Rocket grill build without welding? Or off the shelf?

I really want a rocket grill, something like this amazing thing: https://permies.com/t/33063/BBQ-rocket-grill-Fat-Man

But I don't have any welding skills or tools. I'm not opposed to learning how to weld, but buying the equipment, starting from zero, and getting decent enough to build anything useful may take a while, and since I have a hundred other things I need to buy and build, it's a bit of a roadblock.

Still, I want one of these things and AFAICT, you can't buy one anywhere.

Does anyone know a way to make one of these without hardcore tricks like cutting steel drums and welding them back together?

Hi Joshua,      Have you thought of making flanges and using them to bolt a unit together instead of welding?  Maybe not as pretty but it could get the job done and at least have something functional.

There are a few links listed on this page that may be of inspiration as well: Rocket-Grill-AKA-rocket-stove

I read that post but didn't feel it gave me much more handle on how to do it. What do you mean by "flanges"?

My mental image of a flange turns out to be a little different than an image search for it. Basically, where two pieces of steel need to be connected, use another small piece of steel that overlaps them both and secured with bolts, screws, rivots...etc.



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You don't need to weld to imitate that build.
You will need a drill and some way to cut metal.
At its heart it's just an L rocket stove.
It's different from most 5 gallon bucket stoves because it's contained  in a bigger, taller cylinder.

To imitate that build we need an L rocket, a heat deflector, a cooking chamber,  a grill surface and a lid with a chimney to cover it.

I would use a 55 gallon barrel,  or a junked electric water heater, stripped of insulation.
We could  cut off the top and cut a 4" hole near one edge.
A 4' piece of 4" duct could slide into that.
If we arranged three "L" brackets  roughly equidistant around the duct and zip screw them to the lid,  we could use a hoseclamp to hold the duct to the brackets.
This would be our height adjustable chimney.

For the L rocket we could cut a 6" hole 4-8" up from the base of the cylinder.
Filling the cylinder with lava rock up to the bottom edge  of the 6" hole,  we construct an L from 6" stove pipe and slip the horizontal portion thru the hole.
Make the vertical leg of the L half as high as your cylinder,  the horizontal 2x3rds as long as the cylinder is wide.
Center the L in the cylinder and secure it in place by placing lava rock all the way up to the the top of the L.
Cut a 6" wide piece of sheet metal,  6" shorter than the horizontal arm of the L for your fuel shelf.


We will need to add supports for a grill surface.
I would use 4 pieces  steel adjustable shelf track and assorted  brackets.
Thru bolt the track with long 1/4" bolts, and you can use the extra length sticking out of the cylinder as handles.
I would buy an off the shelf round grill from a big box, to go on the shelf brackets.

A flat chunk of rock,  brick,  or metal  should go over the exhaust of the rocket stove,  as a heat deflector/acumulator plate.
If we get something at least 8" wide we can space it up over the exhausts with three bricks sitting on the surface of the lava rock.

Not a rocket stove but gets the coals going in 10 minutes

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And then uses some fire bricks to retain the heat over a very cheap bbq

That's a clever gadget, but it feels a bit un-permaculture to use an electric powered device, processed wood pellets, and commercial charcoal like that.

I guess you haven't met the space age tech that is used in some of the rocket mass heaters here. Tlud stoves, like the one I used, emerged from the stoves mailing list to help develop clean cooking for the third world where clean air trumps stone age living.

I know that people do pretty cool things with gasifiers, but how would that work in the third world, where I wouldn't think you'd be able to get processed input like charcoal and wood pellets?

This rocket grill build is more about ready heat for a backyard BBQ, without having to use fossil fuels. Clean air is secondary, for this usage, and I am definitely privileged to have a clean electric stove for cooking indoors.

But in general, isn't the point of RM stoves complete combustion and thus clean air?

They use other biofuels like  rice husks in the Phillipines

http://stoves.bioenergylists.org/taxonomy/term/109?page=2