Building my own evaporator

[DavyJones]

Hi all. I started to build my own evaporator this year. Last years propane and old beer keg took my toll on my walet. So far I am into this total cost of around $300 for all the steel and pan. I picked up all of the steel at a local scarp yard for 20 cents a pound and I had a friend make up my stainless pan. It will be getting tig welded this week and my evaoprator should be done in the next couple of days. If things go well I should be boiling by the weekend.

Right now I am building this as I go, no plans, but if any one is interested I might be able to draw something up. Let me know

Thanks
David

Here are a few photos of my construction process so far

http://www.jonzilla.com/thebittners/dispphotos.asp?path=pictures/2008\Maple%20Syrup/

[DaveB]

Looks pretty good....I wish I could weld. I wound up building my arch out of brick/blocks.

[jemsklein]

keep up the good work it looks aswome can't wait to see some pictures of it when it is done

[DavyJones]

I am just about there. I'm getting the sides cut out and my buddy is asking what guage sheet metal do I want my sides cut out of. I was thinking maybe 20 gauge or 18 that would be enough don't you think?
Thanks
David

[Sugarmaker]

DaveJ,
Be real careful at this point! I think you might have a evaporator! Nice fab work. Most arches had thick galvanized tin sides, its the fire brick that retain the heat.

Good luck and have fun!
Chris

[DavyJones]

Wow! What a difference from last years beer get/turkey fryer set up. After a few set backs, mainly trying to get my new stainless pan welded, I finally got my rig finished and ready to go. It was a little touch and go there for a bit since I tapped my trees already and hadn't had my pan work done but it all worked out. My son and I collected SAP on Thursday and I decided to move the evaporator out of the garage and into the driveway and fire it up.

I am so impressed at how much faster the big flat pan boils things down then my keg set up. We collected probably about 50 gallons of sap and after I got things up to boiling I cooked for about 4 hours and I'd say I probably went through half that 50 gallons in that 4 hours, my old beer keg I'd of probably only gone through 5 gallons in that same 4 hours ****! I got home from work Friday and fired it back up and finished off the last 25 gallons. Here I was expecting to be boiling all weekend and I didn't. I did brink out the old turkey fryer rig to help pre-heat my sap because I am working outside and it's cold and a little breezy. I put up some tarps to help keep the wind off and that did help. I had a pre heater pan made so what I was doing was getting the sap boiling in my turkey fryer then dumping it into the preheater which was on my pan. It all worked out perfect. I think once I get this rig into some type of shack I won't be using the turkey fryer at all. That will be next year.

I am very pleased with my setup now.


http://www.jonzilla.com/thebittners/dispphotos.asp?path=pictures/2008\Maple%20Syrup%20Evaporator%20Project/

Thanks everyone for your input.

[Nemo5]

Davy that is a very nice evaporator.I would like to make something like this myself so I could do away with the propane turkey fryer and use wood.The propane is very expensive.Last year was my first year tapping and the kids and I had a great time.They love going on the atv to check the pails.I'll be using propane again this year as there is not much time till season starts here.Anyway,I'm taking a welding course so I have a great chance to build this after school hours.If you could answer a few questions for me to get me started I would really appreciate it.

1.What size angle iron did you use?

2.What size pan did you have made and what is the overall dimensions of the arch?

3.What are the firebox dimensions?

4.How far up from bottom did you start your base? Then how far up is next level? I assume this level is what you set the grate on.

5.Lastly, the piece that runs on an angle from back of firebox to back legs, how far from bottom is each end?

Thanks...

[DavyJones]

Nemo, No problem you know I actually just sort of winged this as I went honestly I didn't have any plans just some pictures of the smaller ones you can buy. This thing is probably way over engineered but it all worked out great. I worked with what I could get at the scrap yard so I couldn't be real pciky. I got all the steel for 20 cents a pound and saved a ton on just the angle iron itself. All of the angle iron was 1 1/2" x 3/16 and there may have been a few pieces of 1/4 in there but I would have prefered to use all 3/16" you could probably use either like I said I just picked up what I could at the scrap yard and just going by the looks. The front door I got lucky on too I found a 3/8" thick piece that was 2' x 2' and that a friend cut out for me at his shop. The door itself and the little air door were made from 3/8 stuff too and then hinge thing I did was made from some angle and square tubing and a piece of 3/8 round for the pin.

