Smoker Cart/Enclosure


Cliff

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I wasn't able to find any guidelines on posts for this, so if I jack anything up, please let me know. 

 

I have a Weber Smokey Mountain 22" smoker that I needed a cart for. Not being able to find anything was a very big reason I started this hobby. The other is I couldn't find a computer desk I liked.

 

I'm pretty sure this is going to take me just short of forever to build, especially since I just got a nasty case of tendonitis and that may slow me down considerably.

 

The plans I'm working from are ones I designed, sort of. On a smoking forum, a guy built this enclosure and posted pictures of many of the steps. But he didn't do details, sizes, etc and then he disappeared from the forum back in 2012. The thread still gets questions every few months because it was such a popular item. This is the thread.

 

This will be the first non-shop project I've done.

 

I custom ordered western red cedar 2x4's and 4x4's to build the frame (walnut for different project)
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Used miter saw to make cuts, since I'm doing mortise and tenon, each piece is a little over 3 inches longer than my plan called for (except for legs.)

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Done with the cuts

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The next step was setting up my dado stack for the first time. I also built a dado sled so I can create a box jig based on William Ng's video (jig for different project, variation of Marc's knife block.) Tonight I hope to get my router edge guide out of the box and set up and may even route some mortise's.

 

FYI - if you are wondering how I plan to do side panels and such, so am I. I have an email question in to WoodTalk to get advise on this. I think they have to be floating, but am not sure.

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Dados and inset panels will eventually collect moisture and rot. Drain holes might be a good idea.

I built the table for my 2 Big Green Eggs out of teak and brass screws 20 + years ago. Still strong just weathered grey. Butt joints and screws, no enclosures. Screws from underneath to prevent water from pooling around them. Planned every joint to prevent water from being trapped.

Red cedar will corrode fasteners, use ceramic coated, brass or stainless for long life. The wood lasts pretty well outdoors.

Moisture is the enemy, glue , caulk nothing will stop it. Water flows downhill so plan to avoid trapping it. Drip edge groove on overhangs is smart. Make that water shed away.

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Dados and inset panels will eventually collect moisture and rot. Drain holes might be a good idea.

I built the table for my 2 Big Green Eggs out of teak and brass screws 20 + years ago. Still strong just weathered grey. Butt joints and screws, no enclosures. Screws from underneath to prevent water from pooling around them. Planned every joint to prevent water from being trapped.

Red cedar will corrode fasteners, use ceramic coated, brass or stainless for long life. The wood lasts pretty well outdoors.

Moisture is the enemy, glue , caulk nothing will stop it. Water flows downhill so plan to avoid trapping it. Drip edge groove on overhangs is smart. Make that water shed away.

 

When you say "eventually" how eventually are we talking? I do plan on sealing this (and using the right glue) and I don't need it to last 20 years because I doubt my smoker will either. I'll probably upgrade within 10 years to an entirely different style.

 

Admittedly, I planned for mortise and tenon because I need the experience of making them before I start a much more expensive project later that will use that technique. I'm concerned that I may have made it really hard to build in the style you suggest with the dimensioned lumber and having already made the cuts. I may be able to switch to pocket screws (the ones for outdoors) and then I'm guessing... I would have to create my panels for sides/back like I planned then screw them in from the outside?

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I would build the frame and apply the panel from the back w screws. A slight outward slope on the top edge of bottom cross piece would help shed water .

With an inset panel in a groove my guess is rot in 3 to 5 years. Might make it 7 to 10 years if designed to avoid trapped water. This is just a off the cuff guess.

Keeping it under cover especially in the winter would be smart. Plastic covers can trap moisture, I was thinking garage, covered porch something like that.

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I would build the frame and apply the panel from the back w screws. A slight outward slope on the top edge of bottom cross piece would help shed water .

With an inset panel in a groove my guess is rot in 3 to 5 years. Might make it 7 to 10 years if designed to avoid trapped water. This is just a off the cuff guess.

Keeping it under cover especially in the winter would be smart. Plastic covers can trap moisture, I was thinking garage, covered porch something like that.

 

My back patio is covered already and I do plan to put it in the garage during winter since ours can be very harsh.

