Author Topic: A new little Metal Rack for the Shop  (Read 8169 times)

Online Kim

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A new little Metal Rack for the Shop
« on: February 19, 2018, 06:33:21 PM »
I haven't had a lot of time in the shop lately, but have made a start on the metal rack I was discussing a while back.

Based on everyone's excellent input, I've added a sheet metal bottom and some heavy duty castors to the design. It doesn't show in the picture, but you can see it in your minds eye :)


To start, I cut all my 1" square steel tubing to length.  These will form the main structure.  I also drilled some holes in some of the pieces that will be welded on both ends.  The book on welding that I read said this was a good idea when welding something that will be closed.  Guess its important not close both ends and then heat it up. Could be bad I guess…


A few of the pieces needed a 45o angle on the end, so I used this setup to get there.


And here’s my first weld on the project!  I’m sure its not perfect, but it looks like it will hold.


I proceeded to weld the base of the frame together, like so:


All the completed base pieces welded in place on only one side (the bottom).   I figure I’ll pickup the other edges later.


That was all a couple of weeks back.  In the meantime, I ordered a big chunk of sheet metal to act as a base, and it arrived in the big brown truck the other day.  The sheet came as 36”x36”, and I needed 36”x30”.  So, using the cutting torch, off came 6 inches.  Again, not the cleanest cut, I’m sure, but it was pretty fun making it happen!


With the sheet cut to size, I cleaned up all the welds with an angle grinder:


Then started welding the sheet in place. This will be the bottom. The castors will be mounted to this flat side when they arrive.  Probably one of the last steps.


That’s where I’m at.  Again, I’ve not got a lot of shop time right now, so this is moving slowly. But that’s how I roll! :)

Thanks for taking a look,
Kim

Offline b.lindsey

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Re: A new little Metal Rack for the Shop
« Reply #1 on: February 19, 2018, 07:01:10 PM »
Looks good so far Kim. So for the joints, are you MIG welding or stick welding or brazing using the torch?

Bill

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Re: A new little Metal Rack for the Shop
« Reply #2 on: February 19, 2018, 07:12:34 PM »
The never ending search for a way to store stock in the shop.  :o

Looking good !
Brian

Online Kim

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Re: A new little Metal Rack for the Shop
« Reply #3 on: February 20, 2018, 01:54:28 AM »
Looks good so far Kim. So for the joints, are you MIG welding or stick welding or brazing using the torch?

Bill
Torch welding using an Oxy-Acetylene rig.  I'm quite the newbie at it, but its something I've always wanted to play with :)

The never ending search for a way to store stock in the shop.  :o

Looking good !
Brian
Thanks Brian! Yes, this is my latest idea.  Hopefully it'll keep my metal stored nicely, with some level of order!

Kim

Offline Ian S C

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Re: A new little Metal Rack for the Shop
« Reply #4 on: February 20, 2018, 10:43:38 AM »
Kim, a better way of cutting your bit of sheet metal would be a thin cut off wheel in your angle grinder, clamp a bit of steel as a guide and cut along the line to size, deburr and you are finished. Still lots of sparks.
Ian S C

Offline Tennessee Whiskey

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Re: A new little Metal Rack for the Shop
« Reply #5 on: February 20, 2018, 03:47:37 PM »
Kim, this is something I really need to do myself. Being an old welding inspector, for gas welding, it looks pretty darn good. I would recommend not grinding off anymore filler metal than necessary as gas doesn't usually penetrate as deeply as arc. I think you are really going to appreciate the casters also. Carry on

Cletus

Online Kim

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Re: A new little Metal Rack for the Shop
« Reply #6 on: February 21, 2018, 05:56:21 AM »
Kim, a better way of cutting your bit of sheet metal would be a thin cut off wheel in your angle grinder, clamp a bit of steel as a guide and cut along the line to size, deburr and you are finished. Still lots of sparks.
Ian S C
Thanks Ian, good to know!  I'll file that one away.  I really wanted to try cutting with the torch,  but maybe this wasn't the best application of that.  It was fun regardless! :)  But I'll file that away for next time.

Kim, this is something I really need to do myself. Being an old welding inspector, for gas welding, it looks pretty darn good. I would recommend not grinding off anymore filler metal than necessary as gas doesn't usually penetrate as deeply as arc. I think you are really going to appreciate the casters also. Carry on

Cletus

Thanks Cletus!
Good advice about not grinding away too much filler.  I wouldn't have worried about it here other than its where the bottom plate was going to rest, and I wanted it to sit flush against the bottom.  I won't be grinding any others off (unless its something egregious!) on this project.  Thanks for the advice!  I can use all the help I can get! :)
Kim

Offline Mcgyver

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Re: A new little Metal Rack for the Shop
« Reply #7 on: February 21, 2018, 03:09:21 PM »

Thanks Ian, good to know!  I'll file that one away.  I really wanted to try cutting with the torch,

Gas welding is fun and you'll be in good practice for when you get a TIG.  A guide bar, piece of anything really, like bit of 1" angle iron, clamped to the work can also be used with success with the torch.  Just have the tip rest against it as a guide.

I nearly lost my shop a year or two ago from a fire from the torch, so keep a diligent fire watch afterward.  It was scary as it happened so fast.  some hot metal found its into a wood tray with lots of cardboard fastener boxes on a shelf under a bench.  Off on the other side of the shop, I notice the smell of smoke a few minutes later.

By the time I noticed the cardboard boxes and wood tray were burning and the bench was catching.  I grabbed the box and made for the door (moving in my shop is like moving around a fully loaded WWII submarine to steal someone's line I liked), foot high flames in my face.  Some how I got the door open, can't remember, and also avoided all the other fire hazards along the zig zag path to the door.  I burned my hand painfully, but not enough for the hospital, and dumped the box into a snow bank.  In almost a state of panic, I had to get back and dose the fire on the underside of the bench upper shelf, but the smoke was so thick (and rapidly getting thicker) I could hardly do it but manage to get it out with out smoke inhalation damage.  Held my breath and ran in.  I keep a bucked of water in the shop for stones etc, it went first.  Being winter, the outside hose bib was off but my son was in the kitchen so I yelled at him to bring pots of water and got it out.  Really scary how fast it all happened, l barely was able to stop it, and for sure was not in control.  A few seconds more might have made the difference of it being a deadly disaster.

The unbelievable stupid thing is I had a fire extinguisher, and in the panic of the moment didn't remember it.   Now every time I walk in the shop I tell myself, what are you going to do if?......sort of like training, you want to create that automatic reaction.  Sorry to go OT, just please be extra careful with the torch around combustibles....I've been doing it for decades, but it only takes one screw up!

« Last Edit: February 21, 2018, 03:46:19 PM by Mcgyver »

Offline Dave Otto

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Re: A new little Metal Rack for the Shop
« Reply #8 on: February 21, 2018, 08:18:33 PM »
Looks like you are making good progress Kim.

Dave

Online Kim

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Re: A new little Metal Rack for the Shop
« Reply #9 on: February 22, 2018, 05:39:44 AM »
Thanks Dave! Making progress, even if painfully slow!

I nearly lost my shop a year or two ago from a fire from the torch, so keep a diligent fire watch afterward.  ...
Yikes!  :o
That must have been a very frightening experience!  I will keep a very watchful eye!  Always good to be reminded of the dangers of an open flame.  Thanks for sharing your story Mcgyver.

Kim

Online Kim

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Re: A new little Metal Rack for the Shop
« Reply #10 on: March 10, 2018, 11:24:08 PM »
Well, its been weeks since I’ve made an update, but that’s because it’s been weeks since I’ve had any shop time.  Had a family vacation last week (great fun!) and there was plenty of prep for that in the weeks before.  But now we should be back and settled for a while, so I’m hoping for some more consistent shop time (he says optimistically :) ).

Today I finished welding the baseplate to the base of my rack.  That just took a lot more time than I’d have thought.  The next few shots is many hours of welding time (for this newb anyway).

Here’s a look at where it is now.  In my last update I’d cut the plate and welded one edge.  Today, I welded the other three edges.


After welding the plate on all sides, I then did the inside angles of the cross beams.  Maybe I should have done this first, but I didn’t think of it.  But here’s what one of them look like.  These inside corners were harder, but I got them done.


