# Show Us Your Welding Projects!



## RandyM

Well, it was time to do a bolt bin up-grade. The one I had was a yellow commercial oversize unit that served its purpose very well. But, with Craig's List you can now do some serious organizing. I found this 100 drawer unit with dividers and couldn't pass up the deal. I decided it couldn't sit on the floor and now was an opportunity to organize my threaded rod supply as well. I made a three bin rack as part of the stand. I think it turned out pretty well. Here is my starting and ending pics of the fun.

Let's see your creations.


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## 2Tailfins

I hate stuff "On the floor" Very organized-Awesome project!  thank you for sharing it!


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## TOOLMASTER

What. No wheels!!!! Everything needs wheels.


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## RandyM

TOOLMASTER said:


> What. No wheels!!!! Everything needs wheels.



You are correct, a lot of things get wheels. This project wasn't one of them, at least for me. Wouldn't be hard to add though.


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## Marco Bernardini

It would be nice to have the threaded rod support mounted on drawers slides…


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## Nightshift

Nice job Randy. All labelled up too. I love it.

My "bolt bin" is a Vidmar 11-drawer industrial cabinet. I will have that till the day I die! Bill

ps ... Randy, your green 27-drawer unit is now crying for a similar frame to get it off those damn 2x6's )


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## chuckorlando

Awesome fab job man. I dig how you done the rod holders


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## 09kevin

Nice work, Randy. That looks great!  My wife laughed at me when I asked for a label maker for Christmas )

Kevin


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## Rbeckett

Lookin good there Randy.  But your shop is just too clean.  Youre embarrassing me to show mine... I guess since I got the big ole tool box out and have a cleared space I should do a little work on shop appearance and cleaning too.  Ahhhh well. another project added to the ever growing list.  One day I will get caught up to the top of the list but till then I will just soldier on and get em done one task at a time.

Bob


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## SteveM

Very nice!


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## RandyM

09kevin said:


> Nice work, Randy. That looks great!  My wife laughed at me when I asked for a label maker for Christmas )
> 
> Kevin



Kevin, let'er laugh. There is a peace of mind knowing everything has a place and a label for me to find it. White labels for the inch fasteners and Red for the metric. Did you get what you asked for?



chuckorlando said:


> Awesome fab job man. I dig how you done the rod holders



Thank you, Chuck



Nightshift said:


> Nice job Randy. All labeled up too. I love it.
> 
> My "bolt bin" is a Vidmar 11-drawer industrial cabinet. I will have that till the day I die! Bill
> 
> ps ... Randy, your green 27-drawer unit is now crying for a similar frame to get it off those damn 2x6's )



Bill, Can't have enough Vidmar cabinets, mine are Lista. I was considering another Lista for the fasteners, but this little unit showed up on Craig's List and I had to give it a new home. And yes, the green drawer unit is now on the long list of projects. Not only get rid of the 2x4's, but she is screaming for a fresh coat of paint.



Marco Bernardini said:


> It would be nice to have the threaded rod support mounted on drawers slides…



Not sure what you have in mind there Marco. Do you mean just to pull them forward in their upright positions? :thinking:


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## RandyM

Rbeckett said:


> Lookin good there Randy.  But your shop is just too clean.  Youre embarrassing me to show mine... I guess since I got the big ole tool box out and have a cleared space I should do a little work on shop appearance and cleaning too.  Ahhhh well. another project added to the ever growing list.  One day I will get caught up to the top of the list but till then I will just soldier on and get em done one task at a time.
> 
> Bob



I know exactly what you mean, too many projects and not enough time. Yup, just need to attack it a little at a time and before you know it you'll be more organized.



SteveM said:


> Very nice!



Thanks Steve.

NOW EVERONE! We need to see your creations. Come on, post up!


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## Marco Bernardini

RandyM said:


> Not sure what you have in mind there Marco. Do you mean just to pull them forward in their upright positions? :thinking:



Yes, something like this pull out pantry:




(no need to dye your hair, anyway! :biggrin: )


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## RandyM

Marco Bernardini said:


> Yes, something like this pull out pantry:
> 
> (no need to dye your hair, anyway! :biggrin: )



This was down and dirty get'er done quick job. I had no time for the fancy stuff. Good idea though. Oh, and I don't have enough hair to dye. :lmao:


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## TOOLMASTER

what pantry?



Marco Bernardini said:


> Yes, something like this pull out pantry:
> 
> View attachment 78515
> 
> 
> (no need to dye your hair, anyway! :biggrin: )


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## Charley Davidson

Randy, all you need now is some orange paint for those cabinets:whistle:


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## RandyM

Charley Davidson said:


> Randy, all you need now is some orange paint for those cabinets:whistle:



Great idea Charley, but someone else must be using a lot of it as I can't find any around here. :roflmao:


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## Marco Bernardini

RandyM said:


> Great idea Charley, but someone else must be using a lot of it as I can't find any around here. :roflmao:




Here is the culprit!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/271508632739
:biggrin:


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## orphan auto

TOOLMASTER said:


> what pantry?



I could use one of those "pantry pullers" in my shop )


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## Charley Davidson

Here's my welding gig for the last 2 days. It's a weed eater rack for a trailer, I designed it to go in front of the toolbox, it mounts in the bed stake slots then bolts in place. As an added touch I radiused the corners. This is the trailer it's going on.


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## RandyM

Charley Davidson said:


> Here's my welding gig for the last 2 days. It's a weed eater rack for a trailer, I designed it to go in front of the toolbox, it mounts in the bed stake slots then bolts in place. As an added touch I radiused the corners. This is the trailer it's going on.



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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## Don B

Charley Davidson said:


> Here's my welding gig for the last 2 days. It's a weed eater rack for a trailer, I designed it to go in front of the toolbox, it mounts in the bed stake slots then bolts in place. As an added touch I radiused the corners. This is the trailer it's going on.



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..!)


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## Don B

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.


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## Charley Davidson

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


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## Don B

Charley Davidson said:


> 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



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)


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## zmotorsports

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.


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## zmotorsports

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.


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## zmotorsports

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.


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## RandyM

Don B said:


> I don't have many welding projects but this one I'm proud of, ]



And proud you should be Don. It looks like it is meant to be there. Very nice job. Thank you for the post.


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## Don B

zmotorsports said:


> 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.)


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## zmotorsports

Don B said:


> 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.)




Thanks.  Like I tell people, welding is NOT something you can read in a book and go do like many other things.  It is about 5% theory and 95% practice, practice, practice (don't quote me on the percentage/statistics though):thinking:.  

I will dig through some pictures on my computer and see if I can find a few more.  Many of the projects that I do for clients I don't feel comfortable displaying on the internet as I don't want to violate that trust.  I have gotten permission from a few on various things but most I don't even ask.  My personal projects I have no problem throwing pictures up on.

Mike.


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## Ian Bee

zmotorsports said:


> 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.



What would be the chances..... of you adopting me!  I'm cheap to keep....

Cheers

Ian


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## chuckorlando

Heres my never ending project. We dont have big open areas so I like "woods buggies" or stadium lite style buggies.


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## chuckorlando

Looks clean to me. I dont know how a man can live with out a welder. they just come in so handy for things like you got here





Don B said:


> 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.
> 
> View attachment 78600
> 
> 
> View attachment 78601
> 
> 
> View attachment 78602
> 
> 
> View attachment 78603



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Nice and clean. It really does flow with that trailer like it was built for it. Even though it was, you know what I mean :thumbsup:





Charley Davidson said:


> 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


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## Marco Bernardini

chuckorlando said:


> Looks clean to me. I dont know how a man can live with out a welder.



I have nuts!
And bolts, too…
:roflmao:

Jokes apart, after seeing the disasters made by many self-defined welders, I'll wait until the local "bricklayer school" will make the next welding course for external students.
The suggestion "buy a welder and a box of sticks, when the box is half empty you know how to weld" (coming from the Scientist of the Village, of course) doesn't seem a genial idea.


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## chuckorlando

Nuts and bolts did not build that, they simply mounted it best I understand it. Theres no need to go to school to learn to mig weld. Not to play in the shop.My dad got me my first welder and I came home every day for at least 30min and welded scrap to scrap. At some point it dont look to bad. Even before it dont look bad it starts to actually hold. Same as a guy who buys a mill and never seen a mill before. It's learnable from home. I'm no welder by any means but I get it done





Marco Bernardini said:


> I have nuts!
> And bolts, too…
> :roflmao:
> 
> Jokes apart, after seeing the disasters made by many self-defined welders, I'll wait until the local "bricklayer school" will make the next welding course for external students.
> The suggestion "buy a welder and a box of sticks, when the box is half empty you know how to weld" (coming from the Scientist of the Village, of course) doesn't seem a genial idea.


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## mzayd3

my really simple projects include:
a railing made from schedule 40 1-1/4" black pipe frame and 1/4" black pipe spindles.  The bends were factory bends cut and welded.
	

		
			
		

		
	



A lathe stand for my 10 * 24 jet mini wood lathe (they want so much for such poorly constructed OEM products)
	

		
			
		

		
	




and a fireplace frame that I modified.  It came with a square top.  I could have bought an arched top, but the price was significantly more.  We all know where that leads- spending more time and money on it than just buying what you wanted to start with.
	

		
			
		

		
	



	

		
			
		

		
	
   I really don't like fabricating, I find it much more dirty and gringy than I like.  But necessity dictates that you do it.:welding:


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## chuckorlando

Nice work man.


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## Jeepcrawler56

I'm new here also. Here is a mobile base my son and I fabricated for our newly acquired Grizzly G0755 Mill-Drill.


The base is made up of some scrap 6" C-channel across the front and back and a combination of 1.5" angle and 3" C-channel along the sides. All material is 1/4" thick. We attached 4" C-channel as caster mounts. The caster are from Tractor Supply. They are 4" diameter, and rated at 700lbs. each. We added mounts front and rear for leveling bolts at each corner to level the machine when in operating location.



With the base installed under the G0755, we gained about 9 1/2" in height and the mobility we needed in the shop.


