Cage Fab

[maduece]

I've only been here for a while now but my UPS man has a distain for me already. Yesterday he dropped off 3 links of DOM, angle iron and flats, and then today he had to bring up my new MIG. It's a weldmark 140 made under permission of Hobart/Miller, got it for $300 less than what the locals wanted for the name brand Hobart. As far as the cage goes I'm going to copy the poison spyder cage. I wanted to get a cage in now that I'm 99.5% sure on moving forward with the Brute cab, frame stretch, and flat bed. I should have updates this weekend. Kyle, can you send your saw down to BLF south for the weekend?

[GreenTJ]

another excuse to use herculiner is what it sounds like to me

[maduece]

No, this one's getting painted it's for inside the cab.

[gtrsnax]

now that I'm 99.5% sure on moving forward with the Brute cab, frame stretch, and flat bed


:shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :cool: :thumb:

Ummmm, so........yeah. Cool. You uhhhh, want some help? :twisted:

[IH8RDS]

let me know how that welder works out. I have the Hobart 140. I wish I knew about that one :bang:

[maduece]

Kyle has been talking about coming down here some time this summer to help, you should come along for the BLF reunion! I have a professional welder with a mobile shop standing by to do the frame portion, and the friend of my that owns the garage that I wrench at wants to buy all my take off parts. Kyle talked me into doing a square tube bed with poison spyder type fenders in round tube. The only thing that is holding me back is finding nice used short bed Dodge diesel in the 20K range, I may have to settle on something else to get this project moving.

[Wheelin22RE]

lucky!

[K9]

another excuse to use herculiner is what it sounds like to me

:mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

[maduece]

Didn't get as as far as I would have liked today but progress none the less. The brackets against the dash had more compound angles than I thought. The last pic has around five pieces and numerous welds and I haven't even started on the three or so gussets. The welder worked as expected once we figured out that the power supply (ran from the house) wasn't enough juice. He plans to run power out to the garage/shed but thats a ways down the road. Some worry about the strength of the from the dash design, but I've seen footage from a roll over with a Jeep using PSC design and it held up well. This will be in addition to a hard top and anything is better than just hoping the windshield holds up to a roll over.

[ChevyMudTruck]

looking good . . btw think I have the same angle grinder or whatever ya wanna call it . . lol

[gtrsnax]

Looks great bro!!!

[AlxJ64]

Looks good man...

but.. not bad talkin your work at but consider crankin up the welder up one more click :twisted: You'll be glad you did. Makes the weld alot prettier and alot stronger. You're not gonna burn through that if you've set yourself up with some good grinds.

I'm jealous. I've got a million Projects on hold right now and watchin you roll on makes me so anxious...

Damn you money.. Damn you!!! :bang:

[maduece]

I think I was at the highest voltage on most of those welds, but then there were some power supply issues. More grinder prep was probably in order there and a little wider sweeping motion with the gun. I have to get back into the swing of things, I've been off the gun for months now.

[IH8RDS]

Turn up the heat and slow down the wire speed. Slow half moons will penetrate allot deeper and give you allot better results. It looks like the metal isn't melting enough to make a puddle.

Kudos for gittin' er done!!

[akxj]

Tim for that welder you want it on 4 for voltage and 35 for line speed...that's it's happy place....other than that looks really good...hows EOD school treatin yah???

[hecull]

Dude, you are a MACHINE!
Lookin good!

[maduece]

Thanks for all the input. The EOD school house is treating me good, I smile at work now and don't feel like driving off a bridge during my morning comute.

[AlxJ64]

but then there were some power supply issues. .

I've noticed that with my Hobie that if I run an extension cord it tends to act pretty dumb... :???: And not give me the amount of heat I want out of it.

[maduece]

but then there were some power supply issues. .

I've noticed that with my Hobie that if I run an extension cord it tends to act pretty dumb... :???: And not give me the amount of heat I want out of it.

Yeah that was a problem yesterday, we have to run power from the house on a damn long cord. I'm making a run to Home Depot today, is there an electrical tool for house hold electrical that will allow me to see if I'm getting the juice I need?

[gtrsnax]

Kyle says all you need to do is get a clip on ammeter (sp?) and fire hte wleder up, it'll detect the amount of juice flowing through. it just clips on the line and detects the field going through it. or something.....

[maduece]

Just got back from Lowes and I found what you were talking about Tom. We'll see what it tells me this weekend. I also bought all the material for a welding cart. Between the cart and cage I should keep myself busy for the next couple of weekends.

[K9]

Yeah that was a problem yesterday, we have to run power from the house on a damn long cord. I'm making a run to Home Depot today, is there an electrical tool for house hold electrical that will allow me to see if I'm getting the juice I need?