I'll go get all the measurments off if it today and see if I can sketch it all up for you. As for the welding I am sure you will do fine this was my first attempt at stick welding and I NEVER did it before. I have a mig welder I taught myself on, I'm not very good but I did get better at stick welding. I am sure with your class you are going to do just fine. It didn't take long to biuld I did spend a couple weekends on it and a few nights after work but I worked at a pretty slow pace you know getting coffee, playing with the radio, yelling at the kids, typical stuff.

hehehe it's kind of funny all those questions you are asking me I sort of tried to figure out on my own looking at a picture and holding my ruler up to the screen trying to judge those based on what I knew on the picture and the would be something like the pan height was 8" or the pan depth was 3' I guess I did pretty good doing that this thing is awesome.

Hopefully I should get that sketched up for you today.

David

[maplekid]

wow that looks like a professional evaporator. your getting a good 6-7 gallons per hour.do you have a blower on it?

[Nemo5]

Davy that would be great and very much appreciated. Thank you.

[Gary R]

David, congratulations on getting your new rig up and running.:D Looks great. Just wait until you get the baby indoors. It gets real fun as you can kick back in the chair and have a cold one as she boils away.

Good luck!

[DavyJones]

Gary thanks and thanks for the advice!! Yep I can't wait to get it inside. Me and my son have plans for a lcd tv and xbox 360 in our shack ;) .

I'll be posting my drawing soon I got busy with work and kids, family, everything.

David

[DavyJones]

Finally I had a chance to sit down and finish up these plans. I used Google's Sketchup program so you'll need to get a copy of that to take a look at these. This is a 3D image and Google Sketchup will allow you to rotate this so you can see the evaporator at every angle. Don't worry Google Sketchup is free just go to http://sketchup.google.com/ and download, install, enjoy.

Everything is drawn to scale and I re-measured everything as I drew these up but if you are going to build this RECHECK my measurments before you cut one piece of steel. I can't guarantee I didn't make a mistake re-measuirng or re-drawing this. I tried to put notes on the individual pieces that I drew on how I did some of the things. This drawing should have every dimension and distance for every part on it. You can rotate and look at every piece.

Well I tried to upload it and it seems there is 97k limit and the drawing is 122k so I zipped it up and put it on my server. You should be able to get to the zip file here http://www.jonzilla.com/thebittners/pictures/2008/maple%20Syrup%20Evaporator%20Project/evaporator3da.zip (http://www.jonzilla.com/thebittners/pictures/2008/maple%20Syrup%20Evaporator%20Project/evaporator3da.zip) if you click the link it should take you straight to download the zip file. If you have trouble getting the file let me know I can try and upload it somewhere else or email it to you.

A couple of things I did leave out of the drawing and that was the firebrick and fire blanket. If you are going to build this you should be able to figure out how to cut the brick to fit. I didn't have to cut allot of them but I did have to cut a few of them and the fireblanket was easy enough to just measure and cut as I went. I also didn't draw the grate that I made for it either. If anyone wants that drawn up I suppose I can do it let me know.

If anyone else builds one of these and they change any of the drawings for the better let me know I'll update this drawing with any new ideas or dimensions that are better or I forgot.

http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=aa85c81f5622d09a42b02b86ef76f6da You can download from here as well

Good luck happy boiling!

David

[DavyJones]

I just read that I told Nemo that I lucked out on the door and it was 3/8" as well. When I remeasured things my main door and vent door are actually 1/2" and the front of the arch is 3/8". The dimensions in my drawing are correct.

David

[DavyJones]

I just noticed that the hinge brackets were not spaced properly. I had them spaced at 10" but they need to be spaced at 11" so I corrected that on the drawing and I've also added the placement measurments for those brackets duh! This is the link to the latest drawing. Make sure you get revision b here is the link.

http://www.jonzilla.com/thebittners/pictures/2008/maple%20Syrup%20Evaporator%20Project/evaporator3db.zip

I've also updated google sketchup with the revision.
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=6c91ad7a3eee3be09edc9960229ffd67

[RileySugarbush]

Davy,

i just took a look at your SketchUp model. Nice job! I'd been thinking of drawing up plans for the 2x6 I built last year, and you have inspired me. Now to find the time....

