Bumper Fabrication

Hey all.

Thinking about building my own high clearance plate bumper for my truck. I’m not looking to make it a pro fabricator special. I’ve got a FC & Mig welder and a 7” grinder, as well as a little bit of know how on how to lay a bead.

I don’t have access to a plasma cutter or torch or anything. Not wanting to lay money on it right now. Do you think I’ll be able to cut the metal with just the grinder and cut off wheel?

Also what thickness should I be looking at. I was thinking 3/16” for front/winch area and then 1/8” for under headlights and wrap around. Does that sound reasonable?

Sorry if this is a dumb question, just wanna get all the info I can before I go at this.

 

Not a dumb question at all! Angle grinder and cutoff wheels will work, albeit its very sketchy, at least to me. Have a face shield, heavy coat and some gloves to protect you if one of those wheels explodes. Youll also most likely need a whole pile of wheels too.


Ive done it for smaller projects, but I hated every minute of it.

3/16" is pretty popular for armor. Thats what Id go with anyways.

 

Thanks for the reply! Good to know it’s not completely out of the ballpark, I’ll be sure to get some good quality disks and maybe even look into getting a torch. I’m just not exactly well versed in torching so I feel like things could get sketchy with that lol.

Good to know 3/16” is a good choice. I want to keep the weight down as well - on stock suspension right now for the time being (until I get some OME coils).

 

Learning how to use an oxy fuel setup is easy. Took me like an hour to figure it out. Just get the flame as bright blue as possible, and run with it. The thing I struggled with was remembering to angle the torch forward, to preheat the metal before you cut it. Im better at a torch than a plasma cutter to be honest. And a torch will cut any thickness, plasma cutters can be limited on amperage.

 

We use 1/4” plate for our winch craddle and 3/16” everywhere else.

 

I found a basic torch set with some 10CF size tanks for about $350 CAD on my local craigslist. Think I might go pick that up and save myself the hassle of cutting all the plate with a grinder. Might just be cheaper to buy a bumper

 

Tmake a look at Lincoln. They have had this small tank setup for around 300 . at Lows.

 

I’ll check it out. I’m just bit weary on how much cutting these port-a-torch sets can do. I know there’s a risk with sucking acetone from the tanks if you go over a certain Cubic Ft/Hr. Scary stuff can ensue and I don’t know too much about any of it to want to fuck around with it lol.

 

Yeah those small torches are great for brazing hvac copper. Not really gonna last long as a cutting torch.

 

500 cutting wheels it is

 

I gave away my full standing tanks when I moved off ranch home to a single car garage Villas. I miss having such a tool on hand. I don't know much about these small ones. I'll look into too.

 

After you cut the plate with a torch you'll still need a grinder to clean up the edges

 

Not if your good with a torch. Once you get good, and I mean GOOD, you can make a cut with little to no dross at all. Nothing that a chisel wont take care of.

 

Yeah I’ve got a grinder so I’m good there