Save your money, you don't need a clamp-on to tell you that. Besides, you won't get a clear reading. The welder has to be at full draw, which is impossible while making arcs. someone has to be there to read it while you're drawing power if it does register right.

If the cord is over 10ft, you'll have some issues. There is going to be significant power drops over any greater lengths. I don't know what lengths you're playing with, but the solution requires a high end construction cord of 10ga or better.


Voltage Drop Per 100 FT Run of Paired Wire
http://www.altronix.com/images/vchart.gif



Say in one scenerio, you could have a 15volt drop across the line, leaving the welder only 100v to work with. 16% loss in power. This doesn't include impedance issues and load factoring.

[maduece]

I didn't see your post about the amp draw until just today. That's some good info. I think right now he's running 50 ft of 12 gauge to the garage. I was looking at the 10 gauge at Lowe's but it looked like the plug was different.

[FULL AWN]

Use some Romex and make your own. Helluva lot cheaper then buying a premade cord

[maduece]

Use some Romex and make your own. Helluva lot cheaper then buying a premade cord

Use some who and make a what? :shrug:

[gtrsnax]

hehehe, make your own heavy heavy duty extension cord out of bulk wire from Lowes (referred to casually as Romex, I think thats the popular brand)
Over engineer it so by the time the current gets to the garage, it's still where you need it. Go with...say.....6 gauge wire, and figure some way to put normal plugs on the end, plugs rated for high current of course.
After all the trouble, it might be worth just running an extra line out to the garage and put in a small service panel like I had to do in my garage.

Or.......move the whole garage closer to the house, like within 12 feet so you can use a heavy duty 10AWG extension cord.

[maduece]

Ok once I get the Romex, what do I use for the ends, connections etc...? He plans to run a hard line out to the garage, but not as soon as I would like to get my projects done.

[gtrsnax]

Not sure. Hopefully the knucklehead in the electrical department at Lowes can help answer that. Just explain you need to make an extension cord on steroids. It'll be pulling XXXXXXX at full work load. I'd get the plugs before you get any cable cut. No point in wasting time measuring cable if they dont have plugs that'll work.

[gtrsnax]

If it helps any, we run the Buzzard welder off a 110v plug in the garage. It's a 60amp fuse in the box, 10gauge wire that drops right out of the bottom of the service panel, so the cables only about 6 feet long.

[AlxJ64]

Use some Romex and make your own. Helluva lot cheaper then buying a premade cord

Use some who and make a what? :shrug:

The heaviest shit you can afford and wire it up to the 110 plug for your welder. Hell, here at the house we have a 40Ft 220V extension that runs out of the Kitchen off of the oven plug, out to the shed so we can run the Stick Box.

[K9]

Tap the mains or go home...

[maduece]

Took off early from work today and got some wrenching done. Didn't get but two gussets in palce on the cage but I nearly finished the welding cart. Got to break in the chop saw, it ain't the greatest but it's better than going at everything with a cut off wheel.

[highlander]

NICE!!!!!!!!!!

[IH8RDS]

Nice M416 tub in the background :cheers:

[gtrsnax]

Oh boy.........

Is that a to-be truck bed in the background?

[maduece]

Oh boy.........

Is that a to-be truck bed in the background?

No, it's Glen's long turn camping trailer project. It just got back from sand blasting yesterday. But dam, that does give me some ideas!

[maduece]

Installed a skyjacker kit on Glen's DD and got a little more done on the cage. It's not welded on the top cause I want to wait until I have everything mocked up before I take the top of (it's a PITA) and then I'll weld it all together. Since a couple of you were interested in the trailer there's a pic of that too.

[gtrsnax]

That really really good dude. REALLY good. You're getting some good use out of them hole saws huh? hehehee

[maduece]

That really really good dude. REALLY good. You're getting some good use out of them hole saws huh? hehehee

I saw the holes cut in the PSC design and thought I would shoot for accuracy. I also got to try out my tube notcher, which worked ok, but I need deeper hole saws to keep from bottoming out on the tube.

[maduece]

Another Friday night welding session. The cart is done excpet for a few hooks here and there for the helmet etc. The cage is coming along, but it doesn't help when you have to deconstruct stuff becuase of warpage. I know I'll get a talking to about the short sleeves, I guess I'll have to learn the hard way.

[gtrsnax]

Looks mighty nice bro! Go on with yer bad self and the short sleeve shirt....it's Florida for cripes sake!!!! If you burn a hole in your arm, just tell people you own a malnourished buzzard

[Rockjock]

Buzzard Luck Fab Shirts are all the rage.

[Stubby]

Whoa...that cart rules.

Well..and the rest of the stuff too...good job man!