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## RandyM

Here is my first aluminum job. It is my paint booth doors. From here they don't look to bad but, up close you can tell I was learning. The good news is, they are still standing and filtering the intake air. I consider it a success.

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Jeepcrawler56 said:


> I'm new here also. Here is a mobile base my son and I fabricated for our newly acquired Grizzly G0755 Mill-Drill.
> 
> The base is made up of some scrap 6" C-channel across the front and back and a combination of 1.5" angle and 3" C-channel along the sides. All material is 1/4" thick. We attached 4" C-channel as caster mounts. The caster are from Tractor Supply. They are 4" diameter, and rated at 700lbs. each. We added mounts front and rear for leveling bolts at each corner to level the machine when in operating location.
> 
> With the base installed under the G0755, we gained about 9 1/2" in height and the mobility we needed in the shop.



Your base turned out very nice. It looks like you thought of everything.

Oh, and  

Thank you for jumping into the fun. Keep up the good work.


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## mzayd3

> From here they don't look to bad



As some of my coworkers would say- Looks good from my house!:allgood:
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## Cholmes

This is a bulk oil storage rack I designed and built for our transportation department. I hold 4 totes of oil weighing 2800#'s each.


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## zmotorsports

Here is a small "A" frame hoist setup that I fabricated for a client about a year ago.  He wanted something that would break down and hang on the wall in his garage yet be fairly quick and simple to assemble and use.  

Started with some square tube with some larger tubing to slide on from either side.



Welded some nuts onto the tube for a captured nut system to tighten down on the inner tubing.



Welded some 1.5"x .095" tube for the vertical legs.



Welded a cable hoist to the horizontal part.



Can't seem to find the pictures of it completed and painted but will keep looking.

Mike.


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## zmotorsports

Here is a rear bumper that I fabricated for my Jeep a couple of years ago.  I fabricated it out of .250" and .187" P&O plate made from cardboard templates and welded together.  I machined a spindle setup for the swing away tire carrier.  A drop pin from McMaster Carr to catch the carrier as it swings open and toggle clamp also from McMaster Carr to draw it tight for a solid, rattle free latch mechanism.

Completed ready to send to powder coater.



After powder coating.



Complete with lighting installed and spare tire mounted.


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## zmotorsports

Here is a front winch bumper that I built for my Jeep just this past year.  I had originally purchased a used WARN Rockcrawler bumper with a WARN Powerplant winch that I found locally to get me by until I had time to fabricate my own once I decided on a style I wanted.

It drove me nuts to have a purchased bumper on my Jeep and I really wasn't fond of having the winch sit well above the bumper blocking airflow to my radiator.  I decided to remedy that by selling the winch and bumper and purchasing a new WARN 9.5XP to that I would sink down between the frame rails and keep low and under my radiator/grille area.

This is the design I came up with.  I used 1/4" for the base plate/winch mount.  This ties directly into the front frame horns and the recover points will tie directly in line with the frame horns and be welded to a mounting plate held onto the Jeep by four 5/8" grade 8 bolts per side.  She isn't going anywhere.



I cut a piece of 3/16" P&O for the front which is angled slightly downward (you know for aerodynamics:lmao which will have the roller fairlead attached to it as well as welding the recovery points.  I slid this piece over the recovery points and welded the perimeter so that IF I ever need to pull on those recovery points the force is actually going through the front plate and directly to the frame horn so as to not bend or flex the front plate.



Mocked up with roller fairlead, recovery points and winch.



Recover points and mounting plates without the front plate.



One of my welds on an attaching plate that I welded to the frame horn.



Now starting to cut and tack the "ears" of the bumper into place.



One thing to keeping a nice tidy weld is to keep a slight undersize fitment when joining the pieces of steel plating.  By keeping the inside corners of both pieces mating this allows a small void in the "V" of the two plastes for weld bead to be layed in.  This way when metal finishing you don't remove any weld or strength you merely blend the weld into the parent material.  Makes for less work with the grinder as well.  I generally DO NOT grind my welds as I am not a fan of that, however, in this application I thought a smooth blended corner would look better seeing as how it will be powder coated.



Metal finished and ready for final fit test of components and to determine height of stinger bar.






Now I bent up a 2" diameter short stinger tube and welded it on.  I am not a fan of those really tall and pointy style of stingers.  I just wanted something to tie the looks together more so than an actual stinger for function.



Back from powder coater.



Installed and ready for the trails.


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## David

Mike, excellent fabrication skills!  Can you provide info on your tubing notcher, pros/cons.  It looks like a good one!

David


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## zmotorsports

David said:


> Mike, excellent fabrication skills!  Can you provide info on your tubing notcher, pros/cons.  It looks like a good one!
> 
> David



David, thanks for the compliment.  The tube notcher is a JMR brand model TN1000 and I am very happy with it.  I have had it about five years now and use it frequently.  The graduations on the base for degrees are even fairly accurate.  The only tubes that I have not been able to successfully notch completely on it are ones that the bend or arc are fairly close to the clamping portion of the notcher.  There is one called the "Beast" tube notcher that is completely adjustable meaning that you can clamp onto an arc or bend by simply moving some pins and locating tabs around.  It is nice but quite expensive and after purchasing my TN1000 and being completely happy with it, quite frankly I can't see purchasing the other one.  If you are purchasing your first one and will be notching on arcs then take a serious look at the "Beast" notcher by JD Squared.  Otherwise for straight forward notching the JMR TN1000 gets my vote.

Hope that helps.

Mike.


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## David

Thanks for info Mike.  I will do some research on your notcher.  Most of my notching has been improvised on the BP milling machine and has worked out ok so far, but a good notcher would be nice. Hard to get large work in the mill!

Thanks again

David


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## Don B

zmotorsports said:


> Here is a front winch bumper that I built for my Jeep just this past year.



OK mike hears the deal, you really need to adopt me, not to long term, just a year or two until you teach me how to weld like that, you do absolutely wonderful work, nice and neat and great attention to detail....!)


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## zmotorsports

Thanks Don.  I really appreciate that, however, I don't think I could afford another dependent.  My son is expensive enough.:donttell:  All I can hope for is that somewhere down the road he has paid even the slightest bit of attention and listened to me.  Hopefully he will be able to make a good living and will remember me when he strikes it rich in his career.

Mike.


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## David

This is a small pipeliner grill that I've been working on over the last few weeks as time allows.

I still have some work left on both the outside and inside.  I'm not sure on the base just yet.  I wanted a low profile unit, tried several base designs, but I kind of like the disc blade!

Anyway here are some poor quality pics of where I'm at right now.


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## zmotorsports

Nice looking grille David.  Beautiful work.

Mike.


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## jpfabricator

I like the disc base. Is that 12" o.d. 
Jake Parker


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## Just Startin'

Nice, very nice, love the "TEXAS" detailing. If I was somewhat closer I would bring some bison steaks and a couple of cold ones to break it in.


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## David

zmotorsports said:


> Nice looking grille David.  Beautiful work.
> 
> Mike.



Thanks Mike!  For some reason I like to complicate things!

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jpfabricator said:


> I like the disc base. Is that 12" o.d.
> Jake Parker



The pipe is 16" 1/4 wall Jake.  I found it at local scrap yard and was cheap enough that I could not pass up.

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Just Startin' said:


> Nice, very nice, love the "TEXAS" detailing. If I was somewhat closer I would bring some bison steaks and a couple of cold ones to break it in.



Thank you Just Startin!  Just let us know when you can get here and we will throw something on the grill for you!  It's more work to do the Texas detail but sorta makes the projects unique.


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## zmotorsports

A couple of weeks ago a client of mine went of vacation to the Oregon coast.  While on vacation he had a right rear shock mount break off and he found a local shop that said they could repair it for him.  The took an old U-bolt and half-ass welded it to the axle.  It didn't even make it the rest of the trip before it broke off as well.


He brought it to me Saturday morning and I fabricated a new shock mount using the left side OEM as a template.  First I made certain that there was nothing wrong with the shock which was causing the breakage.  Shock looked to be in good condition as it was new about a month ago when he installed the 2" lift kit on his 2001 Jeep XJ.


This was the high quality weld on the U-bolt shock mount.




Removed the piled on weld and remaining part of the U-bolt before using a flap disk to prep for the new bracket.




Cardboard template transferred to the .1875" P&O plate.




Two vertical pieces welded on.




Cap plate with the new shock mount welded on.




Here is the finished mount before paint and reinstallation of the shock.


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## Stonebriar

Well here is the entry way I welded for my house.  The gate and 4 panels.  There is also a walk-in gate but I don't seem to have a picture with it there.  Also welded the 2200ft of pipe fence.

Rick


----------



## zmotorsports

Stonebriar said:


> Well here is the entry way I welded for my house.  The gate and 4 panels.  There is also a walk-in gate but I don't seem to have a picture with it there.  Also welded the 2200ft of pipe fence.
> 
> Rick
> 
> View attachment 79802



Very nice.  Love it.:man:


Mike.


----------



## RandyM

Stonebriar said:


> Well here is the entry way I welded for my house.  The gate and 4 panels.  There is also a walk-in gate but I don't seem to have a picture with it there.  Also welded the 2200ft of pipe fence.
> 
> Rick



Looking good Rick. It turned out realllllllly NICE! Now can we get you to add some detail shots of the gate and panels? We need to judge your skill, now that we can see that you can design. Thanks for the post.


----------



## Marco Bernardini

Stonebriar said:


> Well here is the entry way I welded for my house.  The gate and 4 panels.  There is also a walk-in gate but I don't seem to have a picture with it there.  Also welded the 2200ft of pipe fence.



Rick, you gate seems pretty large! (other than nice, of course!)
How do you prevent it from bending?
The usual wheel at the end or something more sophisticate?


