General Fabrication

This ^^^ also a damp rag would help.

You should only really need to tie off the corners and weld a few small sections in between.

 

Practice 1. im pretty much set on just doing it after this first take. the 2:1 ratio seems to work great, not eating through the 16g AND its not warping nearly as much as I thought.



I ran that long center bead to get the metal to warp, and it took about a 3.5" section continuous to get it to warp just slightly.
The two on the left are the size im mainly gonna run...all over the doors. more like stitch welding, but connecting them in the end.

and for penetration, shouldnt be an issue.



you can see again, that long run in the middle right side was bout to eat through, but none of my smaller 1.5"ish lines did any damage.

I know they arent the cleanest welds but I think they'll do for this project, and I imagine as I progress through the doors theyll get better.

 

feels like this is going to take forever! but its nice knowing Im doin the work...even if it is cosmetic

 

Here is all the fun stuff

 

Almost got it done in a day (prob would have if I started before 1 oclock haha, laziness).





afterwards, Ill take a wire wheel to it and get it all cleaned up before powdercoat

 

The Damp rag should be only handled with gloves. A wet rag will conduct heat insanely fast as opposed to a dry rag. Like seriously, it's almost instantaneous heat transfer. Even a cold wet rag will get hot in only a couple of seconds.

 

learned that one today haha. I like the rag idea, I didnt think it would actually help that much but I really think it did.

Ran outa wire with like 10% left haha, newb mistake. Ill finish tomorrow.
I decided to wire wheel it to see how itll look before paint.

 

Finally, all done. I added "pocket" type things on the back to keep random stuff like maps or whatever (left the bottoms open so water could drain out if needed).
Fun project, but glad its done haha

 

Looks good! Good job on getting creative with the door pockets. That's what "fabrication" is all about- being able to work through a problem and create a solution.

 

Thanks, I appreciate the advice throughout the process haha

I think it was a good first project, def not the prettiest but each day my beads got better as I learned what the metal did in different scenarios. And once they are painted, I think itll hide a little of the "less nice" beads and tie it all together.

 

No problem man, this site is about helping eachother. You'll keep getting better the more you practice and now when you watch tutorials, you'll have some hands-on understanding of what they are talking about. If you want to hide the "bad" beads a bit, just skim over them with a flap disc. You don't have to grind them all the way down, but by knocking down some of the high spots, they'll be more aesthetically pleasing. Then when you paint, be a little more generous with the primer (more light coats as opposed to heavier coats) in those areas and it's fill in and hide some of the ugly stuff.
(ask me how I know )

 

nice job!....little overkill welding them fully but hey lots of good practice! that's the best way to get better. read your sig...what do you fly? I work on helicopters

 

got my bumper project movin along, 2 days into it...comin together

 

Thank you and haha yea, i figured it was, especially once I started. I wanted the completely sealed look AND the practice so I went with it. Learned a lot!

I fly AH-64D's and E's on the rotary side and for civilain "fun" flying: C-152,172, PA28-151/161 (Warriors), Cherokees, and Arrows (complex). Love flying.

 

Looking good. I was stoked to finally getting back to working on my bumper today.

 

One bolt holding it on??

 

No the other bolt sinks into the tube on the frame mount and then there's four bolts on the upper hoop mounts

 

What size tubes are you using, that looks sweet!! Some trophy truck style right there!

 

Big stuff is 1.75x.120" DOM and the lil nerf stuff is 1.25" DOM

 

pretty much finished cept the paint and bolting the skid back on, got to pop the cherry on my new tig machine too!!