Carbon steel drop flue pan

[newmod]

Has anyone made a carbon steel drop flue pan? I am using 2- 2x2 flat pans and don't have the funds for a stainless pan this year, BUT I do have the ability to fabricate a carbon steel drop flue pan. I would like to get more GPH so I decided to make a 2x2 drop flue pan which should more than quadruple the surface area of the flat. I have seen different pans made with drop copper tubes, V bottom pans etc. just wondered if anyone has used the drop flue carbon pan.
Thanks

[markct]

If you can fab a steel pan you can fab a stainless pan, the material is more but not that much compared to the work that goes in it. You can mig weld it just the same you would your steel pan, just use stainless wire of course.

[newmod]

I already have a 2x2 carbon flat pan so I was going to rebuild / retrofit it to a drop flue. Quicker and cheaper.

[markct]

not realy easier, a drop flue you can bend as all one piece for a pan that size, then just add the ends, would be a lot less work than trying to cut out and add individual flues to your pan you have

[Big_Eddy]

Markct. Don't think I would be recommending anyone try welding thin stainless by MIG. Too easy to ruin a project and a lot of nice stainless. Thicker material can be MIG'd but the thin material typically used for pans is best suited to TIG.

At the same time, if the OP is going to go to the effort of making a flue pan, I would highly recommend making it out of stainless. The material cost difference is nothing in comparison to the work involved.

[markct]

Its no harder than the mild steel he wants to use. It wont be as pretty and perfect as a Leader pan but it will hold sap and make excelent syrup. A much better option than a rusty steel pan.

[jrthe3]

my first set of pans where regular steel i boiled on them first year and in off season no matter what i put on them i could not stop them from rusting the second year i ran sugar threw my sand blaster to clean them up and used them by the third season cwme around they where full of pin wholes

[WESTMAPLES]

im with markct on this one stainless can easily be mig welded with proper heat setting start out on a low setting with some scrap and make your way to a nice weld, don`t do all the work to mild steel to have the bottom of the flues to be rusty where its hard to clean. stainless is the way to go whether you make it or someone else does that way you have a solid start every year, no never ending cleaning and worry of rust.

[ihcjeff]

There is a 2x2 stainless drop flue pan on Burlington vt Craigslist.
Don't think you could build one for much less than that one.