----------



## chips&more

This is something I did a while ago, but this site has not seen it. This is a welding and also wood project I did. All the metal and wood work for the stairs took me 6 months from start to finish. Not pictured is another 50 feet or so of railing. The railing is bent up metal, a little hammering, some store bought ornamental elements and then it’s all wire welded together. The curves in the wooden hand railing are strips of glued together white oak. The curves where glued in fixtures in place on the steps of the stairs. Used a slow dry glue and wire ties for the clamps. I tried regular clamps but the wire ties worked better. It took three tries to get that ~260° turn done right. And all the sections of hand railing are finger joint assembled together. There are no simple wood butt joints in this picture or anywhere in the house. I like to see the natural grain of the wood, so no paint anywhere. And because of the clear finish on all the wood, its joints must be as tight as possible (can’t use a filler). So, no simple butt joints and no cross nailing anywhere, they must be tight and strong. I did the hard wood floors with feature strip and all of the molding in the house too.  Even made the form cutters for the moldings from tool steel.


----------



## RandyM

WOW! Things are gettng really artsy. Very nicely done.


----------



## Stonebriar

Marco Bernardini said:


> Rick, you gate seems pretty large! (other than nice, of course!)
> How do you prevent it from bending?
> The usual wheel at the end or something more sophisticate?




The gate post is  a 5" square 1/4 thick. The hole for the gate post is also part of that column base so it is held by a 3 1/2ft deep X 3'x3' hole full of concrete. The gate is 14' wide. I calculated the gate weight but I don't remember what is was now. I use a thicker gauge for the bottom to stiffen it. No sagging.

Randy i'll get some close ups but I don't know if much detail of the welds will show since they are powder coated.

Rick


----------



## John Hasler

Stonebriar said:


> The gate post is  a 5" square 1/4 thick. The hole for the gate post is also part of that column base so it is held by a 3 1/2ft deep X 3'x3' hole full of concrete. The gate is 14' wide. I calculated the gate weight but I don't remember what is was now. I use a thicker gauge for the bottom to stiffen it. No sagging.
> 
> Rick



Without some sort of support it will eventually sag.  A wheel would ruin the look and should not be necessary anyway, but large gates should always be designed so that they are not hanging on the hinges when fullly open or closed.


----------



## RandyM

Stonebriar said:


> Randy i'll get some close ups but I don't know if much detail of the welds will show since they are powder coated.
> 
> Rick



No need to get too detailed, just curious on joints and the center decoration. Powder coating is the way to go, good choice.


----------



## Firestopper

Finishing up a 14K dump trailer. The box/fenders are a retrofit. The frame is 6" channel welded with a 350P .035 at 425IPM. 90/10 shielding gas.


----------



## Cholmes

Great looking trailer firestopper.
Here is one we rebuilt this year. It's a 14k tilt bed for moving forklift and other equipment. Started with a trailer that was going to be junked because of a bent tongue. We fabbed a new tongue and it just snowballed from there. We got rid of the old 5 spoke wheels and hubs and went to 8 lug hubs, putting brakes on both axles, pipe fenders, flattened the beaver tail to about 10 degrees, mounted a 12k electric winch and battery box, chain & binder box and new stubby ramps. All LED lights. Now we are just waiting on the Oak timbers for the bed to get here from the sawmill.


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## Firestopper

Nice work Cholmes,
I could not get the pictures to open, but the from the thumb nails, the trailer looks very nice.


----------



## Firestopper

Paint done, also got the onboard status/battery charger, lights, and warning stickers installed. Also mounted a flap access for the power cord to charger done.


----------



## Firestopper

This dump trailer project is done.


----------



## FOMOGO

Nice job on the trailer, and I like the rig for moving it around with the fork lift too. Looks like really nice shop. Have you given a tour here yet? Mike


----------



## RJSakowski

My premier welding project has to be a boat trailer built from the ground up in the 1980's.  It was designed to carry an 18' Great Lakes fishing boat.  It features a 6" dropped axle, hydraulic Surge disc brakes with an automatic bypass valve for reversing.  a combination of roller and bunks for support, and a streamlined frame.

The dropped axle was made using salvaged Pontiac spindles (the wheels were the same as my S10 of the time, eliminating the need for a separate spare).  An adapter plate was made for each wheel assembly and welded as well as bolted to the assembly.  Alignment prior to weld-up was done using a then new digital level.  Leaf spring suspension was used.

A combination of roller support and bunk support was used in the design.  Rollers were implemented under the keel to facilitate loading and unloading the boat.  The rear rollers are mounted on a pivoting mechanism, controlled by a separate winch, to drop out of the way and transfer the load to the bunks.  To permit the use of the dropped axle, a removable cross bar, held in place by pins, was used. The over width clearance lights were mounted to this bar as well.  Fenders were purchased from Northern Tool.  Re-enforcing diamond plate decks were welded aft of the wheels.

The frame was designed on quadrille ruled paper (no CAD back then) and the curve plotted out with offsets from a reference line every foot or so.  These curves were then  chalked on the shop floor using a thin strip of flat bar as a French curve. The major build occurred at the welding shop of a close friend and fishing buddy.  The main frame was built from 3" structural channel.  We would make a bend in the channel and evaluate it on the layout pattern, tweaking when necessary.  Once one side was done, we used it as the pattern for making the opposite side.  4" x 1/4" square tube was used for the tongue.

A weekend of work was sufficient to get the trailer to the point where I could tow it home.  At home, I welded 3/16 x 3" flat to the 3" channel to create a box.  Cross pieces were also boxed in.  All joints were then completely welded and ground smooth.  7018 rod was used for the first pass and 7014 for a finish pass.  My buddy also had a Diesel engine driven sandblaster and four 55 gallon drums of sand and an afternoon later I had a completely bare metal frame.  The frame was primed and painted with a custom mixed implement paint to match the boat trim.

The overall project was a success.  Doing it over, I wouldn't have gone with the six inch drop.  The back end can bottom out going in and out of driveways.  A four inch drop would have been sufficient. I compensated somewhat by modifying the spring shackles. Going to a larger tire would help as well.  With the Surge disk  brakes and low slung profile, it pulls like a dream.  No wind resistance nor any push from the trailer when braking.  Even behind my old S10, you could easily forget that it was there.

I apologize for the less than ideal picture quality.  They are retakes from old pre-digital photos.  The two close-ups show the Surge brake system.  The bypass valve is a surplus jet engine fuel valve with a rating of 1500 psi.  It is a 24 volt valve but, since the valve is never energized under load, it functions well at 12 volts.  It is tied into the vehicle backup lights so the hydraulic system is disabled whenever backing the trailer.

The boat and trailer are in dry dock now, awaiting a transom rebuild (replacing the old rotted wood core with a new fiberglassed laminate and raising the transom from 15" to 25" to accommodate a new four stroke engine and anticipated waves on the Great Lakes.




View attachment 98442


----------



## Firestopper

Thanks for the comments. RJsakowski, nice boat trailer. I really liked your surge brake set up.
Mike, this is the first larger project I have built in my new shop. The space I have gained is incredable from a production standpoint. 
I have not given a tour of the shop and machines. Not really sure where it goes. My old shop (six car attached garage) 25'x50' with 9' ceiling. 
The new shop is 40'x80'x14'eves. (Mueller steel building). Every thing in new shop with the exception go the Lagun CNC mill and Bendpak two post lift use to live in the old shop, a very crowded situation. Fist picture is of old shop, second is new facility a few months back. The old shop will be cleaned and re painted to house the vehicles as this garage has two 18' garage doors (drive though) providing access to the N/E  two post lift bay of the new shop.


----------



## Firestopper

So now that the trailer is gone, I can get back to working on the shop. I still have all the steel (inventory) on horses in the old shop as the metal rack sits in the new shop awaiting modification. With the new ceiling hight, I'm compelled to add an overhead plate rack that would be attached to the metal rack.
I keep various gauges of 4'x8' sheets for CNC plasma table work. The thickest being 1/4" and most 10 gauge. No more than ten sheets total. Keeping floor space open is paramount as I worked in a cramped shop for way too long. The fork lift is key to pulling this plate storage off. Two upright columns of 1/8" x 3"x 3" nine feet long where laid out and resting feet added using 1/4" x 3" x 8" flat strap and a gusset added. The "backbone" was added using a 2"x 3"x2.5" and trussed with 1/4" x 2" flat strap. This truss should give the columns 3 x the strength to resist flex. The metal rack sits on six HD swivel casters allowing the rack to be moved in to place as well pulling away from the wall to sweep/mop. The columns where shimmed 1/4" off the floor to facilitate rolling. The horizontal arms that will hold the sheets are 1/8" x 2" x 3" x 40 long. The same material was used for gussets. A few more pieces to be added and its ready for paint.
I encourage any input, so lets hear it.


----------



## Firestopper

The steel/plate rack is painted and located. Stocked with 20' sections of various solid stock, round, square tubing etc.
I had to come up with a second rack system to store the remnants to include the solid stock used for machining.
I call this the rib cage vertical storage rack.


----------



## zmotorsports

Very nice shop and nice work firestopper.  Impressive.

Mike.


----------



## Firestopper

Thank you Mike,
its been a long process but it's getting there.


----------



## genevamotorsports

Here is a roll cage I have been working on for a friend's Miata "soon to be" race car.  It is all fit, tacked and partially welded.  The design is a combination of class rules, owner preference and the ability to fit under a factory hard top.  The tube is 1.5" x .120 wall A513 DOM.


----------



## jpfabricator

I welded up a few race cars for my father before. Fish mouth, fit, grind, repeat!

Sent from somewhere in East Texas JP


----------



## zmotorsports

Beefing up a client's front dana 44 axle from his 2009 Jeep Wrangler.

Here you can see the holes drilled and I am ready to install the sleeve into the short side axle tube.



Sleeve viewed from the knuckle end.



Long side axle tube with the sleeve installed.  You can see the sleeve inside the drilled .5" holes ready for welding.



In progress welding pics.






Rosette weld, sometimes called a plug weld.



Some various welds from the project.









Axle welding completed. 






Next up will be cleaning the axle housing for paint and then on to installing the new 5.38 gearset before re-installing it back into the front of the Jeep.

Mike.


----------



## coolidge

Mike please tell me those are TIG welds, if you say those clean spatter free welds are MIG I'm going to feel like a total failure at MIG welding.


----------



## zmotorsports

coolidge said:


> Mike please tell me those are TIG welds, if you say those clean spatter free welds are MIG I'm going to feel like a total failure at MIG welding.



No TIG welds, those are merely MIG using C-25 gas.

