-
Having trouble using the site?
Contact support
Maggie’s The Welding and Metalworking Thread
- Thread starter bogeybrown
- Start date
The owner had already decided on thin-wall 3" tubing for most of it, so it ended up being all manner of electrodes:
1/8" 6011 and 3/32" 7018 for the vertical welds (6011 downhill and 7018 uphill) because the material couldn't take the heat of a 1/8 " 7018 at the vertical joints.
Used 1/8" 7018 on all the flat, horizontal, and overheads.
Some 6011 with 7018 caps where I had thicker material (tie-down pad eyes, steel rollers, etc)
The machine started acting up on me (client's Lincoln Vantage) so I finished the last of it with .035 FCAW-S from my little machine which turned out to be damn work horse.
@powdahound76 had asked for an update as well. That's her as she's sits now. The Client was very specific on what he wanted the ramp to be, so that's what he got. It works well with all of his equipment but he's now hauling equipment for other people and has found some flaws to his design so he wants it "modified".
We had a good laugh when he said he wanted some "small changes" because everything on that ramp is multi-pass welded to the frame at every possible ppint. Nothing on that ramp was meant to ever move again, so he understands that it's going to be a fairly major operation to modify it.
The guy I built it for wants 10 more of them, but with custom 18 yard dump-bodies; in the meantime he hired me to work on a steel building for him to keep me "on the clock" until he's ready to do the next trailers.
Get an air-arc, that will make quick work of having to modify what's there.
Here's the "little" steel building I got hired to build (with zero prior experience) :
It's a custom-engineered structure with all kinds of quirks none of the bosses had even seen before.
The guy I built the trailer for is the lead contractor for the whole job. He knows I had zero experience with steel buildings so he said he'd teach me and help me out. I showed up on day one with my buddy that I got hired on as my operator and the boss hands us the plans and tells us he has to meet another client. We didn't see him again until the end of the day.
The first day we deciphered plans and found the steel we needed, the second day we had two exterior walls stood up. The third day he said he was hiring us a crew and I was running the job for him. The crew positively sucks so I periodically throw them off of the lifts and do the hard shit myself because I like being on the tools and it's not worth the time to explain to 50yr old men (with self-proclaimed decades of experience) how to put a bolt in a hole.
It's a custom-engineered structure with all kinds of quirks none of the bosses had even seen before.
The guy I built the trailer for is the lead contractor for the whole job. He knows I had zero experience with steel buildings so he said he'd teach me and help me out. I showed up on day one with my buddy that I got hired on as my operator and the boss hands us the plans and tells us he has to meet another client. We didn't see him again until the end of the day.
The first day we deciphered plans and found the steel we needed, the second day we had two exterior walls stood up. The third day he said he was hiring us a crew and I was running the job for him. The crew positively sucks so I periodically throw them off of the lifts and do the hard shit myself because I like being on the tools and it's not worth the time to explain to 50yr old men (with self-proclaimed decades of experience) how to put a bolt in a hole.
I used to work for a company that dealt with Ceco metal buildings, much like the one pictured above, and I can tell you that quality of erection crews varies wildly. The good crews travel around the country and have limited openings in their schedule and unfortunately that usually leaves it open for shit crews to take on work. I had a bottom dollar crew on one of my jobs that didn't understand that the beams, purlins, and such were numbered per the plans and had to go in a specific order. They were just taking pieces that fit, which left us short in other areas of the building that we had to re-order. I eventually had to invite them not to come back on the job.
We had the same exact shit a couple of weeks ago with a crackhead turd trying to improvise on the plans. He and I got into a screaming "Fuck you" fest and I invited him to meet me at the flagpole after work. An hour later he tried the same shit again but wasn't in the safety of his lift and my operator choke-slammed him across the job site in front of the big boss. The boss asked us what took so long to beat his ass off the job and we went back to work.
The crack head made like he was going to get a gun from his truck, which would've ended badly for him with the number of us with easier access to our pistolas.
My operator and I can basically tell you from memory where every major piece of steel on that job goes and currently sits. I have bled on a lot of that bitch, including the highest steel on the job, thus making it forever "mine". This is my first chance to do ironwork, and I instantly fell deeply in love with it. We're supposed to be off tomorrow and Tuesday, but I might have talked my operator and my wife into going in anyway and making some progress while the crew isn't in the way.
Sorry for the confusion gents. Nothing has really "changed". She's still "momma" and "my ole lady", but I put a ring on her finger back in the Summer. By mutual agreement there wasn't a ceremony or formal legalization of our relationship.
