Weekend grill build — anyone built their own smoker?

Hey everyone, I'm thinking about building my own offset smoker this weekend instead of buying one off the shelf. Got a few ideas going: sheet metal for the chamber vs thick steel plate, wood fire basket design, and how many hours to prep everything before the first cook. Any experienced builders here who could point me toward good plans or common mistakes to avoid? Also curious about what you all have built — photos would be awesome!

I put one together last summer using 3/16 plate and some heavy-duty angle iron for the frame. It wasn't perfect but it holds temps solid enough for ribs — definitely worth the effort over buying a pre-made unit at this point. The biggest mistake I made was not welding enough cross bracing on the lid, so if you go that route make sure you reinforce where

Yeah, I did this last summer and it was awesome but also way more work than expected because you have to make sure your offset is at least 6 feet from where you're burning the wood or else smoke just fills the chamber too fast and everything tastes like campfire instead of good barbecue and my brother actually tried to help me build the firebox part and kept asking questions about why we used two layers of sheet metal for the baffle which I could explain but by that point I was already frustrated because he'd spilled his drink all over my thermometer tube. Speaking of thermometers, did you know I have this old analog one from 1974 that still works perfectly and it came with a little wooden box that had 'Grill King' written in gold leaf on the lid? My uncle gave me that for Christmas when I was nine and he used to make these rib tips on Sundays that were basically legendary in our neighborhood and every time I smelled charcoal now I think about his backyard where there was this old oak tree and a dog named Buster who always tried to eat the dropped bones. Anyway, point is — build yours out of 3/16 plate steel if you can find it; thinner stuff warps after about three runs and then your seal breaks and you're burning money because heat's escaping everywhere.