I was experimenting over the weekend with the saggy part of the 70 442 grills. I heated one up over the top of our wood stove and massaged it a little and some of the sag came out. Something i did figure out is that it is not the top only that sags but the top and bottom that sags down. There is little horizontal strength to these and over time it gives that saggy boob look. I could not heat the top and bottom at the same time with a heat gun so I decided to try this. I also figured out that it is very difficult to do it freehand and get it even. That made me think I should make a jig.

I made the jig so that i could apply pressure where it is needed most and not so much at the ends. I also had to shim the top on the edges so that the center could be pushed a little past center. It will be a couple days till I fire up the stove again but we will see what the outcome is. This grill is a junk one i have and has the worst sag. I will soak the two bottom boards so it don't burn them. The grill has to be very hot from how my test this past weekend went.
Wish me luck...

 

good idea good luck hope it works out,

reading the text before looking at the images i was thinking a piece of plywood top and bottom w appropriate curvature. i have had good luck using a woodstove to heat things up beyond where I could normally get them to get stuff to do what i want not what it wants so i think your on the right track.

 

If you'll sell those when you're done, I could use them for my 442 bar. The ones in it are worse than yours.
Good idea!

 

How about we trade. I could list yours as featured in a magazine! I could even include a copy of the magazine, lol

 

Why do you have a wood stove going on a nice warm night like tonight?
Just a thought to keep from getting the grilles to hot is to use one of those infared thermometers. That way you can check the temp when they get pliable. Good luck.
Don W

 

Eric,
Deal, I'm sure I have some junk you may need.

 

Your jig is pretty a pretty clever idea Eric. Keep us posted on the outcome

 

I started the wood stove back up and WAS having great success. I could tell right off that you had to be very carefull not to over heat it. After 3 cycles of heating it up and cooling down it was almost perfect. The last time I was heating it up my wife came down stairs and was talking and i lost focus for only a minute and this happened. It is junk now. to much pressure along with to much heat and it will reshape it everywhere.

I did prove that it will work so i locked the door to the basement and put my good grill in it and it turned out great. I compared it to my NOS one and it is exactly the same. It was not near as bad as this one to start with so it was much easier.

If I ever do it again I will just do it by hand.

 

This is a very clever idea!!

 

After my good one cooled all the way down it had just a little to much sag. I heated it one more time and kept spraying water on the center bars to keep them cool. With the cool bars i put just a little more pressure on the center and looks to have worked. I cooled it all the way down and it is done. It has the exact same sag as my NOS one does. Now just to fix a crack, sand and paint.

What should I use for paint?