Home made BBQ Guru adapter for Kamado Joe

[KamadoSimon]

Decided that the $62 dollars to buy & ship an adapter for the IQ110 was a little on the steep side, for what is essentially a square of metal with a hole in it & a metal tube poking up.

So I bought the materials from B&Q & made one:



- a small sheet of metal 1mm thick (£9)
- 25mm (outside diameter) tube which the hose from the IQ fits onto perfectly (£7);
- some high temperature epoxy resin (£6)

Had to buy a couple of other bits, such as blades for the jigsaw & a 22mm hole cutter both of which would work on metal as the bits I had were for wood.

But it all came in at under £30 & I've got most of the material left over as well as tools that I might use again

Not pretty but I think it'll do the job just as well, and I might just spray it up with some black BBQ paint that I already have.

[Swindon_Ed]

If you find the fitting is a bit loose I've got Stoker plates which I can lend you if you decide to bend the plate to create a tighter fitting.

[JEC]

Nice simple solution there, and way cheaper, let me know how it works out and if you have to shape it at all to make a better fit

[KamadoSimon]

Cheers Ed. I think it'll be ok as I went for the thicker metal it seems to form a good seal - but the real test will be at the weekend, so I might come back to you....

[keith157]

What about creating a tight seal as suggested by AWG in this topic. I'm just waiting for a dry 24hrs to do my Excel doors

viewtopic.php?f=17&t=1882&p=15393&hilit=silicon#p15393

[KamadoSimon]

Hi Keith - the opening on the Kamado Joe already has high temperature sealant around the frame of the door against the outside ceramic body. So the only bits unsealed are:

- the top daisy wheel which you need to be able to adjust to control temperature. This does have a seal around the neck of the chimney from a gasket;
- the draft door which you also need to be able to adjust to control temperature.

Or have I mis-understood something? It's not air tight, but I think it is good, with no smoke escaping except from the small crack I leave open in the top daisy wheel when doing cold or hot smokes.

I tried fitting the new part last night with one success & one failure. Success: it provides a tighter fit than the stock door because of the thicker material - I am going to keep an eye on it though as I don't want to put excess pressure on the rail of the door frame which would bend it so that the stock door has a worse fit. The failure - an amusing ping as the tube separated at speed from the square. Note to self: let the thing set properly before messing.... If it does this after the 24 hour cure, my back up plan is to ditch the tube part & take the WSM adapter apart & use the tube from that on the square.

[KamadoSimon]

Here it is fitted - it will work for this weekend's cook I think, but I would go for smaller gauge metal next time - probably 0.5mm rather than the 1mm I've used. It would be easier to cut but most importantly I can see it is putting a little stress on the door surround. So I'll do this again but with the smaller gauge I think.

[keith157]

I was thinking about the seal of the adaptor to the body of the KJ, and using this technique it should be easily removed should you need to but still give a darn near perfect seal.

[nwaring]

Simon,

I am about to manufacture a more robust attachment for my blower to connect to my large BGE (my current one is made from Cardboard and electrical tape to test the design before I make something more enduring!

You mention you used some high temperature epoxy resin - Do you know what temperature rating this was? and where did you get it from?

I've considered making something out of brass or copper sheet and soldering the joints - however, I'm now thinking that resin may be easier.

Nick

[KamadoSimon]

Yep, i used some epoxy resin from b&q, but i think soldering would be more robust - the first two attempts pinged off as i didn't let it set properly and it needed too much flex to get into the draft door guides.... It doesn't have to be a pretty joint, just fairly air tight - so going to have a go at this at some point myself. Think it was rated to 200c or so - just had a look on diy.com and couldn't see it.

Edit: saw a post over on the eggheads forum that someone was refurbing an old bge and they contacted the company to find out what sealant / adhesive they used on the draft door - apparently they do not use a high temperature version.