racer-john
Well-known member
mr_magicfingers
Your pictures have errors. According to "imgur".
Your pictures have errors. According to "imgur".
Show us your welding projects
- Thread starter neonnblack
- Start date
WunTon
Well-known member
3 years ago I bought a welder with the intention of learning to weld. It sat in the barn unused until recently because, well, life got in the way. I did a short beginner's welding evening class in the autumn and, after the little steel dice I posted recently, this is the first proper project.
I have an old trailer that had broken, you can see in the first couple of photos that it was a bit sparsely made and the draw bar had rusted through where it had been badly patched previously. I stripped out all the damaged bits, replaced them and beefed it up a bit. Some of the welds look good to me at least, some look like they were laid down by an epileptic pigeon on a bad day but they’ll probably last longer than the rest of the trailer now. All I have to do now is paint it and fit new plastic plywood sheets.
The sparsely build trailer
broken section
First couple of welds were pretty poor but seem solid
Started to get a bit better after that.
beefed up with thicker 5mm main spine and several additional cross pieces
Lessons learned:
When you think you've cleaned up old steel enough, clean it a bit more.
When the weld is going really badly, stop fiddling with the settings that have worked up to now and go check your earth clamp which is probably only hanging on because you've bumped the trailer a few times.
Welding upside down is difficult
You have to remove the 's' from https in the links.
BlueBomber
Well-known member
I can see the images just fine on Tapatalk and in Chrome browser.
Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
mr_magicfingers
Well-known member
Strange that the pics wouldn't show, they're fine in both chrome and safari for me. I've removed the extra s so hopefully they'll show now, thanks for the advice on that. I've not had that issue before, which is a bit odd.
Anyway, hopefully they'll show up now.
Anyway, hopefully they'll show up now.
sqznby
Well-known member
No plans on doing anything to my Tahoe. If it wasn't my daily and I had room nd time to build it, maybe. Otherwise I'd like to build a Tacoma one of these days. There's just not many if anyplace to take it around me. They allow beach driving but, it has to be 4wd. Basically right now, its a pipe dream haha. Just love me some long travel.
Been putting this together over the winter, built with old polaris spindles and .120 wall 2x2 and 1.25x1.25 square and 1 5/8" round tube. Havent welded much in the last 7 years, been great to burn some wire and put something together.
Good looking trailer, nicely done.
TT, dude you rock at this metal stuff. Nice job! I'm ok at the straight forward designs. But ask me to make something like that flower and I'm on my face.
But as much as I have to admire your work and bow to your skills.
Sqenzby wins my vote for project of the week. That table is so badass I'm going to be storing that one in the memory banks for a project. That's just too cool.
And jahama, the trailer is very cool. Are you going to do any type of hydraulics for the dump or just watch how you load it
Haha, thanks for the unofficial vote
I appreciate it. My next one will be a little smaller in size and materials will be 1.5 ss tubing. She sounds like a keeper that's for sure
All I get is " you smell like metal" all the time hahaha
All true. I didn't quote the lessons because those are some of the many you'll have to re-learn early and often.
Nice job on the trailer!
TheDrifter
New member
Just finished this junker this morning. Had a ton of welding on it but rear was the most time consuming. Kicking myself for not getting a good before pic.
Built the entire bumper and supports, plated the section in between. Rebuilt both corners, welded in angle underneath for mud flap hangers. And a bunch of other stuff
Came out pretty good compared to the rotted out, bent up trailer I began with
Built the entire bumper and supports, plated the section in between. Rebuilt both corners, welded in angle underneath for mud flap hangers. And a bunch of other stuff
Came out pretty good compared to the rotted out, bent up trailer I began with
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BajaScout
Well-known member
Looks pretty darn nice!
Farmall450
Well-known member
Is there a spec on the DOT bar so it'll lock into docks and such?
TheDrifter
New member
Not really for docks. Regulations are for height from ground, distance from trailer, size of bumper
Farmall450
Well-known member
Height from ground and size are probably all that the dock cares about.
zmotorsports
ALLIANCE MEMBER
I believe DOT regulations call for a 22" maximum from the ground and no farther inward from the rear of the trailer than 4". I also believe there is a 4" from either side but don't quote me on that one.
