Folding barbecue grill

More and more people enjoy spending their weekends in nature or at their country houses. The evidence is the sadly scorched patches of ground left by campfires where tourists or dacha owners baked potatoes or grilled shish kebab. Not everyone uses the barbecues now sold in stores, because they are heavy, bulky, and relatively expensive.

The foldable barbecue described here is easy to make yourself. You will need to buy: sheet steel (roofing steel) 0.8 to 1.5 mm thick — for the walls and bottom of the barbecue; a steel rod (preferably 5 mm in diameter) for the legs; and, finally, four M5 nuts. A camping “stove” made from these materials weighs only 2—2.5 kg. It is more convenient and compact than barbecues sold in stores.

The portable hearth is made as follows:

1. Cut blanks from the steel sheet to the dimensions shown in the drawings.

2. Clamp the cut pieces in a vise and bend them at the indicated points.

3. Drill holes for fastening and ventilation (it is better to sharpen the drill bits to a chisel point — as shown in the figure: in this case the drill does not vibrate and the hole comes out neat).

4. Cut four leg blanks from a 5 mm rod, bend them on both sides, and cut an M5 thread on one end.

The foldable barbecue is assembled in the following order: the side and end sheets are aligned at 90° to each other so that the fastening holes match. Then a leg is passed through both matching holes and a nut is tightened.

The remaining (side and end) sheets are assembled in the same way. Next, both bottom halves are laid so that their stiffening ribs end up in the middle of the barbecue and face downward. The camping stove is ready.

Modelist-Konstruktor No. 3’2008, S. TYAGACHEV