Thread: We Have Skills Too !!

Nice finish Jerry. Sorry your plumbing company was a bunch of ass hats.

I could have done the entire job myself but my body would have argued. I would have needed to rent a backhoe to get to the pipes in the yard as they did replace everything out to 15ft from the house. Plus put in the double clean-outs. But the way I seen it, it would have taken me 4 or 5 weekends to get it done. And they said 3 days. I got screwed but my body is much happier that I didnt run the jackhammer or shovel!

This is one of those 'I really need to fix this' projects but was put off for longer than I care to think about. But, the last time I went to use it, it litterly started to fall apart

I'd built the fixture to hold my wire mesh trays for making jerky, smoked salmon, chicken parts etc out of all thread and some scrap wood from work. The wood was from some crating for imported produce and I knew full well it wasn't exterior plywood. But with that said, I've been retired for 5 years and about 3 months so I figure for free it served it's purpose.





This morning I picked up two sheets of 1/8" aluminum in a 20 1/2"X201/2" square/I'd wanted the sheet to be a bit thinner but it was the thinnest they had and for $30 I couldn't bitch.One side of the old plywood was still intact enough to use as a pattern. I used Gorilla Duck Tape to hold the two sheets together and then a large center punch to mark the holes.

My drill press's throat was deep enough so that I only had to drill the three holes in the center by hand. I drilled an 1/8" pilot hole then a 17/64" (Damn I'm a glutton for punishment). I then chamfered the holes and smooth the sides.

I then wiped all duck tape residue off along with all of the panels with lacquer thinner and then washed the panels in hot soapy water and rinsed and air dried them.

Now came time to start the transfer of the rods and THEN IT CAME BACK TO ME! I'd forgotten what a PITA it was to align the rods to the second sheet but after a bit I remembered what I'd done before. And that was to keep pressure on the plate and get the longest rods started on one of the outside rows and once I could get a nut started to hold everything then sliding the rods/longest to shortest until they would pop through the hole. Then move to the center row etc.



It actually went fairly smoothly--smoother than it had with the wood since the rods dug into the wood but just slid on the metal.

So it's all reassembled and ready to put in the smoker.



Now I'm wondering if I should just run a few batches of smoke for several hours or if I should oil the aluminum before smoking to get it ready for use-- decisions, decisions, decisions

Looks good, Roy.

The wife and I ,went to one of the local paint Baahs ....drink some wine...watch the instructor....drink more wine....and paint a little more....Was a lot of fun.

Never herd of such a thing. Different!

Originally Posted by nessmuck

The wife and I ,went to one of the local paint Baahs ....drink some wine...watch the instructor....drink more wine....and paint a little more....Was a lot of fun.

My wife and I have done a couple of those and I have to say yours is WAY more impressive than anything we've managed so far! Very nicely done.

My wife has done that with the other teachers from her school a few times. She protested, but I hung it up to brighten the laundry room.
I think it's pretty cool.

I kinda like that one, Tom.

If we have 4 more glasses of wine all of our paintings etc. will be perfect!