Container Weld Shop build -

[BukitCase]

As usual, took a bit longer than my "wishful thinking" estimates, but the tank hold-down's done - next comes putting the casters/wheels on and setting it down on the floor - then the "hand truck handle/gauge protector", torch holster, lead hangers, hitch tongue, pick point, drawer(s), paint.... Steve

 

[BukitCase]

Today's progress...

Got a little further today, now I just need to thaw my FEET :thumbdown: - 'sposed to warm up and rain Friday, I'll take it :cool2:

Wheels on (for now), caster sockets welded on, tank still fits (yay), welder side door clears the 1" angle, even WITHOUT the EPDM on the rails - the addition of a "hand truck handle" on the front will ALSO act as a guard for the regulator - and since the tank is FIRMLY locked in place, that should work pretty good.

Kinda had to rearrange things in the garage in order to get BOTH the MM252 and the MM211 inside under lock and key (and dobermans, and 12 gauges, etc )

Once it warms up I can take all the stuff BACK off it and paint. Everything's been flash rusting so quick due to the cold/condensation, I'll likely need to wire brush everything, AGAIN

Anyway, here's sorta what it'll look like (minus the shabby chic camouflage un-paint job, that is :laughing: )...Steve

 

[dragoneggs]

Dang it, Steve/Terry... catching up on this thread tonight and I'm suddenly realizing I hate my droopy chain around my tank. And this will likely get priority over other 'what I thought' important projects. Dang it, dang it, dang it!

If I wasn't prepping for a colonoscopy, I would be in the cold shop tonight finding the stuff to slap something together. It's too far of a butt squeezing run if you know what I mean.

 

[Big Barn]

Steve:

Mark: Good luck with your exam!

 

[Oldpath05]

Re: Today's progress...

By the looks of the 3rd picture, you push down on the caster brakes, take the gas line and band off then slide tank off the back and throw it on you shoulder and carry it out to the pickup to get it refilled, or are you going to put a strap around it, use a crane?

 

[BukitCase]

"throw it on you shoulder and carry it out to the pickup to get it refilled, or are you going to put a strap around it, use a crane? "

You're right about the way the tank will get loaded/unloaded from the cart, but...

The more swear words my BACK learns as I get older, the more I'm leanin' toward making a pair of "miniature ice tongs" that'll catch the 2 slotted holes in the tank cap - I've got the "mini-jib" up at the house, just bought one of the HF "1-ton gantry cranes" (it's still in the box, short term it'll straddle the big weld table to fill in where the mini-jib can't quite reach - later, it'll get a longer I beam and be my "helper" workin' on the hoe) and I'll have the container crane down behind the shop, there's also a small 1300 lb. hoist in the OTHER shop - so when I get the "mini-tongs" made I'll make a place on the cart for them AND the tank cap. That way, anywhere I might wanna use the welder there's a lift (that ain't ME :thumbsup: )

Once the tank's free, there's always other hand trucks around - and that smaller 150 cf tank isn't as ornery as the bigger ones on the MM252...

Got three of the pieces for the carts "hand truck handle" cut out this afternoon, same size tubing (1-1/2") as the frame, then I cut 2 8" pieces of 1-1/4" to slip inside the existing verticals - half in the lower part, half in the upper; drill a couple holes in lower and upper tubing for plug welds, when I get done it'll look like one continuous piece. 1/4" FB "ears" get welded onto the uprights and drilled for pins that'll hold the cross-piece in place - that way I can do a "floating sleeve" on that crossbar for load balancing when I do the pick point.

It's nice getting far enough along to see what it'll look like... Steve

 

[BukitCase]

Got a bit more done today; extended the two "hand truck" uprights to finished length as explained in previous post. Pics show my way of making sure the extensions are straight with the original pieces, worked fine - sure glad I'm not too short on clamps

all the clamps stayed on til I did all the plug welds (4 per extension) - then I took 'em off, vee-d the joint slightly and welded the outer joints closed.