We wake up every day (usually 1000 miles apart) and CHOOSE to be together, rather than HAVING to be together. She's more my true wife than the unfaithful miserable bitch that I formally wed.
Our vows were simple, and we say them to each other often. Those of you who watch Game of Thrones will find them familiar:
"I am yours, and you are mine, from this day until the end of our days"
No muss, no fuss, no bullshit or contracts. We're just deeply in love and devoted to each other and she asked for a (very simple) ring to show the world that she is mine. I joyously gave her one and happily refer to her as my wife because "girlfriend" doesn't do her justice.
Now that my complicated relationship status is out of the way 
We "topped out" ( or as close as that term applies on this job ) on Wednesday while the weather was coming in. My "crew" was too incompetent and afraid of heights to do it, so I once again threw them off the equipment and did it myself with the help of one of my solid guys who broke his foot on the job a few weeks ago.
32' lift at absolute max extension, in the wind with thousands of pounds hanging overhead and the piece already set trying to tear itself in half before I could tie into it. 32 x 16 custom hip roof that had to be partially stick-built because we had the Lull Lift totally maxed on weight / extension:
We "topped out" ( or as close as that term applies on this job ) on Wednesday while the weather was coming in. My "crew" was too incompetent and afraid of heights to do it, so I once again threw them off the equipment and did it myself with the help of one of my solid guys who broke his foot on the job a few weeks ago.
32' lift at absolute max extension, in the wind with thousands of pounds hanging overhead and the piece already set trying to tear itself in half before I could tie into it. 32 x 16 custom hip roof that had to be partially stick-built because we had the Lull Lift totally maxed on weight / extension:
i loved walking iron, im glad you are happy w it nelson,,, its a good job
Yeah man, I was that kid growing up that had to climb everything around me. A family friend recommended that I might like ironworking when I got older but I was steered away from it as an option because my family wanted me to go to college.
It's been a dream come true to get to do it, but I'm sad that I didn't get into it as a young guy before all the injuries and the ridiculous OSHA bullshit that makes it very slow and in many cases way more dangerous.
There is "truth" in coaxing and beating steel into submission and looking at the job at the end of every day and seeing what you've accomplished. It's the perfect mix of precision, brute force, engineering, problem solving, and danger.
Well then. Nelson you've got a great wife and a great life. Congratulations to you and Julie.
Thanks man. Not really any change, just a simpler term for us to refer to each other with people who don't know us, especially with her living in Boston and me down here.
And for those that don't know the lady, she's killer in the Daisy Red Ryder beer can challenge.
I thought I had it sewn up until she stepped up to the plate.
I thought I had it sewn up until she stepped up to the plate.
That's great shit. What a fantastic night hanging out. She would like to note that in fairness she was the only one of us even remotely sober, so adjusted for BAC you were the winner.
Bogey (Nelson), you're doing good. If others could experience HALF of what you've accomplished so far, there'd be so much more pride in society today.
And by that I definitely mean the "good" pride, as opposed to that rainbow shit that clogs everything up, everywhere else.
When you say that building is "yours", it will be forever. Someone else may have designed it, someone else may have the deed on it, but YOU put it together there. You'll always remember tightening down that last bolt and then stepping back and saying "There, it's finished, and I built that."
The good members of the crew with you, will feel the same.
Over time, with the next constructions, the only differing factors will be taller, wider, faster, safer, cheaper, or prettier. There are many different directions to "improvement". Choose your path.
And by that I definitely mean the "good" pride, as opposed to that rainbow shit that clogs everything up, everywhere else.
When you say that building is "yours", it will be forever. Someone else may have designed it, someone else may have the deed on it, but YOU put it together there. You'll always remember tightening down that last bolt and then stepping back and saying "There, it's finished, and I built that."
The good members of the crew with you, will feel the same.
Over time, with the next constructions, the only differing factors will be taller, wider, faster, safer, cheaper, or prettier. There are many different directions to "improvement". Choose your path.
I just had one of these red iron buildings put up and had one of "those" crews. My roll up doors came later after they finished and were supposed to come back, waited a month and decided to put them up myself. As I'm working up in the ceiling I notice a few structure bolts loose, check some more and most of them around the entire building are loose. That and there are several other issues has me wishing I would have taken off work on did the erection myself. Its a shame nobody cares to do good work these days.
346ci,
It sounds like you did get "one of those" crews, often the connecting bolts will get left loose in case they have to rack the frame and plumb up the columsn. Usually though that's stuff is tightened by the time they get to the coil up door phase.