Don't feel like a failure @ MIG, it just takes lots of practice.  Trust me, I am no where near where I want to be yet either.  I think I need much more practice.

Mike.


----------



## Smudgemo

Does brazing count?

View media item 94781

It's the next size up bicycle for my quickly growing daughter.  An elegant join for a more civilized age (to paraphrase Obi-Wan.)

-Ryan


----------



## NCjeeper

Last August I decided to build a welding table that would out live me. I started with $900 dollars worth of steel. 



Built the frame and legs using 2x2x1/4 thick stock.



I put it on wheels so I can move it around. I also added a tool box underneath. The top is 1/2" thick.


----------



## TOOLMASTER

Go ahead and say it.....


----------



## tomh

Here is a small drop bed trailer I built  I lost most of the photos of the main frame.


----------



## tomh

Here is more pic of it


----------



## RJSakowski

Sweet looking trailer!  Well done.


----------



## Andy Rafferty

Just something to heat water with for my locomotive. I've built many but almost always forget the pics. hope you like. 6010+p root, 7018 final pass


----------



## zmotorsports

Quick little project I started on last night for my wife.  When we were sitting watching a movie on New Year's Eve, she casually mentioned that she wished she had a small end table to put her drink on next to the love seat in the living room.  I don't know if it was an actual hint of just a passing thought.  Either way I am not going to risk it.

A couple of nights ago I scrounged through my metal pile and found a few 4' stick of .5" square tubing.  Yesterday I ran to Lowe's and grabbed a couple of 12" tile off their clearance pallet that I though matched our entry way and bathroom tile as close as possible.  Turns out it matches quite close and since they are going to be 10+ feet apart, they will work perfect.

I started with this last night after work.



Using my new Baileigh BS-210M miter head horizontal bandsaw to 45 the ends.



The gauge is pretty accurate.  When it is placed on 45-degrees....



It cuts at 45-degrees.



In one instance I was a tag long so I had to take a sliver off.



And a sliver it was measuring .036" and dead nuts parallel all the way through the cut.



All clamped together for tacking.



One of the corner welds.



I then was able to get a feel for my new Birmingham KB-45 vertical bandsaw and was able to see it's accuracy as well.



I needed to cut some spacers to space the tile down into the frame so that the top will be flush with the .5" square tubing.  The tile measures .3" so I needed a spacer for each side (4 total) measuring .200".  I scribed a line and then manually cut them and was able to consistantly be about .010" over is all, just enough to kiss them on the belt sander and debur them.



Four spacers cut, one already welded in the background to the underside of the framework.



Close-up.



And top frame perimeter completed with tile test fit. 



Tonight I can get the legs done and I will frame out a lower section for another 12" tile closer to the floor.  My thinking is by having a heavy tile lower on the table it will make it not so top-heavy and be more stable.  Plus this way she can put a small planter or something decorative on the bottom shelf.

Stay tuned for the completed project.....

Mike.


----------



## Ironken

RandyM said:


> Well, it was time to do a bolt bin up-grade. The one I had was a yellow commercial oversize unit that served its purpose very well. But, with Craig's List you can now do some serious organizing. I found this 100 drawer unit with dividers and couldn't pass up the deal. I decided it couldn't sit on the floor and now was an opportunity to organize my threaded rod supply as well. I made a three bin rack as part of the stand. I think it turned out pretty well. Here is my starting and ending pics of the fun.
> 
> Let's see your creations.
> 
> View attachment 78443
> View attachment 78444
> View attachment 78445
> View attachment 78446
> View attachment 78447
> View attachment 78448
> View attachment 78449
> View attachment 78450
> View attachment 78451



I am stealing your rod rack idea!


----------



## Ironken

A gate job that I just finished. The customer wanted some sports team logos cut out and attached.

The pics of the emblems are after I applied the copper patina.


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## Ironken

Looking at some of the work you guys have done makes me wanna sell my equipment and take up knitting! Some big talent here.


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## RandyM

Ironken said:


> I am stealing your rod rack idea!



Excellent, I am glad you like the idea. Make sure we get to see your handy work.


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## NCjeeper

I really need a plasma cam.


----------



## Ironken

NCjeeper said:


> I really need a plasma cam.



Buy two.......and send one my way


----------



## NCjeeper

Ok. Let me whip out my credit card.


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## Ironken

Haha! Have you looked at the Lincoln Torchmate? They make from 2x2 on up. Looks pretty skookum.


----------



## NCjeeper

I just looked them up. They are cute.


----------



## zmotorsports

A little repair job I did about a week and a half ago.  I had a hitch adapter to repair for myself and one for a client so I thought I would knock them out.

I have repaired about a dozen hitches and ball mounts in this manner now over the past 10 or so years and they have held up extremely well although they are a bit time consuming to do so if you have to take them to a shop to have done, it may not be cost effective.  It is a common issue to have the hitch pin holes elongate over time (mostly miles).

Hitch pin clearance in elongated pin hole.



Some 1" 8620 I had on the shelf.



I used a 1" diameter sleeve with .625" hole drilled to accept a standard hitch pin, actually slightly bored out a few thousandths more.  I then chamfered the sleeve to accept a weld bead yet be flush with the surrounding stinger.  I then bored the elongated hole out to .998" so it would be an interference fit into the stinger before welding using some 309L stainless steel TIG rod.  I like the 309 due to the slightly different composition material but also because it gives a slightly better elongation characteristics that seem to hold up better to the shock loads present on the hitches when in use.

Machining the sleeve as well as the side bushings/reducers for the receiver part of the hitch.  I have the steel chucked up in my new 5C collet chuck on the lathe.



Picture of the sleeve pressed in and TIG welded.



Couple pictures of the first pass around the reducer.






Couple pictures of the cover pass with a slight weave to increase the size of the fillet.






All in all a pretty straightforward repair but it give a lot more surface area for the hitch pin to spread the load over.

Mike.


----------



## FOMOGO

Nice fix, and welds. As I'm sure you have, I use the same basic  method for mounting bosses on bike and car frames.  Still waiting to get some time in on TIG. Have had all the gear for several yrs, just need to find the time. Mike


----------



## zmotorsports

FOMOGO said:


> Nice fix, and welds. As I'm sure you have, I use the same basic  method for mounting bosses on bike and car frames.  Still waiting to get some time in on TIG. Have had all the gear for several yrs, just need to find the time. Mike



Thanks.  Yes, I also use the same process for mounting items to tubular frames on bike and auto chassis.  Back when I was fabricating sand drag chassis I especially used this process a lot.

Mike.


----------



## Firestopper

Update on the plate rack that was added on. It seems the truss design worked out well. The upper rack holds full 4' x 8' sheets of various gauge, I currently have 8 sheets resting on a 3/4" plywood sheet. The plywood sheets where laid-out prior to stacking. Two bold sharpie lines line up with the support arms (visible from the fork lift seat) for reinstalling stack once a sheet had been pulled.
The lower sheet rack holds half sheets and various other remnants supported by plywood as well. 
A simple solution for keeping the floor space clear. The lowest arms are 8' from the floor to keep drive through clear.






The old shop is now open for indoor parking. 
Happy Fathers day to you dads!


----------



## Smithdoor

Flat bed truck bed 27 ft long
Note some body work was also need.

Dave


----------



## TOOLMASTER

In my bizzz you weld all kinds of stuff....

along with a lot of woodworking,electrical,pneumatic,leather,plastic,,just about everything under the sun


----------



## Smithdoor

Here one just finish with a new $93.00 welder
All the parts are scrap iron The table is made from 9" x 15 channel legs are 4 x 2 x 1/4 tubing. Even the wheels and casters  are from salvaged pile.
It a small table for small work I have in past years had table made 1" [25.4mm]  plate do not want need table that size any more
I am only work on hobby work now so "keep it is small"

If you look at the right side were the MIG gun is hanging the gray tube side out for longer work.
The wheels and casters are set so a 4 x 4 can be place under the table legs for heavy work and pounding.

Dave


----------



## Firestopper

Made a rolling mill base for a friend, the design worked out well so far, but the real test will be when we move the machine to his shop. 
Main frame; 3/8" x 4"x4" angle iron.
Castor mount plates; 3/8"x4" CR flat bar
Castor supports; 1/4"x3"x3" structural tubing 
Leveling feet brackets; 1/4"x3"x3" cut at 45º
The design is a cantilever castor affording a wide base for rolling the mill from trailer to shop. We plan on using a Drop deck trailer for the move and his driveway is quite steep so I wanted to have a decent foot print to keep the machine stable while rolling.
The iron worker notched the corner joints in two bites, I wanted a strong joint so a miter joint was not used as this would have only given an 8" weld. The notched joint style provides 12" of weld per joint. 



The CR castor plates where broken to 22.5º to end up parallel with the ground once they where welded to the 45º cut on the structural tubbing.



The leveling feet where drilled to 11/16" and a piece of 3/4" round bar was turned to index into the hole of the bracket. The round bar was also drilled/tapped for the leveling feet (1/2"-13)


Prior to welding the frame, we set the mill onto a large piece of cardboard to trace the base  and locate the mounting holes. A long custom made transfer punch was turned for this and the time spent was wort it to locate the holes. The template also helped with ensuring correct spacing to avoid the large radius found on the inside corners of the thicker angle iron.


Before welding the frame the template was use to transfer the mounting holes allowing us to drill/tap two sections of angle iron. The welding table was marked allowing us to verify squareness and correct spacing. The hole towards the back of the frame is for the coolant drain plug (also drilled prior to welding frame).


The frame will be 1" off the ground once castors are mounted. Hopefully enough space to allow us to transition from the trailer to the floor.


All vertical joint where welded up hill for decent penetration. The Miller 350P was set to 475IPM and skip welding was used to control distortion.


The test fit....I was nervous as I was alone for the pick, but with a come-along and fork lift,I was able to pick the mill up and keep her level.




Fit like a glove : )



The leveling feet took the load off the castors with little effort using a 8" crescent wrench.




