Tables and Mailbox

[ahansom]

First post after being a long term follower.
Had some 3"x3" aluminum tubing at work that was being discarded. We got it for temporary sign posts a few years ago and never used it.
My wife suggested I make a coffee table and dinner table for our sons new house. After showing me a few pictures, this is what we came up with. I TIG welded one and spool gunned the other. Spool gun is way faster but really not as clean looking welds so the welds all got ground down. Powder-coating hid most of the sins.. Had enough left over to make a "chain" mailbox post.

 

[royce]

Very nice work Sir

 

[PugetDude]

Great first post- what else ya got?

 

[Retroman]

Looks great how long did it take to fab? Looks like a lot of work.

 

[jack stand]

You have to be a world champion at cutting 45*
That's a lot of work and it looks great! Good post.

 

[ahansom]

Thanks everyone
Actual build time wasn't that long. Cutting, notching and prepping went quickly since several pieces are the same length. Welding took a while longer. Each of the 12-45* joints has 12" of welding and 12" of grinding, the inset notches have 18" each. I would have never guessed over 216" of welding and grinding per table. Grinding was by far the hardest part. Doesn't take to heavy of a hand to leave a depression.

 

[ahansom]

Great first post- what else ya got?

Thank You
Did a few little projects on my sons old Dodge flatbed. Made some brackets for an auxiliary oil filter and coolant filter. Modified a valve cover for the oil return line and breather.

 

[ahansom]

Great first post- what else ya got?

Most recent project was a coffee table. fabbed up some legs and a up and forward adapter to fit a large mouthed blower to a std sized fuel injector.
Hardest part was convincing my wife it looked good in the living room!!!

 

[PugetDude]

Thanks everyone
Actual build time wasn't that long. Cutting, notching and prepping went quickly since several pieces are the same length. Welding took a while longer. Each of the 12-45* joints has 12" of welding and 12" of grinding, the inset notches have 18" each. I would have never guessed over 216" of welding and grinding per table. Grinding was by far the hardest part. Doesn't take to heavy of a hand to leave a depression.

What did you use for grinding the alumium?

 

[ahansom]

What did you use for grinding the alumium?

Benchmark Abrasives has a 4.5" flap disk for aluminum. I would hit it with a little candle wax every couple minutes to help stop them loading up.

 

[ahansom]

Most recent project was a coffee table. Fabbed up some legs and a up and forward tilted adapter to fit a large mouthed blower to a std sized fuel injector.
Hardest part was convincing my wife it looked good in the living room!!!

Started another blower table and needed a little fabrication and welding for the pulley mounting. Since this is for display only, there is no reason to use a real drive and snout on the blower. Old front covers from diesel blowers are fairly easy to source and modify. First thing i did was make a 3/16"x 3.5" disk with holes drilled and tapped for the pulley bolts. After cleaning up the front cover it was time to cut the nose off at approximately the same diameter as the disk. Welding the disk to the cover takes a little extra care because of the oil soaked aluminum. Easy enough if you go slow and let the contaminates burn off. A little flap disk followed by a fine finishing pad and its ready for powder coating.