Fun fact, most of the connecting bolts for those metal buildings don't have a specified torque, simply snug fit, meaning hand tight with the full effort of a spud wrench.
Looking at bogey's pics it reminded me of when I was a kid and the company my Dad worked for was erecting one of those buildings just down the street from his office. A micro burst rolled through and the updraft was so powerful that it pulled the anchor bolts through the base plate of the columns and dropped the whole frame about 10 ft away. Wild stuff.
It sounds like you did get "one of those" crews, often the connecting bolts will get left loose in case they have to rack the frame and plumb up the columsn. Usually though that's stuff is tightened by the time they get to the coil up door phase.
Fun fact, most of the connecting bolts for those metal buildings don't have a specified torque, simply snug fit, meaning hand tight with the full effort of a spud wrench.
Looking at bogey's pics it reminded me of when I was a kid and the company my Dad worked for was erecting one of those buildings just down the street from his office. A micro burst rolled through and the updraft was so powerful that it pulled the anchor bolts through the base plate of the columns and dropped the whole frame about 10 ft away. Wild stuff.
Last edited:
Did you shoot the can out of my hand before or after that?
@Trigger Monkey , it is indeed fun to explain to people that there is no torque spec. What's killing me right now is the metal-stud crew got scheduled before we were done with construction, so the building has been racked but we got pulled off of final tightening to get ahead of them. Meanwhile they're pissed that not everything is tightened down while we're pissed that they're drywalling over clips and flanges that we still have to connect to.
To fuck me even further they started studding interior walls while I still need to run the length of the purlins to prep for insulation, so it takes forever having to drive around their walls in a scissor lift.
This shit is already complex enough
I should have taken pictures... but you'll have to live with a description....
I have an MSAR AUG-clone... and want to put a suppressor on it, but to set up an adapter, it needed some surgery.
So had to turn off the 13mm Reverse Thread (without removing all the thread because of the dimensions) part way down the barrel, so that the 13mm reverse thread lock nut stayed in place and functional... and the 1/2 x 28 new thread would fit and work with the lock nut. Which had to pass OVER the new thread. So the new section of threading had to allow a reverse thread metric female lock nut to thread on.. .and a 1/2 x 28 female suppressor adapter to thread on... after.
And I managed to pull it off! One of the more challenging machining projects I have pulled off.
Cheers,
Sirhr
I have an MSAR AUG-clone... and want to put a suppressor on it, but to set up an adapter, it needed some surgery.
So had to turn off the 13mm Reverse Thread (without removing all the thread because of the dimensions) part way down the barrel, so that the 13mm reverse thread lock nut stayed in place and functional... and the 1/2 x 28 new thread would fit and work with the lock nut. Which had to pass OVER the new thread. So the new section of threading had to allow a reverse thread metric female lock nut to thread on.. .and a 1/2 x 28 female suppressor adapter to thread on... after.
And I managed to pull it off! One of the more challenging machining projects I have pulled off.
Cheers,
Sirhr
Yeah, that's pretty bad, sounds like you have some pretty spotty project management there too, that doesn't help.
I had to send a letter to a professional engineering firm to tell them to abstain from using a torque wrench to test the connecting bolts as it was not required for testing snug tight bolts and per the manufacturer this was not a recommended practice. These were PE's that were hired by the owner for QA control......you see all kinds in construction and you learn how to work with people you don't like.
I had to send a letter to a professional engineering firm to tell them to abstain from using a torque wrench to test the connecting bolts as it was not required for testing snug tight bolts and per the manufacturer this was not a recommended practice. These were PE's that were hired by the owner for QA control......you see all kinds in construction and you learn how to work with people you don't like.
i dont remember stud, i do remember we had a grand time.
me and mike have got to come chill in the swamp w you, dude.
you came here w a kidd and we didnt shoot it, fuck
Thats sacrilege..... like having a lady with a fine tush and not giving her a love pat as you walk past....
Congrats on the ring buddy. Thats awesome.
That first project turned out great. Very skilled work.
Sounds like you have gotten yourself dialed up nicely with some solid and interesting work that keeps you enjoying it.
You deserve it.
Congrats on the ring buddy. Thats awesome.
That first project turned out great. Very skilled work.
Sounds like you have gotten yourself dialed up nicely with some solid and interesting work that keeps you enjoying it.
You deserve it.
Thanks man, it's been good. We managed a half day in the rain today and got a little aggressive on a horrible fit up and managed to bend a column.
