How to Make a Fireplace / BBQ Out of Steel

This is how to make a nice big firebowl for a BBQ really fast in the workshop..

Step 1: The Bowl

Get a nice top of a boiler.. (sometimes scrapyards have them lying around).
This time I bought one, was about 100€.
800mm in diameter and 6mm thickness

Step 2: Find the Center

Find the exact center and drill a hole, 5mm should do..

Step 3: Draw a Circle

draw a circle where you think the legs should be attached to the bowl later.
not too far to the outside, a little bit more than half way from the middle looks good.
just stick the drill back in the center hole and use a piece of string as a compass.. easy.

Step 4: Have a Coffee..

because now comes the tricky part..

Step 5: Divide

divide the circle in three equal segments, 120 degrees,
mark the circle.

Step 6: Length of Legs

determine the lenght of the legs (A to B). This is a good way to do this.
cut three of them, i used 20mm pipe, strong enough.
choose the lenght carefully, so in the end the bowl will be at the right height and look good later on..

Step 7: Weld the Legs On

take your time doing this, it has to be as exact as possible..

Step 8: The Feet

now turn the whole thing around and attach some feet.
usually every metal workshop has some of these discs lying around for some reason..
they will prevent the legs from sinking into the ground later, the whole thing is quite heavy already :)

Step 9: Handles

yes, the whole thing is already heavy and will also be very hot when used, so
let's attach some handles.
i used some 30x6 flat steel and some leftover pipe.

but attaching handles like this would make the firebowl very wide, so i came up
with the idea of making them with moveable joints:

Step 10: Handles Pt.2

this looks much better i think.
just double the flat metal, drill holes and put bolts through. use washers in between.
then weld to the bowl.
be shure to make some good welds, they will have to carry the whole thing :)

Step 11: It's Done.

here we are, just under 2 hours of work.
clean all the surfaces with thinner. if you want you can spraypaint everything
with heat resistant paint, i like it much more when the bowl becomes nicely rusty.

the hole in the middle of the bowl will let any rainwater dripple out.

Step 12: Tripod and Grill

of course the tripod and the grill can also be made in the workshop easily, but
this time i bought the stuff online from a big evil company for under 40€.
..china will grow larger :))

how to manufacture them yourself i'll explain next time.