DennisLinkletter

Bill... Bill... Your cooker has standard spacing.. the confusion she had was that where the tiles turn they should have a 3mm max space at the bottom she made this in the middle of the tile.. This is very minor.. Maybe 1.5mm difference at most and purely cosmetic. Actually my QC gal liked them more that way.. As for color, Some tiles just call for contrasting grout and some can actually be matched.. Your blue would not call for a blue grout.. The vibrant blue tiles have a grey tan border that we get very close to matching..

Yup.. Good eyes there... Yup.. Good eyes there... very observant.. Come do QC with me.. The standard is a 3mm between the tiles left to right.. Where the tiles turn this 3mm should be at the bottom.. This was made with the 3mm at the middle. On the two rows that turn sharply this makes a difference of about 1.5mm (wider) When we brought in new girls for training.. Standard tolerances were set and this was a misunderstanding of the 3mm is measured where the tiles turn... This tile has a bit of a softer edge than others and therefore holds a bit more grout.. This also adds to the appearance of the wider grout line. All tiles have no space between them top to bottom and are touching.. that's just grout in the groove...

As I've said, I've been designing furniture and textured floors here for 17 years. Woodworking has always been a passion of mine. My primary business now is Hand Hewn Floors. Wide plank textured teak flooring. I just received these from a customer of mine so I thought I'd share them with my new Komodo family and friends...

Smaller versions Thank you for the kudos, I really appreciate them. I've been in Indonesia soo long and don't get much direct feedback from my customers.. It's really nice. I will get around to making a smaller version of the OTB probably next winter. I'm in the process of making a better quality, better designed mold to increase the production of this OTB. The down side of having my unique two layer design is that for each cooker I have to do four separate castings... But I do plan on doing a smaller version in the future. First priority is now side tables... Thank you for the input...

Better than in the works... Better than in the works... It's in production Photos are up in the Komodo Photo section...

Let them say what they want.. They haven’t got a clue... That's a new one.. I thought they claimed it was quality issues... saying that an Indonesia crew could not handle the demand is just a joke on an island with 90 million people with the government claiming unemployment of 10.9% (most say it's much more.) If you want/need more production bring in more workers.. My flooring factory has two crews and works two shifts a day… The reason RJ left is that he was being pursued by the owner of the original factory contracted to build Kamados in Indonesia. The factory foolishly built and shipped 2 containers of cookers and was never paid. (full documentation and contact telp #'s available) RJ had hired Ben Abrams an American lawyer to protect him and negotiate with the factory owner.. RJ left the day before the meeting with the factory owner and laywer. Another reason was that shipping went up drastically that spring, I believe it was 30-35%... Factory was burned down… After the fall of the Suharto regime, the Government implemented very pro worker manpower regulations to discourage/stop the exodus of foreign companies after the likes of both Sony and Nike packed up and left. One of these regulations was that if you fired a worker for ANY REASON they would receive 2 months salary for every year of employment. You also had a rash of new labor unions formed who felt that they had to be pro active to be worth their dues. The situation with the new democracy was very pro people, anti-government/management/authority. Soon there were rumors of companies being forced to pay off worker large amounts. As you can imagine a worker with a company for 10 years would receive 20 months compensation, that’s winning the lottery in a third world country. My factory employed more than 400 workers at the time. We had problems with about 10 workers. They would just leave their work area.. walk around and when reprimanded by the managers they would basically tell my staff to go fcuk themselves.. and we should just fire them.. So we did… but did not pay them off.. The unions stepped in for a few days then backed off after they heard the story.. We presented our case to manpower court and won. These guys would sit outside the factory trying to garner support from the workers to strike for their rights to no avail.. About a month later gas was poured over a back wall at 1:30am and the factory was burned to the ground.. The factory was an all-wooden structure was un-insurable.. I lost over 500k that night and more than a million dollars in lost sales. The non-striking workers still work for me in my primary business.. which is textured wide plank teak flooring. Komodo has about 35 workers and Hand Hewn has about 225. In 17 years I have fired only about 20 people and ten of those were from stealing.. I'm the best thing that every happened to this community. Out of the 225 workers I have more than 150 of them have worked for me for 10-15 years.. Let them say what they want.. They haven’t got a clue...