Actually before I welded all the sides down, I tried welding a few spots in the center of the plate, but this didn’t work.  Everytime I started to heat things up, the steel would pucker up and end up being 1/4" or more away from the tube I wanted to weld it to.  I don’t have a clamp that deep, so I couldn’t clamp. I just tried setting heavy things on it, but it would still pop up when it started to heat up.
So, I skipped that.  Maybe I’ll drill some holes and put a few bolts in there if I need to.  Later maybe.
You can see the spot in the center there were I tried to do the weld...



One question for all you experienced welders;
I’m getting a lot of big pops and sparks when I weld, and I’m not sure why.  Things seem to be going great then suddenly “POP” and sparks go flying everywhere.  And every once in a while, it blows out the torch.  So I shut it down, clean the tip, and start it up again.

But I don’t know why I get those pops.  Any ideas?  Am I not getting things hot enough?  Too hot?  Not enough oxygen?  Too much?  Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Kim

Offline 10KPete

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Re: A new little Metal Rack for the Shop
« Reply #11 on: March 11, 2018, 12:09:31 AM »
Kim,

For the thin stuff you're welding, set up your rig this way:

Put a #1 or #0 tip on the torch to start. You can change up or down as the material thickness on the job requires. But for now, this is a set-up method.

Turn on the gas bottles. Open the valves at the torch, one at a time, and bleed the hose/torch for a few seconds. Turn off the torch valves, lightly but off.

Open the acetylene valve a little and light the torch.  You will likely have a sooty flame making lots of black snow. OK. Adjust the regulator to about 5 psi, no more. Adjust the flame at the torch until you get a flowery, vigorus flame with almost no soot generated. Adjust the torch valve and the regulator in turn until the torch valve is wide open and you have that flame. The flame must not detach from the tip.

That regulator pressure is the max for that tip. Make a note of it!

Now adjust the oxygen until you get a neutral flame with some blue feather to it. Don't want an oxidizing flame.

Thats the max for that tip but it doesn't mean it can't be run cooler.

You will note that you have about 3-5 psi on the regulator for both gases. If the acet. is too low it will pop. If the oxy is too low it won't make concentrated heat. Preference is to not have a roaring, pointed, blue flame but a quieter, softer flame.
Set to a slightly higher acteylene than lower.

I hope I'm making some sense here...
I could show you faster than I can tell you!

Pete

EDIT: I found my old cheat sheet from about 40 years ago!



« Last Edit: March 11, 2018, 01:23:58 AM by 10KPete »
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SB 10K lathe, Benchmaster mill. And stuff.

Offline Art K

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Re: A new little Metal Rack for the Shop
« Reply #12 on: March 11, 2018, 02:14:08 AM »
Kim,
Great idea for a stock rack. I'm planning one but I have all the old 2X6's from tearing down the old shop. I'm planning to build one that fits under the coolant trays on the machine stand. :thinking: Got to figure out how to make that work.
Art
"The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you" B.B. King

Online Kim

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Re: A new little Metal Rack for the Shop
« Reply #13 on: March 11, 2018, 03:27:56 AM »
Hey Art, thanks for stopping by.  I've been looking for a better way to store my metal, and I hope this is it! :)

Pete,
Yes, your description makes perfect sense.  This is basically the procedure I've been using - I got the step by Step from a  DIY Welding book.  The table that came with the Welding setup shows just about those same pressure ranges I believe its 3-5 for a #1 tip (which is what I'm using here.) But reading your description I think I have NOT been setting the acetylene quite high enough at the handle. I've mostly been using it for silver soldering and I use only the outer ranges of the flame for that - the little flame in the center is WAY too hot for that.  It melts brass fast!

Anyway, I'll experiment more with the procedure as you describe it - I have not been turning the acetylene up to just before the flame disengages from the tip.  Maybe this will help with the popping.

Thanks for your helpful input!
Kim

Offline Ian S C

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Re: A new little Metal Rack for the Shop
« Reply #14 on: March 11, 2018, 11:42:24 AM »
That metal is about the same thickness as what I learned to weld  when I  was in the RNZAF, I'v still got the steel shovel made of 16 swg sheet steel. Made in 1964, and still used in sweep ups around the workshop. Gas welding small stuff seems less violent than the stick welder.
Ian S C 

 

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