 

You've given me a lot to think about and I am going to watch some youtube vids to get ideas. Thinking on this now I have a feeling that the cart the guy built in the smoker forums probably ran into issues later. Plus, he attached trim to the top in such a way that I think the miters would separate when the wood expands. He also used home center cedar. Anyway, I may have been following his plan a little too closely thinking that he knew what he was doing but there really is no guarantee of that is there? :D

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well, I decided to stick with mortise and tenon joints for a good majority of the frame. My decision was based partially on my terrible experience in getting butt-joints to square up. I did a few with pocket screws and was once again not pleased with my ability to square it. I am reasonably sure this is due to not being able to use the kreg clamp as I'm joining a 4x4 and 2x4 and also because my miter saw absolutely does not make 90 degree cuts. Had I known this, I would have never used it other than real rough breaking down of the wood.

 

I also decided that if it ever falls apart on me, I'll rebuild it, better than before. Possibly out of solid diamond as future-me will no doubt be super-loaded.

 

Laying out the mortises went super well.

 

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I am using a 1/2" cutting diameter spiral up cut 1 1/2" long router bit, an edge guide and my DW621.

 

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Routing mortises definitely takes some experience. I should have done some practice ones. Now I got the technique down to get them close to perfect. I'll have to go back and tweak some of them later in terms of filling in and expanding a few.

 

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Next up: tenons.

 

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I found tenons to be far easier. This would be my first time using a dado other than when I built a dado sled (I did this so I could build a box joint jig later, which turned out pretty well.)

 

I did roughly 1 1/2" tenons.

 

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I learned a lesson about needing a stop block built into my sled, which I will be adding soon.

 

I decided to sand everything just because the 4x4's were so rough looking. I started with 80-grit. I plan to sand to about 220 or 320 because most of the frame will be visible, plus I have tons of time, maybe a month or more before I get the rest of the wood. So I got time to kill.

 

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Then it was on to cleaning up the tenons and seeing how they fit. Some were too big, some too small.

 

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I ordered some West Systems Epoxy to fill in knots and my huge mortise gaps. That won't be here for another week so right now I'm stuck with an ok dry fit. My dry fit was nearly square right off the bat. So much happier with it than my butt-joint disasters.

 

Since I have to wait so long for materials, I started Christmas gifts - 45 trivets made from walnut.

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I found tenons to be far easier. This would be my first time using a dado other than when I built a dado sled (I did this so I could build a box joint jig later, which turned out pretty well.)

 

I did roughly 1 1/2" tenons.

 

attachicon.gifsmoker11.jpgattachicon.gifsmoker12.jpgattachicon.gifsmoker13.jpg

 

I learned a lesson about needing a stop block built into my sled, which I will be adding soon.

 

I decided to sand everything just because the 4x4's were so rough looking. I started with 80-grit. I plan to sand to about 220 or 320 because most of the frame will be visible, plus I have tons of time, maybe a month or more before I get the rest of the wood. So I got time to kill.

 

attachicon.gifsmoker14.jpgattachicon.gifsmoker15.jpg

 

Then it was on to cleaning up the tenons and seeing how they fit. Some were too big, some too small.

 

attachicon.gifsmoker16.jpg

 

I ordered some West Systems Epoxy to fill in knots and my huge mortise gaps. That won't be here for another week so right now I'm stuck with an ok dry fit. My dry fit was nearly square right off the bat. So much happier with it than my butt-joint disasters.

 

Since I have to wait so long for materials, I started Christmas gifts - 45 trivets made from walnut.

 

 

Depending on your finish, 220-320 might be too high.  For outdoor stuff I'd stay around 150.  If staining, it i will penetrate better.  Even with a clear finish you will get good results at 150-180.   

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Depending on your finish, 220-320 might be too high.  For outdoor stuff I'd stay around 150.  If staining, it i will penetrate better.  Even with a clear finish you will get good results at 150-180.   

 

I was wondering about that! I think I'd rather stop at 150 just due to the sheer boredom of sanding.

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Joinery is looking nice!

I feel your frustration with non-square cuts on the miter saw! I finally gave up trying, and do all mine with a sled on the tablesaw now.

 

At some point this year I'll get a 12" sliding miter saw. Probably Dewalt, since Festool is out of my range. I'm hoping that is A LOT more square.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I spent a week or two waiting on my shipment of West Systems Epoxy. I have to admit, I really wish I had gotten a slow hardener as well.