Re: Once again.. Common sense solution.. Jasen, maybe it was I who wrote and was misunderstood... When I said Precise.. I was not upset or being sarcastic... It's just that it's so easy to turn the top just a lil bit when you’re using a 10" diameter knob... Micro adjustments are easy... So I'll not beat around the bush here.. the machined stainless shaft works beautifully and requires no maintenance... Nuf said end of post

Rumor has it that today is my birthday... I'm celebrating the 7th anniversary of my 39th birthday! This new forum now has 81 registered users, 890 posts/articles and an average of 300 views a day after only 3 months... I could not have asked for a better present

Once again.. Common sense solution.. Mine are machined so that they are a bit loose when cold and tighten up when heated/hot.. They actually have enough play in them that they jiggle quite a bit when at room temperature.. Once again.. Common sense solution.. Precise? I'm sorry I never thought of the damper top as part of my calibrated airflow control system... but then again the top has a 10" diameter.. Just a lil turn at the outside is a micro adjustment at the shaft.. I don't think anyone wants to have to turn it many, many times to open it up or close it quickly... The only problem is that when they are brand new sometimes they turn by themselves and slowly close from gravity As they get gunked up a bit they become perfect

Stainless quality... Hi Gerard, The quality and price of stainless has to do with the nickel content. Type 304—the most common; 18/8 stainless steel contains composition is 18% chromium and 8% nickel. This makes such steels non-magnetic and less brittle at low temperatures. Lower qualities have less nickel and magnetic. Being that I live and produce these cookers in a third world country I'm constantly amazed at the resourcefulness of people in finding ways to cheat me A few cents here, a buck there all add up to something in a country where 40¢ gets you a decent filling meal. A few years ago, I purchased a couple of boxes of "imported stainless acorn nuts" only to find that when exposed to water they achieved a lovely rust colored patina Today I went through my factory with a magnet and was very pleased that out of 50-70 pieces in the rack the magnet was not interested in any of them.. I did although find some cut pieces that go behind the handle that did.. Yikes Looks like we need to have a magnet at the truck during deliveries... But after doing a little rust research and was very surprised that contamination not low quality stainless may be the culprit.. Here is a lot more about stainless, rust and corrosion than most of you will care to read but I of course found it fascinating... Looks like I'm going to have to segregate my shop.. and work on contamination... Almost everyone who makes stainless steel products finds that they rust occasionally. That upsets users since they have paid for “stainless.â€

Telephone Tag.. Hey Bill... Telephone Tag and your it.. Left a message on your machine... TNW my hours and a time conversion chart are posted in the "New Komodo VOIP message service" post in the General area as well as in the Relevent Links area I have 512k ADSL service but my area is down.. So as an emergency backup... I'm using a telephone company dial up number that is a toll call with no log in. It comes in sooo dog slow..

my speedy CS is legendary.. Hello Bill... I'm actually in Indonesia and about 15 hours ahead... Please refer to the timetable on the New Komodo VOIP message service post in this General category.. I'm generally online mornings from 8-11am and nights.. Last night and today ADSL was/is out... Working on a dial up hitting top speeds of 14-16k was soo frustrating, I just went to sleep... Your VOIP calls and messages were at 8:32pm, 11:50pm, 2:37am, 2:38am, 3:02am... I can't download your voice messages on the dog slow dial up.... Your two emails were at 3:01am and 3:05am... It's only been 16 hours I know my speedy Customer Service is legendary but sometimes it's going to be the next day Thank you for your inquiry and interest... Please check your email... All the best, Dennis

Got an(nother) idea I could actually cast some solid lines into the base and then have an attractive valve permanently mounted up front and the gas burner inserted through the back of the cooker using a quick release and gas line to connect the two systems... Damn, I'm good

Spring will stay sprung... The spring is made out of proper hardened steel by a company that actually specializes in springs. Yes, it will settle a bit at first as all springs do but then it should last longer than we all will... The selection of the spring was not compromised, I bought the best one available.. And that fat lil' spring is incredibly strong.. it creates some serious torque... But don't use it's abilities to let you rationalize peeking every few minutes... Remember if your lookin' you not cookin'

The Holland method works for me..