[DavyJones]

Ok a friend suggested I take all the 3d pieces and put them together to complete the model and I found a couple more mistakes. The hinge plates for the lower door needed to be further apart and a couple of the pieces of sheet metal for the side weren't actually big enough. So let's try this one last time. This is version c of the drawing this is going to be the last one I do unless someone comes to me and says they found more mistakes. You can download the zip file from this link:
http://www.jonzilla.com/thebittners/pictures/2008/maple%20Syrup%20Evaporator%20Project/evaporator3dc.zip

Or.. you can get it from google.

http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=71a3c0f2b8cefd3cac333fde4bc9b65c


P.S. John thanks this took me some time to do I am not a draftsman in any way shape or form.

[Nemo5]

What a great program that is for viewing objects. Thanks very much Davy. Davy can you tell me how you put your fire blanket and bricks in. Do you cement the blanket to the arch or does it just lay against it? Are your bricks cemented or just dry fit? Thanks.

[DavyJones]

Nemo, Thanks I was hoping this would work out. I had a friend that has been doing 3D CAD for over a decade that works up in Maine help me get started and show me how to use certain features of sketchup and once I got going I only had to call him a couple of times.

Everything is just set into place that is the firebrick and fireblanket material. When I was measuring for the fireblanket I would cut each piece a little big bigger then the dimensions since it's flexible it the little bit of extra material would easily squish a bit and allow me to get it nice and snug when I say "a little bit extra" I mean I would just cut it maybe 1/2" bigger then the actual dimensions. I put the fireblanket in first up against all of the sheet metal then put the firebrick over the blanket. The firebrick are not glued or anything. I just layed them out inside as I went and cut them as needed. I bought a total of 80 bricks. 10 of them full bricks and the other 70 half bricks. The 10 full bricks I used for the very bottom of the firebox and the half bricks line everything else. 5 of the full bricks needed to get about 1/4" cut off of them. It's either that or you can adjust the size of the firebox. Thats one of the things I didn't consider when I was making this on the fly and that was the size of those bricks thats basically why some need cut. I think I had about 5 half bricks left over. I just laid those 5 extra inside on the slope to help take up some space.

Don't glue or cement the bricks in unless you have a front loader to move your evaporator around. It is really heavy! Me and my son moved mine and I had to take every brick out in order to do it. It was even heavy as hell with the bricks out of it. We just numbered the bricks with a sharpie it was easy to get them right back were they belonged.

You can cut those bricks with a good masonary saw blade and a radial saw or it will help even more if you have a wet saw, I have access to a wet saw that made it easy.

Also your probably going to want to try and find someone that can cut the doorways and door for you unless you have a plasma cutter. I don't think it would be easy with a sawzall though it probably could be done just make sure you have a bunch of blades on hand. I cut all the angle myself with a hand hacksaw and my sawzall with 10/14 tpi wood/metal dewalt blades.

The rod I used for the door hinge and door handle was 3/8" and I just bent the radius's in my vice then I cut the rod after it was bent. I eyeballed it to what look like 90 degrees I tweeked it after by putting it in my vice and wacking it with a sledge hammer.

Hope this helps

David

[DavyJones]

My friend just pointed out I am missing the side rails at the top of the firebox and rear of evaporator that I added to give me a place to drill and tap the sheet metal so it's held at the top. I've added that and recised the drawing. As always you can get the zip file at:
http://www.jonzilla.com/thebittners/pictures/2008/maple%20Syrup%20Evaporator%20Project/evaporator3dd.zip

Or from google....

http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=49beef89200472b14b1caddec242e4d5

[TDVT]

Davy, thanks for taking the time to draw out your design & for posting it! I don't know how you managed to figure out the sketch program so easily. I'm still trying to navigate your drawing.

We have a steam-table pan setup & were kind of looking at the Leader half-pint but the H-P arches themselves don't sound too heavy-duty. So I was thinking about buying the pan & making an arch for it that, turn out, would be exactly like yours. Glad I found this thread. I might have missed it earlier, but what gauge sheet did you use for the sides?

Also, was the pan economical in the end as far as material costs, labor,etc?

Someone in a thread I read recently mentioned the similar size of the fireboxes of all the arches regardless of the overall arch length. Your design could easily be adapted to other sizes.

