good advice Inu. I was about to comment the same of sorts.

 

Went to the Metal Supermarket today to pickup some more steel to burn.








They told me at the metal store they couldn't cut the 45* angles I wanted so I figure between this and my 5" grinder I can get the job done.

More to come later!

 

not to knock on your new little toy, but a reciprocating saw would not only do the job, but would probably be a more useful tool afterward.

 

I have one, but I can't cut a straight line with one to save my life.

 

don't worry. you're not the only one (me>)

 

Yeah, the only saws I can use to make straight cuts are table saws, radial arm saws, mitre saws, and skill saws. Basically anything that keeps going in a straight line.

Oh, I did some burning this weekend, nothing on the bed yet because I was on vacation and feeling extra lazy but I did this:



The blob in the middle up there is where someone distracted me and I burned a huge quarter-sized hole into the frame rail and tube.




Ugly, and I'm not sure if the pic shows it well enough but there is discolouration around the weld reaching about 1/2" around it into the frame and tube, same with the other side so I hope that means I got good penetration.


Not quite as ugly, I hadn't burned any metal in a couple months so I guess I just needed to warm up a bit.

My frame actually caught fire a couple times while doing these next two welds. :eek: I missed a bunch of undercoating that was all over the inside of the rails, I hate that stuff so much.


I can't figure out what put that line there going straight away from the weld, I didn't move the nozzle over that way at all but it wasn't there before, it's not a burn mark either from the frame catching fire.


I swear this one looked perfect before I decided it to build it up some more.

 

looks solid! good work. are you going to put in a hitch receiver or anything?

 

Yes, the reason why I put this tube on is to also have a place to weld some plates from the open part of the frame rails on the top and bottom to about 6" along the tube so I can mount a hitch. It will end up making the rear of the frame look kinda like this from the top-down:
This is because the Reese Hitch that I bought on the cheap at Princess Auto (think Canadian Harbor Freight that sells both low and high-end + surplus) is actually 1" narrower than the hitch mounting holes on the frame rails The tube and sheet will give me new mounting points without having to have tabs that stick out on both sides with no real support or making potentially unsafe modifications the hitch. I have a big chunk of c-channel I plan on welding onto the hitch, with a hole cut out for the receiver to poke through, to use as a bumper and the tube also gives me a place to put some extra mounts in to make sure it's not gonna fall off. Not so cheap now after shelling out for a 41" long bit of 2x3" 1/8" tube, 3/16" sheet, and welding supplies!

One thing I've not bought material for yet is for making mounts to hold jerry cans on the bed. I'd like to be able to carry 4 cans in total be them gas, diesel (have tractors), and/or water, obviously not the same containers, mounted flat against the back of the bed but I don't want the mounts to interfere when I go to Home Depot and pickup plywood. I need to work out a way to make mounts I can completely take off without compromising security. There's gotta be some way I can just use some 1"x1" tube with tabs welded onto it to hold them in place that I can attach to the bed on both sides, maybe some bar stock that they lock onto with padlocks. Hmmmm...

Next thing on the list of crap to weld up after I get this finished and the rest of the material on the bed will be a pole attached to a long piece of tubing to slide into the receiver so I can mount a hammock tent for camping, while also serving as a rear mounting point for tying down a kayak.