Show Us Your Welding Projects!

Don't know if my picture will show up but we,'ll see. Last rolling tool carrier I built before winter and my back gave out. Now I'm no great WELDER but my welds hold up. One proof I made a hitch hauler for my power scooter, stopped at a red light we got rear ended , bent the hauler in several directions , not one weld cracked or let go.
Ok my pat on my own backs done. So the roller tool cart , not totally finished want to ad a lift to move vises and rotary tables to there shelves. Ok unable to get the pictures to upload I tried a bunch of times ..guess not smarter then the computer. But I can describe it 1" x 1/8" angle iron frame uprights , the roller bottom is 2"x 1/8" angle 36" x 24" , the up rights are welded to 24" x 18" x 5' tall. The wheels are casters welded to bottom the two frames welded together then the shelves were old shelves cut in half and fitted in the upper frame and welded in place. To make 4 shelves PLUS the bottom I used 1 x 12 pine boards . I plan on setting my magnet drill press on that one. The others will be filled with mill tooling and jigs. I left the bottom bigger to combat any chance of tilting and falling over. I have a actuator I bought that was short and broken I'm gonna try to use it like a small jib crane to load and unload the mills. Or even the lathe chucks . The actuators rated for 350 lbs of thrust each way , only need 12 volts easy hook up to do. Magnet drill is an Milwaukee weighs about
100 lbs. Will only need about 18" swing for jib so off one corner should do it . If not ill use a winch but ill make it work. What's done is painted brown rustoleum spray can. Looks good and so far works great . Ill repost when I can ever finish the lift on it. Why I can't post pics eludes me.
 
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Subwayrocket said:
Hey we had a little fun. The cops came and now we're back on track. I started a thread for bikes in members hangout.
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That is some great looking riding Sub! I am envious. Back on track it is. Thanks for posting some knobby porn.
 
IMG_1630.JPG IMG_1192.JPG Here is a 12" gauge railroad turntable project I've been working on since last summer. Got stalled in October went we went on vacation, and still awaits completion once the temps warm up enuf to work in the shop. (27 F this morning).

The deck (upside down in the second photo) is 11' overall, 30" wide. The main vertical supports are thin wall 10" x 3" I beams I scratched up as Craigslist Freebies, recycled from cutting apart an old 40' house trailer frame. Light weight and plenty strong when reinforced with 3" channel iron supports. The center pivot (first photo) is a 2 1/2" OD pin mounted on four threaded 1" rods and an adjustable baseplate. The baseplate is meant to fine tune adjust the height of the turntable. I plan to cement the rods into a foundation block this spring, and weld roller mounts on both the ends of the turntable so it will turn on a length of curved 12 # rail.

I plan to lay 12# rail on 4x6x30" wooden ties on the top of the deck, then nail or screw 3/4" fir decking along both sides of the rail- prototypical style.

The purpose of the turntable is to connect three or four railcar sidings I've located along the side of my shop, with the mainline - a short 500' loop around the backyard.
 
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Glenn Brooks said:
View attachment 143727 View attachment 143726 Here is a 12" gauge railroad turntable project I've been working on since last summer. Got stalled in October went we went on vacation, and still awaits completion once the temps warm up enuf to work in the shop. (27 F this morning).

The deck (upside down in the second photo) is 11' overall, 30" wide. The main vertical supports are thin wall 10" x 3" I beams I scratched up as Craigslist Freebies, recycled from cutting apart an old 40' house trailer frame. Light weight and plenty strong when reinforced with 3" channel iron supports. The center pivot (first photo) is a 2 1/2" OD pin mounted on four threaded 1" rods and an adjustable baseplate. The baseplate is meant to fine tune adjust the height of the turntable. I plan to cement the rods into a foundation block this spring, and weld roller mounts on both the ends of the turntable so it will turn on a length of curved 12 # rail.

I plan to lay 12# rail on 4x6x30" wooden ties on the top of the deck, then nail or screw 3/4" fir decking along both sides of the rail- prototypical style.

The purpose of the turntable is to connect three or four railcar sidings I've located along the side of my shop, with the mainline - a short 500' loop around the backyard.
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Wow! That is neet. A far cry from the 136# + rail that I tear up every day.

BTW....where on earth do you buy 12# rail? Frogs, switches, switch stands?

Do you have any pics of the frogs and switches you use? Are the frogs self guarded?
 
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Thanks IronKen, the only place to find 12# rail these days is China. Several steel plants there sell 8 Kg rail, which is more like 16pound rail. And you have to buy usually 5 tons or more and import via slow boat from China, so to speak. I was in the process of doing that last year when a bunch of old 12 # showed up, literally in my backyard- an old timer contacted the local Live Steamers club about selling his 12" gauge Ottaway railroad. They called me, as I am the only 12" guy in the PNW, and I jumped on the train and rail. This fellow had his RR set up in his backyard for 35 years, and nobody knew about it, except a few neighbors.

I got two switches, frogs, and an actual cast switch stand in the package. Which is partly why I jumped on the train and all the gear when I heard about it. The rail is around 100 years old, stamped with the date 1914- so WW 1 vintage. I have no idea where one might find this stuff new nowadays. Maybe a foundry in China produces frogs. However, I haven't seen any advertised. I had planned to fab something up, using weldments and milling the proper angles and clearances, etc. but now, fortunately, don't have to do that.

Don't have any photos of the switches or switch stand, only this shot of the Ottaway, sitting on the ground next to my 1902 Campbell 4-4-0, with the smoke box front door taken off for inspection at the start of my rebuild.


Glenn
 
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Wow Glenn, some very neet stuff you have there. I'm impressed! I'm attaching a screenshot of what I rendered with a quick search. LB Foster has a PDF outlining their track products. The screen shot has a short overview of their products including 12# track products. The PDF only shows down to 20#. I know they have a small plant in my home town and a sales office here in KC. I have no personal experience with them though. I used to build track products at ABC Rail Corp. (Abex/Racor) now Nortrak many moons ago. Screenshot_2017-01-15-15-20-18.png
 
IronKen, thanks for reminding me about JB Foster. Looks like they carry, at least advertise, 12# rail in their crane rail section of web site. ASCE profile. I wonder if they import from China or have someone in the US roll it? I seem to remember calling them early on, several,yeas ago, but couldn't afford their horrendous price -over $5/foot - worked out to $10/ foot of track, just for the rail. Out of the question for most hobbyists. Hence I started looking in Asia. Best price I found for small quantities of China rail was around $550/ton, which worked out to around $2+/foot for track (2 lengths of parallel rail).

I do need a keg of track spikes and some track bolts, so will be calling them in a month or so, when spring track laying season comes around.
 
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