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- Apr 12, 2011
- Messages
- 3,575
WOW! Very nicely done Charley, very clean and simple. The rounded corners are a very nice touch. You just can't buy stuff like this. Thank you for posting.
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Show Us Your Welding Projects!
- Thread starter RandyM
- Start date
WOW! Very nicely done Charley, very clean and simple. The rounded corners are a very nice touch. You just can't buy stuff like this. Thank you for posting.
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2014
- Messages
- 607
That's very nice work...! But I just have to ask, how heavy is your weed eater? That looks like it will hold up a car..!
)
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2014
- Messages
- 607
I don't have many welding projects but this one I'm proud of, I wanted a blade on the lawn tractor for plowing and to do some light bulldozer work, the Sears setup was quit expensive and not very ridged.
I also wanted a way to be able to lift the front end to be able to remove the mower deck easier, so I needed a design that would allow the winch to stay on permanently and still be able to open the hood, I did the mounts first with the winch then designed the plow mount to fit, the blade cost $80 and the rest was assembled from scrape I had collected.
In the second picture I just have temporary bracing on, I have an electric actuator for angling the plow that has yet to put on, when ever I start using something before it's finished it seem to take a long time to get back to the project.
The last picture isn't welding but related to the project, the dam cable kept fraying, very hard on the hands, those little frayed wires go right through leather gloves.
I also wanted a way to be able to lift the front end to be able to remove the mower deck easier, so I needed a design that would allow the winch to stay on permanently and still be able to open the hood, I did the mounts first with the winch then designed the plow mount to fit, the blade cost $80 and the rest was assembled from scrape I had collected.
In the second picture I just have temporary bracing on, I have an electric actuator for angling the plow that has yet to put on, when ever I start using something before it's finished it seem to take a long time to get back to the project.
The last picture isn't welding but related to the project, the dam cable kept fraying, very hard on the hands, those little frayed wires go right through leather gloves.
- Joined
- Nov 8, 2011
- Messages
- 1,678
The finished product, I'll get some more pictures after the owner paints it & some with the trimmers in it.
Turned out really nice And solid as a rock
Turned out really nice And solid as a rock
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2014
- Messages
- 607
That turned out very nice, looks like it was always meant to be there, I like the way you did the rounded corners, makes it looks much better I think than if they had been square
)
- Joined
- Mar 12, 2014
- Messages
- 1,531
I am fairly new here but I will throw up a few of my past welding projects.
Mike.
Here is a frame jig that I fabricated years ago when I built my first street rod. Here I have the beginning of mine and my wife's new sandrail chassis being constructed.
More progress of the sandrail. Mounting seats, fuel cell, motor mounts and getting ready to design and fabricate the steering system.
Radiator mounting bracket that I fabricated.
Machining a tapered mount for my flagpole. This has a hole in the middle and is threaded for an electrical socket inside. The flagpole is illuminated and has a light at the very top which is powered by the socket when the flagpole/antenna is threaded into the bung.
Welded to the "B" pillar or rear "hoop".
The steering is what I was exceptionally proud of. I had driven too many sandrails over the years that had rough or harsh feeling steering because of a simple flange style bearing or pillow block bearing with the steering stem running through it. I was going to have smooth effortless steering on this car one way or another.
I machined some 4130 chromoly to accept a needle bearing at either end plus a seal to keep sand out.
Support machined, bearings and seals waiting for installation.
Shaft run through for test fit. This is where it got a bit tricky, I had to compensate for the thickness of the chrome plating. On a previous order of chroming that I had done by my local chrome plater I had machined a section of tubing, measured it and had it chrome plated. I then measured it afterwards and had a fairly good idea of how thick the chrome was so I could compensate for the steering shaft.
Mount TIG welded together with a dropdown section.
Completely welded and ready to weld into the chassis.
Welded in place after test fitting with me in driver position. I also machined a mount so I could install the Auto Meter monster tach within easy reach and viewing. The steering on this car was so smooth it was such a joy to drive.
A couple of completed pictures of my 7-month "welding project" complete.