When we set up our DOT bars on our trailers we generally shoot for around 20-22 inches above the ground at ride height. Also remember that most trailers these days are air ride so make sure to measure at ride height and not with the air bags deflated.
Some dock restraints do have issues with bars that are too much higher or lower than the DOT spec so they have an over-ride equipped on them. We see this fairly regularly with independents as they will have DOT bars that are too far above the ground and our restraints cannot capture them properly. My opinion is that one they get damage, the owner/operator merely cuts off the damage and has the horizontal bar re-secured to the vertical supports, unfortunately this is usually after they have cut them so therefore the bars are now higher than regulation.
For our fleet we stay at the DOT regulation but it becomes problematic when at least half of your docks are being occupied by independents and they don't follow the spec. We have wheel chocks available for those that won't work with the actual restraints but then we find ourselves constantly replacing wheel chocks as they come up missing.
Sorry, probably much more information than needed.
sberry
Banned
Farmall450
Well-known member
I believe DOT regulations call for a 22" maximum from the ground and no farther inward from the rear of the trailer than 4". I also believe there is a 4" from either side but don't quote me on that one.
When we set up our DOT bars on our trailers we generally shoot for around 20-22 inches above the ground at ride height. Also remember that most trailers these days are air ride so make sure to measure at ride height and not with the air bags deflated.
Some dock restraints do have issues with bars that are too much higher or lower than the DOT spec so they have an over-ride equipped on them. We see this fairly regularly with independents as they will have DOT bars that are too far above the ground and our restraints cannot capture them properly. My opinion is that one they get damage, the owner/operator merely cuts off the damage and has the horizontal bar re-secured to the vertical supports, unfortunately this is usually after they have cut them so therefore the bars are now higher than regulation.
For our fleet we stay at the DOT regulation but it becomes problematic when at least half of your docks are being occupied by independents and they don't follow the spec. We have wheel chocks available for those that won't work with the actual restraints but then we find ourselves constantly replacing wheel chocks as they come up missing.
Sorry, probably much more information than needed.
That makes sense. We normally don't lock them to the dock but it would be nice to always have the option, so I was curious how home gamers fit into that. Agreed on air ride.
sberry
Banned
Right there is a width and its narrower than the truck. It is DOT and I don't recall about docks, never really worked on them it seems. Last time I fix an otr bumper they brought it here cause it was stainless,, ha really a covered channel mostly, they had ripped it up, I used a couple stainless rods where it could be seen and all the structural stuff on the back was wire.
stinkity stoink
Well-known member
This was a cool project for tig practice. Still need lots of work. I should have put a link in with the kit. https://www.precisiontubelaser.com
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royce
Well-known member
mra243
Member
Lots of amazing welding and project ideas in this thread!
I haven't done any welding since high school in the late '80's, and only arc welding back then. I picked up a Hobart 140 mig welder last weekend and just started playing with it. Any feedback/pointers on my first couple of welds would be appreciated. I am currently using flux core wire, but should be getting a tank of gas to play with next week.
I haven't done any welding since high school in the late '80's, and only arc welding back then. I picked up a Hobart 140 mig welder last weekend and just started playing with it. Any feedback/pointers on my first couple of welds would be appreciated. I am currently using flux core wire, but should be getting a tank of gas to play with next week.
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Old Man Roger
Well-known member
looks like you have decent penetration, the splatter might mean your wire speed is a little high, from the wavy bead I'd say you might try bracing your hand better. Not bad at all for a 30 year layoff though..lol
P.S Get the gas and solid wire.
P.S Get the gas and solid wire.
thejimmy
Well-known member
You probably have a good feel for it, just needs some hood time, also I'd recommend Welding Tips and Tricks YT channel, and weld forum if you want to dive in deeper
Working on a jd2 model 3 tube bender. Im either a masochist or addled in the head but i tigged the entire thing. Its hard to tell but i did clean all the joints. 200 amp tig gets a little warm.