The last photo illustrates the castor clearance while swiveling 360º with about 3/16" clearance at its closest point.
A fun project and for a cool fellow member. Mark spent time assisting me with the build and was helpful. I'm sure he can't wait to get her home and start milling.
Tomorrow will be prime and paint.
Thanks for looking!
Turn and burn...
Paco


----------



## Ironken

Be proud of that job, firestarter! That's art.


----------



## Subwayrocket

This is a stainless cover for a table they do clean work on . Welded up the corners .


----------



## Smithdoor

Drawing of welding bench






Smithdoor said:


> Here one just finish with a new $93.00 welder
> All the parts are scrap iron The table is made from 9" x 15 channel legs are 4 x 2 x 1/4 tubing. Even the wheels and casters  are from salvaged pile.
> It a small table for small work I have in past years had table made 1" [25.4mm]  plate do not want need table that size any more
> I am only work on hobby work now so "keep it is small"
> 
> If you look at the right side were the MIG gun is hanging the gray tube side out for longer work.
> The wheels and casters are set so a 4 x 4 can be place under the table legs for heavy work and pounding.
> 
> Dave
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 133639


----------



## Subwayrocket

Got tired of my cell phone laying on my shop table. Now it sits nicely by the computer. Rubber pads on bottom. 304 ss
-------------------------------------------------


----------



## FOMOGO

Nice work. Looks like it would hold up a phone booth in addition to the cell phone. Mike


----------



## Subwayrocket

304 scraps I have laying around ...but hey there's no kill like overkill . The top weld, the ledge is a "no filler" fusion weld .


----------



## Firestopper

Had a small production run of 15 carts over the past couple days. It had been some time since I built a batch but a few years ago we where crancking out 300-350 units per year for several years. Normally, a production run would be 60 units at a time but homeland security funding has dried up resulting in slow sales. Anyway, our inventory was depleted and another batch was started.

The dedicated jig table is used for building four out of five components in three different models  we offer.  The cool part is the compact overall size of the rolling jig table and the fact that all the individual pieces to be welded are pulled from said table in the correct position from support brackets and shelving. The main top plate is 3/4" and to simply look at the table , one would think its scrap.

This is the main frame jigged up for welding. The two long 1"x1" has to be loaded a certain way with seams down and the left rail has two extra holes for the indexing pin on the telescoping feature of the cart. Every thing is pulled from the cart itself for welding, so no wasted movement grabbing parts. The end piece is 3/8" x 1" flat bar welded to 14 ga.
The top cross members are 1/4" x 1" flat bar and keep the spine board centered when loading a patient. This is repeated until all main frames are complete.


The other end of the table is the axel jig and can be adapted for larger axels via threaded holes allowing bolting of secondary jigs. In this demonstration, we are building axels for 10" wheels (urban model). Axels are 5/8" CR welded to 3/4"x 3" sleeves welded to pre-bent 1/4"x1" flat bar.


This part of the jig table is used to weld up the support feet (components only). This shares the same area of the jig used for the main frame with added stops for the 3/8"x 1" flat bar.


Main frames cleaned up and ready for the individual components (axels and support feet).


Individual jigs are used to index the feet and axel and are used at the same time to complete the main frame.
The finished frames are then loaded onto a transport fixture that can carry 40 frames to the powder coaters for sand blasting and finish. Making unloading with a fork lift a breeze.


The handle bars require fairly close bending to fit into a dedicated jig for welding a cross member and drilling 5/16" holes for the rotating feature of the bars.
My son has returned from the military and has been by my side for the entire batch. I cut him loose on the bandsaw, de-burring station, and bender.


A small level is used when flipping the 12 ga. x 1" round tubbing for secondary bending.


The handel bar jig allows for clamping these awkward pieces for welding and drilling. Drill bushings are used for all seven required holes per cart. No measuring required for any holes. A secondary de-burring operation is required when drilling all holes except the handle bars. A s/s push pin is used for the telescoping feature of the cart so no burrs can exist in the inside of the tubing. A Burr-Zit cutter is used for this after drilling all holes eliminating the small outside and inside burrs that drilling leaves behind.


The double drill bushing ensure a straight and centered hole and is the only holes drilled by hand.


----------



## Firestopper

The toe plates are cut from 1/8" x 7" flat strap and are notched on iron worker shear and de-burred prior to breaking on the manual press. Once all pieces are bent they get loaded on the main frame jig for welding. Two 3/4" square tubing are welded to the toe plate, the left tubing has a hole close to the end for the s/s push pin.




The entire package ready for loading for the trip to the paint shop.


Over all it took 21 hours from start to finish, thats making individual components from raw materials. This was the first batch made in the new shop and it was nice having the room for multiple tasks.  This was also the first time I had help from  start to finish and I could not be prouder of my sons help. He stepped up every step of the way and jumped in any time I grimaced from shoulder pain. I'm gonna miss his help when he gets re-employed, but for now just enjoy his company and shop development. 
Yes, he made some decent money on the project.
This is what the product will look like once assembled ad ready for shipping. The RescuExpress litter is in the stowed position. The toe plate is retracted and the handle bars rotate 180º for a wheel barrel feel. The end user can carry unto 700 lbs as the center of gravity works well. Check out my web page @ RescuExpress.com for more specification and video. We've been making these since 2003 and have over 1700 units in service across the US and Canada.


I wanted to share a small insight into home production. These 15 carts will probably last me into next year and get crated in groups of five for sale and kept in a sea container.
Thanks for looking
 Turn and burn!
Paco


----------



## dlane

Very Nice units Paco , did you develop these units / companie from the start ? , nice gig.


----------



## Firestopper

Thank you sir,

Yes, I developed the prototype and sold the first 12 units to start the patent funding. The first ones where hand built and hand bent and shot with corvette yellow paint. The whole endeavor was challenging for me as I continued to work my normal career. I was $26k in the hole the first year as attorneys fees, testing fees etc.  where killing me but after entering the EMS expo in Las Vegas (another $12K for three days) sales went crazy and I found entire states buying groups of 60-80  units. 
I then made a deal with a single buyer (Disaster Response Solutions) and they buy them in groups of five. He continues to attend shows and expos as he provides entire turn key trailers,pulling rigs etc. completely loaded for disaster response. He also has them in the government (GSA) listings. He puts a ton of time in advertising and selling so its been nice for me as I'm a worker bee. 
I realized something during this past run. When I first started building these I didn't need cheaters (reading glasses) and now I can't weld without them so it has been a long run.
Many of the machines you see in our work space are a result of reinvesting as I know this too will pass like any good thing. So we are now more versatile and offer more metal working services. I really love working with my hands and mind and god willing, I will continue for as long as I can.
I hope to inspire as many folks to achieve their dreams as I have had great inspiration from others and continue to learn and grow. My book is more than half closed, but I look forward to another day.
I should also add, my wife has been by my side and can assemble a unit in under 8 min. She takes care of all paper work associated with a" C" corp. and always encouraged me to follow my passions. I have not been alone in this.
Take care,
Paco


----------



## dlane

Nice, I'm sure emergency responce equipment will become more in demand ,as the world is getting out of control / stupid, have you considered useing chromoly as waight reduction ?.


----------



## Superburban

firestopper said:


> Thank you sir,
> 
> Yes, I developed the prototype and sold the first 12 units to start the patent funding. The first ones where hand built and hand bent and shot with corvette yellow paint. The whole endeavor was challenging for me as I continued to work my normal career. I was $26k in the hole the first year as attorneys fees, testing fees etc.  where killing me but after entering the EMS expo in Las Vegas (another $12K for three days) sales went crazy and I found entire states buying groups of 60-80  units.
> 
> Paco



Have you thought about some sort of a hitch, so it could be pulled by a little four wheeler? I could see that being an advantage out west here.

Nice web site.


----------



## Firestopper

dlane said:


> Nice, I'm sure emergency responce equipment will become more in demand ,as the world is getting out of control / stupid, have you considered useing chromoly as waight reduction ?.


The unit comes in at 53 lbs, and is limited by the carefree tires to 700 lb. carry capacity and not approved for towing as per testing/certification. Building the litters from chromoly would drive up the cost up too much and double or triple the manufacture time. I really don't see much more demand with whats already out there and homeland security funding drying out. Other markets for this product might be the mining industry but MSHA is even more stifling than OSHA. 

The load will be ready for pick up this Friday, I'll post up some assembly photos and crating shots as well. Thanks for the questions and interest, always good to get feedback.
Paco


----------



## Subwayrocket

Next project. Have to cut in half the mobile base I made . The width is good but I have to add 4 inches to fit a different mill in the background...i'm not building another base ...lol


----------



## Subwayrocket

She's parted ...now to add 4 inches . Luckily the width still works 
---------------------------------------


----------



## Subwayrocket

She's done ...Mill base is now 4-1/2 inches longer . Glad to be done with this thing ...lol


These are where the corner bolts go thru , and the weight is at. Cut sections of square tube and welded it in there . .


Had to use a long nose cup to weld up in there on the sides ...


All the holes are for plug welds . Perfect job for the 211C Mig machine .


Clamped in place and started tacking


Broke out the MIG for the welds where I didnt need to stay flush


All done finally . Added 2 more stabilizers on the sides also .  Engine hoist tomorrow and then I can finally take a break !


----------



## TOOLMASTER

a few projects ..first pic is from 35 years ago when i got my miller 250 mig

my helper in the last pic ;-)


----------



## Firestopper

The powder coating took longer than expected but everything worked out fine. The pallets and crate components where built and cut while we where waiting for the painters.


Assembly took a couple of hours including securing to the pallets. The stacks of five are secured using nylon 1/2" flat webbing length wise and two 3/4" steel banding across.


Heavy cardboard edge protectors keep the finish looking nice.
These are the labels that are used per cart.




A detailed view of the handle bars in the deployed position. The simply rotate 180º and stop on the top bar that extends 1" on both sides.


The crating.




Shrink wrapped and ready for shipping.


well it seems I finished in time. Turns out I ruptured my left bicep tendon yesterday morning at work. Looking like surgery is is my only option as I'm left handed and can't afford to lose permanent strength. I'll be down for a while nursing my wing back to heath.
No turning or burning for me......


----------



## Subwayrocket

Now those are some nice hand trucks firesstopper !   

