Show us your welding projects

[LXCam]

Always thought you lived a sheltered existence, Cam.

I know..


you thought I was just another pretty face.

 

[kaymccampbell]

I thought the celery planter fingers were attached to the child planting the celery. Didn't know you could weld that.

Ours was new in the 30s? It was self-propelled with an economy engine, unlike modern transplanters that hang behind tractors. This video gives you the gist of the complexity.

 

[Beerhippie]

Ours was new in the 30s? It was self-propelled with an economy engine, unlike modern transplanters that hang behind tractors. This video gives you the gist of the complexity.

OK, now I see how the kids lose their fingers!

 

[Bigblue&Goldie]

Damn!, I’m glad I didn’t grow up that way guys. I’zz spoiled rotten. My ole man built pools for a living so all I had to do was swing a pick and shovel my *** off digging trenches with the more than occasional sledgehammer removal of patios and sidewalks.

You mind swinging by my house to quote a pool remodel?

 

[PugetDude]

I know..


you thought I was just another pretty face.

Yeah. That's it.

 

[LXCam]

You mind swinging by my house to quote a pool remodel?

As long as it involves underwater welding, I’m all in

 

[PugetDude]

You mind swinging by my house to quote a pool remodel?

I will give you a quote on your pool remodel-
" Keep Cam far, far, away"

 

[KwikFab]

Should've gotten some pictures, but here's one after I loaded it onto the customer's truck



Someone reached out on the local FB group and needed his old, cast aluminum table fixed

You know the type, the outdoor decorative style with that yummy lead/asbestos paint

One leg had broken off so I cleaned it all up as best as I could, preheated it, and ran it with my spoolgun and she's solid

 

[WoodsTruck]

I had to change a drive belt on my wheelbarrow. Trying to spin the new belt on over the drive pulley looked like a major pain so I made a drive sprocket socket. Worked great.

 

[Beerhippie]

I had to change a drive belt on my wheelbarrow. Trying to spin the new belt on over the drive pulley looked like a major pain so I made a drive sprocket socket. Worked great.

What kind of wheel barrow has a drive belt?

We used motorized wheelbarrows--one wheel, driven by a two-stroke engine--back in the late '70s for trailwork in the Columbia River Gorge, but I have no idea what make they were. I recalled them being called "Tote Goats", but that turns out to be a utility motorcycle.

 

[WoodsTruck]

What kind of wheel barrow has a drive belt?

We used motorized wheelbarrows--one wheel, driven by a two-stroke engine--back in the late '70s for trailwork in the Columbia River Gorge, but I have no idea what make they were. I recalled them being called "Tote Goats", but that turns out to be a utility motorcycle.

My wheelbarrow has a 6.5hp Honda, 3 gears forward, 2 in reverse and a hydraulic dumping bed. I use it to carry large heavy or awkward things I don't want to carry by hand. Mostly fencing material and tree boxes. I also welded up the two bunks that bolt on to the deck. The rear gated shifter does not come with a cover from the factory so I went dumpster diving again for the material to make a rear skid plate too. I guess I should add that all the metal for these items were recycled out of the metal bin at work.
1,000# payload on flat ground, 500# on terrain and it will kick along at about 3.5 mph regardless of pitch.
I forgot. When I was part of the local SAR group, we had the call to help distribute compacted straw bales to minimize erosion from recently burnt homes/garages/shops into the local waterways. These bales are 50# each but hard to get a handle on. Footing was hazardous due to the rain, ash, mud and exposed metal. I had the crews separated so some would help me load, some would stay and offload. I was the only one that had to tread across the debris to transport. We laid out 6 pallets of bales to the other crews 2 and we weren't tired when we were done.

 

[Beerhippie]

That's not a wheelbarrow. It's a tracked vehicle.

Ours were actual wheelbarrows--one wheel in front, no more. Drum brakes on said wheel for descending. B&S two-stroke for ascending. Big-*** bucket for cargo. Armstrong power steering.

When "Gorge" is part of the name of the place you're building trail.

 

[Old Man Roger]

That things awesome.

 

[WoodsTruck]

I'm an entry level rebar fabricator compared to PugetDude, who offered some solid advice, but I try.
We needed a way to dry gloves in our winter recreation warming shelter. Since the neighbor works concrete, I got 2 full sticks just for asking. I didn't want to get too carried away, but with a decent fire going in the stove, it should dry 6 pairs per side and some on the back pretty nicely.
That stove was installed 20 years ago when we rebuilt the shelter. The stove came with the 12" riser and I had to weld the upper 6" well casing with a stick welder. Glad that part has held up as I haven't really done stick work since about 1992.