I have to finish the frame and ream out the holes to the appropriate size.
90roadster
Well-known member
quadrcr87
Well-known member
That looks like a pretty extensive job! Good work.
wrenchguy
Well-known member
Finished product, Boat "Cutwater" = 2 pieces 18 gauge 304 (2b finish) sheared, machined, drilled, welded, machined again, buffed, boxed, then shipped.
The process, shearing halves close to cardboard pattern (from customer) as possible using beverly b3.
pieces clamped together with pattern in between for grinding to size.
grinding sandwiched pieces.
both halves exacto to each other, deburred, holes drilled, contersunk and deburred.
halves tacked together to maintain opening dimension marked on pattern.
nasty looking overfilled weld, opening dimension maintained as per pattern. (theres a reason for overfilling)
Self taught backyard welder (metalmelter) 55years, using tig building 100% of these 40 years, nothing sent out. thanks 4 looking.
*
The process, shearing halves close to cardboard pattern (from customer) as possible using beverly b3.
pieces clamped together with pattern in between for grinding to size.
grinding sandwiched pieces.
both halves exacto to each other, deburred, holes drilled, contersunk and deburred.
halves tacked together to maintain opening dimension marked on pattern.
nasty looking overfilled weld, opening dimension maintained as per pattern. (theres a reason for overfilling)
Self taught backyard welder (metalmelter) 55years, using tig building 100% of these 40 years, nothing sent out. thanks 4 looking.
*
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smalltown
Well-known member
wrenchguy that came out super nice !
royce
Well-known member
Wow Wrenchguy,
Beautiful work
Royce
Beautiful work
Royce
wrenchguy
Well-known member
With a angle grinder, overfill is there to provide a visual surface to take down as close as EYEBALL possible to the base metal. Its not good touching the stone to the basemetal. When its taken down as i need i take 240 grit sander and blend whats left of the bead into the plane of the basemetal. Then i go 400 grit then 600 grit. Buffing and the above is the most tedious part of the job.
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wrenchguy
Well-known member
Heres another i'm working on tonite. its a tough 1 because its practically flat at the top but transitions pointed to the bottom. Its fastened to the front a the actual junk bow of the boat it fits.
heres the chris craft this cutwater goes on.
heres the chris craft this cutwater goes on.
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Duker
Well-known member
Heres another i'm working on tonite. its a tough 1 because its practically flat at the top but transitions pointed to the bottom. Its fastened to the front a the actual junk bow of the boat it fits.
heres the chris craft this cutwater goes on.
There are some beautiful boats.... one of my bucket list items is to restore an old Chris Craft barrel back.
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wrenchguy
Well-known member
Heres the 1 i pictured last nite. (lower 1) The excess weld taken off/down to base metal using angle grinder then 240 grit sander. The closer 1 pictured has been split to repair damaged areas (deep dents) just aft of the welded point. This 1 is original to customers 1947 chris craft and worth restoring.
sqznby
Well-known member
Heres the 1 i pictured last nite. (lower 1) The excess weld taken off/down to base metal using angle grinder then 240 grit sander. The closer 1 pictured has been split to repair damaged areas (deep dents) just aft of the welded point. This 1 is original to customers 1947 chris craft and worth restoring.
Nice work
Wife wanted a shelf and I was being cheap.
Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk
Came out lookin good. Simple and clean, nicely done.
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sqznby
Well-known member
I was playing with a little ti today
BlueBomber
Well-known member
Wife wanted a shelf and I was being cheap.
Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk
Well, cheap until you factor in the cost of the welding equipment...
Nicely done--I would have done the same!
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90roadster
Well-known member
Thanks bud, it was indeed few long Saturdays worth of work.
sqznby
Well-known member
It was tight on those two pieces. They were pretty small and the plugs were very close to touching on the inside but, it worked out well. I have some smaller diameter pie cuts I'm going to play with next to get everything dialed in. And I need to put new batteries in my pedal, there seemed to be a slight delay when pressing it, pretty sure the batteries are done haha.