Ted

[DavyJones]

TDVT, Yeah that program is pretty awesome I can't believe it's free. For the sides it was either 22 or 20 gauge I will double check for you. A friend cut it out for me at his shop. You could probably go as thick as 18 gauge I wouldn't use anything thicker then that thats overkill, IMO.

Ultimately I paid $400 for my 2 pans. It would have cost me allot less, probably half that but.... The first pan my buddy made up out of stainless was with some pretty thin SS he had something like 20 gauge. At the time it seemed like a good choice. I was getting all the SS for both pans for $100. In retrospect that pan would not have worked it was WAY to thin... I took those pan parts to about 4 different shops in my area to get welded. The first had a TIG welder and he could not do it the metal was to thin and their TIG ran to hot. The second tried to MIG it on a 120v mig and that was still to hot. After 2 weeks for the first 2 guys I was running out of time. The 3rd and 4th people couldn't give me a definate answer on when they could get it done or even try to do it and I needed my pan yesterday.

I called the 2nd fabricating shop back and asked how much for 2 pans and they said $300 for both no leaks and the fittings for the valves all welded 16gauge 316 SS. In my case I was out of time I needed the pan and I needed it in max of a couple of days so I told him go ahead and make it. 2 days later he called and it was done. I don't think I would have found one that cheap for both pans for that same gauge 316 SS so I'd have to say I made a good decision. My pan plans on having a buddy just supply the bent ss and then I'd get it welded somewhere would have been very economical had the original gauge he used been lower perhaps 18 then the first guy probably could have tig'd it for free.

Let me know if you need any help navigating around my drawings.
Thanks
David

[TDVT]

Ultimately I paid $400 for my 2 pans. It would have cost me allot less, probably half that but....

You're still ahead of the game then. Leader wants $510 for the Half-Pint syrup pan & another $210 for the pre-heater pan. Not really any substantial discounting on those either.

Admittedly SS is pricey, enough so I haven't gotten any to practice welding on. I have access to a 4" brake & shear & I have a mig, so it's pretty temping to give one a shot. Maybe start with a small accessory pan or something.

I was under the impression that commercially-made pans were somewhere around 20ga?

[Big_Eddy]

I've been planning to build my own pans. I TIG and MIG and have done some fine stainless so believe I can do it - but have not bought the material yet.

Most commercial stuff is 22ga although one company does use 20 gauge. Last week I priced out both gauges type 304 mill finish for a 2x2 flat pan (12" sides, 2 dividers) at $120 / $160 - so $300 for a finished 2x3 is not bad at all especially given he used 16ga.

For a 2x3 Flue pan with 2 dividers, the steel alone with run me $240 to $350 depending on gauge which is the primary reason I haven't made my own pan yet.

[xulgiy]

Hey guys,

This year I welded my own flat pans and arch with ideas I was graciously given from here. I have a 2x3 back pan 8" high with one divider - a 2x2 front pan 6" sides with 3 dividers. I drew up the plans as to use just one sheet of stainless. I paid $264.00 for the 18ga. sheet. $0 for the junk oil drum. $0 for the old stove I took the door and thimble off of. And about $50.00 worth of angle iron for rails and the like. All in all....brick, blanket and my own time (which costs me nothing) I spent around $400.00. I still need to do some tweeking to increase my rate, but right now I'm really very happy with the 8-9 gals / hr I'm getting. Seeing how I couldn't touch an old set of pans for that money....I think I'm way ahead.

[Big_Eddy]

Xulgiy.

How about a thread on your pans with pictures? Always nice to see other's homemade pans.

[Nemo5]

Hello Davy. I just wanted to post a few pictures of the evaporator I am building mostly by your plans. I still have a ways to go but it is starting to take shape.

[DavyJones]

Nemo, The pictures look fantastic! I am glad that someone is getting some use from the plans. I'm putting the finishing touches on my shed right now which is going to double as my sugar shack during the season. http://www.jonzilla.com/thebittners/dispphotos.asp?path=pictures/2008\Shed Project/ Last year when I got this thing up and running and hot I could boil down probably 6 or 7 gallons an hour. It was really excting going to that from the previous years boiling down just a couple of gallons per hour on my beer keg rig.