On the sand in all it's glory.
Wife and I rip-****ting around a bowl.
Mike.
Here is a frame jig that I fabricated years ago when I built my first street rod. Here I have the beginning of mine and my wife's new sandrail chassis being constructed.
More progress of the sandrail. Mounting seats, fuel cell, motor mounts and getting ready to design and fabricate the steering system.
Radiator mounting bracket that I fabricated.
Machining a tapered mount for my flagpole. This has a hole in the middle and is threaded for an electrical socket inside. The flagpole is illuminated and has a light at the very top which is powered by the socket when the flagpole/antenna is threaded into the bung.
Welded to the "B" pillar or rear "hoop".
The steering is what I was exceptionally proud of. I had driven too many sandrails over the years that had rough or harsh feeling steering because of a simple flange style bearing or pillow block bearing with the steering stem running through it. I was going to have smooth effortless steering on this car one way or another.
I machined some 4130 chromoly to accept a needle bearing at either end plus a seal to keep sand out.
Support machined, bearings and seals waiting for installation.
Shaft run through for test fit. This is where it got a bit tricky, I had to compensate for the thickness of the chrome plating. On a previous order of chroming that I had done by my local chrome plater I had machined a section of tubing, measured it and had it chrome plated. I then measured it afterwards and had a fairly good idea of how thick the chrome was so I could compensate for the steering shaft.
Mount TIG welded together with a dropdown section.
Completely welded and ready to weld into the chassis.
Welded in place after test fitting with me in driver position. I also machined a mount so I could install the Auto Meter monster tach within easy reach and viewing. The steering on this car was so smooth it was such a joy to drive.
A couple of completed pictures of my 7-month "welding project" complete.
On the sand in all it's glory.
Wife and I rip-****ting around a bowl.
- Joined
- Mar 12, 2014
- Messages
- 1,531
Here are a couple of more that I did a few years back. I don't have any pictures of them in bare steel handy but these are after all of the months of mocking up and fitting and machining and painting and polishing, the final assembly stages.
This quad was completely fabricated from 1", .875" and .750" 4130 chromoly in my home shop. It was powered by a Suzuki GS1100 bullet bike motor with some "custom touches" done to it.
Here is my first attempt at completely fabricating a fuel cell from scratch. I used cardboard for mockup and then transferred to aluminum sheeting. I used a slap hammer and a piece of round stock that I machined a radius on clamped in the vise to roll the edges prior to TIG welding. Once welded I used a course file to remove much of the weld bringing it down close enough to send off to the polisher for polishing.
I machined the spindles from bar stock and fabricated each component on the chassis. The inboard mounting of the suspension "A" arms are machined from Delrin material and pressed into the arms after the chrome plating was completed. I also machined the bungs for the fuel cap and the petcock on the underside. The fuel cell was mounted to the chassis on rubber stand-offs in which I machined the tabs and mounts for.
Quad completed with Suzuki LT500 plastic installed after trimming to give a custom sleek look.
Here is a shot of my son's LT250R that we completely cut the back of the OEM frame off and fabricated one of our own 4130 chromoly bolt on sub-frames. We then had it chrome plated so it stood out seperate from the rest of the chassis in which we also lightened up by removing a lot of the factory tabs and unnecessary items for hill-shooting.
Here are the two quads together at a photo shoot for Sand Sports Magazine. They were featured in the Jan/Feb. 2010 issue of Sand Sports Magazine.
This quad was completely fabricated from 1", .875" and .750" 4130 chromoly in my home shop. It was powered by a Suzuki GS1100 bullet bike motor with some "custom touches" done to it.
Here is my first attempt at completely fabricating a fuel cell from scratch. I used cardboard for mockup and then transferred to aluminum sheeting. I used a slap hammer and a piece of round stock that I machined a radius on clamped in the vise to roll the edges prior to TIG welding. Once welded I used a course file to remove much of the weld bringing it down close enough to send off to the polisher for polishing.
