Insulation for clone

[MattJ]

Can the roxul afb mineral wool be used? It is supposed to be good to 2100 degrees. Is there an advantage to using the rigid roxul 80? Also for the stump's clones, has any of you tacked together the inner part welded the seams then framed around it?

[ajfoxy]

You can use mineral wool. Why rigid is a tad more user friendly in that it stays in position without wanting to collapse. You can tack spikes on to hold the mineral wool in place though.
As for building the cook chamber first... that is exactly what I am doing with my mini build. Tack and weld the cook chamber including top and bottom and only then building the frame to fit. When I built the Double Pan I did it as per instructions i.e. frame first then cook chamber. I found that method to be somewhat finicky with a fair amount of bodging to get the cc to fit the frame properly. So definitely you can build the cc first then fit the frame around it. When you build the frame, don't forget to leave out the top end bar (chute end) so you can fit the chute and firebox and then weld the bar in place once the chute etc are in place. Just makes it a lot easier.

[Weldun]

When I built my mini I started with the inner top panel,then the firebox side and from there worked my way around counter clockwise. I cut the pieces per actual measurement as I went and by doing so it allowed me to butt the piece to the previously installed panel and overlap the vertical frame tube on the left, which gave me some wiggle room. I installed the bottom last.

[Squiggle]

I built mine FB first as well, I found it a lot easier as I was converting to metric as I went.

Also, to add to AJ's advice, I left out the front upright as well so I could weld the inlet pipe in the FB before installing it to the frame, much easier than trying to weld the inlet in later(although you can get a threaded nipple & install the pipe to that later too.

[MattJ]

Thanks for the info.

One other question. Does the firebox have to be separate from the charcoal chute? I ask because I found a good deal on a section of 10" tubing and I was thinking of doing it as one piece then build the area for ash pan underneath.

[Big T]

The chute needs to be small at the top and larger at the bottom to prevent the charcoal from bridging.

[Squiggle]

[Rodcrafter]

Yes it does, not a good place for cutting corners


Making memories!

[MattJ]

I asked because it looks like Humphrey's uses round tube on their reverse flow gravity feeds and wondered if square would work just as good as the round.

[Frank_Cox]

Yep, we use a tapered one for preventing bridging in the chute. Round is fine as long as it don't bridge up. The Myron Mixon Vortex GF's also use pipe