BBQ Grill Heat Shields From Old Roofing Sheet

I want to start by stating that this is my first instructable, so please tell me if I'm doing anything wrong. The heat shields on our BBQ grill started crumbling due to rust last year, and I've been putting off buying new shields. However, yesterday I decided to take matters into my own hands, and create my own diy heat shields.

Materials:

• Roofing sheet (or any other type of sheet metal)

Tools:

• Hammer
• Pliers
• Anvil (I used the box of nails in the picture and a plank instead)
• Pen (I used the tip of a rusty knife)
• Angle grinder (or anything to cut metal)

Safety equipment:

• Safety Glasses
• Gloves

Use the hammer and anvil to flatten the roofing sheet. If your using normal sheet metal you obviously doesn't need this step

Use the angle grinder to cut a strip of flat metal to approximately the same width as the old heat shield.

There are tons of ways you can bend the metal. I used a combination of bending by hand, and lightly tapping with the hammer over the edge of a plank. It doesn't have to be perfect, just enough to place the old shield over the metal strip.

Use the old shield as a template and mark the contours with a sharpie, or if you can't find one, you can use a nail, or the tip of an old rusty knife to scratch the metal.

Use the angle grinder to cut the pattern you marked in the previous step. Do this step as carefully as possible. Use your safety equipment, such as fire retardant clothes and safety glasses, and make sure to keep a fire extinguisher nearby just in case. The edges you cut will also be extremely sharp so use gloves, and consider switching from the cutting wheel to a grinding wheel to deburr the edges

Use a pair of pliers to bend out the air vents. Try to get this relatively close to the original, it doesn't need to be perfect but the closer you can get it, the better it'll be. This is also a great place to revisit step 3 and try to get the bend more accurate.

Repeat all previous steps till you have enough shields and fit them in your grill. This is also a great time to bring out the wirebruch (or the drill wire wheel) and clean up the grill.