Fold-able BBQ grill - General

I moved out to a new house and we need a BBQ grill. So i though of making one myself. I looked at bunch of different ones online and one stuck out. A fold-able BBQ grill. I decided to use that as a base template and draw one up for manufacturing. Since it will be primarily used to cook meat on kebab skewers so i made a few modifications. Here is a drawing with some dimensions. Here is a picture of what i based it on. [img]http://i.treehugger.com/images/2007/10/24/fold-flat-bbq.jpg[/img] And here is a drawing on my version. [img]http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/9320/bbqsheet1.jpg[/img] And a quick render. [img]http://img852.imageshack.us/img852/2225/render2a.jpg[/img] The bottom half (legs and all) are 2mm thick to avoid weight problems, and top half is 4mm to stop it from warping in the heat. I will have them parts cut tommorow morning, i will parts folded and welded later on tommorow too hopefully, then if all goes well i can get it sanblasted and painted to stop rusting as much as possible. EDIT: Finished product. [url]http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/5420/img2011051900135.jpg[/url] [url]http://img571.imageshack.us/img571/8750/img2011051900129.jpg[/url] [url]http://img202.imageshack.us/img202/9182/img2011051900130.jpg[/url] [url]http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/5926/img2011051900132.jpg[/url]

Does the bottom and side pieces fold or do you slot them in? Looks pretty good. In fact, you could say it's... smokin' hot! [img]http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_eaKbvlcIK10/TQbpX0yx6UI/AAAAAAAAJ6k/_CCDn9Vo-aY/s400/csi%252Bmiami%252Byeah%252B%252528net%252529.jpg[/img]

[QUOTE=st0rmforce;29610709]Does the bottom and side pieces fold or do you slot them in? [/QUOTE] You just take them out and fold it up, you can even put them inside it as there is 40mm of clearance inside, for easy storage/transportation.

Is there a removable bin for discarding charcoal ashes?

[QUOTE=meppers;29612916]Is there a removable bin for discarding charcoal ashes?[/QUOTE] turn it upside down

[QUOTE=rampageturke 2;29613190]turn it upside down[/QUOTE] i think the grill is smaller than i thought...

Got most of the parts for it already cut out, Just missing 2 top pieces with handle slots because i cant find any 4mm scrap metal.

Here is the finished product. Pictures in order of how it is put together. Didn't IMG tag them because they are quite large shots. Was quite a fun project. If weather is good Saturday I will give it a shot to see how it works, someone mentioned that because of slots on the base it might burn too hot and in turn char the food too much before cooking it. Time will tell. Also it will most definitely rust, there is no finish on it because no one wants to eat food that smells of paint, and i dint have the funds to get it galvanized. I am sure if i managed to cut down the weight and price a little i might be able to mass produce them and sell them. [url]http://img571.imageshack.us/img571/8750/img2011051900129.jpg[/url] [url]http://img202.imageshack.us/img202/9182/img2011051900130.jpg[/url] [url]http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/5926/img2011051900132.jpg[/url] [url]http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/5420/img2011051900135.jpg[/url]

Better not galvanize it, you will burn it off again, which goes with toxic fumes

Looks bad-ass!

Just had a thought, you could just paint it with heat resistant spray cans. When you sprayed it and it's dry, just heat it up, helps with the hardening of the heat resistant paint, and makes it really heat resistant. Plus, matte black is cool :D

I don't think it really needs to be made out of steel anywhere near as thick as that. By making it thinner you will save on the weight and price. As for the finish, you could make it out of stainless steel - Would increase the but it wouldn't need finishing.

See the thickness was determined by a few factors. Mostly what mattered it what steel we had at work. We make mobile machinery, and smallest sheet we have is 2mm but we dont cut that many parts out of that. In my drawings i made the 4 side pieces and legs out of 2mm and top and slot in pieces of 4mm only because someone suggested that 3 mm will warp a lot in the long run and in something dynamic like this a bit of warping can mess you up a lot. As we dont cut that much 2mm plate we dont have a lot of scrap to use up, so the plasma man made it all out of 4 so its so heavy. Takes 2 people to carry the assembled thing. If i could make it again i would make it all out of 2mm stainless steel or 3 mm aluminium. But this will do because we only work with mild steel. So yeah, this one was free completely and really fun to work on. If anyone wants actual drawings of it, specialized or whatnot let me know. And here it is in action. Still don't have and shish kebab skewers so i used one of them cooling trays for cooking but it worked wonders. Still eating the meat in fact! [url]http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/2215/img2011052100136.jpg[/url] [editline]21st May 2011[/editline] Just figured out that he made triangular pieces 6mm. Pretty much the wole thing is too fucking thick, gonna hold up for next 12 years.

should have not posted it and patented it right quick before someone stole it

You should post this on kickstarter with a good video of it if you actually want to try and sell them. It would allow you to get a galvanized prototype, and make people who barbecue around the world on their apartment's balcony quite happy.

Make on that can survive a tank shell

Thanks for mentioning kickstarter! Haven't heard of a website like that before. It got me motivated to design a smaller, more portable, and way lighter version of this, painted in black heat resistant paint. I am thinking that i can make the entire thing of 2mm, and if that is too heavy i can try making the bottom half out of 1 mm if i can get the sheet. Also i will try to reduce the welding by making bottom section one piece folded at 90 degrees. I will also take the slots out of the bottom piece because they generate too much air, and heat so it burns fast and strong, not quite good enough for bigger pieces of meat. I will make the slots smaller, around 3-4 mm wide, and make less of them. And also try and manufacture a grid that can go on top. And to top that all off, some sort of easy storage system, maybe little hooks around the bottom of it so you can store all parts inside, then open it up and take them out.

That's one pretty neat little grill... good luck if you actually try to sell these!

Fine piece of grill'ness. Maybe less holes though in the bottom. Would cause a little too much air-flow.