ZMotorsports Shop Projects 2.0

[zmotorsports]

That is the part I was curious about. Did you make a template/guide for your plasma cutter when cutting those holes?

I know my little HF plasma cutter isn't the best, but even if it was, I find it impossible to do anything that even resembles a straight line going free hand. Even with a straight edge as a guide, any burr or flaw along the metal's surface will cause my torch to jump and leave a ragged edge. I guess I need to invest in a roller type guide to avoid this, but I use it so rarely I haven't bothered.

I merely used a piece of 1" square tubing as a guide. I clamped it about .5" off of each line as that's the distance from outside of cup to center of electrode tip and then just drag the plasma torch along it. It's amazing how quickly you can move with just a couple of Vise Grip clamps and a piece of tubing yet make clean cuts. Also getting the current set properly will minimize dross or slag that needs to be cleaned off. There was minimal cleanup that just slightly breathing over with a blend disk removed.

 

[red94chev]

Hey Mike, not sure if I've ever chimed in or not but I really love seeing your DIY/manual fabrication tricks. I'm probably about your sons age but my dad isn't really into this stuff so I'm always working on collecting fabrication tools and other things as I can.

Which brings me to this. I'm looking to make some removable inner fenders for my truck and those nutserts look perfect for the job. I ordered an Astro 1442 tool this morning so thank you for showing that. I appreciate all the advice and work you put into your thread.

 

[zmotorsports]

Hey Mike, not sure if I've ever chimed in or not but I really love seeing your DIY/manual fabrication tricks. I'm probably about your sons age but my dad isn't really into this stuff so I'm always working on collecting fabrication tools and other things as I can.

Which brings me to this. I'm looking to make some removable inner fenders for my truck and those nutserts look perfect for the job. I ordered an Astro 1442 tool this morning so thank you for showing that. I appreciate all the advice and work you put into your thread.

Thank you for the comments and I appreciate you following along. I'm happy you have found some helpful information here.

 

[fnieto]

Excellent progress Amigo!

 

[zmotorsports]

Excellent progress Amigo!

Thanks Paco. There are a few of those pieces I would have loved to have your ironworker for.

 

[aka Larry]

I merely used a piece of 1" square tubing as a guide. I clamped it about .5" off of each line as that's the distance from outside of cup to center of electrode tip and then just drag the plasma torch along it. It's amazing how quickly you can move with just a couple of Vise Grip clamps and a piece of tubing yet make clean cuts. Also getting the current set properly will minimize dross or slag that needs to be cleaned off. There was minimal cleanup that just slightly breathing over with a blend disk removed.

I haven't used mine enough to gain the experience on the current, air pressure, and travel speed. I just started using the drag tips. I was told a by a friend that he uses one of the long narrow HF magnets as his guide, so I tried that first. Turns out the arc doesn't like the magnetic interference, so I had to ditch that idea.

I get more slag than I'd like, but I discovered a cold chisel and a hammer will remove it cleanly without too much effort.

 

[zmotorsports]

I haven't used mine enough to gain the experience on the current, air pressure, and travel speed. I just started using the drag tips. I was told a by a friend that he uses one of the long narrow HF magnets as his guide, so I tried that first. Turns out the arc doesn't like the magnetic interference, so I had to ditch that idea.

I get more slag than I'd like, but I discovered a cold chisel and a hammer will remove it cleanly without too much effort.

Yeah, I'd advise against the magnet as it makes the arc wander like crazy.

That being said, I've found just a piece of angle iron or square tubing, basically whatever I can grab quickly, does the trick. I don't use any special cups, just the standard cup. The key to smoothness is not put much pressure on the cup against the guide, just a slight amount to drag otherwise you'll get that choppy almost hacksaw action and it will transfer to the cut.

It will take some practice but once you get your current and travel speed down you'll find you get very, very little slag out the bottom and just a quick motion across it with a flap disk will be all that is needed. If you have to heavily concentrate with a flap disk or break out a grinding disk to remove the slag one of the two (current or travel speed) needs some tweaking.

Again, I've gotten pretty proficient at using a plasma cutter but it is far from my "go to" for cutting as I prefer less barbaric methods.

Hands down the best piece of equipment for plate fitment has been my 20" vertical bandsaw. I was demonstrating to my son last night just how close and accurate a person can get with a simple measuring tape, Sharpie and bandsaw resulting in very, very little deburring on the disk sander.

I cut four pieces last night, two out of 1/4" and two out of 3/16" that measured 4.5" x 9.875" with only a tape measure and bandsaw then a quick brush across the disk sander for deburring and stacked them all up and I could barely feel any deviation across all four pieces when running my finger across them. A person can get that close of a fit-up. For building things like this where open corner joints and straight edges are required a good quality vertical bandsaw will pay huge dividends in consistency.

Although not quite as consistent or efficient as a CNC plasm table or water jet but for the average guy in a small shop some pretty precise work can be done.

 

[Duker]

Mike it has been too long since I dropped in to see what was happening at the shop. The bumper progress looks great! [emoji1531]

I found your comments regarding being empty nesters interesting as I had the same thoughts about wether my better half could tolerate me if I am the only child left in house! Fortunately, I had like you begun to plan for that time and we have been doing more trips/projects and just “us” time for awhile and I think we both look forward to when I retire and can spend more time together.

Our empty nest just became official (for now) as my son moved into his apartment last weekend.

Stay warm!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[zmotorsports]

Mike it has been too long since I dropped in to see what was happening at the shop. The bumper progress looks great! [emoji1531]

I found your comments regarding being empty nesters interesting as I had the same thoughts about wether my better half could tolerate me if I am the only child left in house! Fortunately, I had like you begun to plan for that time and we have been doing more trips/projects and just “us” time for awhile and I think we both look forward to when I retire and can spend more time together.

Our empty nest just became official (for now) as my son moved into his apartment last weekend.

Stay warm!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Congrats on being empty nesters Duke.

I'm not gonna lie, I miss spending time with my son in the shop each day and we are so happy he has found such a great wife to start a life of their own and I almost feel guilty for saying this, but I absolutely LOVE this part of mine and my wife's life.

Good for you and your wife and I wish you the best as you near retirement.

Thanks for stopping by and checking on my projects.

 

[ttpete]

That is the part I was curious about. Did you make a template/guide for your plasma cutter when cutting those holes?

I know my little HF plasma cutter isn't the best, but even if it was, I find it impossible to do anything that even resembles a straight line going free hand. Even with a straight edge as a guide, any burr or flaw along the metal's surface will cause my torch to jump and leave a ragged edge. I guess I need to invest in a roller type guide to avoid this, but I use it so rarely I haven't bothered.

I always used a thin straightedge to guide the plasma torch. Just space it off the cut line and slide the torch along. It's also easy to make templates to cut out large holes.

 

[MP&C]

Nice progress on the bumper Mike.. Will look sharp!

 

[zmotorsports]

Nice progress on the bumper Mike.. Will look sharp!

Thanks Robert.

 

[zmotorsports]

I had a great day hanging with my son in the shop today.

We completed the center section of the winch bumper and started laying out the driver’s wing of the bumper. A lot of welding and some blending to build out the box and ensuring it is plenty stout enough for a recovery situation.

I started by putting some nuts in muriatic acid to remove the zinc coating while I drilled the holes and notched the side plates. Each side has two plates, one plate welded to the center section and the other plate will have nuts welded to them and be the mounting point for each of the side wings of the bumper.




Next I clamped each plate in the mill vise and used a 1.5” end mill to create a notch in the side plates which will allow the connector of the 4” KC LED driving lights to pass through which will be mounted on the bumper.


All four plates drilled and notched ready to weld the nuts to.


Plates fastened together for welding.


Nuts welded in place and then separated for mock up.






While the nut plates were cooling we started prepping the front plate for the winch box.




Mocked into place.


Next was another process in the mill to create slots for the D ring mounts.


Weld through slits machined, deburred and wiped down with acetone ready for welding.














Corners radiused and blended.


Probably overkill but I welded the inside of the box as well.


D ring mounts welded around the perimeter as well as through the backside.






This part is more cosmetic but should also add some strength as a gusset. I think it finishes off the box nicely by filling the gap.












After some more blending my son mounted the winch box so we could start building out the driver’s wing with cardboard.








Thanks for looking. More to come.

 

[mercracing]

Looks great! Is your son welding this since it’s for his Jeep? Or are you doing it since your the better welder?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[zmotorsports]

Looks great! Is your son welding this since it’s for his Jeep? Or are you doing it since your the better welder?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thank you.

I’ve been doing the welding so far on this one.

 

[shortykorte]

Nice start on a cool bumper.

Would be a good project for son to practice welding on.


Shorty Korte
Always remember quality in QST

Sent from my iPhone using Garage Journal

 

[jhn9840]

Mike, your welding and fabrication skills are phenomenal. Thanks for all the detailed posts.

jhn9840
John

 

[fnieto]

Looking great Mike!
Nice design and execution.

 

[Boosted1]

Very nice work on the bumper.

 

[gearhead1960]

Mike,

Fabulous work so far as usual! I must have missed the reason in your great build thread for the welded nuts on the side plates. Can you explain what their purpose is? Also, how are the "D" rings used. I would expect they are use to hook to when pulling someone/something? If that's the case, while the box looks to be well tied into the frame, is it by itself strong enough to pull out an 8-10,000lb rig? Or have I missed the mark?

Thanks and keep up the great fabrications!

 

[rmack898]

Nice work as always Mike.

Picture #5 in post 3653 shows what appears to be a TIG torch holder, could you show a better pic of it, looks pretty cool.

 

[shortykorte]

Nice work as always Mike.

Picture #5 in post 3653 shows what appears to be a TIG torch holder, could you show a better pic of it, looks pretty cool.

Mack, I believe he built that a year or two ago. Is a nice holder.


Shorty Korte
Always remember quality in QST

Sent from my iPhone using Garage Journal

 

[JCQuick]

I love this thread great job as always

 

[zmotorsports]

Nice start on a cool bumper.

Would be a good project for son to practice welding on.


Shorty Korte
Always remember quality in QST

Sent from my iPhone using Garage Journal

Mike, your welding and fabrication skills are phenomenal. Thanks for all the detailed posts.

jhn9840
John

Looking great Mike!
Nice design and execution.

Very nice work on the bumper.

Thanks for the comments guys.

Shorty, I'm sure he'll do some of the welding on the inside of the wings. With the winch box being so crucial in the structural integrity he had asked me to weld it and I obliged.

 

[zmotorsports]

Mike,

Fabulous work so far as usual! I must have missed the reason in your great build thread for the welded nuts on the side plates. Can you explain what their purpose is? Also, how are the "D" rings used. I would expect they are use to hook to when pulling someone/something? If that's the case, while the box looks to be well tied into the frame, is it by itself strong enough to pull out an 8-10,000lb rig? Or have I missed the mark?

Thanks and keep up the great fabrications!

Thanks for the comments Mark.

The nut plates will be the beginning of the wings of the bumper. The wings will be welded to the nut plate and that will be how the wings will be secured to the center winch bumper. We decided to make this bumper more modular to ease in installation.

As for the box being strong enough, yes, it will be more than adequate, overkill actually. Most of the commercial bumpers only have three bolts per side and a total of four fasteners securing the winch plate to the mounting brackets. I'm using four bolts per side for a total of 8 bolts securing the mounting brackets and then three bolts per side for a total of 6 securing the center winch box to the mounting brackets. If you figure each 1/2" grade 8 bolt has a shear strength of around 21k pounds you can see it is plenty strong and I'm confident in my welds. For comparison WARN and other manufacturers only have mounting tabs on their winches themselves for 4 fasteners so that will actually be the weakest attachment point and I've pulled on my bumpers quite a bit with ****** blocks and triangulated so I'm confident they will hold up as well and better than any of the mass produced bumpers on the market.

 

[zmotorsports]

Nice work as always Mike.

Picture #5 in post 3653 shows what appears to be a TIG torch holder, could you show a better pic of it, looks pretty cool.

Mac, thanks for the comments and for following along.

If you look back on page # 23 post # 458 of this thread you can see the TIG torch holder as it was being fabricated.

Thank you.

 

[zmotorsports]

I love this thread great job as always

Thanks JC. I appreciate the comments and for you taking the time to follow along.

 

[aka Larry]

Looks awesome so far Mike!

Any idea how much this beast of a bumper will weigh when finished?

 

[zmotorsports]

Looks awesome so far Mike!

Any idea how much this beast of a bumper will weigh when finished?

Not sure at this point. I was going to weigh the center section before we installed it and started on the cardboard build out of the wings but we got ahead of ourselves and forgot. I'll have to throw the pieces on the scale as they are coming off before powder coat.

At this point if I were to take a SWAG (Scientific Wild *** Guess) I would say in the ballbark of 100-125 pounds for the bumper and brackets and the WARN Zeon 10S weighs right at 75 pounds.


Thanks for the comments Vincent and for taking the time to follow along.

 

[NETexas]

Mike, I enjoy your thread. Was reading your older post, on page 146 you changed your edger blade. I got tired of buying those blades and started using 7 1/2” carbide tip circular saw blades. The cheap carbide blades are about the same price as the edger blades and seem to last longer. They will also cut through any roots that get in the way. . IMHO

 

[zmotorsports]

Mike, I enjoy your thread. Was reading your older post, on page 146 you changed your edger blade. I got tired of buying those blades and started using 7 1/2” carbide tip circular saw blades. The cheap carbide blades are about the same price as the edger blades and seem to last longer. They will also cut through any roots that get in the way. . IMHO

Thanks for the tip and for following along.

My edger blades last quite a while because I don't have random roots to worry about plus my cousin owns a small engine store where I buy the replacements from and he gives me a screaming deal on them but I appreciate the information.

 

[gearhead1960]

Thanks for the comments Mark.

The nut plates will be the beginning of the wings of the bumper. The wings will be welded to the nut plate and that will be how the wings will be secured to the center winch bumper. We decided to make this bumper more modular to ease in installation.

As for the box being strong enough, yes, it will be more than adequate, overkill actually. Most of the commercial bumpers only have three bolts per side and a total of four fasteners securing the winch plate to the mounting brackets. I'm using four bolts per side for a total of 8 bolts securing the mounting brackets and then three bolts per side for a total of 6 securing the center winch box to the mounting brackets. If you figure each 1/2" grade 8 bolt has a shear strength of around 21k pounds you can see it is plenty strong and I'm confident in my welds. For comparison WARN and other manufacturers only have mounting tabs on their winches themselves for 4 fasteners so that will actually be the weakest attachment point and I've pulled on my bumpers quite a bit with ****** blocks and triangulated so I'm confident they will hold up as well and better than any of the mass produced bumpers on the market.

Mike, Thanks for taking the time to respond to my questions!

 

[zmotorsports]

Mike, Thanks for taking the time to respond to my questions!

No problem Mark. I appreciate you following along and if I don't explain something well enough please don't hesitate to ask me to elaborate. In my head it makes perfect sense but sometimes that doesn't always extend to those following along.

 

[zmotorsports]

I’m glad I didn’t start cutting sheet metal the other night because I wasn’t really lovin’ the driver’s side wing we mocked up.

When I opened the shop tonight I really wasn't diggin’ it so I tore the cardboard off and when my son arrived we started over.

This design flows much better but will require a bit more work.




My son and I definitely agreed on this design as more fitting to the Jeep.

We will add a small filler panel under the side angled inward to cover the inner fender structure and start cutting steel.

Thanks for looking.

 

[lilscorpion]

I’m glad I didn’t start cutting sheet metal the other night because I wasn’t really lovin’ the driver’s side wing we mocked up.

When I opened the shop tonight I really want diggin’ it so I tore the cardboard off and started over.

This design flows much better but will require a bit more work.

Looks great. No driving/fog light cutouts?

 

[Boosted1]

Nice design.

 

[zmotorsports]

Looks great. No driving/fog light cutouts?

Thanks Matt. The KC 4" LED's will actually reside in that flat spot just to the side of the winch before the wing kicks upward.

 

[zmotorsports]

Nice design.

Thank you.

 

[zmotorsports]

After opening the shop door tonight I liked what I saw as far as design and lines of the bumper so we commenced on transferring the patterns to 10-gauge plate.

Here is my CAD work station.


Wing removed to start separating the pieces. Numbered for reference.




Nesting the patterns to minimize waste.


Some plasma cutting to get the pieces small enough to handle on the vertical bandsaw. By using a guide, having the current of the plasma cutter set correctly for the material thickness and travel speed dialed in a person can make some precise and pretty slag free cuts.






Very, very little slag on the cut edge requiring only slight cleanup with a flap wheel.


The smaller sections were cut using the bandsaw. Two of each for a mirror image side to side.


Thanks for looking.

 

[shortykorte]

Great CAD. Lot cheaper than buying the software. Lol.


Shorty Korte
Always remember quality in QST

Sent from my iPhone using Garage Journal