A gas unit to mount in the rear Is your intention for aesthetic purposes or is it to be able to use the gas to light your charcoal and then use the low airflow control dial? Our very own Drunk J and I are going to look into putting the low airflow control dial feature into a door sporting a pilotless more attractive gas valve which would have a 90º elbow and a quick release.. An additional gas burner port in theory could be put somewhere around the rear but then is the plan to plumb the valve to the front or would this design require you to go around back to adjust the gas? I sorta prefer jplee's idea of a propane MAPP torch port to light the charcoal. Ideas welcomed.... With 600 containers of teak furniture under my belt.. This week I'm going to dabble in making some teak tables/BBQ centers that an OTB would fit into..

Thanks Mike..

Just got a new tile in the factory not sure the code but let's call it vibrant Blue. I really think it's special.. maybe my new favorite color.. What ya think?

This Supreme OTB was on the LCL shipment handled by Murphy himself.. On Feb 24th I loaded up 9 cookers, a teak table and a crate with an OTB base for FranknTaminFL with side tables for WChape. Off they went with an ETA of April 2nd. They show up on time and go to get examined by the customs and Homeland Security boys only to be flagged because the individual crates were not stamped to show they had been fumigated.. The entire container had documentation that it had been fumigated but the crates were missing a stamp. After the entire container was unloaded, the rest of the goods released, customs debated doing the practical sense thing and letting them be fumigated in Long Beach and fining us or dong the unthinkable and sending the cookers back to Indonesia.. well it took them more than 3 weeks to decide they would send them back.. Go try to figure that one out.. For some reason three crates were ruled to be ok. I figured that it was the base and top of the round table and Frank's OTB base as these were packaged in boxes with a wood frame. When I received the description of what was released to my surprise one of the cookers had made it through.. This made the very patient gentleman in So CA very happy of course but our very own Nator's* cooker was not so fortunate.. It's sailing back.. a replacement has been sent and is hopefully clearing now... The un-stamped cookers left Long Bch on May 31st.. ETA Surabaya June 24th, where they will be checked and re-fumigated and sent back.. ETA end of July... Basically it will end up being a 6 month trip... Murphy's law prevails... But one can't argue with the results... Looking good *the very patient Nator

Re: ?? Well actually I designed it to be dual use... Park it on top to be able to cook for another squad or set it down low with the legs on top of the firebox for searing.. So the door was for charcoal access... Your probably right, it's overkill and not going to be utilized to the point of being worth the expense... I just had a customer leave town and will be concentrating on Komodo's this next week.. Got to sort out the larger sear grill too.. Thanks for the input, I really appreciate it..

TNW you have out done yourself..

Re: Glad you asked!!

Starting June 1st All Deluxe and Supreme models will come standard with a Tel-Tru thermometer, http://www.teltru.com You and your Komodo deserve the best. Tel-Tru is a World-Class temperature instrument not one of the cheapo made in China thermometers that come with lesser ceramics Your Komodo will use a 5" long stem thermometer, model LT225R, You may specify the 150º to 750º or 200º to 1000º model Url:  http://tinyurl.com/buho4

Glad you asked!! Starting June 1st All Deluxe and Supreme models will come standard with a Tel-Tru thermometer, http://www.teltru.com You and your Komodo deserve the best. Tel-Tru is a World-Class temperature instrument not one of the cheapo made in China thermometers that come with lesser ceramics Your Komodo will use a 5" long stem thermometer, model LT225R, You may specify the 150º to 750º or 200º to 1000º model Url:  http://tinyurl.com/buho4

And here it is...