Post by CampKohler (Sacramento CA) on Jun 3, 2018 3:38:49 GMT -5
My next door neighbor is getting ready for his grandson's BD doin's in August, and to that end is cleaning up the junk, uh, I mean valuable materials in his back yard. He had three BBQs, none of which he was going to invest the time and money necessary to restore to operating condition, so I moved them over to my place.
The first one was your typical crappy little black propane BBQ that was well used when he fixed it up for his grandson's family. By fixed up, I mean the very liberal insertion of at least a zillion #8 hex-head self-drilling screws through any piece of spare steel bracing he had laying around, followed by black spray paint. Well, years went by and of course the burner rusted/burned out as they do, so he took his current well-used BBQ, "restored" it in the same manner and swapped it out. And I got the return.
First I removed the BBQ clamshell, which was of no value except for the knob-operated piezo-electric igniter. The latter was a real bear to remove due to the rusted screws & nuts, requiring the use of Vise-grips on the sides of pan-head screw heads and other last-resort techniques, but I got it done. Next I removed every screw that did not look like a factory screw, and, as stated above, they were legion. One brace installed at a whacky non-factory angle on the bottom frame turned out to be the very piece that was missing from another place on the frame! What was he thinking?? Anyway, I got it all down to the original light-weight frame minus the blow-molded wheels and plastic feet. I plan to put a couple of braces of my own on there and add a sheet metal top made from the front panel originally part of the frame. This will make a light-but-sturdy table that can be easily moved to wherever I am working just to set things on (so not a work table per se). And I suppose I too will glop on a heavy coat of glossy black paint just to seal the cracks where water might penetrate in its final incarnation.
The next BBQ is a big brushed-steel thing that must have cost a pretty penny in its day. The four square steel tube uprights of the cabinet had very-heavy-duty plastic inserts in the bottoms into which was screwed swiveling casters. Unfortunately one caster was missing, so I unscrwed the other three, leaving nice, big feet that won't roll around.
On top of the cabinet was a cast-aluminum cooking box with a big brushed-steel hood. The hood is nicely hinged and balanced, so it opens easily. I removed the huge slide-out drip box on the bottom that had years of yukkiness inside with a bit of rust thrown in for extra flavor. This left the cooking box a bottomless rectangle fairly free of yuck, so it and the hood should clean up to new spiffiness with nothing more than an SOS pad. I will have to come up with a 1.5' × 3' plywood board to mount inside as a work surface. Then, by virtue of the hood covering up the board and whatever project I am working on, they will be protected from the elements, yet by simply raising the hood, it is ready for work. What a neat outdoor work station. And the cabinet below will make a good place to store all those short lengths of 2 × 4s, 4 × 4s and 4 × 6s that one needs to keep handy. Perhaps a layer of bricks under the lumber will discourage anyone from just picking the whole thing up from my driveway and walking away with it (which is why I deleted the casters).
The third BBQ is a little rectangular portable job with candy-apple-red paint and folding legs made from chromed 3/8" rod. It has very-nicely-designed and well-made handles on both sides and the top.of the clamshell. Also the burner is in good condition with a minimum of yuck, but unfortunately the part that does the propane/air mixing is missing, else I would really give saving this jewel a good effort. The grill is missing, but I could cut a new one out of the big grill from the brushed steel BBQ mentioned above. If I knew enough about how the propane feed stuff worked and had a feel for that kind of thing it might be possible. It still has its full nameplate, so maybe I could get a copy of the manual for it and figure it out. Hmmm. Such a pretty and portable unit.
And how did you spend your Saturday?
The first one was your typical crappy little black propane BBQ that was well used when he fixed it up for his grandson's family. By fixed up, I mean the very liberal insertion of at least a zillion #8 hex-head self-drilling screws through any piece of spare steel bracing he had laying around, followed by black spray paint. Well, years went by and of course the burner rusted/burned out as they do, so he took his current well-used BBQ, "restored" it in the same manner and swapped it out. And I got the return.
First I removed the BBQ clamshell, which was of no value except for the knob-operated piezo-electric igniter. The latter was a real bear to remove due to the rusted screws & nuts, requiring the use of Vise-grips on the sides of pan-head screw heads and other last-resort techniques, but I got it done. Next I removed every screw that did not look like a factory screw, and, as stated above, they were legion. One brace installed at a whacky non-factory angle on the bottom frame turned out to be the very piece that was missing from another place on the frame! What was he thinking?? Anyway, I got it all down to the original light-weight frame minus the blow-molded wheels and plastic feet. I plan to put a couple of braces of my own on there and add a sheet metal top made from the front panel originally part of the frame. This will make a light-but-sturdy table that can be easily moved to wherever I am working just to set things on (so not a work table per se). And I suppose I too will glop on a heavy coat of glossy black paint just to seal the cracks where water might penetrate in its final incarnation.
The next BBQ is a big brushed-steel thing that must have cost a pretty penny in its day. The four square steel tube uprights of the cabinet had very-heavy-duty plastic inserts in the bottoms into which was screwed swiveling casters. Unfortunately one caster was missing, so I unscrwed the other three, leaving nice, big feet that won't roll around.
On top of the cabinet was a cast-aluminum cooking box with a big brushed-steel hood. The hood is nicely hinged and balanced, so it opens easily. I removed the huge slide-out drip box on the bottom that had years of yukkiness inside with a bit of rust thrown in for extra flavor. This left the cooking box a bottomless rectangle fairly free of yuck, so it and the hood should clean up to new spiffiness with nothing more than an SOS pad. I will have to come up with a 1.5' × 3' plywood board to mount inside as a work surface. Then, by virtue of the hood covering up the board and whatever project I am working on, they will be protected from the elements, yet by simply raising the hood, it is ready for work. What a neat outdoor work station. And the cabinet below will make a good place to store all those short lengths of 2 × 4s, 4 × 4s and 4 × 6s that one needs to keep handy. Perhaps a layer of bricks under the lumber will discourage anyone from just picking the whole thing up from my driveway and walking away with it (which is why I deleted the casters).
The third BBQ is a little rectangular portable job with candy-apple-red paint and folding legs made from chromed 3/8" rod. It has very-nicely-designed and well-made handles on both sides and the top.of the clamshell. Also the burner is in good condition with a minimum of yuck, but unfortunately the part that does the propane/air mixing is missing, else I would really give saving this jewel a good effort. The grill is missing, but I could cut a new one out of the big grill from the brushed steel BBQ mentioned above. If I knew enough about how the propane feed stuff worked and had a feel for that kind of thing it might be possible. It still has its full nameplate, so maybe I could get a copy of the manual for it and figure it out. Hmmm. Such a pretty and portable unit.
And how did you spend your Saturday?