Top to bottom fit

[sunsanvil]

How "perfect" is the top to bottom fit supposed to be?  On our 3 week old OTG there is a fair bit of "rock" to the lid when its in place.  Pretty sure its the bowl whose rim is not perfectly flat as the axis of rock stay put when I rotate the lid.   Is there any "flex" to these things?  Seems when I pick it up by the two handles it sort of gives in slightly and I'm wondering if that has put it off kilter.

[sunsanvil]

Anyone?

[Hogsy]

It doesn't sound right especially for a new kettle
Give weber CS a call and explain it to them, it maybe a warranty issue

[sunsanvil]

So just picking up the empty kettle by the handles shouldn't cause the bowl to cave in ever so slightly?  The handles are coincident with the "high" point/axis off the rim which is why I thought that might have caused it, but on reflection if that were the case every weber kettle out there would be warped by now.

email sent to Weber CS....we'll see....

[Harbormaster]

Sounds like the bowl is out of round.
One of my recent pickups required some "massaging" to get the lid to fit right, but it was 40 years old and out of warranty.
Check with Weber, see what they will do.
And no, picking it up by the handles won't hurt it.

[1buckie]

I have a lot of old beat up ones, soo get to see these problems & play with them, not worrying about damage as much a a new one or nice old one....
Much more likely it's the lid, not impossible it's the bowl.................. You can, gently flex them by "bear hugging" either, if you're able to determine where it's flexed or out of round......

I've been thinking on how best to test for round /  flatness / matchup & haven't come up with anything foolproof yet.......tried a level a on a board, but it does really tell the whole tale........just done it by spending some time studying from all angles......

***For a new one, I'd wait to hear back from Weber 1st

[sunsanvil]

Yea I know I could bear hug it into shape but I'd worry about cracking the finish.  I'll post back when I hear from Weber.

[1buckie]

Yea I know I could bear hug it into shape but I'd worry about cracking the finish.  I'll post back when I hear from Weber.

Yes, you do have to take care doing that.....it can crack if too far, too fast

[pbe gummi bear]

So just picking up the empty kettle by the handles shouldn't cause the bowl to cave in ever so slightly?  The handles are coincident with the "high" point/axis off the rim which is why I thought that might have caused it, but on reflection if that were the case every weber kettle out there would be warped by now.

email sent to Weber CS....we'll see....

I smell an engineer! It's also possible that it took a hit in shipping at the handle and deformed it. The only way to check really is to place the bowl on a true flat surface, like a granite block or slate. The lid is a little trickier with the inner lip so you would need gauge blocks or something. Wait to hear back from weber. Bear hugging works fine only if your bowl was originally round and not totally mishapen from the factory.

[Bman]

"Bear hugging" the lid or bowl will only affect the in/out roundness.  Doesn't to jack for the up/down the OP thinks he has.
Well, unless you fold the thing into a taco shell.  lol

As pbe gummi said, lay the bowl (and lid) on a very flat surface and turn it 90 degrees 4 times and check the high/low spots.

[sunsanvil]

Interesting you say that because I got an email from Weber saying I should measure left-right and front/back off the rims (lid and bowl) to determine which is out of round, and then call CS.  By that metric the bowl has a 1/4" difference, the lid a 3/8" difference.  <sigh>

[Bman]

That's correctable with the "bear hug" method.  My brand new out of the box WSM was off that much.
Still wont address the sitting together flat issue, though.