I've been wanting to make a set of short legs for my code M 22-inch. Yesterday I made my first step.
Earlier, I had bought a 1-inch rubber crutch tip for the front leg, which had nothing on the end. It fir nice and snug, so I thought the leg was one inch, and some 1-inch galvanized conduit should fit in the kettle sockets. (Conduit is that gray steel pipe that wires are run through.)
So I got a 10-foot section of 1-inch conduit but it was just a little too big to fit the sockets. Then I thought, get some of the couplers used to connect sections of tube, and use those to connect to the sockets. But they were too small to fit around the kettle sockets. So all that stuff was set aside for a future clothes hanging rod project.
Back to the store for some 3/4-inch conduit. This time before I cut it I tried the fit, yup, it fits a little bit loosely. I earned a lesson: Be picky when choosing a piece. I already knew from picking lumber that many pieces are warped or curved, but I assumed that manufactured steel pipe would all be uniform and straight. Wrong. The piece I grabbed turned out to be slightly bent, with a few dings. It wouldn't be good as a whole piece, but I only needed short sections.
How short? I measured a rear leg, 16 inches from socket base to axle. I dithered about what length to go to, maybe 10 inches? I was afraid that would be too short so I settled for 11 inches.
To work: Clamp the conduit in a vise and cut it. (I couldn't swivel the vise so I put a set of locking pliers in it.) If you're not familiar with a tube cutter, it's like a C clamp with roller wheels facing a cutting wheel. Turn the tool around the tube while closing the clamp, and the cutting wheel bites progressively deeper into the steel until it gets through.
So I had three 11-inch legs and I tried them on. First I had to get past the wounded kettle's instinctive defensive posture, with stinger raised. The legs fit easily, but loose enough that they dropped out if I lifted the kettle. I'll fix that with some aluminum tape like they use on furnaces.
The new height turned out to be 21 inches. I should have made the legs a little longer to get a grill 22 inches high and 22 inches wide. Oh well, maybe later.
Next I'll give the legs some soapy steel wool pad love to polish them up. I got some gloss black spray paint for them. I'll wrap the foil tape around the tops, enough to make them fit snug so I can carry the grill without them falling out, but loose enough to easily pop the legs in and out. Then some 3/4-inch crutch tips and I should be good to go.