 

[Dig Doug]

I'm an entry level rebar fabricator compared to PugetDude, who offered some solid advice, but I try.
We needed a way to dry gloves in our winter recreation warming shelter. Since the neighbor works concrete, I got 2 full sticks just for asking. I didn't want to get too carried away, but with a decent fire going in the stove, it should dry 6 pairs per side and some on the back pretty nicely.
That stove was installed 20 years ago when we rebuilt the shelter. The stove came with the 12" riser and I had to weld the upper 6" well casing with a stick welder. Glad that part has held up as I haven't really done stick work since about 1992.

That looks cool, Nice Cabin

That looks like something you would see on TV
lol


where is that located ? State or country

 

[Old Man Roger]

Since it’s attached directly to the stove, is it possible it might get too hot and burn the gloves from the inside?

 

[WoodsTruck]

Since it’s attached directly to the stove, is it possible it might get too hot and burn the gloves from the inside?

I don't think so. The lower ones might get quite warm if the stove is huffing good, but the 1/2" rebar should dissapate heat reasonably well. It is a shared shelter so there are usually a lot of kids playing in the snow, and with that comes wet gloves. We are hoping there are enough "adults" in room to tend to things like this.

 

[WoodsTruck]

That looks cool, Nice Cabin

That looks like something you would see on TV
lol


where is that located ? State or country

Santiam Pass, Highway 20 where it crosses the Cascades in Oregon.
The snowmobile club built that cabin starting in the early 80's and had it christened in 1985. We did some work on it and had it rededicated in 2005 when I was the club president.
Rather interesting way to build it, granted the club had some forward thinking USFS people at the time. They were in the process of expanding the snow park so the trees that were tipped were approved to be removed, worked up to build the cabin offsite then returned. The local Polaris dealer was a farmer in the valley and offered up a chunk of ground to build the cabin on. The crew took the logs and build the cabin, then numbered everything, tore it down and transported back to the snow park to assemble for the final time. The cedar shakes were all split by hand but volunteers on their evenings after work or weekends. Sounded like one heck of a "team building" operation that corporations would pay big money for now.
The firewood storage in the rear of the cabin was not the most ideal since the wood had to be transported down the boxed in hallway along the outside of the shelter both for storage and then for use later. In our rebuild, the rear was totally rebuilt and a man door was installed. Wood theft had been a problem so surplus jail bars had been incorporated from the local county when they rebuilt their jail. Those could be recycled out as we no longer needed them.

 

[WoodsTruck]

I think I hit a file size wall.

 

[MP&C]

A local truck enthusiast has a Cantrell bodied 1947 Dodge woody, believed to be one of five from that coach builder. The rear inner fenders were attached using nails into the wooden floor and the oak surrounding the wheel opening. Needless to say, wood, moisture, and metal do not make for a permanent situation.









Here you can see the bottom 1-1/2" or so is lost where it was attached to the wood floor, with just slightly less metal lost to rust around the wheel opening perimeter.





In removing the spot welds to get a more accurate pattern on the vertical piece, we noticed that the "surround" with the 1/4" fold was quick to return to flat. This led me to believe that this was not rolled or otherwise in order to maintain that form, so we will keep it flat and roll it around the vertical section. relying on the spot welds to hold the form.











My spotwelder did not have tongs that would accommodate the 1/4" flange, so we opted for the Cass Nawrocki TIG method of spot welding. Here is the purpose built clamping fixture, with a sleeve to locate the welding cup.








This video shows the method to our madness on a sample test piece. We did have to forego the 1/4" TIG cup as allowed the heat too close to the edge of the fold, causing burnback. Some 3L cups were sourced, another insert made for the locating sleeve, and we were in business.

These spot welds were done at 65 amps and about 6 seconds. We started at one end, clamped, spot welded, and pulled in the "wrap" and clamped for the next. Lather, rinse, repeat.





A bead was added to the vertical pieces prior to welding together, and much like the originals imperfections, we matched the non-perpendicular attributes.














All ready for the owner to paint and nail in place.

 

[Wubicon]

Never welded anything to anything before. Always wanted to, but never an opportunity. Last weekend got an opportunity to pick up this Wards PowerKraft 230 AC stick welder for 65 Canadian pesos. I have 250V service in my garage (I think previous owner had a welder or a big electric heater in mind).
Rough looking on the outside. Haven't had time to mess around with it much. But I think I'll give exterior case a quick wipe and amperage slider is stuck. But it's stuck at the correct amperage for the rods that came with it. So probably good enough to start learning and practicing.