Might do a little more "patch and blend" manana, but probably just call it good; need to keep moving on this, still have a "porch roof" to fab and fly up over the doors of the container before I get going on the crane... Steve

 

[Oldpath05]

Might do a little more "patch and blend" manana, but probably just call it good; need to keep moving on this, still have a "porch roof" to fab and fly up over the doors of the container before I get going on the crane... Steve

On that last picture, looks like a little more blending is needed, I can still see the weld line on the handle, it's probably keeping you up at night, I know cause those weld lines are hard to get rid of.

You actually making that roof out of place then put it up on the container? no wonder your back hurts, I alway make roofs in place. How ever you do it gotta get get that roof done so we can start this crane build, be awful to run out of welding gas and no easy way to get it on your pickup. Seems like everytime I'm in my shop I could use a crane in several places, one crane is not enough.

My back used to hurt for 5 years everyday, chiropractors every week, wait inline, got old faster than I did, then tried this Omron electronic back massage 2 weeks straight, didn.t feel much better so stop using it, then after about three days all of sudden my back wasn't hurting so bad, after a week of non use of Omron, my back was a lot better, no more waiting in line at the chiropractor's office. I think there several brands>>> Amazon.com: Omron electroTHERAPY Pain Relief Device PM3: Health & Personal Care

 

[BukitCase]

"looks like a little more blending is needed" - yup, I did all that vertical; shoulda turned the feed down even more, didn't notice things sagging til I started blending. Still thinkin' it'll get re-done, just got antsy and started cutting out the parts for the pick point/"roll cage" (not really, but it'll LOOK like one :laughing

Stuck a piece of small square tube on the saddle of the floor jack, moved it back and forth and left/right and found the center of gravity - it's maybe an inch off dead center of the cart's "floor" - I'm still gonna make that pick point 4-way adjustable, just in case I end up puttin' something heavy in the drawer, etc - with the bottle in that front corner, it's VERY comfortable in the "hand truck" mode, perfectly balanced somewhere around 35-40 degrees tilt. The 13" tires makes it pretty easy to move around.

"You actually making that roof out of place then put it up on the container?" - Yup, it'll get built with the main struts clamped to this "secret weapon" - - and mounted similar to what I did on my 20' container's roof - -

Then, when it's already to go (with the parts that go into those container corners already welded up and LOCKED to the proper width to just "plug in"), The brush bucket AND roof will get picked up (see first pic again) by the loader, driven down the driveway to the container, and (gently ) inserted into the container corners and locked in place.

The parts that plug in will be OFFSET so the roof ends up with more coverage on the WINDWARD side of the doors, and there'll be a "tether" from the roof strut down so the windward door can be blocked open if needed.

That "brush bucket" is another project that's paid for itself multiple times - built it for tree/hedge trimming, use it for that plus a portable work platform, moving firewood (I've had over 2/3 of a cord of green maple in it, still together) - I added a front "mini-ramp" on it for the wife to get her garden cart in it easier, found out I can pull up to a good-sized compost pile and pick up the whole thing, leaves the area flat like it'd never been there -

Anyway, if I build the 10x10 "porch roof" clamped to that bucket like I plan, I can weld it out inside where my gas won't blow away - then I'll screw down the (used) roofing, so when it goes UP it'll be DONE; and with only a couple trips up a ladder to lock it in place...

Speaking of backs, mine's been this way since I was 18 (and still "invincible" ) - this area had basically a hurricane back in '63, I was working in a grocery store - warehouse was across an alley from the store. First anybody knew, the wind picked up a couple of cantaloupe crates and threw 'em thru the 1/2" plate glass rear doors, then proceeded to rip half the tarred flat roof off the warehouse and dump the pieces in that alley - followed by MORE wind and a cloudburst. Naturally, the half of the roof that went away was over the sugar, flour, and other dry goods - so all us "invincible young guys" got to move all that stuff into the store. Too much mess in the alley for ANY wheeled carts, so I had 2 "6-10's" of sugar, one on each shoulder, coming across the alley when I lost footing on a wet 2x12 and went down - happened too fast for me to do ANYTHING but get PILE-Driven into the ground with 120 pounds of sugar still on my shoulders -

Workmans comp chiropractor gave up on me after a year or so, plus I was leaving town so he showed me a couple tricks to "reset" things. These days it doesn't seem to work as well as it did, so I checked your link out -

Do you remember how long those little AAA batteries last? Seems like they'd peter out fairly quick, but I'm ready to try somethin' different - I have a blood pressure cuff that's Omron, no problems with it... Steve

 

[Oldpath05]

10x10 "porch roof"[/B] clamped to that bucket like I plan, I can weld it out inside where my gas won't blow away - then I'll screw down the (used) roofing, so when it goes UP it'll be DONE; and with only a couple trips up a ladder to lock it in place...

