[TrippleRippleBrewer]

OK so this won't feature polished anything but it will be a metal stand using 16 gauge 7/8 square steel tubing and some spray paint. I'm replacing my wooden all gravity stand and building this unit with one raised shelf for the Mashtun cooler and the other two with burners on the same plane. There will be some use of diamond plate aluminum for shelving and other surfaces. This will be a NO weld assembly. Instead I had some five inch triangular gussets made at the local metal shop. I'll be riveting them in the corners using silicone adhesive for strength. Pics on the way but for now all I have is tube steel and the gussets along with a design.

[Rhoobarb]

Keep this thread updated, as this sounds like something similar to what I'd like to build!

[TrippleRippleBrewer]

It's on four legs with supports for both burners installed. I hope to get more work done tonight, take some pics, and then upload. Bought some tread plate aluminum today too. 

Couple tips:

• Get Cobalt bits in the size you need whether using rivets or screws. They are harder and better for steel and they will last a lot longer if drilling lots of holes.
• Make sure to clean the grease and rust proofing off the tubing if using plain steel. I used paint thinner. This will allow the silicone adhesive to grab the surfaces much better.
• Use a small framer square to keep things as square as possible. Even then you'll have trouble keeping things true and square

Once I have the primary tubes and fabrication done, I'll be de-greasing the whole thing and shooting it with silver automotive engine paint. I expect it to rust a bit eventually but I really don't care too much. I just want it to look reasonable.

Casters are expensive! Looking around for deals on those next.
Pics on the way, possibly this evening.
Steve

[TrippleRippleBrewer]

A shot of some of the construction before paint.



More of the same. You can see the aluminum gussets.



Burner mockups. I plan to add some sort of fastening to keep the Hurricane burner fixed in place on these lower rails. The SQ14 burner for the HLT will be simply screwed into the rails using hex head sheet metal screws.



This is something nobody else is going to easily find. Under the cooler mashtun is a stainless steel scale platform top from a shipping scale. It's rigid enough to bolt to the stand on one side and be supported by a single tube on the other. At least that's what I'm going with for now. It is very strong.



I had a full can of automotive wheel paint. I wiped it down with paint thinner to get all the rust proofing grease off the tubing and as much silicone as possible but plenty of fisheye in the paint in various places. I'm not concerned as it looks good enough for brewing beer!



I'll follow up with shots of the completed stand in a few days. I need to mount the pump, add some diamond plate shelving and the stainless shelf for the MT cooler, add the burners, some more supports, and casters to the legs. I want to add some sort of hooks to the top shelf to hang and store hoses, the brew spoon, mash paddle, etc. I have to mount the water filter and add a fill pipe for the HLT.

Plenty to do before I can brew on it but I'll gitter done.

[Rhoobarb]

Looks nice!  Kep posting details. I, for one, am very intersted.  Thanks.

[aa7yy]

I had trouble with engine paint, had to go to the 2000 degree stuff. Keep it going.

[TrippleRippleBrewer]

I had trouble with engine paint, had to go to the 2000 degree stuff. Keep it going.

Where are you using it?
I have no intention of painting anything that's going to get hot because I hate the smell when the paint burns off. The rusty look is pretty unavoidable in areas where the burner cooks it. We'll see because I now anticipate some of this near the HLT burner. The wheel paint probably won't stand up to the heat and if that happens I'll have to go with the high temp exhaust paint. BBQ black will likely fit the bill.

More shots to come as I've mounted the HLT burner, MT shelf, cut some diamond plate and will have that riveted in place tonight. I should have some more pics in a day or so. Ordering casters today.

[TrippleRippleBrewer]

Shelves and pump mounted. Have to wire the pump and mount a switch, add the carbon filter and fill pipe for the HLT and put some casters on it.

For the pump mount, I had a piece of 2.5" square aluminum tubing lying around so I cut a bracket out of it. I screwed it to the stand using 10-24 stainless button head screws, tapping the holes with a tap. Worked really well. Again I just had a box of these lying around so I used them. The back of the pump is supported by the bracket and has some weather stripping between the pump and the bracket.



Close-ups of the pump and bracket. I taped up the vent holes in the pump to keep metal shavings out of it.

[TrippleRippleBrewer]

OK well it's finally done....mostly completely.
Filter mounted, pump shield mounted, switch wired and mounted and rear wheels mounted.
I can brew on it. I will brew on it soon. Yeah the HLT valve and thermometer are kind of backwards oriented but that's how I needed it for the previous setup and this will still work so......

Now I have to plan the first recipe for it and christen it!

Filter: - The hard line just reaches inside the HLT and I could tweak it inward about a half inch but it's actually fine as-is.



Switch: - I took this rocker out of an outdated office machine that was torn down for scrap. Ultimate recycling!


Pump shield: - Made from aircraft grade .040 thick aluminum I had lying around. I bent it up on a cheap Harbor Freight metal brake.



Rear wheels: - Just lift the front and roll it on the rear wheels. Works really well and I can leave the kettles on it without a problem. Can't leave the MT cooler though. It will slide away. Wheels are lawn mower wheels from the hardware store with half inch hubs. I used half inch bolts and nylock nuts.



Full shot complete:



For the record the Miller Lite cans in the background are my wife's. Not that there's anything wrong with Miller Lite........
Note the bottles....those would be some of my latest samplers. Lagunitias, Bells, Founders, Bells, and Bells.
Did I mention Bells?

[bluesman]

Looks like a winner! 

[euge]

Looks like a winner! 

+1 Ding Ding!

[bo]

Very nice. I like the diamond plate.

Just a suggestion, but get yourself some square, black plastic plugs for the tubing ends. I've seen them at Lowe's. They're cheap and will really add that finishing touch. They will protect you from sharps edges and corners, while keeping out bugs (dirt daubers) and such that like to crawl inside.

[richardt]

Is it a photo artifact or do you, in fact, have the MLT (cooler) shelf at a slight decline (perhaps to facilitate lautering)?  If so, then what's keeping a heavy cooler from sliding off into your HLT or BK?  There's not much friction between plastic and aluminum (or SS).

[TrippleRippleBrewer]

Not a photo effect. The support the third leg support for the MLT is the same length as the uprights at the corners of the shelf, however it's not perfectly vertical because of where I mounted it to the lower cross member for the burner is not directly below the shelf. It is about two or three inches away from where it should be but was convenient to do it this way and it happened to add some degree of pitch to the shelf. I didn't measure the angle but it's pretty minimal and nowhere near enough to cause the MLT to slide off. I thought it might help run off a bit.

My house was built in the late 60's so I have a drain in the floor of my garage. The floor is pitched for drainage and therefore nothing is really level when I'm working around in there anyway. Not a problem!

I brewed on this last weekend and it worked great. The pump shield protected the pump, and I can fit a five gallon bucket under the pump to catch liquids if I want. None of the paint burned, but it became warm enough I could smell it a bit. No blistering or anything otherwise.

I need to add a few hooks for the hoses but don't plan to do much else in the near future to the stand. I might add some cross supports to reduce rocking a bit. I brewed ten gallons and everything was fine but there may be a need to reduce "rocking" a bit when working with a full kettle.

Thanks for all feedback, tips and questions!

[Rhoobarb]

Looks really nice!  On question I have is what did you use to cut the tubing? (Maybe I missed reading it in the thread.)