“Primo” Grill/Smoker Cart Complete!

Here it is!  The “Primo” ceramic smoker cart is complete!   The project only took about two afternoons to complete including designing and buying the materials.  I am pleased with the result.

The cart is made from standard pressure-treated lumber from Home Depot for the legs and the horizontal structural components (just 4×4 and 2×4 material) and Trex-brand composite decking for the shelf and top surfaces.  Since Trex cannot support much weight, the pressure-treated lumber was necessary for the structural components.

I basically copied the overall cart design from the photographs of the cart that Primo sells on their website.  I used the dimensions that they listed on their price-sheet as my guide to overall size.   I even copied the “curve” to the front edge of the top surface.

They made their version from Cypress wood, and I considered doing the same….but the cost did not seem to be worth it, and I went with Home-Depot-available materials.

I placed four 12x12x1 concrete pads onto the bottom shelf underneath the grill to protect the Trex shelf from heat.  These were just paving stones from Home Depot at about a dollar each.  I placed them as close to the front edge of the bottom shelf as possible, so that when cleaning ash out of the grill it will fall onto the concrete and not onto the Trex.

The wheels are replacement solid-rubber handcart wheels also purchased from Home Depot.  Since this grill and cart are HEAVY (I’m guessing north of 500 lbs between them), I did not want to use inflatable wheels that could go flat easily.  The front wheels are industrial-rated swiveling casters from Woodcraft.

I cut the opening for the grill and the curve on the cart top with a jig saw after making and tracing a paper template onto the cart top.  After cutting with the jigsaw, I sanded the edges smooth with a palm and a belt-sander and then routed a small radius on the top edge to finish it.  The routed edge really makes a difference in the final look of the cart.

I liked working with the Trex material, it was easy to cut, route and sand.  It is heavy (much heavier than wood) and expensive though. ..about $18 for 1x6x8.   But, since it will last forever with no maintenance, it guess it makes up for the cost in the long-run.

Finally, note my “grill bucket” that is sitting on top of the cart in the first picture.  This is just a 5-gallon bucket with a Bucket Boss placed on it (also from Home Depot).  I have found that this arrangement works great for carrying my grilling tools, etc in and out of the house between grilling sessions.

About mattsanf

Matt Sanfilippo is the Chief Partnership Officer (CPO) for the College of Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and Co-Director of its Engineering Research Accelerator. In this role, Matt coordinates and enables strategic and sponsored research opportunities across the college, and stewards the development of proposals for major research opportunities along strategic themes. Additionally, he enables collaboration among the college's research institute/center executive directors, and industrial and government relations personnel in the pursuit of opportunities with industry, federal and state governments. Before becoming CPO for the College, Matt was the Senior Executive Director for Research Initiatives, the Executive Director of CMU's SII (Smart Infrastructure Institute) and ICES (Institute for Complex Engineered Systems), and Associate Director of PITA (Pennsylvania Infrastructure Technology Alliance) and RAMP (Research for Advanced Manufacturing in Pennsylvania). Before CMU, Matt was Managing Director of Applied Technology for Michael Baker Corporation, an engineering and energy services firm. Matt managed Baker's technology division including Geographic Information System (GIS), software and web development, multimedia, virtual reality, visualization, Global Positioning System (GPS), mapping and surveying services. Before joining Baker, Matt was an Innovation Director for Redleaf Group, a Venture Capital/Operating Company focused on information security, supply chain and mobility solutions. While at Redleaf, Matt managed technical due diligence for seed-stage investments and coordinated relationships between Redleaf and their partner companies. Prior to Redleaf, Matt was CIO of GZA GeoEnvironmental Technologies, an infrastructure engineering firm, and operations manager for their Internet start-up that focused on web-technologies for health and safety and manufacturing metrics. Matt is on the board of Larson Design Group (LDG), past Chairman of the Board for the Pittsburgh Botanic Garden, current board member of the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation (PHLF), current Vice President of the Sewickley Heights Gun Club (SHGC) and former member of the Information Sciences and Technology Advisory Board for the Pennsylvania State University Beaver. Matt is also former Vice President of the Pittsburgh Chapter of the Association of Internet Professionals and former Vice President of the Board of Trustees for Baker Combined Charity of Pennsylvania.

Posted on June 27, 2007, in Gadgets and Gizmos, Grilling, BBQ and Smoking, Woodworking. Bookmark the permalink. 2 Comments.

  1. Love the cart and really love the grill bucket idea. Good job.

  2. Hi Kevin! This is great! I’m currently working on my own design. How did you mount the wheels? I was just at Home Depot looking at wheelbarrow wheels and the only way I could think of was a 36″ threaded rod as an axle.

    Thanks!
    Drew

%d bloggers like this: