slik560
Well-known member
Do the best you can...with whatever you have....wherever you are. 
Puget Dude’s creations and fabrications (Random project thread.)
- Thread starter PugetDude
- Start date
Finished up another project this week.
We have 5 gates on our property; all of them were getting pretty disheveled looking. The Arizona sun is really brutal on exposed wood.
Decided that I only wanted to do this once, so I opted for composite wood this time around. Kinda pricey @ $11.00+ per board but better than having to do this over every few years. Took the opportunity to paint the frames with all the wood stripped off; took almost 11 cans of Ace Premium semi-gloss spray paint.
Along the lines of only doing this once I also used stainless hardware- 1/4” x 3/4” button head screws and acorn nuts. It really gave it a finished look- better than the oxidized galvanized carriage bolts they replaced.
Four of the gates are perimeter privacy gates; one is between the back and side yard, which my bride wanted to convert to a view gate. I made a quick trip to the local architectural metal store and picked up some 5/8” square tube, a few cast iron half- knuckles and 7 cast iron finials…
I elected to leave the rectangular frame as-Is and work the design into it. Technically the perimeter gates with the latches at 5 foot + high provide pool safety but this one has also had self closing spring on it so it’s another line of defense.
We didn’t like the look of the tall finials so I bandsawed about 1-1/4” off the tops and re-profiled them on the 2x72 belt sander. The shorter height was better for the scale of this small gate, IMO.
I used brown composite wood for the perimeter gates, but elected to use black for this one gate for a couple of reasons-
1. There is a lot more exposed black architectural iron on this gate. Wanted to enclose the bottom of the gate to help keep the rabbits out of the backyard, thought the design would tie into the other gates with a common design element.
2. My neighbor had a dozen 18-20” long drops of the black composite wood left over from his project last year so I didn’t have to go buy them. They were free to try.
Finished up by sculpting front side locking brackets out of 2”x 2” x 3/16” aluminum angle I had in the drop bin from the SOJ-inspired HF organizer bin project a couple of years ago.
Interesting side note- I returned the brown boards I originally bought for this gate to Lowes- it more than covered the cost of the architectural iron.
It took ~60 boards and ~ 170 nuts and bolts to do all 5 gates.(had a big set of RV gates along with the three man-gates)
Boards came from Lowes. The stainless fasteners were ordered online from eBay at less than half the cost at local retail.
Anyone need a bunch of old galvanized 1/4” x 1-1/2” carriage bolts and nuts? They cleaned up pretty well after an Evaporust bath.
Thanks for looking.
We have 5 gates on our property; all of them were getting pretty disheveled looking. The Arizona sun is really brutal on exposed wood.
Decided that I only wanted to do this once, so I opted for composite wood this time around. Kinda pricey @ $11.00+ per board but better than having to do this over every few years. Took the opportunity to paint the frames with all the wood stripped off; took almost 11 cans of Ace Premium semi-gloss spray paint.
Along the lines of only doing this once I also used stainless hardware- 1/4” x 3/4” button head screws and acorn nuts. It really gave it a finished look- better than the oxidized galvanized carriage bolts they replaced.
Four of the gates are perimeter privacy gates; one is between the back and side yard, which my bride wanted to convert to a view gate. I made a quick trip to the local architectural metal store and picked up some 5/8” square tube, a few cast iron half- knuckles and 7 cast iron finials…
I elected to leave the rectangular frame as-Is and work the design into it. Technically the perimeter gates with the latches at 5 foot + high provide pool safety but this one has also had self closing spring on it so it’s another line of defense.
We didn’t like the look of the tall finials so I bandsawed about 1-1/4” off the tops and re-profiled them on the 2x72 belt sander. The shorter height was better for the scale of this small gate, IMO.
I used brown composite wood for the perimeter gates, but elected to use black for this one gate for a couple of reasons-
1. There is a lot more exposed black architectural iron on this gate. Wanted to enclose the bottom of the gate to help keep the rabbits out of the backyard, thought the design would tie into the other gates with a common design element.
2. My neighbor had a dozen 18-20” long drops of the black composite wood left over from his project last year so I didn’t have to go buy them. They were free to try.
Finished up by sculpting front side locking brackets out of 2”x 2” x 3/16” aluminum angle I had in the drop bin from the SOJ-inspired HF organizer bin project a couple of years ago.
Interesting side note- I returned the brown boards I originally bought for this gate to Lowes- it more than covered the cost of the architectural iron.
It took ~60 boards and ~ 170 nuts and bolts to do all 5 gates.(had a big set of RV gates along with the three man-gates)
Boards came from Lowes. The stainless fasteners were ordered online from eBay at less than half the cost at local retail.
Anyone need a bunch of old galvanized 1/4” x 1-1/2” carriage bolts and nuts? They cleaned up pretty well after an Evaporust bath.
Thanks for looking.
Last edited:
RivennHewn
Well-known member
Nice work!
Another project update.
Tried my hand at metal sculpture…
Here’s what started this… a stone Inuksuk in our backyard.
It was here when we bought the house.
It sits to the right of our pool; my wife really thought we needed something to balance it out on the left side. So, I started keeping my eye out for steel drops that would work for a complementary piece made out of steel instead of stone. Stumbled across a short chunk of 12” Wide flange beam and some 2x4 rectangular tubing at my favorite scrapyard this summer so I brought them home to stare at for a while while I pondered the rest of the project.
Tried my hand at metal sculpture…
Here’s what started this… a stone Inuksuk in our backyard.
It was here when we bought the house.
It sits to the right of our pool; my wife really thought we needed something to balance it out on the left side. So, I started keeping my eye out for steel drops that would work for a complementary piece made out of steel instead of stone. Stumbled across a short chunk of 12” Wide flange beam and some 2x4 rectangular tubing at my favorite scrapyard this summer so I brought them home to stare at for a while while I pondered the rest of the project.
Why do I envision a javelina doing this??
www.nbc.com
Watch Saturday Night Live Clip: King Tut - NBC.com
Watch Saturday Night Live highlight: King Tut - NBC.com
RivennHewn
Well-known member
Born in Arizona, moved to BabylonaWhy do I envision a javelina doing this??
Watch Saturday Night Live Clip: King Tut - NBC.com
Watch Saturday Night Live highlight: King Tut - NBC.com
Attachments
" so I brought them home to stare at for a while while I pondered the rest of the project"
Hey, that's what I Do.
1837749[/ATTACH]
Riv, I am currently enroll in a postgraduate honors program at Shorty’s North Florida Safety Skool.
Here’s a photo of my thesis project; I am presenting empirical evidence positing why you shouldn’t try to weld heavy structural members that are cantilevered over the edge of a welding table.
Attachments
Last edited:
While I was pondering what to do with my newfound scrap steel members, I came across another source of inspiration… while buying a mirror at Lowes.
This was in a clearance pile next to the mirrors; it was aptly described as a “Gold Object”. (Yes that's actually what's on the tag, i guess the Chinese ran out of descriptive nouns so they just settled on "object)
So, it came home with me to keep the beam and tubing company until my motivation level increased. In this case it was when my wife was out of town visiting grandkids- I had a few days to do this uninterrupted.
This was in a clearance pile next to the mirrors; it was aptly described as a “Gold Object”.
(Yes that's actually what's on the tag, i guess the Chinese ran out of descriptive nouns so they just settled on "object)So, it came home with me to keep the beam and tubing company until my motivation level increased. In this case it was when my wife was out of town visiting grandkids- I had a few days to do this uninterrupted.
Last edited:
After one false start that took three days to build but only about 15 minutes to cut apart with my plasma cutter, I was finally on track with a new design.
I saved the legs and most of the wide flange beam but started over on the arms and head.. really needed 4” x 6” rectangular steel tubing, but couldn’t find a remnant anywhere. Couldn’t see buying a 20’ length whe I only needed about 3’. I had some 2” x 4” x ~.090” wall tubing on hand so I decided to split it and splice in a piece of 1/8” x 4” flat bar to get the width I needed.
Took a lot of welding and grinding to get it looking like 4”x6” tubing, but I got it done- so I could cut it apart the other way to produce the tapers.
My goal was to mimic the stone statue in steel, but not try to produce an exact copy. Here they are side by side before I moved the steel one to the other side of the pool.
The legs and torso were pretty straightforward, and except for dropping the left arm weldment on my left foot it went pretty much according to my plan which I was simply making up as I went along. The “shoulder” wedge is a piece of 2”x 6” x 1/4” wall tube, with a longitudinal wedge cut out of it; bent closed and re- welded. In retrospect I wished I had widened a piece of heavy wall 4” x 4” tube for the arms- the heavy gauge was a lot easier to weld and clean up.
The head was another matter. I was using the “gold object “ as inspiration but I needed it to be bigger.
