Built a new camp grill

[gsganzer]

Very nice. What did you paint it with? I'm not aware of any food grade paints.... are there?

I only painted the exterior of the head, the wind deflector, legs and very outer angle/ring of the grate with 1200 degree grill paint. I left the inside head and grate itself unpainted. I'll season the grate with some grate seasoning, just like you'd season a carbon or cast iron pan. The grill sits under a canopy, so doesn't get rained on. If the grate doesn't stand up, I'll replace it with some stainless expanded metal.

 

[gsganzer]

Where did you get that belly from? Can you buy those or did you have that formed somewhere?

It's a 36" flanged and dished vessel head, 3/8" thick. I used to work for a company that had a pressure vessel fabrication shop. The customer changed the nozzle size after the shop had already cut the hole, so the head was scrapped. I had to weld the part the shop cut out for the nozzle, back in place. Fortunately, I'm best friends with the shop manager, so he had the head and patch nested together for me in the scrap bin.

 

[workinonit]

Yea, that's the holy grail for that grill. My dad had those large pipe and vessel head connections when he was alive but I'm not that fortunate. That one is the perfect size and shape for what you needed. Nice job. I would love to have one of those. I'll post up some pics of the one I do have when I can. I have to leave for KC for 2 weeks tomorrow morning so it will be when I get back.

 

[big bubba]

The head is mild steel and painted on the outside only, with 1200 degree paint. The grill is just carbon steel that will get seasoned like a cast iron pan. Stick welded with 6011

good choice, mild steel & 6011 has been my own since college days for job like yours... cure it out before using, you know that, regards

 

[gsganzer]

If I didn't have the vessel head, I would have built a hexagonal grill using a sheet of 3/16" thick carbon steel. The bottom would be flat and approx, 1/2"- 1" larger in diameter than the sides, this way you just do a stitch fillet weld to join the sides to the bottom and the two don't have to be bent as precise.

A hexagon is really simple to draw with a compass and has simple 60 and 120 degree angles. You can bend the plate easily by making a thin groove using a straight edge and angle grinder with a cut-off wheel. Make your groove on the inside, so you have a nice clean corner on the exterior. After you've bent all 6 sides and tacked it to the bottom, you can run a thin weld bead on the inside angles where you made the groove.

I hope that makes sense.