Here are some racks I made to replace sagging ones in a buddies spray foam rig. Fabbed up 4 of these . I don't think these will be sagging anytime soon.


----------



## Firestopper

looking good Subway!


----------



## Heckle and Jeckle

Needing a method for moving a frame around, built this landing gear. Pick it up from the front horns and roll it around like a wheelbarrow. It is clamped to a small section of the rails not boxed yet.


----------



## zmotorsports

firestopper said:


> The powder coating took longer than expected but everything worked out fine. The pallets and crate components where built and cut while we where waiting for the painters.
> View attachment 137107
> 
> Assembly took a couple of hours including securing to the pallets. The stacks of five are secured using nylon 1/2" flat webbing length wise and two 3/4" steel banding across.
> View attachment 137108
> 
> Heavy cardboard edge protectors keep the finish looking nice.
> These are the labels that are used per cart.
> View attachment 137109
> 
> View attachment 137110
> 
> A detailed view of the handle bars in the deployed position. The simply rotate 180º and stop on the top bar that extends 1" on both sides.
> View attachment 137111
> 
> The crating.
> View attachment 137112
> 
> View attachment 137113
> 
> Shrink wrapped and ready for shipping.
> View attachment 137114
> 
> well it seems I finished in time. Turns out I ruptured my left bicep tendon yesterday morning at work. Looking like surgery is is my only option as I'm left handed and can't afford to lose permanent strength. I'll be down for a while nursing my wing back to heath.
> No turning or burning for me......


\

Great work as always Paco.  Sorry to hear about your injury.  I wish you a speedy recovery.

Mike.


----------



## Firestopper

Thanks Mike, 
After the Ortho doc reviewed the MRI, he's now saying nine to eleven months of recovery after surgery.


----------



## sanddan

Subwayrocket said:


> Now those are some nice hand trucks firesstopper !
> 
> Here are some racks I made to replace sagging ones in a buddies spray foam rig. Fabbed up 4 of these . I don't think these will be sagging anytime soon.
> 
> View attachment 137221
> 
> View attachment 137222



Beautiful welds Mr rocket


----------



## sanddan

firestopper said:


> Thanks Mike,
> After the Ortho doc reviewed the MRI, he's now saying nine to eleven months of recovery after surgery.



Sorry to hear Paco, hope you have a speedy recovery.


----------



## Subwayrocket

sanddan said:


> Beautiful welds Mr rocket


 Thanks much sanddan . Hopefully I can get my milling skills up to par too ... I had some good people help me out with the welding but it's a desert for machinists out here in northeast PA .  Video's are great , but no substitute for some face to face mentoring .  . . and Hope you heal up fast Paco !  
~Steve


----------



## Franko

firestopper said:


> After the Ortho doc reviewed the MRI, he's now saying nine to eleven months of recovery after surgery.



That sucks, Paco. Get well as soon as you can.


----------



## Firestopper

Thank you guys, I'm trying to stay positive. The whole medical process is dragging on and a bit frustrating. Recovery time starts after surgery, so I'm ready to get it done and start the count down. 
Take care,
Paco


----------



## Tony Wells

I can sympathize, Paco. My surgeon told me a year......which will be next April. It's hard to "take it easy" and try to rehab, and build muscles back up all at the same time. Frustrating? Absolutely! But you'll get through it.


----------



## FOMOGO

Welded up 5 beam brackets for the roof support beams ( 4x10's) over the deck off the upper level on the new shop. Got to run some vertical, and it came out ok for doing so little welding the last few years. Took longer to drill all the holes than to it did to make the rest of the bracket. Cheers, Mike


----------



## FOMOGO

firestopper said:


> Thank you guys, I'm trying to stay positive. The whole medical process is dragging on and a bit frustrating. Recovery time starts after surgery, so I'm ready to get it done and start the count down.
> Take care,
> Paco



  Sorry to hear about your injury. Let us know how your doing. I'm about 7 months out on the fractured vertebra and things are getting gradually better. Hope your surgery goes well, and take it slow on the recovery. Come to think of it, I recall you telling me the same thing. Hopefully your a little smarter than me.  Cheers, Mike


----------



## Firestopper

Today is the day, three hours to repair the mess in the left shoulder. No use of the arm for 12 weeks ,then 11-12 months of lite duty. You guys are my inspiration in getting through this ordeal. Thanks for the positive words as always.


----------



## FOMOGO

Good luck my friend, and try to enjoy some of that time off. Cheers, Mike


----------



## Franko

Good fortune with the repair, Paco.


----------



## eugene13

What do you get when you mix a 1968 Jaguar (pronounced jag you are in British) with a 1967 E-type independant rear suspension, fold it into a 20 year old home made frame, add an aftermarket radiator and front end, and top it with a 90 year old Model - T body? A lot of fun and time well spent with a neighbor. We're finished with the mock-up and I'm now working on the motor mounts.


----------



## FOMOGO

I reckon that would be a Jags"T"er. Seems historically It's usually about sticking an American V8 in a light  weight British body ( have one of those in the works myself ). Pretty cool going the other way around.  I've always liked the look of the inboard discs, but it seems there were issues with the diff and caliper seals going away from the heat transmitted by braking and exhaust routing. The exhaust routing should be an easy fix. A cross-member with a 3/16" wall tube section to keep exhaust outboard, away from the rotors, and it seems there was a fix for the rotors too, but I can't recall exactly what it was. Rotor hub material maybe. Cheers, Mike


----------



## eugene13

i don't know what we're going to do with the exhaust, the big challenge will be mounting the rear end and getting it to work right, I don't think the inboard discs heating up will be a problem, this is a cruiser, not a racer, check out the thread Rat Rod Lakes Pipe, thanks


----------



## eugene13

Here's the front motor mounts, keep it simple, the upper mounts, before and after me and my die grinder, and installed.  Bending the mid mount, Bill wanted to use the OEM isolator so I had to build an adapter, it looks a little "klunky" but it duplicates a structure in the E-Jag cowl.  the next logical step is the transmission mount but we're waiting on parts so it's on the jig for some surgery, the last picture is of the radius rod mount


----------



## FOMOGO

Looking good. Mike


----------



## eugene13

heres how the rear end is bolted to the chassis, The Weldor Cometh, my son Bryan , he works at the power plant when he's not here building race cars or hot rods, all clamped to the jig and ready to weld, close up of the connection, check out the fish plates on the mitered joints


----------



## Subwayrocket

Welded a speaker... huh ?  Why ?  I got a nice pair of 1980's Cerwin Vega speakers on garbage day a while back. They needed woofers, no prob...there were high quality woofers available (bought Dayton 295-120) and I had some spare tweeters that were for a set of reference monitors. Problem was that I could not find a good quality 6" midrange to fit this cabinet.  The 5-1/4" mid in the pic and video got very good reviews but it didn't fit the hole in the cabinet.  I was going to try and make a spacer, I cut the flange off the old mid speakers and was going to use it as a template. Angle grinder with cutoff wheel and zipped the steel flange off the oem Cerwin mid speakers , dropped the new 5-1/4" mids into that 6" flange disc and decided why not just weld them on.  I'd like to say I planned it but it's just kind of how it went. This is around 35-40 amps , 1/16" tungsten, 0.045"  625 Filler wire . Quick zaps all the way around and it stayed just warm to the touch ....the big chill blocks did their job.  First pic is the flanges to be welded on the new speakers. Second pic is them done. 
Near end of the vid shows all the welds and the untouched cone and paper.
------------------------------------------------



---------------------------------------------------------


----------



## Ironken

Subwayrocket said:


> Welded a speaker... huh ?  Why ?  I got a nice pair of 1980's Cerwin Vega speakers on garbage day a while back. They needed woofers, no prob...there were high quality woofers available (bought Dayton 295-120) and I had some spare tweeters that were for a set of reference monitors. Problem was that I could not find a good quality 6" midrange to fit this cabinet.  The 5-1/4" mid in the pic and video got very good reviews but it didn't fit the hole in the cabinet.  I was going to try and make a spacer, I cut the flange off the old mid speakers and was going to use it as a template. Angle grinder with cutoff wheel and zipped the steel flange off the oem Cerwin mid speakers , dropped the new 5-1/4" mids into that 6" flange disc and decided why not just weld them on.  I'd like to say I planned it but it's just kind of how it went. This is around 35-40 amps , 1/16" tungsten, 0.045"  625 Filler wire . Quick zaps all the way around and it stayed just warm to the touch ....the big chill blocks did their job.  First pic is the flanges to be welded on the new speakers. Second pic is them done.
> Near end of the vid shows all the welds and the untouched cone and paper.
> ------------------------------------------------
> View attachment 143492
> View attachment 143493
> 
> ---------------------------------------------------------




Nice job! Why the inconel filler?


----------



## Subwayrocket

Ironken said:


> Nice job! Why the inconel filler?


 Thank you Sir ! I didn't know what kind of steel they used for speaker baskets and whether there was any compositional difference between the flange I cut off the speaker from 1980 and the new one . I know the 625 would wet in quick and smooth to whatever it is ...also i've got alot of 625 rod in 0.045 over here . Sure ER70 would have likely worked just fine but I knew the 625 would work . I figure it was a one shot deal with the pressed cardboard and the paper so close on the back side. The chill blocks are the biggest factor, they wick away heat from going toward the paper.  I used the same chill blocks behind these 304 Stainless corners i welded, it's some kind of cover for something at my buddies work, 30 thou thick , no back purge , just alum chill blocks .
------------------------------------------------------


----------



## Ironken

Subwayrocket said:


> Thank you Sir ! I didn't know what kind of steel they used for speaker baskets and whether there was any compositional difference between the flange I cut off the speaker from 1980 and the new one . I know the 625 would wet in quick and smooth to whatever it is ...also i've got alot of 625 rod in 0.045 over here . Sure ER70 would have likely worked just fine but I knew the 625 would work . I figure it was a one shot deal with the pressed cardboard and the paper so close on the back side. The chill blocks are the biggest factor, they wick away heat from going toward the paper.  Same chill blocks behind these 304 Stainless corners, some kind of cover for something at my buddies work, 30 thou thick , no back purge , just alum chill blocks .
> ------------------------------------------------------
> View attachment 143499



That's a good plan, Subway! I may have to put some inco filler in my arsenal for those hail mary repairs. My current hail mary filler is 309 or 312. Your buddy's SS corner joint looks good. Chill blocks can (as your buddy demonstrated) can trap enough Ar behind the joint to shield. My go to in those scenarios is Solar Flux Type B. I love that stuff, hell I put it on my waffles.


