My project for the last 2 month and still in the building phase. Little background. My family roots are German and South American, Argentine and Chile. That's how I grew up, grilling and the pit. What is the difference between a regular grill and this Argentine thingy. First it is the fire brick layer Second it works like a ground stove Third it has a crane to raise and lower your grill. A Curamto pit is a whole in the ground, get a huge fire started, heat up the soil and some rocks and than place what ever you want to cook into, cover it with dirt and than drink Bier for a few hours while everything cooks.. Naturally it works better if one has rock as a heat storage. Lots of rock. Curamto comes from Chile. I will combine the grill and the pit, so I have my grill and underground oven all in one place. In the next post I will explain and show pics of the built.
The grill. First I built frame. The inside is based on the brick size, 9 inches x 4.5, so 27, square, and naturally height, 9 inches on this pic one can already see the crane up rights The side, square tubs are 1 1/4, bricks come in 1 1/4 and 2.5. The crane has a 3/4 inch center all thread, which will be cover with a 3/4 black pipe. Next was a fun piece. Out of 1 3/8 solid round I milled the the attachment for the Wheel of the crane. I use a old pulley from a commercial washer. First I put in the key hole and than drilled a hole through the piece and cut a 3/4 thread into it.
Now to the grill. 2 feet x 2 feet. I put the angles this way, so they would be grease drains. Less flare up. One can see the guide rails so they stay nicely level while pulled up by the crane. One can see how the wrap around works like a carne. I sleeves the all thread with a 3/4 pipe. Drilled 1/4 holes and than used 1/4 galvanized wire from a old ATV wrench, welded a 10mm to its end. Meanwhile the old pulley got a face over and is now brilliant red.
Oh well, I trusted. Well the brigs are around 9 inches. So along the wall of the grill I had to fit each brick on its own, grind them down till they fit, same on width. The sidewall bricks are 1 1/4, the bottom are 2 1/2. So the sidewall went in first and the bottom last. The bottom give the sidewall 1 1/4 of support. That way I did not have to weld any supports for the sides in. Naturally it needed a front door, for clean out and air. Instead of cutting air vents into 1/4 steel I use chains to open the door gradually.
