had never thought
of that being done). How certain are you that is the way Brinkmann
(or any large manufacturer) makes them in that way? If they do roll
plate to make the doors, instead of using the removed material from
the door openings, wouldn't the newly rolled plate also suffer similar
stresses and also tend to unfurl a bit when heated?

Thank you for your reply and your time.

--HC