 

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I patched the giant knot holes up. Learned a ton about the difference between epoxy and glue. I had to research online why I got so many bubbles. Luckily, I had just purchased 3 DMT diamond stones and a couple of water stones and was able to sharpen my crappy block plane so I could scrape this stuff off. Even still, I had to use the new sander I purchased.

 

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Then I just started gluing stuff together and hoping for the best. Everything was turning out pretty square. I think overall the entire thing is slightly out, but not enough that you'd notice.

 

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Big takeaways from this process - when its 95 degrees with 100% humidity, you need a headband to keep the sweat out of your eyes because constantly grabbing paper towels to wipe sweat slows you up considerably. That's bad when you are using fast hardener. I barely made it on some of the glue ups.

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So now it was time for the separating wall, braces and outside walls. I ended up writing into woodtalk and they answered in the show about me floating my panels in grooves for the walls. However, by the time I listened to it i had already changed my mind to screwing them into the outside and plugging the holes. There was no way I could safely route the grooves to put panels in so the entire question was moot. Oh well.

 

So I got some more cedar. Six 1"x8"x14' boards that barely fit in my garage. They came with one rough face, so I cleaned that up. Unfortunately, I should have checked the other side first and taken out the high spots. This caused me to have a panel that was off a bit. Shouldn't be a problem, if you know how to plane and have your plane set up right - spoiler alert - check the hand tool forum to see that I am in process on learning that!

 

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This is my first panel glue up. I used biscuits. The joiner is one I bought from a fine upstanding member of this very forum after he got a Domino. It worked great. It was helpful, but didn't keep the entire glue up from exploding when I ran the clamp too tight and the boards literally leaped out of the assembly. I also learned it's time to make some cauls.

 

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The cleanup wasn't too bad as I wasn't very liberal with the epoxy. I did notice that most glue lines had a dark brown color. I have no idea if that is normal or what. Maybe I should have used Titebond 3 instead. I then sanded up my panel so it looked clean. Overall it was definitely not suitable for a table, but it did ok for what I needed.

 

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Tonight I go home and prep panels for the outside. I think I'm going to chamfer the edges and screw them on with a small gap in between each board. I'll be using the blue Kreg pocket screws.

 

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This is really coming along Cliff! Nice work!

 

One note about the miter saw. If more accurate is what you are looking for i would stay away from the 12". Too much blade flex, to be used in a cabinet shop. Some would argue that a miter saw has no place in furniture making but i get very good results with my 10" miter saw. My 2 cents....

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So now it was time for the separating wall, braces and outside walls. I ended up writing into woodtalk and they answered in the show about me floating my panels in grooves for the walls. However, by the time I listened to it i had already changed my mind to screwing them into the outside and plugging the holes. There was no way I could safely route the grooves to put panels in so the entire question was moot. Oh well.

 

So I got some more cedar. Six 1"x8"x14' boards that barely fit in my garage. They came with one rough face, so I cleaned that up. Unfortunately, I should have checked the other side first and taken out the high spots. This caused me to have a panel that was off a bit. Shouldn't be a problem, if you know how to plane and have your plane set up right - spoiler alert - check the hand tool forum to see that I am in process on learning that!

 

attachicon.gifxx7.jpgattachicon.gifxx8.jpg

 

This is my first panel glue up. I used biscuits. The joiner is one I bought from a fine upstanding member of this very forum after he got a Domino. It worked great. It was helpful, but didn't keep the entire glue up from exploding when I ran the clamp too tight and the boards literally leaped out of the assembly. I also learned it's time to make some cauls.

 

attachicon.gifxx9.jpgattachicon.gifxx10.jpgattachicon.gifxx11.jpgattachicon.gifxx12.jpg

 

The cleanup wasn't too bad as I wasn't very liberal with the epoxy. I did notice that most glue lines had a dark brown color. I have no idea if that is normal or what. Maybe I should have used Titebond 3 instead. I then sanded up my panel so it looked clean. Overall it was definitely not suitable for a table, but it did ok for what I needed.

