Bar-B-Que Grate ... what metal?

[bruceb58]

Re: Bar-B-Que Grate ... what metal?

If you are going to be welding up your grill, why not weld up your own stainless steel grate using round rod?

 

[jeeperman]

Re: Bar-B-Que Grate ... what metal?

The 1/2" gap stuff from Lowes should be fine. Less burger falling thru.
Use a screw driver and try to scrape off any coating. If you get nothing off of it then it is probaly naked steel.

As far as securing your grill to the support..........
Using you posted pic as a guide..............
Lets say you have a pointy vertical steel pipe or tube stuck in the ground.
With a clamp style set collar part way up which you can fit with a allen wrench brazed on the clamping screw. That way you can adjust it whenever you need to without hunting for the allen wrench every time.
Then slide a black iron pipe tee or cross down over the vertical pipe/tube.
Not screwed on, but big enough to slide up and down the pipe/tube.
The set collar position will hold it and act like a crude thrust bearing for when you want to swing your grate off the fire.
Make you a grate kinda like your pic with the center horizontal being black iron pipe threaded on one end to screw into the tee or cross on the pole.

If you use a cross, then you can make a tray or something for the backside.

 

[rwise]

Re: Bar-B-Que Grate ... what metal?

zinc plating will be shiny silver when new and fade to dull grey just like lead.

 

[Bigprairie1]

Re: Bar-B-Que Grate ... what metal?

Well, I found some at Lowe's for $12.50 for a 12" X 24" piece. Not bad considering the grill I showed above is a 12" X 19"! The only difference is that Lowe's expanded steel is a 1/2" gap, and I think the one shown is a 1" gap. I may look around again tomorrow for a 1" gap piece. On the box at Lowe's it did show that one of the uses was for grilling. It had a picture of a grill on the side of the box under the suggested uses. Also, when I am looking for steel for this grill shouldn't I look for weldable steel and not zinc coated? I will be using 4 pieces of 1/2" round stock for the frame that holds the grill surface, and I will use square hollow stock for the support.

The next thing would be ......

How do you think they attached the grill to the steel pole that is stuck in the ground? It swings away so you don't have to re-adjust the bolt every time you want to move the grill.

Any suggestions on affixing it to the steel pole?

Its not exactly clear in the photo as to what they did. However I would weld a piece of pipe vertically (with a larger I.D than the 'steel pole' O.D) to the end of the horizontal square support tube. The pipe would be perhaps 2"-3" long and have maybe 1/16" clearance between it and the steel pole. It would surround the steel pole and slide down over it from the top. This would allow the grill assembly to now pivot.
Next step is keeping everything up in the air at the right height. you might want to drill through the tube with a clearance hole then weld a nut over the hole with say...a 1/4-20 up to a 3/8-16 thread style. You could put a fastener in their now what would pinch through the outer pivot pipe and onto the inner steel pole. However if someone loosens this fastener your meal ends up in the fire. You could limit this by choosing instead to drill 'through' holes through the steel pole and through the pipe at several heights which would then give you height settings. Then use a small through pin to fully insert through at the chosen height.
Keep us posted

 

[SS MAYFLOAT]

Re: Bar-B-Que Grate ... what metal?

I made one of those about 6 years ago. I drove an old metal fence post into the ground by my fire pit. Then I got a piece of round tubing that would fit over the fence post. On the round tubing I welded my bracket (1 1/2" angle iron) to hold the grate assembly that would swing over the hot coals. At the end of the bracket I drilled a 1/2inch hole for a piece of all thread to go through.

My grate assembly I got two charbroiler grates from a used commercial kitchen supplier. I made a frame to hold the grates with 1 1/2" angle iron. On each corner of the grate I welded angle iron about a foot long pointing up (like an upside down table). There I made and "X" brace connecting the corners. Where the "X" is in the center, I drilled a 1/2" hole.

To connect the two pieces, the swivel post and grate assembly, I used 1/2" all thread to go through the holes. BTW, I welded the all thread to the grate assmebly's X brace. On the swivel post I welded a nut on the top side of the swivel bracket. I left about 2' between the bracket and grate assembly with the all thread. I left about 1' of all thread sticking up from the bracket. On top of the bracket, I welded on an old handle from a winch off a boat trailer. This way I can crank the grate assembly up or down as needed. If the fire/coals are too hot, I can swing the grate off to the side to flip the food or to raise/lower the grate. It makes it nice to rotate the grill over the fire to distribute the heat more evenly. Works well. If I had a camera I would take a pic of it for you.