The boss started the day happy that we came in on an off day and ended the day pissed. Not good. We'll be spending tomorrow trying to straighten some steel.
Thank you for the kind words Sean, they mean a lot.
Apparently my next job is already in the works. The boss is finalizing the money with a client in Mississippi to build a 40 x 80 simple steel building. After this bitch it's going to be a nice change of pace and he's also promised me a better helper.
I know man, we had the Kidd and the USMC M40x but got too busy working to do much shooting other than the "midnight range" with @Agent K.
Plus I was busy trying to cut my dick off with the new chainsaw
Took momma to work with me yesterday. She had a blast until we rained out, and unlike my crackheads she figured out how to use a bull pin. It still amazes me that two supposedly grown men can't figure that shit out.
Here's how my steel bitch was sitting on Thurs or Fri. Came in to work yesterday (Saturday) at the GC's request in an effort to get ahead a bit on insulation, which is of course some fancy shit no one has seen before so we literally sat in the boss's truck and watched a YouTube video and were told to get to it.
75% of that damn hip roof had to be custom fit in-place, which turned an easy day into a shitty week. The opening in the side wall was a Client request for additional windows, so I got to fab and weld a 9' x 18'9" window opening into the already built wall. There's a few others I had to do once the paneling was on, so they'll be cut in sometime this week
75% of that damn hip roof had to be custom fit in-place, which turned an easy day into a shitty week. The opening in the side wall was a Client request for additional windows, so I got to fab and weld a 9' x 18'9" window opening into the already built wall. There's a few others I had to do once the paneling was on, so they'll be cut in sometime this week
A 1/6th scale model engine I just finished building. Started with a kit and modified heavily. Doesn't run, but has a ton of moving parts including fan, working clutch, carb parts, etc.
Watch is for scale. About 500 parts in my 'finished' version.
Carb alone has about 50 parts in it. Many moving bits. Watch for scale.
Started with a kit from Armortek and modified it. Aluminum, steel, brass, copper, bronze, German silver, ebony, ivory... no plastic at all.
Cheers,
Sirhr
Watch is for scale. About 500 parts in my 'finished' version.
Carb alone has about 50 parts in it. Many moving bits. Watch for scale.
Started with a kit from Armortek and modified it. Aluminum, steel, brass, copper, bronze, German silver, ebony, ivory... no plastic at all.
Cheers,
Sirhr
Excuse my ignorance SirHR, but is it 'going' to run? I ask, because I saw years ago that guy who made the tiny Ferrari v12 that sounded fantastic when he fired it up.
I'm not minimizing in any way, don't get me wrong. I just didn't know if this was still a work in progress or not? I appreciate projects and endeavors that are almost obsessing. I've got a couple in the works here, but as you know for the past year, "life" seems to have gotten in the way. I'm still jealous of your bookend 'Sea Mines'.
I'm not minimizing in any way, don't get me wrong. I just didn't know if this was still a work in progress or not? I appreciate projects and endeavors that are almost obsessing. I've got a couple in the works here, but as you know for the past year, "life" seems to have gotten in the way. I'm still jealous of your bookend 'Sea Mines'.
Nope, this is not a runner. Lots of moving parts. But not a runner.
Though I do want to do one of these:
Though I do want to do one of these:
Very cool stuff! A while back I wanted to build a scale version of an H-D engine, or some variation of a 45* v-twin... it’s on my bucket list for now, as with two little kids in the house my time for fun projects is nil. Hell, these days I’m happy if I can crap in peace...
Someday I’ll post up photos of parts I’ve made for vintage Harley race bikes my dad and I used to race.
Speaking of little engines, you might appreciate this guy’s efforts. Mike had this in the pits at the Davenport Swapmeet and races one year. An old Honda xr75 turned into a 150cc twin to mimic the rs750’s from the 80’s (ala Harley Alloy XR).
https://www.movinmikes.com/HONDA_XR75_V-TWIN.php
https://www.movinmikes.com/HONDA_XR75_V-TWIN.php
Made this quartz glass windowed door for my woodstove, it came factory with 2 cast iron barn doors. It’s 3/8 plate.
I’ve played around with forging too, but not a ton.
Made from an old saw blade.
Made from an old saw blade.
Not me, but too awesome not to post. Craftsmen Live! This whole thread proves it.
So, how did this work out for you in the end? As in, does the jam-nut stay tight after a succession of shots? Interesting how you have to turn both the nut and the suppressor adapter in the same direction, to create "jammage" (that's a technical term HA)
Innovation is what advances humanity.
Similar threads
