Kab4 stand Modificaation

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twanger1994

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Jan 1, 2007
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Hello,

I finally decided to use the KAB4 burners. They will save me money in the building of my rig. I like the height and also I have a modification in mind that will allow a frame of angle to be weld onto the tops of each leg.

Can anyone tell me some more measurements for it?

I know that the cooking surface 16" from leg to leg diagonally, and it is 12" tall.

I would like to know what is the distance of the legs left to right or front to back?
Also what is the height from the burner top to the cooking surface?


Thanks for all the help

The rig is well on its way. just need to but all the pieces together now:mug:
 
Twanger -

I am in a similar boat. I am using the KAB6 burners on my rig and like you, I would like to mod them slightly to hold my keggles a little more securely. I will be interested to see what you come up with. =)
 
Hello,
Seems like everyone is going to have to make some type of modification to the KAB 4 or 6. Some it will be the height of the burner (4.25"). Some it will be the size of the cooking surface. Yet others will have both problems. So im going to try and fix what I can and shed some light for anyone who wants it

I have a banjo burner from NB that is being used in another system

banjoburnerwithstandoff.jpg
banjokeggleinbrackets.jpg


This burner worked great at 4" from the burner with a flat bottom pot. The brackets are to make the cook surface bigger. Once we switched over to the keggle the flame was not as effective. Since the keggle has a domed bottom there was too much heat loss. (I hear others have a height problem too!) Our solution was to turn one of the brackets around to allow the lip of the keggle to sit into the void. Now the bottom the the keggle is about 2" from the burner. Heat then runs up the rounded bottom and raises temp. much faster. Ive never timed it but we have never had to wait on boiling water.

Today I received my KAB4. (Amazon 80.00 free shipping) In my case, the cost of buying the burners, regulators and hose plus building material for the stand, and time to build it, Just makes sense to modify these.

First Mod: Raise the burner. The Four legs are 1/2" round stock bent in a rectangle, welded to the thick wind screen in three places, The top and bottom are on one side, the middle is on the other. I used a dremel with a flexible handle attachment. (used two big metal cutting blades to cut four legs) An angle grinder (small as possible) may work but it will be tough to control.
IMAG0327.jpg
IMAG0328.jpg
IMAG0330.jpg

Watch: One of the legs was welded at the seam of the wind shield. Be careful not to cut that seam or you will have to re-weld it to hold the burner.

Next is to set the legs to the desired height and weld them back to the wind shield. Depending on what you are trying to get out of your cooker that may work fine.

My next mod will turn the legs we just cut off into just a connector between the larger cooking surface and the new frame. It will be a very simple square metal frame made from angle steel with 4- 1 1/2" square tube legs. The legs on the wind shield will allow me to weld it onto the stand I build.

To attach my legs I will use Steel cable clamps
steel-cableclamp.jpg
The bottom piece can be flipped and with the proper series of drilling holes the burner height will be adjustable.

Ill work that up tonight and hopefully have it done tomorrow afternoon... check back soon
 
banjokeggleinbrackets.jpg
banjoburnerwithstandoff.jpg


IMAG0352.jpg
IMAG0354.jpg




u-bolt.gif



Few things I noticed: There are nubs on the burner that could get in the way of the u bolt. I got lucky and was able to squeeze mine in.
Also remember the bottom of the keg is not always going to be level, or your base, so you may have to play with your leg heights if ya got a wobble.

According to bayou classic: The re-engineering of this burner was to optimize the burner with a flat bottom pot. The rounded bottom of a keg is not optimal
 
Thanks Twanger. so it looks like you've broken the welds on the one burner and used the ubolts to adjust height. Very nice.

Regarding your boil times, what were they before and after your adjustments? What about estimated LP savings?
 
I have two of these burners. One is modified and the other is original. So I will be doing a side by side comparison, and posting a video soon.
I've been waiting on a neighbor to cut open the two kegs I have. I haven't rushed the guy yet since I was still acquiring parts to build the kettles. If I cant get it done soon, ill go rent the plasma cutter and do it myself... Please check back soon
 
Thanks Twanger. so it looks like you've broken the welds on the one burner and used the ubolts to adjust height. Very nice.

Regarding your boil times, what were they before and after your adjustments? What about estimated LP savings?

Ok so now that my kegs are cut open I did a quick comparison. Filled each keg with 9 gallons of 87 degree water.

First up the KAB4 with no modification:
DSC04107.jpg
DSC04106.jpg
104degrees@9mins

DSC04108.jpg
DSC04109.jpg
117@15mins

DSC04110.jpg
DSC04111.jpg
141@26mins

DSC04114.jpg
DSC04115.jpg
160@33mins
 
Twanger, thanks for following up on this. Looks like it's worth the investment getting back time and fuel costs. Do you notice any instability issues with the modified burner?
 
Twanger, thanks for following up on this. Looks like it's worth the investment getting back time and fuel costs. Do you notice any instability issues with the modified burner?

2 things:

1~ I moved it all the way up and it may be a little too close, I may drop it < inch. Don't want to scorch the wort

2~ The surface you place it on and the true-ness of the keg bottom can cause a slight wobble. My keg was straight but I needed to drop one leg maybe 1/16" to make it sturdy. However, I'm going to weld angle iron to the top of the legs to make a square and use square tube to make new legs. This will make for a better surface to sit the keg on, and allow me to put adjustable feet on the new legs by welding a nut into the leg and a screw type foot.
 
Thanks for the pics. I'd like to get some new legs on this sucker to get it up in the air a little bit, but never thought about raising the burner like that. Interesting temp demo.
 
Metal should be delivered Friday. Should be doing the work on these sometime after hurricane Irene gets out of here...

Hopefully it will be another flop!!! The storm that is.
 
I know it's been a while, but did you ever do the rest of the modifications you were talking about?
 
I had a fabricator/welder buddy of mine do this. You need to torque the wing nuts on pretty good else the shell will want to fall. I mainly made this adjustable so I can use various pots. It's the highest it can go right now because i primarily use keggles.

403879_2589660186830_1414351942_32420727_1643582240_n.jpg
 
I know it's been a while, but did you ever do the rest of the modifications you were talking about?

Soon I hope... Damn free time is so hard to come by..

My other modification is to weld angle steel is a square, and attach it to the top of the legs on the KAB4. Then I will use square tube to weld on 4 new legs..

I've been able to use the burners. So my free time has gone to brewing instead of fabrication... The most important mod was raising the burner.
 
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