Started off tracing the base course segments onto graph paper , then cutting them out about a 1/4” larger all the way around. This worked well for the first course but failed miserably after that. Ended up just winging the rest of the facets- used the model as a guide but each piece had to be custom fit. That’s where my Advanced CAD skills came into play. Used the box my new Bosch Grinder came in since it was the roughly the same thickness as the plate I was using. (Let me get nice corner to corner weld joints). Used my little portaband table and the 2x72 grinder to shape each piece out of 1/8” plate. It took most of a day to get it all cut, fit, welded, and ground smooth.
Since it is asymmetrical I welded a 1/2” nut inside the bottom plate and another in the tapered shoulder piece it rests on so I could turn it to the position that looked best when I installed it. A 3” long piece of a carriage bolt for a stud, and it was ready for installation.
I had poured a little colored concrete pad for the prototype I end up scrapping so I had to extend the mounting holes on this one to fit the embedded anchors.
Still need to hose it down with my “ instant patina”
(Vinegar, hydrogen peroxide and salt)
I’ll post a couple of progress photos when the bright steel has rusted to match the rest of the rusty bits. (It only takes a few days)
I saved the legs and most of the wide flange beam but started over on the arms and head.. really needed 4” x 6” rectangular steel tubing, but couldn’t find a remnant anywhere. Couldn’t see buying a 20’ length whe I only needed about 3’. I had some 2” x 4” x ~.090” wall tubing on hand so I decided to split it and splice in a piece of 1/8” x 4” flat bar to get the width I needed.
Took a lot of welding and grinding to get it looking like 4”x6” tubing, but I got it done- so I could cut it apart the other way to produce the tapers.
My goal was to mimic the stone statue in steel, but not try to produce an exact copy. Here they are side by side before I moved the steel one to the other side of the pool.
The legs and torso were pretty straightforward, and except for dropping the left arm weldment on my left foot it went pretty much according to my plan which I was simply making up as I went along. The “shoulder” wedge is a piece of 2”x 6” x 1/4” wall tube, with a longitudinal wedge cut out of it; bent closed and re- welded. In retrospect I wished I had widened a piece of heavy wall 4” x 4” tube for the arms- the heavy gauge was a lot easier to weld and clean up.
The head was another matter. I was using the “gold object “ as inspiration but I needed it to be bigger.
Started off tracing the base course segments onto graph paper , then cutting them out about a 1/4” larger all the way around. This worked well for the first course but failed miserably after that. Ended up just winging the rest of the facets- used the model as a guide but each piece had to be custom fit. That’s where my Advanced CAD skills came into play. Used the box my new Bosch Grinder came in since it was the roughly the same thickness as the plate I was using. (Let me get nice corner to corner weld joints). Used my little portaband table and the 2x72 grinder to shape each piece out of 1/8” plate. It took most of a day to get it all cut, fit, welded, and ground smooth.
Since it is asymmetrical I welded a 1/2” nut inside the bottom plate and another in the tapered shoulder piece it rests on so I could turn it to the position that looked best when I installed it. A 3” long piece of a carriage bolt for a stud, and it was ready for installation.
I had poured a little colored concrete pad for the prototype I end up scrapping so I had to extend the mounting holes on this one to fit the embedded anchors.
Still need to hose it down with my “ instant patina”
(Vinegar, hydrogen peroxide and salt)
I’ll post a couple of progress photos when the bright steel has rusted to match the rest of the rusty bits. (It only takes a few days)
Last edited:
RivennHewn
Well-known member
[/QUOTE]
Dang dude, nice work!
RivennHewn
Well-known member
“Shortydude”?
slik560
Well-known member
IRON MAN!!!
Jeff Ivers
Well-known member
That's quite a pair of "rock heads" you have there! You bought the one head at Lowe's? What was it supposed to be for?
Decor. apparently. My wife seized it when she saw it and immediately had a place for it.
I bought it because I knew I could model it in steel for the head on the statue, It looked fairly close in size and shape to the head on the rock statue. (and I knew it would be a challenging fit-up and fun welding project.)
Well, after using up a lot of my new and partially used grinding wheels and flap discs on the statue….This just arrived, courtesy of Amazon Warehouse Deals. Brand new in a very slightly disheveled box.
I have always wanted to try Walter grinding wheels these popped up @ $34.92- regular price is $97.99 so it was worth a try.
I’ll compare these Walters to the last of my Pferd wheels; seems like my current batch of these seemed to glaze over and slow down after heavy use? I ended up using a couple of old HF wheels I dug out of the back of the bottom drawer in my weld cart. Never had that happen on a Pferd wheel before, I only had a couple of them left from the last box I bought and both seemed to lack the “bite” I remember them having.
I have always wanted to try Walter grinding wheels these popped up @ $34.92- regular price is $97.99 so it was worth a try.
I’ll compare these Walters to the last of my Pferd wheels; seems like my current batch of these seemed to glaze over and slow down after heavy use? I ended up using a couple of old HF wheels I dug out of the back of the bottom drawer in my weld cart. Never had that happen on a Pferd wheel before, I only had a couple of them left from the last box I bought and both seemed to lack the “bite” I remember them having.
Last edited:
Bigblue&Goldie
Well-known member
Drop some off with me too.....I'm on your way to Scott's.
For half a pallet load I will drive up north and meet you.
You fockers will probably make me buy breakfast again won’t ya??!!
RivennHewn
Well-known member
Spread the love!
Bigblue&Goldie
Well-known member
He's catching on.....
TimeWarpF100
Well-known member
Way cool! Can't wait to get some of the big projects done so I can start on stuff like that around house/shop.After one false start that took three days to build but only about 15 minutes to cut apart with my plasma cutter, I was finally on track with a new design.
I saved the legs and most of the wide flange beam but started over on the arms and head.. really needed 4” x 6” rectangular steel tubing, but couldn’t find a remnant anywhere. Couldn’t see buying a 20’ length whe I only needed about 3’. I had some 2” x 4” x ~.090” wall tubing on hand so I decided to split it and splice in a piece of 1/8” x 4” flat bar to get the width I needed.
Took a lot of welding and grinding to get it looking like 4”x6” tubing, but I got it done- so I could cut it apart the other way to produce the tapers.
My goal was to mimic the stone statue in steel, but not try to produce an exact copy. Here they are side by side before I moved the steel one to the other side of the pool.
The legs and torso were pretty straightforward, and except for dropping the left arm weldment on my left foot it went pretty much according to my plan which I was simply making up as I went along. The “shoulder” wedge is a piece of 2”x 6” x 1/4” wall tube, with a longitudinal wedge cut out of it; bent closed and re- welded. In retrospect I wished I had widened a piece of heavy wall 4” x 4” tube for the arms- the heavy gauge was a lot easier to weld and clean up.
The head was another matter. I was using the “gold object “ as inspiration but I needed it to be bigger.
Started off tracing the base course segments onto graph paper , then cutting them out about a 1/4” larger all the way around. This worked well for the first course but failed miserably after that. Ended up just winging the rest of the facets- used the model as a guide but each piece had to be custom fit. That’s where my Advanced CAD skills came into play. Used the box my new Bosch Grinder came in since it was the roughly the same thickness as the plate I was using. (Let me get nice corner to corner weld joints). Used my little portaband table and the 2x72 grinder to shape each piece out of 1/8” plate. It took most of a day to get it all cut, fit, welded, and ground smooth.
Since it is asymmetrical I welded a 1/2” nut inside the bottom plate and another in the tapered shoulder piece it rests on so I could turn it to the position that looked best when I installed it. A 3” long piece of a carriage bolt for a stud, and it was ready for installation.
I had poured a little colored concrete pad for the prototype I end up scrapping so I had to extend the mounting holes on this one to fit the embedded anchors.
Still need to hose it down with my “ instant patina”
(Vinegar, hydrogen peroxide and salt)
I’ll post a couple of progress photos when the bright steel has rusted to match the rest of the rusty bits. (It only takes a few days)
TimeWarpF100
Well-known member
How big is that pallet?
Bigblue&Goldie
Well-known member
Randy is trying to tell you he's on your way to my house.....
Jayman17
Well-known member
Wow, that’s a nice view to have from your house! Nice work on the metal sculpture too.
We've always tried to buy the view- house can always be changed but the view is what brings the value.
Here's our last house in Washington; it was a 1974 time capsule when we bought it in 2011- did a total interior and exterior remodel, we sold it 8 years later at the height of the market and retired here in AZ.
Having fun with the welding projects. Thanks!
Last edited:
Jayman17
Well-known member
That view is as good as if not better than GJ member Odis’ view from his place on the WA coast.
Pfft, I will be demanding breakfast in bed
And a polish job
For my wheels you dirty minded pukes
Last edited:
Bigblue&Goldie
Well-known member
No wonder it took you 2 years to move!
TimeWarpF100
Well-known member
grinding disc type? 5/8 threaded? A case or 2 would be nice . .Pfft, I will be demanding breakfast in bed
And a polish job
For my wheels you dirty minded pukes