Buck's random home-made things.

[daniel_buck]

hah, mine's not that old, it's probably 15+ years old, probably NOT made American, Japanese I'd guess. But it works great, always has I don't have the turn table anymore (or at least I can't find it if I do, haha!)

[daniel_buck]

So I'm going to be helping a friend make something very similar to this (without the wheels), and we may make it a bit wider so that the shelves are rectangular with a bit more room, instead of square.

Anyway, it looks like all of the metal parts (aside from the gussets) it's made out of angle iron (probably 1x1"?) but I'm curious what thickness would be sufficient for strength without being overly heavy? I have a difficult time estimating the strength of metal, I seem to under-estimate and make things probably stronger (and heavier) than they really need to be. It looks like a design like this is sufficiently braced all over, would 1x1" 1/16" thick angle iron be sufficient? I'm going to call up the steel place today (M&K in Gardenia) to see what variation of thickness they have for 1x1 angle iron. If they have something a little bit thinner than 1/16", would that be sufficient? And I'd probably make the gussets the same thickness.

http://www.worldmarket.com/product/a...ere.do?from=ac


(edit) Oh, actually I just got off the phone with M&K, and they say that they don't make a 1/16" angle iron in steel, the thinnest they make is 1/8"? I could have sworn that I had 1/16" angle iron before, but maybe I was incorrect, maybe it was 1/8". So I guess 1/8" it is. They quoted me a $12 and change for each 20 foot section of 1x1 1/8" angle iron. Sounds like this will be pretty cheap to make


Can I assume that 1x1 1/8" angle iron weighs the same as 1x1 1/16" square tubing?

[daniel_buck]

I picked up a throatless shear, time to get started with some sheet metal work! :-) I think my first real project will be a shifter cover to cover up the hole in the tub where all the shift levers are. I can't use the factory one because of the overdrive I put in. And instead of destroying an item that is missing on alot of these old jeeps, I'd rather build a new one. And after that, will be a tool box, which I'll probably weld or bolt down into the cage/tub of my Willys.

This one is from woodward fab, it's pretty cheap, nowhere near what a beverly costs (which I'm told is the gold standard!) But in what little reviews I could find, it seems to be better than the harbor freight shear, everyone seems to complain about crappy blades on the HF shears. We'll see! Supposedly this one will shear 3/16" sheet metal. If it really can do that, I will be extremely happy! 1/8" and 1/16" is probably what I'll be doing for furniture projects, and 1/8" is probably what I'll be doing for stuff on the jeep (small brackets, and what not) But somehow I think it will be difficult to shear 1/8" steel on this. We'll see Now to find a place to mount this thing. I've got plenty of scrap metal, I may make a dedicated stand for it, I don't know yet. For now I'll temporarily mount it on my work bench.

[daniel_buck]

It cuts 1/16" sheet metal like butter! :-D 1/8" you got to pull down pretty good on the handle (maybe a longer handle would help) but it's quite doable. Cutting 1/8" flat bar is pretty easy. If I had to cut up a larger piece of 1/8" sheet metal, it would be doable I think, but I think realistically 1/8" flat bar is about as thick as this thing will comfortably go while mounted on my wood work bench. If I were going to be cutting 1/8" sheet metal of any size larger than 1.25" flat bar, I think I'd want to mount this thing on some metal plates, not sure I trust the plywood to hold this thing while I crank on the handle real hard, haha!

That's fine, 1/8" flat bar is the largest that any of my brackets and stuff will be made out of. The sheet metal work for like the transmission cover and tool box and other furniture projects will be 1/16" or maybe a little thicker, 12 gauge. And then 1/8" flat bar for trim and stuff on furniture For that, I think this will be very handy

[inVERt'D]

I was looking at that exact shear some months back. How do you find it for doing curves and stuff? Following a straight line? I think we had something like that in metal shop when I was a youngster, but the closest thing I've used since have been hand shears. Those are okay for maybe 18GA or so, but 16 is pretty tough. I also find that the metal gets in the way as you cut with the hand shears, which can be annoying on long cuts.

[daniel_buck]

You can kind of curve with this, but it's alot better for straight cuts (which is what most people reviewing it said as well). I think the blade is more curved on a beverly, which makes it easier for cutting curves? I don't know. But for straight cuts, this thing cuts real nice, and real clean I can't wait to start using it on a project

This thing could cut 16 gauge real easy. It cuts 1/16" very easy (which is almost 14 gauge I think?) Just a guess, but I'd say 10 gauge sheet would probably be the practical limit for sheet metal, without a very solid mounting surface and a longer handle. And 1/8" would probably be the the practical limit for flat bar.

[daniel_buck]

Picked up a HF 20ton press this weekend, and have the SWAG press brake kit on order, hopefully I'll be bending stuff after my christmas break :-D

[Ol Man]

If you have a portaband saw I would recommend also getting this:

http://www.swagoffroad.com/SWAG-V40-...able_p_63.html

I have it bolted to my welding table and use it all of the time. If you don't have a portaband, you might want to look into it since you are wanting to do a lot of metal work. I have a Milwaukee.

Looks to me like you are having a lot of fun.

[daniel_buck]

nope, no band saw, but I can see how one would be useful!

[daniel_buck]

So I've got a question about this 20 ton press. I don't have a whole lot of room, so I often have to re-arrange items to get to other items (my table saw is always behind other items, for instance) So pretty much everything in my garage has to be mobile to an extent.

I'm thinking about putting some heavy duty casters/wheels on the press. Would this be safe? I believe it weighs about 150 pounds. And although it's fairly top heavy, it doesn't seem unstable at all. Maybe fixed casters in the rear, and swivel casters in the front that can be locked to keep it from rolling? My garage floor is fairly smooth, not to many cracks.

Any thoughts on this? Good idea? Bad idea?

(edit) after a quick google search, seems like alot of folks do this. I'll go ahead and do it. I wonder if it would be a better idea to drill a hole and use the threaded stem-style casters that secure with a nut? or get a caster that has a mounting plate and just weld it on? Maybe bolt on would be better, easier to replace if one starts to break down later on?

[mrchips]

Have you thought of bolting it to a piano dolly, screw a piece of ply to the dolly then the press

[daniel_buck]

That would probably work. