Container Weld Shop build -

[BukitCase]

Yup, been practicing my "bah humbug" since June, hasn't helped a bit - might get some done manana, no more family stuff til the 25th.

Got a couple subassemblies to weld on, one more slider to weld up and the tongue to do and it should be ready for paint (if the cans aren't frozen, that is) freezing weather's 'sposed to be back tomorrow... Steve

 

[BukitCase]

Freezing rain today, all of my various work areas are un-insulated and mostly un-heated - so I picked the smallest area, ran a 240 volt cord to it for my biggest (6kw) electric heater, and finished welding up the various subassemblies - got them clamped in place but I'll need to lay the cart on its front in order to get/keep things lined up til I can tack it all - decided I'd had enough of Ma Nature for one day, so grabbed a few pics and came back in the house.

Front overall view - - rear overall view - - side to side balance adjust - - Lifting eye/forward/aft balancer - - Other side of lifting eye - - Upper view of sideways balancer - - The underside of same - - Closeup of one of the handtruck handle mounts, will get welded where that clamp is - those thin pieces are just to keep those joints from getting too tight from the welds, will be removed afterward. - And finally, the rear sliding mount for the lifting tube (you can just see that in the background in the pic of the lifting eye lock screw)

That's it for now, feet are about thawed out so it's time to watch a couple episodes of CSI - hope to get more done manana, not sure what Mrs. Bukit's planning though ...Steve

 

[BukitCase]

Well, got a bit more done today -
Front of the cart, all subassemblies welded up - - Cart, loaded - - Cart loaded, rear view - - Hanging from mini-jib, both sliders adjusted for level - - OK, I lied - off by 0.1 degree - - Showing angle, both sliders and rigging - - Actual "hand truck" balance point when loaded - works GREAT! - -

Next comes the front retainer lip, a better rear hold-down that won't get in the way
of air flow, the trailer tongue, then paint - Merry Christmas everybody... Steve

 

[dragoneggs]

Well, got a bit more done today -
OK, I lied - off by 0.1 degree - View attachment 533402 - Showing angle, both sliders and rigging -

Maybe it is level? Did you check for equal tire pressure??? :laughing: Looking good!

 

[BukitCase]

Tire pressure shouldn't matter too much when it's hanging from the jib crane
(Good call tho, those ARE "Hazard Frought" tires):laughing: ...Steve

 

[BukitCase]

It's TOWABLE - The hitch is done except for a latch to hold it in the up position - - Hitch pivot - those are 1/2" grade 5 bolts. Pivot is double nutted, tow mode is the one with the wing nut. - - Ball hitch - tongue is 1-1/2" tubing, ball hitch is 2-1/2" - Hmmmm.... - - Hitch in the tow position - - Locked in place - - Hitch raised to be same height as the ball on my ZTR - - Which takes the weight off the casters so they can be retracted - - Casters retracted, more ground clearance than the frame itself - -

The way it's set up, I can use the tongue to lift the back of the cart up onto the ZTR's hitch - with the weight off the casters they can easily be unlatched and raised into "travel" mode and latched.

Arrival at the destination I'll lower and latch the casters, THEN lift the tongue off the hitch ball, then raise and lock the tongue and move the cart like a hand truck OR on wheels AND casters, depending on smoothness of the surface... Steve

 

[Oldpath05]

Nice group of pictures been busy-ish, looks like it's ready for sand blasting so it can be primed and painted, was you still going with kumquat?

 

[BukitCase]

Not quite ready for paint yet; spent today fabbing a positive hold-down that locks the welder in its cradle and does NOT interfere with ANYTHING - any straps I tried either made me take 'em off to open the side door of the welder, or blocked front back or BOTH vents.

After I finish that I wanna come up with a lock for the tongue when it's NOT being a trailer, and still need a front lip on the welder cradle. Still, feels good seeing it come together -

Paint - dunno about kumquat, wuz thinkin' more ecru with alternating puce and vermillion stripes; there's enough blue just with the welder, and since I never get the same tanks back I'll hafta ask Mrs. Bukit to knit me a cozy for the tank - might be a bit tricky to match those paint colors with yarn, but that can be my NEW excuse for it not bein' done :laughing: ...Steve

 

[dragoneggs]

Not quite ready for paint yet; spent today fabbing a positive hold-down that locks the welder in its cradle and does NOT interfere with ANYTHING - any straps I tried either made me take 'em off to open the side door of the welder, or blocked front back or BOTH vents.

After I finish that I wanna come up with a lock for the tongue when it's NOT being a trailer, and still need a front lip on the welder cradle. Still, feels good seeing it come together -

Paint - dunno about kumquat, wuz thinkin' more ecru with alternating puce and vermillion stripes; there's enough blue just with the welder, and since I never get the same tanks back I'll hafta ask Mrs. Bukit to knit me a cozy for the tank - might be a bit tricky to match those paint colors with yarn, but that can be my NEW excuse for it not bein' done :laughing: ...Steve

Okay quit, Steve. Had to look up a couple of those color choices. :ashamed: Do think the gigantic cozy could be a sellable product for some reason though.

 

[BukitCase]

Mark, glad I could broaden your horizons a bit - I'm not sure I'd wanna deal with anybody who actually WANTED one of those cozys, much less find out what they were gonna DO with it :ashamed: Sounds like that could easily turn into an epic dose of "bottle envy"; pretty sure Sigmund would be proud :laughing:

All seriousness aside, managed a bit more on the "CFH", aka Cart From H*** (saved the censor bot some work there )

One way to fix it when you weld 2 pieces too soon and don't wanna do it over - - One of these two pieces needed a hole, but the other one's in the way of clamping in a normal vise - - This setup saved me from having to cut these apart and start over - - So I could finish this hold-down that solidly locks the MM211 in its cradle - - I didn't want a "Mr. Pointy" to walk into later, so tucked the 45* brace UNDER, and capped the end instead - - Closer look - - And showing the slight "crush" achieved by welding the brace slightly lower than the welder handle - -

I don't have a press brake for the 20 ton press yet, so that hold-down is 2 pieces of 1/4x2 FB welded together at an angle and the welds blended .

Manana it's time to look at a latch for the tongue when it's in the vertical position - even though I always wear steel toes with metatarsal shields, there's no point in tempting fate; that tongue isn't real light :thumbdown:... Steve

 

[BukitCase]

Well, it took me about 5 minutes to come up with a "acceptable for now" tongue latch, and 4 of those was getting all the filings/brush wires off that magnet :laughing: - - Then I cut a short chunk of 1-1/4" tube and "softened" the end for a torch holder - -

'Bout one more item, then it's time to remove all the loose items and prep for paint - my steel supplier does NOT carry .105" wall tubing in ANY size, so the caster sockets (.095" wall) let 'em wobble around more than I'd like - that clamp is for a test to see if taking out that wobble makes a difference in ease of movement, and it DOES - quite a bit. So I'm either gonna shim 'em up with some 16 ga. scrap or run that bolt hole below the socket - - all the way thru the frame, weld nuts on the back side and make a couple wing bolts to lock the casters down. It won't be as much of a PITA as it sounds, because once the welder's in the container it will likely LIVE there most of the time (still will have the mm252 up at the house) - but things're gonna be a bit snug inside the container, so I DO want the cart to move around as easy as possible... Steve

 

[BukitCase]

Haven't got to the "caster stiffening" thing yet, remembered I wanted a convenient place to keep my mig pliers - so I cut a 2-1/2" piece of 1-1/4 square tube, belled out the upper end a bit, shined up one of the corners and welded it on one of the uprights - - Tacked the front - - Welded the back, had a hiccup near the end - - Figured I'd had a burnback, happens once in a while; but the wire was NOT stuck. My "five-star troubleshooting" led me to the culprit - -

Last time I looked, that 44 lb. spool still had about 1/3 left to go; guess I've been kinda busy (for a hobbyist, anyway) - Oh well, the mm211 has almost a full 12 pounder in it, guess I'll set it on top of the 252 and finish with it; nothing left to do that needs it sitting ON its cart anyway... Steve

 

[Oldpath05]

"my steel supplier does NOT carry .105" wall" <<<<<<<<<<<<<I can not understand these kinds of measurements, never seen them on tape measures, it's above my paygrade. UT weld inspectors at work use that all the time, .038, .057, .083.............I have to go to my boss and ask him how deep the weld reject is, he say 5/8" deep, ok why cant they wright that instead.

You have a place for the torch, mig pliers, I'd also add one of the barrel cleaners to the cart, I have one welded on my weld table, horizontally, I take the pliers, grab the hot barrel off the torch stick it on the end mill bit, go round and round with it, scapes all the weld spatter of, then apply Walter.

uxcell 1/2" x 1/2" 4 Flute Straight Shank HSS Spiral End Mill Milling Cutter: Long Length Drill Bits: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

Walter Surface Technologies 53F212 E-Weld Nozzle Anti Spatter Protection for Welding Nozzles, Aerosol, 13.5 oz: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

 

[Oldpath05]

When you get ready to clean the steel, you should try this $25.00 tool.>>> Rust Removal using Laser Cleaning Technology - YouTube

 

[Big Barn]

Thanks for the nozzle cleaning tip Oldpath

I will prob make a handle for the end mill.

 

[BukitCase]

"I can not understand these kinds of measurements, never seen them on tape measures, it's above my paygrade. UT weld inspectors at work use that all the time, .038, .057, .083.............I have to go to my boss and ask him how deep the weld reject is, he say 5/8" deep, ok why cant they wright that instead."

Sorry about that; my last 34 years on the job I wuz the guy those inspectors called when their stuff didn't WORK - in the course of a typical shift I needed to communicate with everybody from the production helper who wasn't sure which side of a pallet the forks went into, to the process engineer who thought EVERYBODY knew what molar weight, co-valent bonds, specific gravity, pH, and a bunch of OTHER arcane stuff meant - between that and teaching military truck drivers how to fix electronic stuff (along with troubleshooting complete TV studios over the PHONE) I learned to talk a LOT of different people's lingo...

If you WANT to learn what those .095 numbers mean in "tape measure lingo", you could get one of these

iGaging IP54 Electronic Digital Caliper -6" Display Inch/Metric/Fractions Stainless Steel Body: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

And no, I'm NOT kidding - Besides its INTENDED use, I use mine as a converter - it has 3 modes, you push the MIDDLE button - - and it switches between 0.625", 5/8", and 15.875mm (all exactly the same size, just different ways of saying it) - so I can measure a bolt with that and know that it's a 5/8 bolt and that a 16mm annular cutter will give me a hole with a slight clearance, all by just pushing that button - by using the INSIDE measurement side (the pointy ends) I can use it as a thread pitch gauge; I usually count TEN threads, measure THAT distance and divide by 10, it's more accurate. It'll also tell me if it's a METRIC thread (hard to get away from, THESE days)...

THis one -
6 in. Digital Caliper with SAE and Metric Fractional Readings
Will do that too, but iGaging's stuff is nicer...

Torch stuff - I use these - - the brush starts out all the same size, but a couple uses makes it look like the pic - But I'm glad you mentioned that, I WUZ just gonna keep that stuff in the (yet to be cobbled up) drawer, but now I think I'll add a "mini-table" in front of the bottle - make it big enough to hold the stuff in the pic, tack a short piece of small angle vertically and hose clamp my nozzle gel to that (just in case they decide to change the jar size, wouldn't wanna hafta grind a circular ring off just for that ) - The drill/brush could just SIT on that table, except when "4-wheelin"...

BTW, one of the millwrights on my old crew uses PAM spray for anti-spatter, etc - says it works fine and is a little cheaper. He borrowed my cement mixer a couple times, used PAM on it first and it came back cleaner than it left. Said it only took less than a minute with the garden hose...

