Hopper on a Chubby Stove - Is It Possible?

I have a feeling that the person that designed the chubby stove knew what they were doing but, then again I have seen what engineers can do if left unchecked by reality.

I have had good luck welding cast iron. I use a TIG welder with 100% argon shielding gas and monel 60 fill rod. The most important thing to remember is don't heat it fast and don't let it cool fast. I welded a cracked cast iron pump housing a couple months ago. I just ground a V groove in the crack, then used a flap wheel to sand the paint and casting sand away from the weld joint then filled it in. The only trouble I had was when it cooled it cracked in another place so I did the same thing with that crack too but that time it was fine when it cooled.

[quote="carlherrnstein"]I have a feeling that the person that designed the chubby stove knew what they were doing but, then again I have seen what engineers can do if left unchecked by reality. [quote]

Necessity is the mother of invention. If you feel something is needed or useful to your personal situation, it may be irrelevant whether it was economically practical or marketable to the manufacturer to add it as a feature. We've all discussed one thing or another with the guy who makes the Chubby, his name is Larry, he's a great guy with a great product and always very helpful. I see features on some stoves, research them, and throw out ideas about how to build those features into my stoves. You can get a lot of good advise and learn a lot that way. But what works for one person may be too scary for another to venture into. I'm not an engineer either, but I did major in entrepreneurial studies.

And, as for welding cast iron: was never the plan to weld a hopper to the stove. The lip on the Chubby provides a natural spot to suspend or bolt a flange from/to. Though the idea may include welding some steel sheet metal into a tube and welding a flange to the tube.

JRLearned wrote: And, as for welding cast iron: was never the plan to weld a hopper to the stove. The lip on the Chubby provides a natural spot to suspend or bolt a flange from/to. Though the idea may include welding some steel sheet metal into a tube and welding a flange to the tube.

I agree that if your interest leads you to try a hopper, you should. An experimental one of sheet metal to try. If it works well then a better one can be made. Nortcan made one from cast iron sewer pipe but preferred to do without it. For any permanence the last few inches should be cast iron. Those on the antiques were removable. Try to find out what diameters were used in the antiques for a 16 inch fire pot if that is what the Chubby has. Check out what thick wall steel tube is available.

franco b wrote:

JRLearned wrote: And, as for welding cast iron: was never the plan to weld a hopper to the stove. The lip on the Chubby provides a natural spot to suspend or bolt a flange from/to. Though the idea may include welding some steel sheet metal into a tube and welding a flange to the tube.

I agree that if your interest leads you to try a hopper, you should. An experimental one of sheet metal to try. If it works well then a better one can be made. Nortcan made one from cast iron sewer pipe but preferred to do without it. For any permanence the last few inches should be cast iron. Those on the antiques were removable. Try to find out what diameters were used in the antiques for a 16 inch fire pot if that is what the Chubby has. Check out what thick wall steel tube is available.

I agree it would take take a serious beating. The only way to know how much of a beating is to try something and see. Sewer pipe is a good call, and maybe it can be bolted to steel upper assembly or flange.