General Fabrication

I think he said you were kinda far, think he means "tried that" as in local fabricators

 

Started my bumper







I'm not finished yet, gonna shorten the front up about an inch and still have to template the underside and top. Then I have to figure exactly how I'm going to mount it and cut part of my winch mount which currently is kinda a hidden mount under a really hacked up bumper

Any suggestions on design etc?

 

True but two 90's shipped wouldn't be that much unless they were long tubes.

 

My Bad!

 

Do the fabbing projects in this thred have to be truck related?

I see quite a few head's from the anything welding are hanging here.

 

Not at all, anything fabrication is cool

 

Okey.

I build these trailers for the fun of it. I actually built myself a car hauler when I was 19, I'm 47 now. I was cleaning out the folks garage where I built my 3/4 finnished trailer. I put the trailer in the front yard so I could get my truck up the narrow drive to load up trash/scrap. A bit later some dude stops by and asks how much I was selling the trailer for? I did some quick math and sold the trailer. It took me 10 years to get myself my own trailer. I kept having to build other people trailers. I now do mostly the utility trailers that I will be showing pics of.

I lost count at around the 200 trailer mark. I think I'm closer to 300.

I like to build about a dozon of these a year and most are prepaid. this one I just built for the fun of it. It is my trailer, but it is for sale.

I can't build and sell a trailer for what the trailer dealers sell these for. assembly line prices can't be beat. All I have is my reputation.

The one you see is listed at $1575 or best REASONABLE offer. After materials, i figure I'm working for 8 bucks and hour. I'm okey with that. Building something that will be handed down to the next generation has always been pleasing to me.

I use the money that is made on these trailers to help with buying parts for my second love-rebuilding/building wrecked, toyota pickups.

i was actually just getting ready to post these pics in the for sale section, but reading the rules, I don't think I can.

Anyways, sorry for the long intro, but hopefully you can enjoy my trailer pics.

Later

Kirk

 

post it up man. that is a bad trailer! since youre not really a "business," post it up and say you can make custom trailers too.

 

I'll do it now.

Thanks

KO

 

Is there any online steel dealer with good prices? Local place quoted me $493 for 50ft of 2"ODx.120 wall DOM and 50ft of 1.75"ODx.120 wall DOM. Or is that price pretty reasonable?

 

$5 a foot isn't bad. It's about $8 a foot online, and that's if you only do 8' and shorter chunks. If your local supplier uses USA DOM even better. The india and china steel is much weaker, but it is less expensive. Try finding a fabrication shop and see if you can piggyback on their order, that's the cheapest way to get metal imo.

 

cheapest way is to go out to the yard and pick up all the "drop" pieces. Or pieces that have had a few feet whacked off them already.

WAY cheaper. what i do.

 

Some places won't let you pick up scrap. If you're young enough and have a welding school near you they usually give stuff for free, I'm too old now and our school shut down

I'm lucky though theres a supplier near me that has an entire yard full of material that has surface rust and tons of random metal crap that he prices for whatever scrap is going for. I built a roof rack, hidden winch mount, and rear bumper for about $120.

 

really? that blows..

i guess there is a welding school near by. But they always love getting rid of drop pieces.

 

Yeah not sure why, not like they bring it the the recycler, doesn't pay enough. We have some tweaker dude come and take ours in, cheaper for us, after I go through it first Though most of ours is small pieces.

 

Quick question for yall:

Miller 211 - Worth the extra over a Hobart? I would like to eventually weld AL with it and i thought the finite adjustability would be better.

 

I just bought a 211 a few months ago and am pretty happy with it. Does pretty well with aluminum, and suffices my needs around the shop. Can't speak for the Hobart, have always preferred Miller.

 

Nobody ever regrets buying a Miller over a Hobart. No one ever said "I bougth a Miller, but I wonder if I should have bought a Hobart".

Both are good machines, both will last you your lifetime. If the Miller has the features that you "may" need in the future, you better get the one that has the extra features.

I have a couple bigger Miller mig units. One of them has the features that lets me weld Al. I've welded Al exactly 3 times in 20 years. I'm still glad I got a machine that let me use it to it's full potential.

Remember, you will have this machine your whole life. A few hundred extra dollars now is going spread out over your entire life.

I have a Miller 250 that I bought 22 years ago. I bought a 212, 10 years ago. I was worried I was going to wear out the 250. I was wrong, I won't be able to wear out the 250. i have an extra machine just sitting there that doesn't get used.

Spend a bit more up front. These units aren't battery drill motors, you won't be spending big money for another one.

Krk

 

Good to know. I called the supplier and they said I just have to specify USA DOM when I order. Doesn't cost any more than stuff from India though I ordered it up today!

Yeah nobody around here does that. Even the scrap yards won't sell any. The metal supplier that I've been buying from sell the excess at a lower cost but they never have any tubing in the size I need.

 

Meh..

I've always thought those look a little poser..

Plus, that's quite a projectile if you ever get in an accident.

I like where I've mounted mine.