Zoro shipped 3 of the 12-1/2 lb. rolls of .035 Lincoln wire out to me (37.5 lbs total) for $5 less than everybody else wanted for a 33 pounder in that brand; and FREE SHIPPING - After running out and pulling the spool off the small machine I decided there was no advantage to the big spools. Plus, the smaller ones can live in the HOUSE til they're needed (instead of in the "not so dry" garage, inside a welder), and it doesn't matter WHICH MIG runs out, that size will fit it.

Finished lunch, tack a couple nuts on (and probably a table ) and it's time to start prepping for paint... Steve

Oh, and I'll be sure to order one of those "$25 laser de-rusto" jobs, just as soon as they come down $649,975.00 in price

 

[dragoneggs]

If you WANT to learn what those .095 numbers mean in "tape measure lingo", you could get one of these

iGaging IP54 Electronic Digital Caliper -6" Display Inch/Metric/Fractions Stainless Steel Body: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

And no, I'm NOT kidding - Besides its INTENDED use, I use mine as a converter - it has 3 modes, you push the MIDDLE button - View attachment 533947 - and it switches between 0.625", 5/8", and 15.875mm (all exactly the same size, just different ways of saying it) - so I can measure a bolt with that and know that it's a 5/8 bolt and that a 16mm annular cutter will give me a hole with a slight clearance, all by just pushing that button - by using the INSIDE measurement side (the pointy ends) I can use it as a thread pitch gauge; I usually count TEN threads, measure THAT distance and divide by 10, it's more accurate. It'll also tell me if it's a METRIC thread (hard to get away from, THESE days)...

Hmmm... maybe worth the investment. I do switch back and forth between mm and in on my calipers but having the fractional dimensions especially finer than 1/8in (conversions I have in my head) could be very helpful, as you say when figuring holes vs. bolt diameter and clearances. I see the iGaging caliper goes down to 1/128th divisions. My drills are 1/64th so it looks like the resolution is plenty. Might have to pull the trigger and move my existing caliper to my 'on the go' tool bag.

One of my New Year resolutions is to get my OTG tool bag better outfitted and with dedicated tools. I figured this would be one resolution that would be a pleasure to follow through on. . I am getting tired of having to make runs out to my garage/shop to grab a tool for my bag/project and then put it back in its place when finished. Might have to get a bigger canvas bag too!

 

[Big Barn]

Steve: last time I checked (Costco) Pam and it's no name brand non stick equivalents were MORE expensive by weight/volume than LWS anti-spatter.



I DO like your drill-chucked wire brush idea though. That should work WAY better than the plumbers wire brush I use now.

 

[BukitCase]

Sounds like a plan, mark - maybe you can find one of those "wheelie" bags that'll take a conversion to 13" tires, easier to pull when weight tops 50 lbs - one caveat on the calipers, you've probably already discovered - even the better ones seem to eat batteries if you leave 'em in, near as I can tell they are NEVER actually "off". I've had the HF ones AND the iGaging ones be dead if I haven't used 'em in a while. My work-around is just to pull the battery if I'm not gonna be using 'em for a few days, + I now STOCK the 2032 cells, LR44's, 357's and a couple others my stuff uses.

The upside on that iGaging - they were nice enough to make the battery fit into a little "mini-drawer", so you can slide the whole thing out and just leave it in the case with the caliper. I find it easier to turn the display AWAY from me and use a fingernail to pull the drawer, this puts the battery on TOP of the "drawer" so it doesn't automatically fall out and roll someplace you weren't looking ...Steve

 

[BukitCase]

Terry, be my guest on the wire brush; not sure I still have one of those in the box, but if I find it I'll post the info here - I've only used the gel for torch, I automatically assumed the spray would interfere with painting if not completely removed, but at least ONE of the sprays I saw on Amazon claims NOT. Might give that a shot, right now I tend to use a wide sharp chisel in an air hammer on the bigger flat surfaces for bb's, but it'd be nicer not to need it -

As has been said, the best way to clean up a mess is DON'T MAKE IT IN THE FIRST PLACE

Speaking of messes, check out the welding forum for MY latest "oopsie"... Steve