----------



## Subwayrocket

Ironken said:


> That's a good plan, Subway! I may have to put some inco filler in my arsenal for those hail mary repairs. My current hail mary filler is 309 or 312. Your buddy's SS corner joint looks good. Chill blocks can (as your buddy demonstrated) can trap enough Ar behind the joint to shield. My go to in those scenarios is Solar Flux Type B. I love that stuff, hell I put it on my waffles.


If u need a little 625 or others I could prolly hook you up. Btw none of my buddy's weld. I am the "buddy" ...And they never bring me easy weld repairs...Always thin Aluminum, 2T engine cases , thin stainless like above. All barter system with me on the short end... ...Lol


----------



## Ironken

Subwayrocket said:


> If u need a little 625 or others I could prolly hook you up. Btw none of my buddy's weld. I am the "buddy" ...And they never bring me easy weld repairs...Always thin Aluminum, 2T engine cases , thin stainless like above. All barter system with me on the short end... ...Lol



That is a very generous offer my friend, thank you. I may hit you up on that one later. I am sorry for misreading your post.....I thought that was your buddies corner joint. It looks good though. Motorcycle cases have always been a crap shoot for me with the unknown alloys or oil impregnation. Some of them weld up like dog squeeze and others dimes. Oddly enough, old Harley cases have treated me well. Must be all those Milwaukee's Best recycled beer cans. 

I learned something from you with the 625 filler and am gunna steal your trick! I hope you don't mind. Until now, I was not aware that inco filler could be used to join carbon and stainless steels. In my 'ol bag o tricks it goes.

I feel your pain. I operate on the barter system with my bros as well and usually end up taking the hit. They don't do it intentionally but, as you well know, they don't quite grasp how many thousands we have tied up in equipment, consumables, etc. That's not to mention the years of toil that we went through honing our skills to the point that we can spend 3 hours fixing their $10 p.o.s. for a few beers. 

This  leads me to a rant.......hang on!
When we were living in California, my neighbor had a portable car wash business. He asked me to build some sizable aluminum racks for his box van. The deal was I purchase materials, fab, install. He wanted to pay me in....yep....car washes. I responded, "are you sh##tin' me"? He reminded me how much he had invested in his rig. I told him that he was far better at his craft than I was at fabricating and he should go to a larger shop and make them that same offer. I think he figured out I was being a dick at that point.


----------



## Subwayrocket

Ironken said:


> I feel your pain. I operate on the barter system with my bros as well and usually end up taking the hit. They don't do it intentionally but, as you well know, they don't quite grasp how many thousands we have tied up in equipment, consumables, etc. That's not to mention the years of toil that we went through honing our skills to the point that we can spend 3 hours fixing their $10 p.o.s. for a few beers.
> 
> This  leads me to a rant.......hang on!
> When we were living in California, my neighbor had a portable car wash business. He asked me to build some sizable aluminum racks for his box van. The deal was I purchase materials, fab, install. He wanted to pay me in....yep....car washes. I responded, "are you sh##tin' me"? He reminded me how much he had invested in his rig. I told him that he was far better at his craft than I was at fabricating and he should go to a larger shop and make them that same offer. I think he figured out I was being a dick at that point.


  That is hilarious ....and OK , so i'm not the only one !   Yeah they have no clue .  They see three one half inch welds inside an KTM 250 engine and think ahh that was like 3 minutes . They don't grasp all the prep, , seeing how far the crack really goes, V grooving the crack, die grinding, making round, copper chill block/backing blocks ....  As for the 625 , yeah it's good for dissimilars . It's good for steel that you dont know exactly what it is . It's also a very good filler for cast iron .


----------



## Ironken

Subwayrocket said:


> That is hilarious ....and OK , so i'm not the only one !   Yeah they have no clue .  They see three one half inch welds inside an KTM 250 engine and think ahh that was like 3 minutes . They don't grasp all the prep, , seeing how far the crack really goes, V grooving the crack, die grinding, making round, copper chill block/backing blocks ....  As for the 625 , yeah it's good for dissimilars . It's good for steel that you dont know exactly what it is . It's also a very good filler for cast iron .



OK, now you have piqued my interest. I sold my last bike not that long ago, a KTM 250SX.....no place good to ride around here. Do you ride? I have been working on the bill nazi for months. I think that I need a KTM 500EXC and supermoto it, as stated earlier her patience is thin with my purchases. The wife's offer is that I can buy one if she can get a Yamaha scooter. Nooooop, I'm afraid she will kill herself on that underpowered p.o.s. in traffic and little riding experience. Stalemated! She knew my concern and that I wouldn't make that deal. 

I'm glad to know 625 works well with Cast. My go to on that is Al or Si bronze.


----------



## Subwayrocket

Yes I ride. KTM 300 XC , SX head . Get a small trailer, lotta rides a dual sports always going on. Here's some riding vid I took. I ride 40 B in the ECEA . ----------------------


----------



## Firestopper

Dang, not much room for error with those trees. Looks like fun tho.


----------



## Ironken

Subwayrocket said:


> Yes I ride. KTM 300 XC , SX head . Get a small trailer, lotta rides a dual sports always going on. Here's some riding vid I took. I ride 40 B in the ECEA . ----------------------



40B class has some fast boys in it! Great. Now you are igniting the bike bug....thanks! Just kidding. You're hookin' right along thru them trees. Love it! I may even watch your vid twice.


----------



## Subwayrocket

GoPro makes everything look flat and easy, fisheye loses perspective. That trail gets pretty nasty about a minute 30 in.... let's just go right off topic then...What the heck, here's 2 more !
-------------------------


----------



## RandyM

You guys should start a separate thread, this one needs to get back on track. Thanks.


----------



## Ironken

RandyM said:


> You guys should start a separate thread, this one needs to get back on track. Thanks.



That's my fault.


----------



## mzayd3

It was on a track...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Subwayrocket

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.

http://www.hobby-machinist.com/thre...-rides-post-your-pics-vids.54424/#post-450939


----------



## Silverbullet

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.


----------



## Ironken

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.


That is some great looking riding Sub! I am envious. Back on track it is. Thanks for posting some knobby porn.


----------



## Glenn Brooks

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.


----------



## Ironken

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.



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?


----------



## Glenn Brooks

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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## Ironken

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.


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## Glenn Brooks

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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## Ironken

I don't think the steel mill in my home town (Evraz) rolls rail section that small. I do know that we used to get a bunch of Nippon Steel rail at my old job. If I had connections in our MOW dept, I would see if I could get some contacts for you but, I am in the operating craft and have few dealings with MOW. LB Foster has a sales office here in Kansas City as I said. If you end up dealing with them for spikes, etc. and need me to pick up, palletize and put it on a truck line for you, I will.


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## Glenn Brooks

Thanks Ken,  I appreciate your offer.  I think I will talk to them and see what they say about price and quantity. 

Glenn


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## Plum Creek

Wow! Really nice work to all of you! After seeing all the beautiful welds I won't be showing any closeups.
Last years project was replacing a roller frame on the excavator. The poor thing spent the first 18 years of its life loading pine ash slurry and had accumulated a thin layer hardened ash material on the frame.  Unfortunately this layer held moisture very well. It started to collapse which caused tracking issues and a variety of other problems. Not pretty welds and not all mine. My eyes couldn't take it after about 40 hours and I hired a welder to finish.


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## 12bolts

Actually Plum Creek, closeups can be a big help to improving your welding.


Plum Creek said:


> After seeing all the beautiful welds I won't be showing any closeups.


The better welders' here can make suggestions on what you might be doing wrong, or changing technique for a better weld. You certainly wont be berated or ridiculed, (at least on this forum)

Cheers Phil


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## Plum Creek

Thanks Phil. 
I will dig through my photos and see what I have of my welds. 
As I mentioned My eyes don't tolerate welding very well.  The restrictive combination of #12 lenses, cheaters, hood seals, and 500 watt halogens, doesnt always work well.


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## Joncooey

Had a customer ask me to build a stair for him, no drawings of course, engineer's going to do an 'as built' drawing after I do the design in my head and work out the kinks for him during the build.  Anyway, it turned out O.K.  Customer wanted polished steel.  Took just as long to polish as it did to build but still way cheaper than aluminum.  In the end he says "Jon, you nailed it; just what I wanted."  To which I responded "You changed your mind four times during the build, I hope it's right."


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## FOMOGO

After having been gone all summer and fall dealing with estate and family issues, I'm back home and playing catch up on my own chores. Treated myself to a Hobart 40i plasma cutter. What a revelation after 50yrs of using an OA torch. The machine weighs 33#, clean cuts 5/8", and is so quick and easy to use. I had considered the Hypertherm 65, but just couldn't justify the price  for my immediate needs. The Hobart is cnc capable, and that is on my list of projects. My first use of the unit other than a few cuts on scrap, was a slice and dice project on my backhoe fenders. I put new rear tires on the machine a few yrs ago and ran into tire chain clearance issues And as we are staying in CO a little longer this year (new grandaughter due any time now), it was time for a fix. Straightened some angled sections, and angled some straight ones. Came out pretty well, and I can see the plasma will get a lot of use. Had a young friend come to visit who was interested in metal work, so I got her some mig time in. She did quite well with the welding, but after 10 minutes with the 9" grinder she decided that was a bit much for her. I told her not to feel bad, as it wasn't that easy for me anymore either. Nice to see young folks take an interest in this stuff. Mike

Some pics of the butchery.


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## larry4406

Ok I will play.

Here is a rotissorie I built several years ago.  I featured it before over on Garage Journal, one of several other forums I frequent.

