55 gallon drum questions

[Milton]

I'm looking to build one soon. I have a 24x18 inch SS pan that was given to me as a gift. How far back should I get the pan? I'm thinking about putting a small arch in as well how do I position pan in relation to arch wall?

I also am thinking of putting in a pipe with forced air under the grates. Should I put the pipe on top of firebrick and then grate over? Thanks.

[maple flats]

The pan should be about centered front to back. Tell us more about the "arch wall", are you talking about a firebrick wall to push the heat up to the pan? If yes, put the wall back in as far as what you want for the firebox area, then put the wall, up to about 1-1.5" below the pan, that wall will work best if it is under about 1/3 of the pan from the back of the pan.
What size smoke stack are you going? To get the right space over the wall to match the smoke stack size, multiply 3.14X R squared (R is the radius) then divide by the arch width. The answer is the space you want over the wall to match the stack cross section area. If anything make the space a 1/4" or so less in height than the stack area.

[maple flats]

For a blower, run a pipe under the grates, then clean ash buildup off daily.

[Milton]

Flats,

Thanks for your help. I will post my results when it is all together. I was indeed asking about the brick wall. I will place it about a third up from back of pan. I wasn't sure if I should go with half way under pan or about a third.

[Milton]

I also plan on going with a 6 inch stack about 6-8 ft up