Anything welding

look great! I did a set of half doors for a buddy and he tipped it over 3 days after. Had to make another set

 

Shiiiiit I hope I don’t tip over lol

 

I just thought I would expand on my process for anyone curious/new welders.

disclaimer: I am self taught and not a pro by any means.

I used .030 wire and C25 gas. The door is 22 gauge and I used 14 gauge to plate the cuts. I set my welders heat for 16-18 gauge.

I focused my wire more on the 14 gauge since it’s fairly thick, and kinda feathered the puddle into the door metal. This kept me from blowing through. I was able to do long tacks, where I just quickly drug the torch. Basically a very short bead/long tack. I would do about an inch of that and then move. Just jumped around the door until it was all welded up, and then ground it smooth.

 

Lol, and sometimes it''s okay to listen to her....I would. LMAO
Zim

 

You will be ready for a tig machine in no time... silicon bronze rod will change your life with sheet metal

 

Yeah I can imagine. One of my local friends is getting a tig machine and I’m going to mess around with it. Definitely a valuable skill.

 

Been building a new torsion housing (in all my spare time lol) for my brothers buggy, all tig welded cromoly...

 

I love early morning tig welding

 

One of the cooler things at a buddys shop was for DOM tubing. Made a nice sanding machine for the sticks. Had two old lathe chucks on each end and a motor to spin it. Then had a emory cloth holder on a lead screw. When it was turned on would run leave the sticks nice and clean. Had it setup with stop switches the emory cloth contraption would bump into to stop everything. Wish id taken a picture of it but o well

But their shop used a ton of DOM so it was worth it over doing it by hand.

 

But what if you go to Sonic? Where will they hang the tray?



Just kidding. Looks great. Do you have any plan for any type of window, or just going full open?

That looks like a good chance to use a rivnut setter and add some type of window with wingnuts or something easy to remove.

 

I'm going to do something like this. Contract a local company to sew me up some windows and I'll add the snaps for it. That way I can drive a few hours to go wheeling without getting wrecked by the wind. And it'll help if there's a surprise rain on the way.

 

I just put the tubes in the lathe and grab the other end with a piece of scotchbrite

 

The wind and open air is half the fun. I’ve had a number of 1st gen 4runners and have always had my doors and top off almost year round. Now I do the same with my Jeep as long as it’s not cold. The rain in the other hand is just a surprise shower that adds to the adventure.

 

Sounds liek the same deal. he just had his setup for running it automotically. but they would fit a whole 20' stick in there and just cut it to size after. But he also used to go through 200+ feet of it a day.

 

It's fun to a point. It just gets exhausting after 3 hours on the highway with the sun beating on you in later afternoon. I've had tube doors for a couple of years now but didn't run them as often as I would have liked because of that, or because of even the slightest chance of rain. I'm hoping with these snap-on windows combined with the fact I can park my truck in the garage, these half doors will stay on the majority of the time.

 

They’re turning out nice. What are your plans for finishing work as far as interior panels and arm rest area? There’s a thread somewhere on pirate4x4 in the classic Toyota section that has a ton of half doors. Some people have put cup holders there and have done some pretty neat interior door panels.

 

Rivet some aluminum sheet metal on there. I'm also going to retain the speaker/tweeter and remount the interior handle. Honestly getting the interior panel up to my standards will likely be harder than the welding. I thought about the cup holder too. I can get SS inserts on Amazon for $7 each. Just cut out a hole and drop it in. I don't think I will though.

And it'll be too low and outboard for a comfortable arm rest, which is why I won't bother padding it or anything

 

I never made half doors for my 4runners but I had plans to do so. My plans for the interior trim was to get some thin abs plastic sheet and cover one side with 1/4” foam then wrap it in a marine grade vinyl. Then use snaps or Velcro to secure it to the door. That will give it a clean look and easy to make. One common complaint I’ve seen from my research into half doors is the heat from the arm rest area. Even though it’s not positioned well for an arm rest, you might want to consider covering it anyways because you will eventually touch it for whatever reason, whether your hand or leg... the hot metal will get annoying.

 

That is a good point, and good ideas too. I'm going to keep those in mind. For now I'll just paint it and rock it, and then fix any shortcomings I find such as adding arm padding, or a cup holder, etc.

 

had a fairly uninterested but enthusiastic shop buddy tonight.