Good luck keep posting your pics
David

[thenewguy]

NEMO 5, your evaporator looks great, however I'd like to make a suggestion. your grating needs the slats going the other way. When i built my evaporator the first year i used the same type of grating, when it got red hot
it sagged and fell in on it self, you need the slats running left to right. belive it or not, those grates will get red hot when boiling, then all the wight of the wood on top will sag inwards..just a though. I'd learned my lesson the hard way!

[RileySugarbush]

If you add forced air under the grate they will probably be OK. They look pretty heavy and are running the short direction across the box. I think what kills them is the hot coals above and below in the ash pit. Once I added forced air, the ash pit has nothing in it and the incoming air keeps the grate cooler.

Nice job with the arch!

[Dennis H.]

Hey Nemo I have to agree with either turning the grates the other direction or adding some reinforcemnt.

I made my own grates out of 3/16 angle iron with point down and 3/16 flat steel used to weld them all together. After the second good boil the grates started to sag.

I flatened them back out and welded more 3/16 angle on the front and back to add some strength and prevent them from bending, seems to work.

[TapME]

Nice job, looks like it will work with a little tweaking. It has to be better than what you used last year. Thanks for the pics.

[Eric Schoembs]

I built a 2'x6' evaporator last year out of a 175 gallon oil tank complete with a blower and barrel stove door. I took the advice of several people on the website and had the pan built by Stainless Steel Creations out of Wisconsin. The quality of the pan was excellent!! I designed the pan with three dividers and with female outputs so that I could reverse the flow as needed. I was boiling about 17 to 20 gallons per hour running cold sap into my flat pan setup. I plan of having stainless steel creations build a preheater pan for my rig this season and expect to be boiling somewhere around 25+ gallons per hour. Not bad for a $600 setup(stack included)!!!

Schoembs Sugar'n
Fairfield, VT

I would highly reccommend Stainless Steel Creations to anyone. The website address is Stainlessteelcreations.com

[Nemo5]

I just wanted to upload a few more pictures as I am progressing and ask a couple of questions. I am unable to turn the grate as it is not square. I am going to make some from angle iron, I am wondering if they should run left to right or is it o.k. to run them with the length of arch as the grating is running? Next question, the arch is 2x4, the pan is 2x3, I am set to use a 6" smokestack. Is that big enough or should I just put on an adapter and go with 8"? Next question is about blanket. Is there a great deal of difference between 6# and 8# density? That's about it for now except thank's very much for all the help everyone especially you Davy. Without seeing your project I might never have had a notion to do my own. And by the way keep the suggestions coming everyone I really like the input.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

6" pipe should be plenty and go with 8lb blanket. For many years, Leader used to sell 2x6 evaporators with 7" stack. 6" should help hold more heat in so it is not blowing up the stack.

[RileySugarbush]

It shouldn't matter much what way you run the angles if they are heavy wall. I used .25 wall by 2 inch. Weld them v open up to fill with ash.

[Uncle Tucker]

You may want to use arch board and bricks insted of blanket. There is not many spots in the arch that wood won't hit. even if you place wood in easy you may only get one season out of the blanket.

[halfast tapper]

I agree with uncle tucker, the blanket will take a beating. I would use board or blanket against your tin then put a layer of brick in front of the blanket or board to protect it. You should only have to do this in the firebox area. Where the wood won't hit anything the blanket should be just fine.

[DavyJones]

It looks like my google sketchup drawings were moved so I looked them back up and found the new links. If anyone is interested or would like any further details about this let me know.
Thanks
David
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=49beef89200472b14b1caddec242e4d5

http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=6d3b7aac2c1bc2ccb9dad9b1ca6d8652



Ok a friend suggested I take all the 3d pieces and put them together to complete the model and I found a couple more mistakes. The hinge plates for the lower door needed to be further apart and a couple of the pieces of sheet metal for the side weren't actually big enough. So let's try this one last time. This is version c of the drawing this is going to be the last one I do unless someone comes to me and says they found more mistakes. You can download the zip file from this link:
http://www.jonzilla.com/thebittners/pictures/2008/maple%20Syrup%20Evaporator%20Project/evaporator3dc.zip

Or.. you can get it from google.

http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=71a3c0f2b8cefd3cac333fde4bc9b65c


P.S. John thanks this took me some time to do I am not a draftsman in any way shape or form.

