I saw that on the Facebook page about the lip melting. And someone setting the barbecue plate on top of the extension ring as it was so hot. Whilst I'm sure that would help I don't see it as a long term so,union for me. I have noticed that Cobb UK came back to one complaint and said that you should only use up to 12 briquettes - that's not in the (very limited) instructions. I used 16, but nothing melted. I wonder if they had the rubber grommets in place?
Ok. I've used the BBQ plate three times over the past three days, all just doing quick, direct heat type stuff - burgers and sausages mainly. First try was with 7 heat beads - 3 in the central basket and four spread equidistant around the barbecue fire basket. Good heat - I aim for around 150 - 175 deg C for sausages and this was bang on after 30 minutes ashing over. The beads kept this temperature for well over an hour. Second try was with the new coshell briquettes Cobb now sell. Same configuration as before - 7 briquettes. Near as dammit same heat but they retained this heat for maybe 15 minutes longer! I was only cooking for 20 minutes max so could have doused both the heat beads and the coshell briquettes and reused. Third attempt was with a cobblestone. Far too hot in the centre of the barbecue plate (220 deg C) but ok towards the edges (around 170 deg C). Obviously the cobblestone would have lasted a couple of hours and I didn't want to waste it so I put it in a tin after thirty minutes or so. Haven't tried my lump wood charcoal (restaurant stuff) yet as its not readily available to most people but this is what I would normally use for direct heat/grilling - and a couple of handfuls of this should be great for 30 minutes cooking.
P.s. No melting grommets or plastic surround. I'd keep the coals an inch away from the edge to be on the safe side though.