Anything welding

I was a welder for about 8 years and recently switched to QC/QA and it’s definitely been interesting seeing how different people can interpret things lol

 

This 4' x 2' of steel has been staring at me for a long time, used 2/3 of one and still got another one left

 

Cut a few more



Figured I'd have a whole big batch to paint all at once

Thinking the ghosts will all be for hanging and the pumpkins get welded some steel rod for planting in the ground

 

weld some small pieces of tubing to the back side, and you can run some orange christmas light strings along behind them for a walkway lights...

 

They're gonna get steel rod welded to the backs of the pumpkins for mounting in the ground

But little holders for lights is a great idea

 

Why buy/ use rod?
Cut some narrow strips, weld some strips perpendicular to them to make them rigid.

Good use for the scraps I would think.

 

I have some 40-50' of rod that is scrap (about 25' of it here behind the square tube)



I'm only welding rod to like 15 pumpkins total

 

Good deal!

I'm hording my rod( hee, hee), since it's much more spendy than sheet steel.

 

You had the right idea though, really just left over flat stock but I have more rod than anything else

Rod is all left over and really I'm trying to keep this as cheap as possible offering the extras at $15 each for the ghosts and $20 each for the pumpkins

I scaled the ghosts down to .60 for a small 7.5" tall piece and the pumpkins are only between 5-6" round

 

I try to save the bolts from the wire reels at work. cut the hex head off and the threaded portion, I end up with a few feet of rod size depends on the reel size

 

Already dry to the touch



I'll flip them tomorrow and paint the backside then hang them out to cure the day after

 

So so so SO close to being done. Reallly love how this project turned out. Way too many bends tho but worth it. Except somewhere somehow there’s a little twist because when it’s on the car one corner is just bareeeelllyyyy higher than than the others (like 1/8”) and I’m debating on how to fix or find it. Or just keep it for a prototype and build the next one lol.

 

an 1/8" over that distance could easily be thermal cycling from welding.

that's really good, better than i normally get.

 

Ooooooor just make the 'mounting points' with enough play to adjust that last bit of 1/8" out.

 

Problem is the very front of the rack doesn’t have “mounts”. It’s gonna have feet but won’t be bolted down. Only the back and center gets bolted down. So I’m worried about when the back gets bolted down it’s going to tweak the front some. But I guess the center mounts should stop that.

 

Problem is an 1/8” over 4-5ft grows drastically and if there’s other tubes in front of it or in line with it then it just stands out worse lol. Hard to see in the pic but the very back bar is ever so slightly out.

 

Gotcha I’ve been welding for 26 years.

I like that

 

Well shit, better throw it away then, if you bring up here to WA I'll help get rid of it, we can even put it on top of my 4runner to take it to the uhh.. dump.. yeah.. definitely not bolt it onto it permanently


I feel like this is one of those things where since you were the one to make it and spent so much time staring at it, you'll see every tiny imperfection that no one else will over notice. We're our own harshest critics scenario. I think it looks great, FWIW. I'd put it on my 4R.

 

Haha thanks man. And big big facts on our own critics. I think it’s just a pride thing. Like will it be fine? Yes. Will most notice it? Probably not. But I know it’s there. And that’s what bothers me lol. I’m hoping to go into production of these for locals at around $800-$1,000 so it’s not going to be cheap. Won’t be as expensive as the big brands. But I still want it right. So nailing this first one down has been seeking perfection at every fit and bend.