[Sugarmaker]

Davey,
The google sketch up program works good. And the price was right! sketched front and flue pans with enough detail for my neighbor to get a quote.

Thanks,
Chris

[DavyJones]

The new evaporator paid off! I won the blue ribbon for my maple syrup at our local fair last month. There was only one other entrant hehehehe I still took first!!!

They didn't really have any catagories for maple syrup so I am not really sure what my blue ribbon is for it just says first place Big Knob fair. They said they would have real catagories next year.

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

it will look good hanging next to your sales sign

RICH

[Gary R]

Good job Dave! Next year, enter the Crawford County Fair. Those guy's play hard up there.

[Keyes Hollow Gold]

Bumpity Bump:)

[raven]

I am just starting this adventure have access to 3x16 steel plate was going to buy a 2x3 pan can i use this plate steel to make a fire box? I have a friend that runs a welding shop said he could make it if i come up with some plans. I am totally new at this any help would be appreciated. Would it have to be firebricked lined? The top of them are open to the size of the pan? Thanks Raven

[Gary R]

Raven,

The plate steel will work. However, most evaporators are made with a frame and sheetmetal sides. Also most of them have fire brick and ceramic insulation. The brick protects the metal from the heat and the insulation helps keep the heat directed to the pan. That way you do not get a lot of radiant heat out the sides. That said, you don't have to have brick or blanket. There are people that have unlined barrels and it works ok. You need to decide how much you want to invest. Each add on brings you closer to a commercial evaporator and the most efficiency. The pan could sit on the brick. Most have some type of steel rail / frame.

Keep checking out the old posts. There is sooooo, many routes to go:)

[Sugarmaker]

DaveyJones,
Congratulations on the maple win!
I may need your design help on a maple related project! I just got our computer upgraded with new graphics card and will try to use google sketch up to do some doodling.

Regards,
Chris

[twofer]

Excellent thread on an awesome idea. I'm in the process of building one based off your plans but am having trouble coming up with an idea to get the stack connected. What did you use?

[bradley153]

Twofer, Friend of Rob's here. when you get your pan figured out and you make an auto draw off valve I would like to see the plans.

[twofer]

Twofer, Friend of Rob's here. when you get your pan figured out and you make an auto draw off valve I would like to see the plans.

Hey Bradley,

I will most definitely offer up my plans.....if it works. Although I doubt I'm going to have time this year to build it since I'm already in over my head. :lol:

At this point in time I really think I could do it with the same microcontroller I use to control my boiler system. If I added a barometric pressure sensor I could even have it automatically adjust the draw off temperature.

[DavyJones]

Twofer, That was actually pretty simple the stack is rectangular and a friend of mine in the HVAC business gave me a mounting plate he uses for air conditioners. I just screwes it over the rectangular hole I cut. Then I used a rectangular to round transition for the duct work of the stack. Sorry I don't have any real good pics of that particuliar piece but you should be able to see it somewhat in one of these pictures (http://www.jonzilla.com/thebittners/dispphotos.asp?path=pictures/2008\Maple Syrup Evaporator Project/)
Let me know if you need some detail pics of that but you should be able to go to a hvac place or perhaps home depot or lowes and pick up that piece.
David





Excellent thread on an awesome idea. I'm in the process of building one based off your plans but am having trouble coming up with an idea to get the stack connected. What did you use?

[DanE.]

Excellent thread on an awesome idea. I'm in the process of building one based off your plans but am having trouble coming up with an idea to get the stack connected. What did you use?

Here is a picture on the stack base I made.

1165

This is an old computer case that I had laying around. It must be 16 gauge thick, it was tougher to cut and bend. I made it in four pieces. the front and back trapezoids and the two sides. Quickly welded them together. The top was figured out by measuring the circumference of the round stove pipe and using that number as the outside edge for the top of the stack base. Not sure if I explained it well. This was done for a 6 in stove pipe that i bent to the square shape.


Dane.

[maplesyrupstove]

I made my base out of an old hot water tank outside case. I made the front piece and the back piece and screw them together,with a piece of 7 inch stove pipe on top.The bottom is 2 inches by 20 inches screw fast to the flat piece of metal.The brace is because it stand by it self , no roof to keep it straight.My other fridge stove has one to but it is 6 inch pipe.There a few more pictures in my photobucket album. Darrell