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Building Your Outdoor Kitchen with Track & Studs from Home Depot

Home Depot 25 GA vs 18 GA BBQ Coach Steel 

For the first 15 years of my business BBQ Coach is used track and studs for my BBQ Frame Kits. 

However for my frame kits I did not use the thin 25 gauge steel studs found at Home Depot or Lowes.

25 gauge is non structural steel and is designed to just hold sheet rock walls in office buildings, etc...

Even 20 gauge studs are still very thin and bend easily.

For my Kits I used Structural Steel 18 Gauge steel with G60 galvinization.   G60 is a thicker galviniazation coating than

G40 and protects the steel longer. 

Track and studs did the job but there was a lot of complaints from my customers who were homeowners and had little to no

experience with working with studs.

Complaints about track and studs

1. getting bad cuts on your hands and arms from the sharp edges

2. the studs are difficult to screw into the tracks so a steel clamp is required to hold them as you screw which really slows things down and makes the job not as fun.

3. the studs only have 3 sides and are not as strong as real steel square tubes having all 4 sides.

4. very difficult to connect track and studs horizontally and require dangers and sharp cuts.

I was able to solve #4 with my invention of steel connectors for track and studs that I received a US patent for.

But I was never really able to solve 1 accept to tell clients to wear gloves. But somehow people even just picking them up were getting cut.

As an Entrepreneur and a perfectionist I wanted something better for my customers. And eventually this is why I invented the Steel tube framing system with steel connectors.  This was a real game changer. Now my clients could make a real steel frame without welding. There was no sharp edges so no one was calling me anymore that they cut their hands.  And homeowners who never worked with steel were putting it together by themselves without any help or phone calls to my company.  I could finally say that I created something amazing for people who wanted to build an outdoor kitchen frame as easy as putting lego blocks together.  

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In Summary yes you can use 18 gauge track and studs to build a professional bbq frame but not the thin non-structural 25 gauge stuff at home depot.. But to be honest track and studs are not fun, dangerous and difficult for most homeowners.  The steel square tube and steel coupler system is much more fun, easier and hands down much stronger and will last longer than the stud frame.  And when you are spending thousands of dollars on outdoor kitchen appliances it is definitely worth it to opt for the real steel tube frame.

Below is some videos I copied off of you tube to see the difference.

If you would like to see my first you tube channel when I had my business in Arizona and was using track and studs CLICK HERE>

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