26" Gen 2 Performer Quarantine Project

[Walchit]

@andrewshrm Can you give me more details on the aluminum extrusion cross beams? I am getting ready to do this and love that solution.

I've looked a  couple times and  cant figure this out either

[andrewshrm]

@wbenton - for sure - the aluminum extrusion is something we use all the time in the tradeshow industry.  These COVID19 hospitals that were setup in convention centers were largely constructed out of the same stuff.  If you're outside the industry it could be a really hard product to come by given that most of the companies who produce the extrusion only sell B2B and not direct to consumer.  I used Octanorm (https://www.octanorm.com/us/Home).  Another major provider is AGAM (https://www.agam.com).

These two photos show the assembly a bit better.  I bought some hardwood dowel (I think it was 1 1/8") and painted it black and then cut it into four 5" lengths.  These were then inserted into the ends of the Weber tube framing.  In my method, I used wood screws to then attach the short vertical length of extrusion to the tube frame - the inserted dowels gave the wood screws something to bite into.  Then, with the vertical extrusion mounted, I could simply lock in the main extrusion beams.  Both Octanorm and AGAM extrusion use a connecting lock system to allow different extrusions to join to others.  The silver hex-head circle in two locations in the first photo are the actual Octanorm locks that torque into the vertical extrusion.

The inserted dowels are probably more valuable than the extrusion in all honesty.  The Weber tube frame is way to thin to hold any kind of fastener IMHO, but with the right diameter of dowel tightly inserted you can thru-bolt right into the end of a painted 2x4 or 2x6 cross member and skip the extrusion altogether now that you've put support inside the tube.

BUT... extrusion is cool so henceforth extrusion in mine 

Been' having some fun getting her dirty with some meat the past couple days too!

[bbqking01]

The crowd gasps as the curtain drops away and the newest beautiful sculpture appears. Those 26" look amazing!


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[Shoestringshop]

I have got to build me one of them. I have 1/2 of the build now ready to start, just working on the 2nd half to complete it. I was going to use the NIB 26 I have for another custom originally but I like this. Just 1 more 26" to go and I'll be ready.


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[Donahue357]

Beautiful work!


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[jimz]

Ive got a 26" i want to do as well. what do they do for a cover???

[usoloco]

That is nice!!

[alitaki]

That's awesome. I'm in the planning stages of something similar. What did you do with the handle? Grind it off?

[Bearded]

Wow. Very nicely done!!

[Yoster]

Very well done.  I am looking to do the same for my 26er.  That cart is my favorite!

[View to a Grill]

That is nice... I really do like it!

[sscompton]

This is the best conversion I've seen yet.  Can you show or explain how you widened the frame to allow the kettle to sit at the right height? 

[andrewshrm]

Sure thing @sscompton,

I didn't take nearly enough pictures of the build process.  For me, the step that really began to set things in motion was drilling and mounting the Unknown BBQ brackets.  Up until that point everything was just a bunch of parts scattered around the garage.  Getting those brackets mounted lets you do a dry-fit of the whole frame, and it's from that rough-assembled state that you can then begin to get some decent measurements on how wide the legs on your particular build will be.  Depending on where exactly you mounted the brackets, your frame may end up slightly wider or narrower.  One trick I did was to leave the food grate in place while marking the drilling holes.  All the lines in the food grate made it easy to trace from one side of the kettle interior to the other to ensure that my drill marks were perfectly aligned on an axis.  Otherwise, you run the risk of having the frame be wider on end than the other due to the frame tubes being a couple degrees out of parallel.  I matched my bracket height to the same height as the donor Performer's 22" kettle bowl.  Even with that, however, my bracket bolt threads still penetrated too far into the interior of the kettle to not interfere with the food grate, so I had to grind the ends off flush with the nuts with a grinder.  Then my food grate would still spin easily as before.



My 26" sat in this rough stage for a good week as I considered all the ways to secure the frame.  I've mentioned earlier that IMHO the frame metal tubing is pretty thin to be able to support fasteners without supporting the interior of the tube.  So my solution was to cut lengths of wood dowel and insert those into the tube ends first (Home Depot had a hardwood dowel that was just about a perfect snug fit for the tubing).  From there, I could drill and fasten cross bars to the frame and have it be very secure.  Again, my cross bars happened to be a mix of painted aluminum extrusion and 2x4s, but I think you could do a very nice job with just 2x4s alone and still have a great result.

[sscompton]

Thanks!  That definitely answers a lot of questions I had.  Tell me, do you like the height? I am considering mounting my 26 above the table instead of flush with it.  I know it will not look as nice but my current SSP is too low for my liking and this project gives me the opportunity to overcome that.  Any thoughts?

[andrewshrm]

If you don't like the bowl height as a 22", you won't love it on a 26" either.  I'd definitely consider raising it.  You might be able to get your bracket bolts below the food grate then too and avoid some of the interference I had.  The Unknown brackets are meant to be at a 90 degree relationship between the frame tubing and bowl... as you lower the bracket down the bowl, that 90 degree relationship begins to increase by a few degrees, but again, you'd have to really lower it pretty drastically to cause any issues.  Even then, it would be easy enough to just tighten everything down on the interior a little bit at a time after the lower frame goes together.  The bracket will get tight to the bowl one way or another.

If anything, my complaint on my build would be that the resulting table depth really increased by a lot over the stock table.  Mine is practically as deep as it is wide - more like a kitchen island.  I'm using the Summit Grilling Center cover on mine, but the fit isn't fantastic, and I think that a shallower frame would have given me more options on the cover.  Your idea of raising the bowl by a couple inches or so would allow the frame to be an inch or so less deep also, which would bring down the table depth a bit too.