I machined the spindles from bar stock and fabricated each component on the chassis. The inboard mounting of the suspension "A" arms are machined from Delrin material and pressed into the arms after the chrome plating was completed. I also machined the bungs for the fuel cap and the petcock on the underside. The fuel cell was mounted to the chassis on rubber stand-offs in which I machined the tabs and mounts for.
Quad completed with Suzuki LT500 plastic installed after trimming to give a custom sleek look.
Here is a shot of my son's LT250R that we completely cut the back of the OEM frame off and fabricated one of our own 4130 chromoly bolt on sub-frames. We then had it chrome plated so it stood out seperate from the rest of the chassis in which we also lightened up by removing a lot of the factory tabs and unnecessary items for hill-shooting.
Here are the two quads together at a photo shoot for Sand Sports Magazine. They were featured in the Jan/Feb. 2010 issue of Sand Sports Magazine.
- Joined
- Mar 12, 2014
- Messages
- 1,531
Here is a swingarm for a Suzuki LT500R that I fabricated for a client in Texas. He sent me the dimensions, some OEM parts for measurements and I fabricated it and shipped it to him.
All of my tabs are fabricated old school, no water jet or laser jet here. I cut them by making a cardboard template, transferring to steel, cutting on manual vertical bandsaw, finishing up sizing to finished dimensions with either lathe, mill or disk/belt sander depending on what the components are.
I drew out the pattern using templates onto cardboard and then cut it out.
Here is a pair of brackets for the lower rear shock mount on the swingarm from the template above.
Welded to cross piece which will be welded into the swingarm which I used my tubing roller to arch the lengths of .750"x .065" 4130 chromoly tubing.
Welded into the swingarm.
Now to calculate/figure the angle of some gussets.
Here is the length of chromoly tubing clamped into my tube notcher for fishmouthing.
On an arched tube the intersection will have to be "fine-tuned" with a drum roll to compensate for the arc prior to fitment. It is essential that the fitment be as tight as possible to allow for proper weld penetration and strength.
Trial and error of fitment begins. I can usually get it within one or two test fits but on these arched tubes it takes a bit more. I would rather "sneak" up on it that remove too much and waste an expensive piece of 4130 chromoly tubing.
And there is the type of fitment you should shoot for, although not always easy to achieve.
Completed and ready to box up and ship to the owner.
All of my tabs are fabricated old school, no water jet or laser jet here. I cut them by making a cardboard template, transferring to steel, cutting on manual vertical bandsaw, finishing up sizing to finished dimensions with either lathe, mill or disk/belt sander depending on what the components are.
I drew out the pattern using templates onto cardboard and then cut it out.
Here is a pair of brackets for the lower rear shock mount on the swingarm from the template above.
Welded to cross piece which will be welded into the swingarm which I used my tubing roller to arch the lengths of .750"x .065" 4130 chromoly tubing.
Welded into the swingarm.
Now to calculate/figure the angle of some gussets.
Here is the length of chromoly tubing clamped into my tube notcher for fishmouthing.
On an arched tube the intersection will have to be "fine-tuned" with a drum roll to compensate for the arc prior to fitment. It is essential that the fitment be as tight as possible to allow for proper weld penetration and strength.
Trial and error of fitment begins. I can usually get it within one or two test fits but on these arched tubes it takes a bit more. I would rather "sneak" up on it that remove too much and waste an expensive piece of 4130 chromoly tubing.
And there is the type of fitment you should shoot for, although not always easy to achieve.
Completed and ready to box up and ship to the owner.
- Joined
- Apr 12, 2011
- Messages
- 3,575
And proud you should be Don. It looks like it is meant to be there. Very nice job. Thank you for the post.
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2014
- Messages
- 607
Here is a frame jig that I fabricated years ago when I built my first street rod.
Those are some nice looking welds and wonderful work as well, I'd love to try Tig welding, me and a stick welder is more like a comedy routine than anything productive, all I can say is thank christ for my mig welder and auto darkening helmet, even with the mig I still mark my welding skill/progress as a ratio of good welds verses the ones I need to grind out and redo.
)