Do you remember how long those little AAA batteries last? Seems like they'd peter out fairly quick, but I'm ready to try somethin' different - I have a blood pressure cuff that's Omron, no problems with it... Steve

So is 2/3 cord more 3/4, no wonder people like the MM system especially when it come to adding-subtracting fractions, I still have to do that on a tape measure, your right no wonder it takes me so long to build something. I always measure firewood by 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 and 1 cord. But still sounds like a good lift for a tractor and I'm assuming the lift is done by the Case 580B, must be early 70s??

A 10'x10' roof clamped to that bucket? not quite seeing that, the bucket looks 6'x8' with two diagonal support braces going down the side, must be clamping to the diagonal braces. But way way it's going looks like you wont start that roof project til next year, looking forward seeing the pictures.

That was quite a backstory way back in 63, I was only 6 and the big thing I remember was JFK. That pile drive back injury was almost like mind 25 years ago when an ATV pile drived me, oh after a couple years any injury gets better, but what I notice is them old injuries comes back and bites you in the donkey years later, when I got in my 50s them old injuries started hurtin for certain.

The Omron with AAA alkaline batteries will last quite a while, 6 months plus of steady use, mind have been in for 4 years and still have some juice and I haven't use it in over a year. If trying it for first time, start on the low setting, if you have it on high you will know it real quick.

 

[BukitCase]

OK, ya got me; 2/3 was my "SSWAG" (SortaScientificWild-AssGuess), looked like more than 1/2 but not quite 3/4 :laughing:

Roof - I'd be more than amazed if it's started before the new year, but might be close - yeah, that bucket is 6'x8'x2' deep - I'll clamp a couple of the "purlins" (in this case, it'll all be .120" wall 2" square tube) across those braces, most likely with some extensions on the outer end to raise that purlin - the legs that lock into the container's corner sockets will be 2-1/2" tube, that just slips into the sockets snug. Legs will be not quite 2' long, gives me a 2/12 pitch so it doesn't cut down on headroom compared to the door height.

I'll set it up so those legs hang out the front enough to keep the brush bucket about a foot away from the container when the legs line up with the sockets. The approach to the container isn't completely level, so I'm pretty sure my "tinker toy collection" will come into play getting the roof angle lined up with the container (side to side) - front/back tilt is just loader curl function. Tinker toys are all 2" male/female square tube -
Notice those 7 receivers on the bucket?
Any time I wanna move/lift/pull/push something and CAN'T find a combo of those fittings to do the job, I build a couple more - hasn't happened in a while

It's good to write about these things BEFORE trying 'em, I just thought of a way to MINIMISE the monkey-motion by putting that brush bucket on the 580 BEFORE I fab the roof, setting it up next to the container sockets and MEASURING the side to side height difference, then clamp up my tinker toys with that difference BEFORE I start the frame (duh - usually I figger that out AFTER )

Good to know about the batteries, they want more than TWICE as much for their ONLY model that's rechargeable; thanks... Steve

 

[BukitCase]

Got a fair amount done on the weld cart today, mostly cut/maim/mutilate - - fabbing the lifting eye - 1-1/2" hole in 1/2" steel, took just under 45 SECONDS.
Part of the trailer hitch; the vertical piece is part of the lifting frame - - Rest of the lift frame, the short piece down low will stiffen the vertical side to side - - a closer view of the brace -

Top of the lifting frame from the back - the bolt head on the right goes into a nut that's welded onto a 2x2 piece of 1/4", which will be welded onto the top end of the vertical. Hard to see, but that bolt goes thru a 2" long SLOT which will let the FRONT (sideways) balance adjuster move along the hand truck handle without binding.

