The Barbecue

Part of the Freshman materials engineering curriculum involves designing and building a product for a client. Our client, The Ranch in San Luis Obispo, requested a barbecue, so we decided to build one from scratch. The issue was none of us had much metal fabrication skills, but we didn't let that stop us.

We started by sourcing steel, most of the metal was found up in the hills behind Cal Poly, or in the school scrapyard. Having found our material, we planned the barbecue layout, based on the Santa Maria style, commonly found in the region.

Construction consumed a 24 hour period on Saturday, the day before it was due. Sparks flew, grinders whined, and with much joy, we welcomed a new barbecue into the world.