Alright! I got 2 free toaster ovens yesterday, hacked one up today,
took out the heating elements and the bi-metallic temp controller. Took 2
hours to get it all rigged up. Temp is holding perfectly at 200F. What I
did was use 2 of the toaster elements, bent them a little so I could get
them into the bottom of the pot. The temp controller is down near the
bottom with the elements. The elements seem to be on about %75 of the time,
I'm thinking about adding 1 more but I'm going to put it outside and see if
it can generate smoke without the 3rd one in there. So the whole deal cost
me 40 bucks for the pots and everything else I got for free! Going to smoke
ribs tonight if it stop raining :-(, Will post results...and maybe a picture
or 2 if I can borrow a digi cam.

"Dirty Harry" wrote:
Alright! I got 2 free toaster ovens yesterday, hacked one up today,
took out the heating elements and the bi-metallic temp controller. Took
2 hours to get it all rigged up. Temp is holding perfectly at 200F.
What I did was use 2 of the toaster elements, bent them a little so I
could get them into the bottom of the pot. The temp controller is down
near the bottom with the elements. The elements seem to be on about %75
of the time, I'm thinking about adding 1 more but I'm going to put it
outside and see if it can generate smoke without the 3rd one in there.
So the whole deal cost me 40 bucks for the pots and everything else I got
for free! Going to smoke ribs tonight if it stop raining :-(, Will post
results...and maybe a picture or 2 if I can borrow a digi cam.

Rube Goldberg! Yer back! Way ta go!

--
Intuitive insights from Nick, Retired in the San Fernando Valley

http://operationiraqichildren.org/

"Dirty Harry" wrote in message news:ZCkzc.754221$oR5.312420@pd7tw3no...
Alright! I got 2 free toaster ovens yesterday, hacked one up today,
took out the heating elements and the bi-metallic temp controller. Took 2
hours to get it all rigged up. Temp is holding perfectly at 200F. What I
did was use 2 of the toaster elements, bent them a little so I could get
them into the bottom of the pot. The temp controller is down near the
bottom with the elements. The elements seem to be on about %75 of the time,
I'm thinking about adding 1 more but I'm going to put it outside and see if
it can generate smoke without the 3rd one in there. So the whole deal cost
me 40 bucks for the pots and everything else I got for free! Going to smoke
ribs tonight if it stop raining :-(, Will post results...and maybe a picture
or 2 if I can borrow a digi cam.

Keep us posted on your progress! I've been thinking about building
one myself but I need to find a couple of clay pots that are large
enough. I was in a closeout discount store (Big Lots) and I saw a
single element burner for $7.99. It was only 700 watts though so I
figured that it wasn't powerful enough...anyone think otherwise? I'll
probably buy one anyway since it's so cheap.

"Rico" wrote in message
Keep us posted on your progress! I've been thinking about building
one myself but I need to find a couple of clay pots that are large
enough. I was in a closeout discount store (Big Lots) and I saw a
single element burner for $7.99. It was only 700 watts though so I
figured that it wasn't powerful enough...anyone think otherwise? I'll
probably buy one anyway since it's so cheap.

The toaster oven that I took appart said 1500W on the bottom but I only
used 2 of the elements and it seems to be plenty hot. I won't be using it
tonight cause I got a date and I can't smell like a smoke stack ;-). I'm
shopping for a used digi cam on the local NG so hopefully I'll have pics in
the next day or two. The clay really holds the heat well, when I shut it
off it stays at 200 for quite a while so I dare to say that 700w might be
good enough. The pots I got were called "44cm pots" but the base is a lot
smaller. Its got a lot more space then my grill that I was using to smoke
with eariler and you could easily have one grill above another one. I don't
know how you plan on controling the temp with your element....I used used
the heat controller from the toaster oven and chucked it right in the bottom
with the rest of the wires etc.. I also got a metal pie plate today and put
that right on top of the heating elements, it seemed to shield the heat
source and made the base get a lot hotter so I drilled about 10 1/2" holes
in the pie plate.

It's a poor man's Kamado. Now it needs a catchy name. Maybe the
"Clay-mado?"




"Dirty Harry" wrote in message
news:ZCkzc.754221$oR5.312420@pd7tw3no...
Alright! I got 2 free toaster ovens yesterday, hacked one up today,
took out the heating elements and the bi-metallic temp controller. Took 2
hours to get it all rigged up. Temp is holding perfectly at 200F. What I
did was use 2 of the toaster elements, bent them a little so I could get
them into the bottom of the pot. The temp controller is down near the
bottom with the elements. The elements seem to be on about %75 of the
time,
I'm thinking about adding 1 more but I'm going to put it outside and see
if
it can generate smoke without the 3rd one in there. So the whole deal
cost
me 40 bucks for the pots and everything else I got for free! Going to
smoke
ribs tonight if it stop raining :-(, Will post results...and maybe a
picture
or 2 if I can borrow a digi cam.

I'd love to see photos of this one and any others people have built. I'd
like to try and build one.

Thanks,



wrote in message
...
"Dirty Harry" wrote:
Alright! I got 2 free toaster ovens yesterday, hacked one up today,
took out the heating elements and the bi-metallic temp controller. Took
2 hours to get it all rigged up. Temp is holding perfectly at 200F.
What I did was use 2 of the toaster elements, bent them a little so I
could get them into the bottom of the pot. The temp controller is down
near the bottom with the elements. The elements seem to be on about %75
of the time, I'm thinking about adding 1 more but I'm going to put it
outside and see if it can generate smoke without the 3rd one in there.
So the whole deal cost me 40 bucks for the pots and everything else I
got
for free! Going to smoke ribs tonight if it stop raining :-(, Will post
results...and maybe a picture or 2 if I can borrow a digi cam.

