How to Cut and Assemble the Card-Type BBQ Grill from DXF Files

The Card-Type BBQ Grill is a flat-pack barbecue grill made from six flat parts that slot together, so there is no welding and no bending. This guide covers checking the DXF files, setting up the cut on a laser or plasma table, and putting the grill together.

What is in the files

The drawing has six parts:

• Two end plates. These are the legs. Each has a carry slot at the top, star cut-outs at the feet, and slots that hold the other parts.
• Two side walls, each with a row of air holes.
• The grate, which sits on top.
• A slotted bar that runs through both end plates along the bottom.

The built version we sell is cut from 1.7 mm 304 stainless steel and measures 600 × 210 × 200 mm assembled.

Before you cut

1. Check the units and the scale

The drawing is in millimetres. After you import it into your CAD or CAM software, measure a part before you nest anything. If everything is 25.4 times too big, the file was read as inches: import it again with the units set to millimetres, rather than scaling it by eye.

2. Match your sheet to the slots

Slot-together parts only fit if the sheet is a little thinner than the slots. Measure a slot in the drawing and choose a sheet that leaves a small gap. If your sheet is a different thickness, change the slot widths in CAD. Don't scale the whole drawing: scaling changes every dimension, and the slots still won't match.

3. Pick the material

• 304 stainless steel doesn't rust, and it is what we use for the built grill. It turns straw and blue near the fire; that heat tint is cosmetic.
• Mild steel is cheaper and easy to cut, but it rusts. Oil the grate like cast iron and use high-temperature paint on the outside only.
• Never use galvanized or zinc-coated sheet. The coating gives off zinc fumes when it gets hot, and they can make you ill.

Setting up the cut

• Kerf compensation. Cut outside the line on outer profiles and inside the line on holes and slots. A fibre laser kerf is a few tenths of a millimetre; a plasma kerf is usually 1 mm or more, so on plasma this setting decides whether the slots fit.
• Lead-ins in the waste. Start each cut away from slot edges and tabs. A pierce mark on a mating edge is the most common reason parts won't go together.
• Inside features first. Cut the holes, slots and star cut-outs before the outer profile, so the part can't move while it is being cut.
• Cut a test pair. Cut one end plate and one side wall first, ideally from scrap, and check the fit before you cut the rest.

Clean up and assemble

1. Knock off any dross and deburr every edge. Sharp edges on a grill you carry around are a real hazard.
2. Check that each slot takes its mating part without force. File a tight slot rather than hammering parts together; you will want to take the grill apart again.
3. Stand the two end plates up and slot the side walls into them.
4. Slide the slotted bar through the end plates along the bottom.
5. Drop the grate onto the top.

Before you cook on it for the first time, burn a small fire in it to burn off any cutting oil or marker, and let it cool.

Wear eye protection rated for your cutting process and keep the area ventilated: laser and plasma cutting both produce fumes.

Get the Card-Type BBQ Grill DXF files, or buy the grill ready-made. For other designs, see all our DXF cut files.