{"id":62955,"date":"2026-09-07T12:06:44","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T10:06:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lion-test-sites.co.za\/mica-new\/?p=62955"},"modified":"2026-09-07T15:14:36","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T13:14:36","slug":"here-comes-the-braai-not-the-most-beautiful-but-your-partner-for-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lion-test-sites.co.za\/mica-new\/here-comes-the-braai-not-the-most-beautiful-but-your-partner-for-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Here comes the braai \u2013 not the most beautiful, but your partner for LIFE!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This particular braai began life as a sheet of 3mm stainless steel, but with some careful design, meticulous cutting, bending and welding instructions\u2026 this was the result\u2026 a bespoke stainless steel braai that will last for decades and designed to accept a 340x300mm rectangular stainless steel grid!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first step with this sort of project, where you are making something to fit a specific shop-bought is to get your hands on the latter and measure its essential dimensions \u2013 in this case, the depth of the grid is immaterial when it comes to the braai, but is length and width are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are bigger braai grids available, but I didn\u2019t have enough metal for that, and anything smaller would leave me with leftover metal with no particular use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, the grid size was selected and the designing began\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hence, as the precise dimensions of the grid are exactly 342x308mm, the side-to-side INNER dimensions of the braai need to be 352mm, but no more than that (and no less either)\u2026 otherwise extracting and inserting the grid to change its height above the coals, for instance, could be problematic), and at least 308mm front to back. This would allow the grid to sit in the braai with about 5mm clearance on each side<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In passing, the steel used here is far thicker than would be used in the stainless steel braai you buy, but it was what I had. Usually stainless steel (or mild steel for that matter) using in braais is much thinner, which allows for sharper breaking, but as this is 3mm thick, the bend at the break has a radius of about 6-8mm or so, and this has to be taken into account when deciding on the dimensions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, if you decide against welding, you can have the various pieces cut, and then use stainless steel angle and stainless steel pop rivets to assemble the box section.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If such is case the ideal is then to clamp the two sides together, measure and mark off and then drill the various holes you need for the grid supports; in this case each side had to be drilled individually as the box was already built, ensuring that the holes lined up and the grid would rest squarely on all of the four supports at each level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Materials:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n