Rube Goldberg! Yer back! Way ta go!

--
Intuitive insights from Nick, Retired in the San Fernando Valley

http://operationiraqichildren.org/

On 14 Jun 2004 18:15:47 -0700, (Rico) wrote:

I've been thinking about building
one myself but I need to find a couple of clay pots that are large
enough.

How big? Home Depot has some terra-cotta pots that are about 18" tall
and about that wide at the mouth.

--
Kevin S. Wilson
Tech Writer at a University Somewhere in Idaho
"Anything, when cooked in large enough batches, will be vile."
--Dag Right-square-bracket-gren, in alt.religion.kibology

On Tue, 15 Jun 2004 08:55:35 -0600, Kevin S. Wilson
wrote:

On 14 Jun 2004 18:15:47 -0700, (Rico) wrote:

I've been thinking about building
one myself but I need to find a couple of clay pots that are large
enough.

How big? Home Depot has some terra-cotta pots that are about 18" tall
and about that wide at the mouth.

I guess they're not as tall as I remembered. You can see one in a
picture here, just below my #1 Kamado.

http://www.webpak.net/~rescyou/turkey/roast.htm

Note that there are two pots there. The big one is sitting on top of a
smaller, inverted pot.

--
Kevin S. Wilson
Tech Writer at a University Somewhere in Idaho
"Anything, when cooked in large enough batches, will be vile."
--Dag Right-square-bracket-gren, in alt.religion.kibology

"Kevin S. Wilson" wrote:

On Tue, 15 Jun 2004 08:55:35 -0600, Kevin S. Wilson
wrote:

On 14 Jun 2004 18:15:47 -0700, (Rico) wrote:

I've been thinking about building
one myself but I need to find a couple of clay pots that are large
enough.

How big? Home Depot has some terra-cotta pots that are about 18" tall
and about that wide at the mouth.

I guess they're not as tall as I remembered. You can see one in a
picture here, just below my #1 Kamado.

http://www.webpak.net/~rescyou/turkey/roast.htm



Nice write up Kevin.

-CAL

"Kevin S. Wilson" wrote:
[]
I guess they're not as tall as I remembered. You can see one in a
picture here, just below my #1 Kamado.

http://www.webpak.net/~rescyou/turkey/roast.htm

I luv yer Kamado, Kev. If I ever win the Lotto, that's on my
self-indulgence list! Nice web site, BTW.
Oh. the turkey looks good, too. g

--
Intuitive insights from Nick, Retired in the San Fernando Valley

http://operationiraqichildren.org/

wrote:

"Kevin S. Wilson" wrote:
[]
I guess they're not as tall as I remembered. You can see one in a
picture here, just below my #1 Kamado.

http://www.webpak.net/~rescyou/turkey/roast.htm




I luv yer Kamado, Kev.

I agreee, I like his best of those of all I've seen. Not gaudy like some
are and fits well in the backyard design.

-CAL

On 15 Jun 2004 19:17:02 GMT, wrote:

"Kevin S. Wilson" wrote:
[]
I guess they're not as tall as I remembered. You can see one in a
picture here, just below my #1 Kamado.

http://www.webpak.net/~rescyou/turkey/roast.htm

I luv yer Kamado, Kev. If I ever win the Lotto, that's on my
self-indulgence list!

Nice web site, BTW.

Somebody someday ought to turn that collection of pages into something
resembling a site.

Oh. the turkey looks good, too. g

It's a nice rig. I find I cook more often on the #5, though, reserving
the #7 for cooking large amounts for many people.

--
Kevin S. Wilson
Tech Writer at a University Somewhere in Idaho
"Anything, when cooked in large enough batches, will be vile."
--Dag Right-square-bracket-gren, in alt.religion.kibology

On Tue, 15 Jun 2004 19:33:10 GMT, cl wrote:

I agreee, I like his best of those of all I've seen. Not gaudy like some
are and fits well in the backyard design.

I live in a 1922 bungalow. A tiled K would look like a $20 hooker at a
black-tie dinner.

--
Kevin S. Wilson
Tech Writer at a University Somewhere in Idaho
"Anything, when cooked in large enough batches, will be vile."
--Dag Right-square-bracket-gren, in alt.religion.kibology

"CSS" wrote in message
nk.net...
It's a poor man's Kamado. Now it needs a catchy name. Maybe the
"Clay-mado?"


The clay-mado is in action tonight, fired it up at about 6:30 with some
ribs on it, it's nice and windy out-side so I had to toss a towel on top of
it to help keep the heat in, I have a 1/8" gap between the lids cause the
grill (rectangular) is bigger then the pot. I'm going to have to cut the
grill down to make it right inside, it was just a $3.50 oven rack from
Zeller so no worriers. Its just in the preliminary stages right now...after
tonight I plan on taking it apart and re-wiring it, moving the temp sensor,
and adding one more toaster oven element, I had to use chips instead of
chunks to get it smoking good. The thing was plenty hot in my basement but
in windy 15C weather it could use some more umph. Temp is holding perfectly
at 225 right now. It's going to be a late supper...

"Kevin S. Wilson" wrote in message
...
On 14 Jun 2004 18:15:47 -0700, (Rico) wrote:

I've been thinking about building
one myself but I need to find a couple of clay pots that are large
enough.

How big? Home Depot has some terra-cotta pots that are about 18" tall
and about that wide at the mouth.


There is also the option of finding a concrete casting company that is
local. Chances are they will have a mold of the shape that is wanted plus
the unit can be cast in a concrete/soil mix(think the cheaper K).
-CAL