New welding project is learning to weld.

 

[zmotorsports]

Awesome work Robert. That method of spot welding is something I will definitely have to try when the need arises. Thank you for showing it.

 

[PugetDude]

Awesome work Robert. That method of spot welding is something I will definitely have to try when the need arises. Thank you for showing it.

Don't you have a trailer build on the near horizon?

 

[zmotorsports]

Don't you have a trailer build on the near horizon?

Yeah Scott, but that horizon keeps getting pushed off in the distance. I don't seem to have time for the "have to" projects, let alone the "want" projects right now.

 

[Muckin_Slusher]

another ice shack stove.

 

[Beerhippie]

another ice shack stove.

Nice!

Someone who understands how a stovepipe should work! I hate male-up stoves. Nothing like creosote constantly running out of the pipe joints.

My one and only woodstove project:

 

[PugetDude]

Nice!

Someone who understands how a stovepipe should work! I hate male-up stoves. Nothing like creosote constantly running out of the pipe joints.

My one and only woodstove project:

Creosote is natures joint sealant, with self-cleaning cycles built in...

 

[d.mcfarland]

Muffler originally had two small louvers in the rear of the muffler. Didn't like that design for both heat and flow. Probably went overboard. Painted with VHT caliper paint and baked for an hour at 210F.

 

[iagsxr]

Muffler originally had two small louvers in the rear of the muffler. Didn't like that design for both heat and flow. Probably went overboard. Painted with VHT caliper paint and baked for an hour at 210F.

Does it run better?

I've looked at doing similar to my Stihl saw.

 

[d.mcfarland]

Does it run better?

I've looked at doing similar to my Stihl saw.

Yes. The opening could have been half of what I did and it would have ran much better. The general consensus is use something like 3/4" conduit and you'll be fine.

 

[Bob Heine]

New welding project is learning to weld.

@Wubicon, gluing two pieces of metal together with heat is a wonderful thing to do. I'm only sorry I waited until I turned 63 to start.

 

[Bob Heine]

Yeah Scott, but that horizon keeps getting pushed off in the distance. I don't seem to have time for the "have to" projects, let alone the "want" projects right now.

Mike, somehow it doesn't get better. I have 7 Saturdays every week and my "want" project list is still so big it's daunting to even start but start I will.

 

[zmotorsports]

Mike, somehow it doesn't get better. I have 7 Saturdays every week and my "want" project list is still so big it's daunting to even start but start I will.

Well Bob, aren't you just a shower of rainbows and unicorns. I was hoping once I retire I can knock a lot of my "want to do" items out.

 

[Ultradog MN]

Well Bob, aren't you just a shower of rainbows and unicorns. I was hoping once I retire I can knock a lot of my "want to do" items out.

You just keep adding More want to do projects so you stay just as far behind as before - or even farther behind.

 

[Wubicon]

@Wubicon, gluing two pieces of metal together with heat is a wonderful thing to do. I'm only sorry I waited until I turned 63 to start.

I've always wanted to, never got the opportunity. So now I do. Hoping this is a good distraction during the cold winter months in the great white north.

 

[Fixr]

Well Bob, aren't you just a shower of rainbows and unicorns. I was hoping once I retire I can knock a lot of my "want to do" items out.

Oh, you poor misguided child.

 

[kaymccampbell]

Well Bob, aren't you just a shower of rainbows and unicorns. I was hoping once I retire I can knock a lot of my "want to do" items out.

8 years, and I'm still trying to knock down the wanna-dos.

 

[Old Man Roger]

What about the “I don’t wanna do’s”? Those are the worse.

 

[kaymccampbell]

What about the “I don’t wanna do’s”? Those are the worse.

The only I don't wanna do is ride the shoebox to the dumpster.

 

[rockinacummins]

Had to build another set of saw horses for the feed beds we’re in the business of rebuilding.

8” I-beam cut in half at the web and mounted on triangular legs made of 3x3x3/16 square tube. They’re a little heavy, but we don’t move them around much and the material was paid for.

Welded up with harbor Freight .035” ER70S-6 wire our YesWelder MIG 250 Pro which has been worked HARD and has been excellent. Highly recommended for anyone looking for a super budget friendly MiG welder.