View of the front-to-back balance adjuster - both adjusters will get 1/2" nuts welded on and wing bolts to lock them in place once the balance point is found -

Front slider for left/right balance - there will be an upper "ear" welded onto the slider too, think "snug fitting clevis" -

View from the front, showing where the weld nut and wing bolt will go to lock sideways balance -

And last, the front/back balance sleeve, showing location for weld nut/wing bolt lock and the lifting eye -

NONE of that new stuff is welded, but it's lookin' like I might be burning a foot or two of wire manana :laughing: - Later... Steve

 

[Oldpath05]

Why is there such a birds nest on the first two pictures? After your done with weld cart, drop off some of that left over square tubing at my place seeings how you to much of it, no sense in letting it get all rusted up from none use.

 

[BukitCase]

The "birds nest" is whatcha get when you drill a 1-1/2" hole in 1/2" steel with an annular cutter, left it there for the pic - also left the "slug" laying there, if you want "purty" you can look at the LAST pic

Tubing - probly got somewhere between 20-25 sticks of it, 35 if you count another 10 sticks of light 1" square - most of it's tucked away out of the weather, few sticks get a little blown in rain when the wind's bein' particularly ornery. Those I need to "shinify" before welding, that problem will go bye-bye once the container's done.

Sorry, the tubing's all (eventually) spoken for for one job or another, plus the shipping'd probably bankrupt ya

Got some of the stuff in those pics welded out yesterday, today turned into "family pre-Christmas time", manana (and probably the NEXT day) it'll get (maybe) finished welded up.

No more pics yet, should have several tomorrow... Steve

 

[GLyford]

For the flash rusting issue, have you tried weld-through primer? I think I found a can or two somewhere, but haven't used enough to know how well it works.

 

[BukitCase]

Dang, I LOVE this site - never heard of weld-through primer but I'm gonna know more about it SOON - thanks, GLyford - I've been priming a lot of the steel when I get it, especially any that needs to go in ONE of my "desperation racks" (the one that can get wet under "non-ideal" rain/wind combos) - but a few pieces rust right through the primer.

My local steel supplier USED to get pre-primed steel in - same price as bare, your choice which you want - then THAT went away so I started priming my own - time-consuming process when you gotta "de-oil" first (still rusts thru the oil, just takes a bit longer) - also not cheap, $6 a can for primer - then do it AGAIN after fab...

Also, there's always 1 or 2 that I hadn't primed; only cure I'm comfy with for those is flap disk down to bare metal, fab up, prime and paint SOON...

The above is part of my decision to use one of the containers for a dedicated metal shop/storage space (other being one neighbor and all their "sub-trailer trash" friends) - at the moment I'm working in 2 covered (but not secure) "porta-sheds" I built using 2" tube frames and fiberglass roofs - When I need to, I can drive my 580B inside, pick 'em up and move 'em anywhere I have a 14' wide path.

One of those is tarped well enough for MIG welding so that's where I do most of my metal work (then lock away anything that looks portable and costs more than $10 when I'm done)

This is my "inspiration" that keeps me putting on extra layers and insulated coveralls and going outside when the weather's in the high 20's like it's been the last couple weeks (cooler than usual for this area) - I'm looking forward to a dedicated area that's dry, windless and LOCKABLE, being able to just lock the door when I'm tired at night instead of half a dozen trips carrying stuff back to a lockable area.... Steve

 

[BukitCase]

Edit - at three to five TIMES the price, I'll stick with regular primer and just shine up WELD areas

Amazon.com: weld-through primer

But thanks anyway, it's always good to know your options... Steve

 

[GLyford]

I think that's why I've only ever picked up a can or two...

 

[BukitCase]

Yeah, no kidding - a 20' stick of .120" wall 2x2 costs me just over $40 - I can usually prime around 2 sticks with one can - at $5.50 a can it's irritating. At $20 a can (another $10 a stick) it's an easy decision between that and a flap disk :laughing:

Just noticed you're in Mass; I was stationed at Ft. Devens back in late '60's, I'll shut up about the COLD now ... Steve

 

[Oldpath05]

Must be out Christmas shopping for the Misses instead finishing this weld important weld cart.