Santa Maria Grill for my Firepit

[Don_S]

I decided to make a Santa Maria type of grill for our 36" round firepit made of landscaping blocks.

We already have a grate that goes over the top but it would be nice to be able to raise and lower the grate to adjust the temperature. Being able to raise it up to tend fire would also come in handy.

The tool that this project justified was a ring roller.

The first picture is the frame for the grate made from 1" x 3/16" flat iron and a couple of little chunks of 1.5" x 3/16". First thing I had rolled. I cut it plenty long (probably 18" too long), and overlapped and made a common cut between both layers.

The frame is made from some recycled tubing from some spools they use for the conduit that they use for fiber optic cable. I actually got these from our local REC as they were using it for buried primary line. They are made from the spokes that I butt welded together and then cut my parts from the reconstructed tubes. The second pic is the frame sitting in the grill frame to see if it would line up before welding up the grill frame.

The third picture is rolling the handwheel to raise and lower it. The fourth picture is getting them clamped together to cut them on a common line.

The last picture is the base frame. This will be buried in the pea gravel in the bottom of my fire pit when it thaws this spring.

[Don_S]

Sorry about the turned pictures. They look fine on my computer so it must auto-rotate them for me.

I bought some 3/4 x 13 ga ss flattened expanded metal for the cooking surface. That cost more than all of the rest of the project put together. The first picture is of the grate welded to the frame. The next picture is a detail of the blocks I made from the extra stock for the handwheel to attach the aircraft cable to the grate frame. I figured out quickly that you can't power tap A36 with the Hanson taps you get from the hardware store.

The third picture is my first keyway on the mill. The little 1/8" end mill didn't do too bad. I used a piece of 1/2" cold rolled as the winch axle and used a weld up sprocket and hub for the ratchet wheel and a hub for my handwheel.

I ended up using a cotter pin to hold the ratchet mechanism on its attachment pin. The last picture is the mechanism I came up with for the ratchet.

[Don_S]

This picture is the completed grill minus any paint and the handle on the handwheel. The cables go through holes in the axle that are cross-drilled with tapped holes that have a set screw in them. I originally was going to have the holes near the ends of the axle but saw some pictures of others that had them set in some so I have two sets. One set at the ends of the axle and one set 6" in from the first. Having them set in keeps the cable winding nicely.

I hope you guys liked my little project. It's been a long time since I posted any project stuff.

Don S

[milomilo]

Looks to be very functional.

[GWIZ]

Originally Posted by Don_S

I decided to make a Santa Maria type of grill for our 36" round firepit made of landscaping blocks.

Looks good, post a picture with the pit.

[milomilo]

Here they call them cowboy grills.

[Don_S]

We have some nice weather this weekend so I managed to get the grill installed.