Features include: (1) arbor locks with spring loaded pins where the pin handle holds the pin in the retracted position for one man operation; (2) hydraulic jacks for raising but hitch pins in double shear to ensure arbors are concentric; (3) bushed center of gravity adjuster to raise or lower body to adjust for balance (use deep well socket and impact gun on coupling nut); (4) caster wheels with brakes at all corners - I used an oil pan drain bolt to lock wheel at 90 degrees; (5) push handles on both ends.

I studied many designs out there before building this. Most suffer from lack of keeping the arbors concentric which basically creates a bent crank and impedes rotation. I wanted to ensure concentric axis of rotation yet be able to tune the offset to get the car's CG on the axis of rotation which then balances the body. The nut and pneumatic impact make it quite easy. The hitch pins keep the axis of rotation in alignment without stress on the jacks


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## Firestopper

A repeat customer came to me with a brand new Tundra 4x4. He wanted a very specific rocker panel protection. He doesn't do anything to aggressive off road but he does tow a trailer with a Polaris 4 seater razor. That said he insisted the protection be bolted, flush as possible and strong enough to support the rig if used as a jack point if needed.

After getting the rig up on the lift, I came up with a bolt on bracket design. I also decided to three per side and only where the frame had cross members ensuring zero flex on the frame. Speaking of frame, Toyota has really stepped up their game. The frame appeared to be powder coated and very robust.
The brackets all made from 1/4" material with welded capture nuts eliminating the need for a backup wrench.


The holes where as close to the inside leg of the angle as possible.


The nuts where tacked on hot.


Stared on the actual "sliders" as these young bucks call it these days. Back in my day we called them nerf bars.
I used 2" sch. 40 and but back the ends to a 45º.

Used the iron worker notcher to noble away at the 1/4" end caps and finished them on the disc sander.


Ran four cover welds using the frame brackets to rotate the pipe. My version of a positioner


Then blended that "ugly weld".  I learned a long time ago, guys that don't know anything about fabrication don't like or appreciate exposed welds.


Used two HF floor jacks stands to support the pipe and mock up entire setup. Everything was tacked and designed on the fly as I went. A second set of bracket pieced where cut as I went for the drivers side. Only enough paint was removed to ensure a sound weld on the frame. The battery negative cable was also removed to prevent any BS later. This rig is way to computerized to not take 2 minutes to remove the - cable. The ground cable on the welder was also kept next to each bracket welded.

The set up really allowed me to fine tune the pipe into position. The inexpensive floor jack stands have a decent adjustable acme thread for fine adjusting.


The main frame brackets where tacked and the rest od the 1/4" flat strap was cut notched and taperer cut using the iron worker.
The said flat strap formed a "T" for a flex free bracket. Overall length is 5".
Notice the little notch at the pinch weld.


Once everything was verified, I welded the frame brackets vertical up and anything I could access in-place.


After complete cool down, the entire enchilada was removed to weld areas that I could not access.
Skip welding was used to prevent any distortion.

Here is a shot of the frame mount with the slider removed.


A close up of the welded 7/16" capture nuts.


Re-bolted to ensure fit. Like I stated prior, the customer wanted a tucked in clean look.



Rinse and repeat for the drivers side. Used smaller 90º magnets (HF) to hold the lower brackets in-place.


Both bars where taken to get sand blasted and powder coated satin black. They should be done in 7-10 days.
The frame was then masked off and repainted for corrosion control. Not really needed in AZ but the right thing to do non the less.
Used Zero-Rust.


All done!


Thanks for looking.

Turn and Burn!

Paco


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## ACHiPo

firestopper said:


> A repeat customer came to me with a brand new Tundra 4x4. He wanted a very specific rocker panel protection. He doesn't do anything to aggressive off road but he does tow a trailer with a Polaris 4 seater razor. That said he insisted the protection be bolted, flush as possible and strong enough to support the rig if used as a jack point if needed.
> 
> After getting the rig up on the lift, I came up with a bolt on bracket design. I also decided to three per side and only where the frame had cross members ensuring zero flex on the frame. Speaking of frame, Toyota has really stepped up their game. The frame appeared to be powder coated and very robust.
> The brackets all made from 1/4" material with welded capture nuts eliminating the need for a backup wrench.
> 
> 
> Turn and Burn!
> 
> Paco


Really nice work Paco!


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## Silverbullet

Very nice job , wish you were close to me , I need something done with my handicap van. Since I can't do it myself. I like to see a man who does work with a great eye for detail.


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## Firestopper

ACHiPo said:


> Really nice work Paco!



Thanks you sir.


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## Firestopper

Silverbullet said:


> Very nice job , wish you were close to me , I need something done with my handicap van. Since I can't do it myself. I like to see a man who does work with a great eye for detail.



If you where close to my location, I would certainly help you out my friend.


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## Firestopper

Well the powder coaters got the nerf  bars blasted and coated ahead of schedule. They where actually ready yesterday but I was on shift unable to pick them up until today.

The hardware was treated to a dash of anti-seize and lock washer added.
Passengers side:


Drivers side:




Rear passengers door open shows how tucked in they are.


Overall look.



Lastly a couple of shots from a 3 Alarm fire we had last night. incredibly hot fire melting cars (plastic parts) across the street and catching palm trees  a blaze from 70 + yards away. Freaking crazy night.

Four story student housing project University of Arizona.
Notice the power pole on fire from the radiant heat.


One of two tower cranes, the other one not seen is collapsed 


Hard to believe it rained for two days over the weekend soaking the building materials. 
Stay cool fellas,
Turn and Burn!
Paco


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## rwm

Beautiful work!
The heat from a structure fire is truly amazing and hard to understand unless you have stood nearby. keep up the good work on both fronts!
Robert


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## jbolt

firestopper said:


> Well the powder coaters got the nerf  bars blasted and coated ahead of schedule. They where actually ready yesterday but I was on shift unable to pick them up until today.
> 
> The hardware was treated to a dash of anti-seize and lock washer added.
> Passengers side:
> View attachment 270067
> 
> Drivers side:
> View attachment 270068
> 
> View attachment 270069
> 
> Rear passengers door open shows how tucked in they are.
> View attachment 270070
> 
> Overall look.
> View attachment 270071
> View attachment 270072
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Paco



Not sure I understand what the purpose is but nice work Paco!


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## Aukai

Galvanized framing for the fire?


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## Cadillac

The bars are to save the rockers when off-roading. A rock or high point will hit the bars before deforming your door jambs. And they look cool.


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## Firestopper

Aukai said:


> Galvanized framing for the fire?



I guess?  The photo was taken by our PIO. The second shot looks unfiltered. Either  way, a spectacular fire with crazy radiant heat. Honestly, the folks fighting the fire don't have time to take photos on something this size. We had to evacuate residents from the apartment across the street as well as protect exposures and extinguish the blaze. We used city busses to evacuate residents, This blaze came in around 2 AM. 
I don't have Facebook, but for those who do, TFD has a page with detailed photos of the fire and resulting damage. 



jbolt said:


> Not sure I understand what the purpose is but nice work Paco!



Like Cadillac stated, thats exactly their purpose.

Nobody wants this:


Paco


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## f350ca

Just saw your post Paco. Beautiful work. Must have been hard to buff out those welds on the ends of the bars. My welds need buffed out for astetic purposes, think Im a beter grinder than welder.

Greg


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## Firestopper

Hey Greg,

Im sure your enjoying the weather these days. 
I don't mind blending welds as the job was hourly . I will say, I rely on cheaters for any welding or I would be a "grinder" vs a welder haha.
Sucks getting old, just went double nickel on the 19th and to boot, I think the shoulder is F%^Ked again. Stupid doctor should have went open surgery on my shoulder like I originally requested. 
Today's high is 106-107º so enjoy your Canadian weather.

Paco


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## jbolt

I well aware of what nerf bars are for but being tucked in so tight offers little protection. I've see my share bars mashed into body panels where the doors wouldn't open. If it just to look cool on a daily driver then to each there own.  Again nice fab work.


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## f350ca

A lovely 80 f here today with 30% humidity. Was helping a friend put up siding the other day at 90 f but probably 80% humidity. I've enjoyed your dry 100+ weather, will take that over the humidity.

Greg


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## Firestopper

jbolt said:


> I well aware of what nerf bars are for but being tucked in so tight offers little protection. I've see my share bars mashed into body panels where the doors wouldn't open. If it just to look cool on a daily driver then to each there own.  Again nice fab work.



opening sentence of post;
A repeat customer came to me with a brand new Tundra 4x4. *He wanted a very specific rocker panel protection. He doesn't do anything too aggressive off road but he does tow a trailer with a Polaris 4 seater razor. That said he insisted the protection be bolted, flush as possible and strong enough to support the rig if used as a jack point if needed. *I achieved the customers request.

Paco


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## Aukai

I got my plasma table kit from Weld tables/Certiflat. I'm setting it up, and using ratchet straps since I do not have long clamps, it's working out. I had to tap, and fidget, but it's square, now to figure out my tack weld strategy.


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## stupoty

Firestopper said:


> Well the powder coaters got the nerf  bars blasted and coated ahead of schedule. They where actually ready yesterday but I was on shift unable to pick them up until today.
> 
> The hardware was treated to a dash of anti-seize and lock washer added.
> Passengers side:
> View attachment 270067
> 
> Drivers side:
> View attachment 270068
> 
> View attachment 270069
> 
> Rear passengers door open shows how tucked in they are.
> View attachment 270070
> 
> Overall look.
> View attachment 270071
> View attachment 270072
> 
> Lastly a couple of shots from a 3 Alarm fire we had last night. incredibly hot fire melting cars (plastic parts) across the street and catching palm trees  a blaze from 70 + yards away. Freaking crazy night.
> 
> Four story student housing project University of Arizona.
> Notice the power pole on fire from the radiant heat.
> View attachment 270073
> 
> One of two tower cranes, the other one not seen is collapsed
> View attachment 270074
> 
> Hard to believe it rained for two days over the weekend soaking the building materials.
> Stay cool fellas,
> Turn and Burn!
> Paco



wow

what is the building built from to be burning that well ?

stu


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## Aukai

Got the plasma box tacked together, still have to put the stand together, and make a catch tray....


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