I want to build one, any suggestions, advise?

I want to do the same. I purchased a 500 gallon propane tank 3 months ago. I can’t find time to start building it! I was looking at smokerplans.com I believe is the website.

I made a smoker from a 55 gal. Drum. Put 2 round grills inside,made the wood holder and horse shoes on each side To carry it.

... cut where your hinges will be... weld them in place then cut out the rest of your lid... flat bar for internal stops... the offset fire box is self explanatory

I also built one out of a 55 gallon drum. Look up ugly drum smoker, you will find plenty of directions to build one.

How fancy are you looking to be with your build and how big are you looking to go? Is lots of way to build a smoker. My first DIY smoker I built when I was in highschool. Was simple dry stacked cement blocks with sheet steel roofing for top and 3/4 plywood for door. The rack set on rods put between the blocks. Built charcoal fire in bottom put wet chips and block wood on make smoke. Next came the gutted out refrigerator and again I built fire in bottom..it eventually got rust nasty. I smoked few small things for awhile using my Weber kettle grill.
Had one that actually worked pretty well made from electric cook stove. Nice part was I only had to find couple of over racks same style and I had 4 shelves. I got the racks free for the asking at recycling center just had to sort threw pile stoves. That one rusted in bottom too. Could done the fire box different.
The one I use now is a older style stainless steel catering box. I have lp burner kind that sits off side some gas grills. I have that mounted underneath so my smoke goes up into box. I put the chips in a cast iron dutch oven that got cracked. Set that over the burner I'm good to go.
It's not pretty but works for me. Being a catering box I found racks on line that fit perfectly.

This is pretty good view of inside.


Here is last thing I smoked couple weeks ago salmon I caught


Here I was actually smoking cheese on top of smoker box. Put a rack on top the box over vet holes. Put chaffing pan over it to catch smoke. Doing it like this I kept the temperature under 100 for most part. Just had to think outside the box as they say.lol


So anyways like said lot of ways to build smoker. I like the LP burner if I would ever want to go somewhere with my box. But an electric hot plate will work too or you can do the wood fire. I like my set up because I smoke most things cold. If something needs to be heated to certain temperature to finish. Need to control closer, I bring it in house put it in oven.

Mac

Not enough information. Smoking whole hogs, chicken wings, what's the purpose for this smoker?
I spent 1200 dollars building a smoker from an oil drum and mounting it on a trailer. My brother in law smokes boston butts in a big terre cotto flower pot and his is better than mine. Really pisses me off.

How mechanically inclined are you?
Can you weld?
Do you have grinders, cutting equipment?
Can you read a tape? Know what "square" means?

Ugly drum is a very simple smoker to make and they work quite well.
Drill and a small hole saw bit (think I used 1 1/8") is about all you need.

If you can weld there is no limit to what you can build

Why limit yourself? Just build a smokehouse like everybody used to do back in the day. Something good to take a look at is how plantations used to be set up, they were just about as self sufficient as you can get. All had a smoke house, multiple chicken coops, hunting land, blacksmithing shop, carpenter shop, very small sewing shop and a pigeonnaire.

Few years back my buddy/neighbor made this smoker. We smoked a lot on it. It was awesome. Welded a few shelf brackets used round grill grates.

Start here http://www.feldoncentral.com/bbqcalculator.html . This will help keep you from making a mistake. I had a friend that bought a homemade smoker and the air inlet and outlet was not big enough and could never get the temp up on it to cook. Its all about controlling the air.

Not sure how involved you want to get , but here is a smoker build from Eastmans hunting forums.


https://forum.eastmans.com/threads/building-old-smokey.12058/

Yep, Tofan has a good idea. Smokehouses work well and are easier to build.

I made an ugly drum smoker a few years back. It works great! From brisket and pork butts to salmon and walleye. Just make sure you can control the inlet & outlet well enough, and make sure you have enough air flow not to completely choke out the firebox. I've got four 1" holes drilled around the bottom edge of my UDS and use thin fridge magnets to block them off if they're not needed. Need more airflow, just open one of the holes slightly by moving a magnet over. One of the holes has a ball valve for finer adjustments.

I built a 6ft tall by 4ft by 4th out of cinder blocks and tin roof.
Welded up hanging racks and shelves inside and use an old turkey cooker for heat and old Dutch oven to put my chips in for smoke. Easy to build and easy to adjust heat and smoke.


Sorry don't have any better pictures of it right now.

Keep checking craigs list for a used Weber Smokey mountain, 22 or 18 ,can usually find them for a hundred bucks or so,
Pretty much a drum smoker but better , and you don't have to build it...

Dang Jmack
That's fancier than the one I had 50 years ago. Roof looks the same but the door is way nicer that my plywood propped shut with old 2x4.. The pan I had my fire in was actually a old wheel cover off car. Probably have antique value now days all plastic crap.

Mac

Just remember.................the poorer the welds, the better the meat

Outside of Budapest, I noticed a metal chimney on a house. The chimney had a small door in the side (on top of roof). I wonder if the homeowner smokes meat in his wood smoke.