 

attachicon.gifxx13.jpgattachicon.gifxx14.jpg

 

Tonight I go home and prep panels for the outside. I think I'm going to chamfer the edges and screw them on with a small gap in between each board. I'll be using the blue Kreg pocket screws.

 

 

Looks good.  There is an art and science to gluing up panels.  Making sure your bars are perfectly perpendicular to the edges of your panels and that your clamp faces are square to the edges helps.  

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I'm in emergency fix mode on this as I discovered it's about 6-7 inches too short. I made the plans in sketchup back in February. Before I ever started woodworking. It turns out this was my first woodworking mistake - that took almost 5 months to realize. But I got a plan, and hopefully a way to cover it up. :D

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So it's been an interesting week. I discovered a game breaking error. I thought I was going to have to scrap the entire project, or convert it into a grill cart. 

 

First I started attaching the back. I chamfered the boards and separated them by 1/8". I had to use 1 1/4" exterior decking screws cause I can't find the outdoor kreg screws in any size but 2 1/2" locally. That's fine, not like I need it to be kreg, these aren't even pocket screw joints. I plan to cover these up by using plug cutter bits. You can see on one board I did the countersink all the way through the board, hence the four holes in the top. 

 

My first board confused the hell out of me. The board was cut square, the 4x4 post was square last I checked, and yet there was a giant gap starting about halfway up the board. Turned out that when I sealed the knots with epoxy, I sanded the 4x4's out of square. This is because I'm terrible at sanding and always pressing down hard. I'm trying to stop it. I figured.. whatever, it's the back.

 

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Soon the back was on, then the sides. 

 

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I decided to try attaching small 1 1/4" pieces to the inside to cover up the caps. My reasoning is that they might expand with the outer boards and be ok. I had to glue them as screws just split the wood. 

 

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Next I decided to pop the smoker in and see how it looks. Thats when I discovered my horrid error. It fit width-wise, but barely. And not enough to get the insulation in. In addition, it wasn't tall enough because the handle was where the top is going to sit. Which means I couldn't open it. I had forgotten to account for the floor of the cart in my height. Really stupid. 

 

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So I dealt with the width problem first, and moved the entire center wall over. Thankfully I had given up doing everything via mortise and tenon, and switched to pocket screws since there was so many pieces. Otherwise, moving that wall would have been much harder. 

 

I also put the floor in, since there was no way in hell I was going to try to come up with a solution to the height prob without putting the floor in, putting the smoker in and measuring exactly. 

 

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It took me four days to come up with a solution to this problem... Which I go buy wood for tomorrow.

 

 

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When you say "eventually" how eventually are we talking? I do plan on sealing this (and using the right glue) and I don't need it to last 20 years because I doubt my smoker will either. I'll probably upgrade within 10 years to an entirely different

Don't be too sure. My 18" WSM is fifteen years old and still going strong. I use my stick burner for big cooks and that one for smaller ones that I don't want to fuss with. The WSM is a brilliant product.

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To derail a bit, here is a plate that came off my WSM two years ago. Brisket slices, burnt ends, beans, and ABTs. You can do quite a bit with a WSM.

2c43194d257d591120f1d1ce3683fbc4.jpg

I would love to have a table setup with it but just set up a cheap I folding table next to it. I have about thirty seven house projects ahead of my Q table.

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To derail a bit, here is a plate that came off my WSM two years ago. Brisket slices, burnt ends, beans, and ABTs. You can do quite a bit with a WSM. 2c43194d257d591120f1d1ce3683fbc4.jpg

I would love to have a table setup with it but just set up a cheap I folding table next to it. I have about thirty seven house projects ahead of my Q table.

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The two items, upper right with the stem, stuffed jalapeños?

What are ABTs?

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Don't be too sure. My 18" WSM is fifteen years old and still going strong. I use my stick burner for big cooks and that one for smaller ones that I don't want to fuss with. The WSM is a brilliant product.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

 

I absolutely love my WSM. I guess I've had it 18 months now. But I could see myself changing to something that requires almost no maintenance like a traeger. Though, the more smokes I do, the more I notice that I really only need to be present for the first 2-3 hours then the last hour or so. Maybe throw in more charcoal. 

 

For $400, you just can't get a better smoker in my opinion. 

 

I assume you smoked the beans under the brisket to catch the drippings? Best baked beans I ever had when I did that. 

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