[maduece]

Yeah the cart it the best thing to come out of the garage yet. Should have put the swivel wheels in the back rather than shopping cart style. It was a good project to tweak the power issue I was having. I might house sit for Glen this week, if so I could finish things up if the animals leave me alone long enough.

[maduece]

Got the other side finished tonight and dry fit the the cross bar. Now I just need a full day to take the top and tire carrier off to get everything welded and painted.

[gtrsnax]

Looks awesome dude! Izzit getting Herc'd ? hehehe

[hecull]

Looks awesome dude! Izzit getting Herc'd ? hehehe

Why are you even asking?

That's great Tim!

[maduece]

I'm going to try this stuff called "spray paint" :shrug: The more I think about it I may just pull the whole thing out once I get the top off to do the paint and welding. I've never looked to see how the bottom of the stock roll bar is attached to the floor??

[gtrsnax]

Me either, I'd bet Torx though :cry:

[wifehatesmyjeep]

Torx!?

Everything is torx. Well just about.

It's the T45. Have to do some scraping to get the factory sealant off as well.

[maduece]

YEA! torx :mad:

[maduece]

After I got thru with my indentured servant time at Glen's we pulled the rear cage. This will make taking the top of next weekend much easier.

[gtrsnax]

It's like a retarded Scrambler :-)
I like it actually.

[wifehatesmyjeep]

:up:
Short-Bus Scrambler

:mrgreen:

[K9]

omg

[maduece]

:up:
Short-Bus Scrambler

:mrgreen:

Beat me to it. I like the look too, I'll enjoy driving it like this for a week or two.

[gtrsnax]

Just dont pop a.........


I wont say it

[CPike3]

Did you ever sort out your power issues? I know I'm a little late on this, but if you are running off of typical household power, 9 times out of 10 it is a 15A circuit, which will only give you 1800 watts. Typically this circuit is shared across many things including lights and outlets. This is all based on what is typically wired in a house, which is 14AWG. You never want to try to pull more watts than that, you'll more than likely trip the breaker, or burn the wire. So adding an extension cord, even if it is 6AWG wont do diddly for you. Also consider that most Lowes extension cords are 14-16AWG unless you look at the commercial cords. I have all of my extension cords special ordered. It is rare to have any 20A circuit in a typical house or home garage. The best bet is to give the welder it's own circuit. You can add a 20A breaker very easily in you home, just so long as the wire you use is 12AWG. A 30A breaker would probably be overkill, but you want to use 10AWG to be safe.

And the Jeep looks sweet...

[CPike3]

And an ammeter only works if you can isolate the line wire and clamp around it.

[hecull]

Wow, without the back cage it almost looks like a Samurai on steroids! (which I like, BTW)
KO

[maduece]

Did you ever sort out your power issues?

I've kinda learned to work around it. I replaced the ground clamp with a heavy duty piece and increase the time I spend on cleaning the weld area. It's the best I can do until the garage owner gets around to installing power.

[maduece]

After 25 post holes dug, I managed to get a little farther on the cage. Two braces to weld in tomorrow, final paint and installation.

[gtrsnax]

Looks awesome man. Are those braces going where typical grab bars would be going?

[maduece]

Yeah, in the grab handle area. Also maybe some sheet metal I have left over from the welding cart, running between the two center bars, to mount future junk under.

[gtrsnax]

More of those cool blue gauges!!! hehehe
Or, thats a prime spot for cb's too, incase you ever go into the drink to deep....

[akxj]

Tim excellent job...very impressed...

[maduece]

Well, it's ready. I just can't find enough of a time block at the garage to weld it in. I should have used bolt on clamps for the center sections so that it's still removeable. Maybe I still have time.

[hecull]

Awesome Tim!
It would be nice to make it removable, so using clamps on those center bars would be nice, but not really needed.
This is turning out great.
KO

[maduece]

Done, finally. Fabrication in Florida heat sucks.

[K9]

Needs Herc! :thumb:

[maduece]

One last pic for this project. Got the padding in today. It's actaully harder than you would think to find padding for 1.5" tube.

[K9]

One last pic for this project. Got the padding in today. It's actaully harder than you would think to find padding for 1.5" tube.

Probably in Florida... Northern states dedicate whole isles for pipe insulators.

LOOKS VERY SHARP!!! :cheers:

[rola643]

One last pic for this project. Got the padding in today. It's actaully harder than you would think to find padding for 1.5" tube.

Was just rolling through your project, which BTW, looks very sweet and this post caught my eye. If ya ever replace it, here is just one place to get roll bar padding that will fit.
http://www.daymotorsports.com/product/1763/c/S26/
Pre-tape adhesive

• Will Not Drip/Melt In Fire

• Provides maximum in safety and flame retardation

• Provides maximum in energy absorption

• Fits bars for 1½" to 1¾", 36" length