I decided to do some experimenting with wood I had laying around and found that the egg needs to be raised 8 to 8 1/2" above the lower shelf to allow the hinge mechanism to clear the granite top when the dome is opened.I'm sure glad I didn't make that 5 1/2" high SS box before I put this all together. My egg is raised 8 1/2" as shown. I'm now going to make the SS box 8" high by 14" square and shim to raise box if necessary. All in all I'm very happy with the table but I do wish there was a way to have the egg sit about 2 1/2" lower than it does. At this point the only way I see that happening is if I cut the back side of the granite out to allow the hinge mechanism to clear.
BBQEd, That was one heck of a project you got yourself into,The end result is worthy of a job well done,times two.Looks great but I would be afraid to come to your shop and ask how much to fabricate one for me.I would have to get a small loan to buy one.You have a right to be proud of what you achieved and all I can say is a job well done.
BBQEd,I can't tell for sure from the picture but it looks like you have the Egg sitting directly on that wood box - you will need to use the little green "feet" to put an air gap between that wood and the bottom of your Egg or you will burn through it for sure. You may have already been planning on that, but just in case I thought I'd mention it.Beautiful table, by the way. And yes, I've seen people cut out a rectangular hole to allow passthru for the hinge so that they can sit the Egg lower in the table - not the easiest of cuts to make in that chunk of granite, though.Cheers,TRex
Darnoc,I have less than $65.00 invested in the table. I Purchased the table from Lowe's on closeout, it was originally a "22 1/2" deluxe granite kettle cart grill". See links below for full details,http://www.eggheadforum.com/wwwboard/messages/407685.shtmlhttp://www.eggheadforum.com/wwwboard/messages/408305.shtmlAll I did was have the shop reinforce the lower shelf with (2) 1 x 1 x 1/4 angles. I purchased a can of hammered silver spray paint and painted the newly attached angles. I also epoxy'ed 3 anchors that fell off of the granite. If you're in the Pgh area drop me a line and I'll gladly reinforce your shelf.
TRex,You are correct, my intent is to make a stainless box with a door on it, I figure the steel will transfer the heat from the egg and keep the Stoker warm and keep it from acting funny in the winter. Now I just have to figure out a way to weatherize the box. Fortunately, I was so busy at work on Friday I didn't have the time to have the shop make the box for me, else it wouldn't have been high enough, I assumed 5 1/2". I wanted to see how the egg rests in the table so I cobbled the wood box out of 1 x 6 and put marble on top of it, however, the box was about 2" too low so I added drops until I got it to a working height. I hope to have my stainless box fabricated in a couple of weeks, I assume the wood will hold that long without burning up.
BBQEd,I set one up this weekend too. Also had to reglue the anchors for the granite. Not sure if this cart will withstand a lot of moving around. It seems to flex a lot. I think some sort of brace across the backside could help. I sure like the compact size and love having the granite work surface.Kinger
BBQEd,Do you think JB Weld would hold? Since I don't know how to weld, I was wondering if attaching the reinforcing angle iron with JB weld would work. Also, my cart is still somewhat flimsy. Do you think JB welding the thing together would help? I've never used JB Weld but hear it's good stuff.
BBQEd, This Lowe's cart is a great idea. I read your posting last week and went out a bought a cart at my local Lowe's. I set mine up alittle different. First I built the cart per the instructions, then I got 2 pieces of 1 1/2" steel angle and bolted them to side of the cart at the correct hieght to allow the hinge to clear the granite. I built a second shelf using 2 x 8's setting in the angle. This stiffen the cart up considerably. I placed some tile on the shelf where the egg will sit so it won't burn the wood. This works well and the cart looks professionly done. Now I have a 2 shelf table with my egg sitting on the second shelf with the tile to prevent burning the wood. I move my egg alot so I didn't want to scatch the green finish on the granite. I went to local BGE store and bought some felt to line the circular opening in the granite. This works very well and looks professional.I've tried to descibe this build as best I can, if I could figure out how to post pictures I would. If someone can help me with that I'll show the pictures.
GatorEgg, Send the photos my way and I will post them. I have checked my local Lowe's and did not find the cart. The on-line web site was no help either. Darian
BBQEd, I bought the cart at Lowes and discovered someone went nuts with a screw gun and hex driver. Boggered up the heads on 10 bolts. I started trying to match the pot metal bolts and found out they are SAE not metric threads. The bolts for the frame are 1/4X20 thread. Hope this saves someone else some time.
Just Plain Mike,I don't know much about JB Weld so I can't say whether or not it will work. I will say that you should look at Gatoregg's table as his idea is far better than what I did.
