Mini Weber MOD: Midget OTG

I have a family of 4. My youngest is 10 and she’s always wanting to learn to grill. I’ve taught her a few things using the base of my cajun bandit smoker, but it’s usually a bit of a pain to set up. Plus with our frequent trips to the beach I needed something small and portable. The Smokey Joe and CGA just weren’t cutting it, especially when we invite friends.

Inspired by Lawrence and Craig – I decided to build a Midget Mastertouch Jumbo Joe Hybrid, although I’ve since held off on adding the tuck’n’carry lid bale that would double as a lid bale. My daughter is in love with it and can’t wait to cook on it. We’ll be taking it to the beach tomorrow too.

I’m super un-handy, but this build was surprisingly easy.

Here is what you will need:

• an 18″ one-touch Weber – it took me 2 years to find a red one with the one-touch system. But your luck may be better than mine.
• OTG Ash Catcher made for 18″ grills
• A hacksaw (for cutting legs & triangle)
• a dremel (or this chinese knockoff for cutting and grinding the triangle)
• some small but sturdy wire for mounting the OTG ash ring

Start by cutting the legs. Make sure you cut the end that goes into the leg sockets!
Front Leg Length: 12.25 inches
Back Leg Length: 10 inches

I gently clamped mine to a card table and used a hacksaw. Don’t clamp too tight, or you’ll squish the legs. Wrapping with a towel should help.
Sand the freshly cut edges with a file or some sand paper to remove the sharpness. Be careful, those edges can be really sharp.

For the triangle, start by removing the outer ‘A’ frame. I used a hacksaw to cut off right by the axle and on both sides of the center bar. Then I came back with a dremel to sand down the remainder and make everything smooth. If I had more dremel cutting wheels handy, I may have done all of the cutting with the dremel.

Once you have the outer triangle cut off and smoothed down, you can cut the axle. I chose to use dual wheels to add more stability and lower the center of gravity. Plus is looks cool as hell.
From the center bar to the tip of the axle is 9.25 inches. I didn’t plan any measurements. I just put the wheels on, made a mark, and then made the cuts.

The front of the triangle will need to be trimmed down and re-bent. I suggest doing this last. Put the rear legs and wheels on, and put the front leg on without attaching to the triangle. Align the triangle next to the hole on the front leg and figure out where the bend needs to be. Because I’m unhandy, I simply bent the front of the triangle rod to an angle that matches the front leg. I realize my triangle is upside down. All the cool (and unhandy) kids are doing it that way now.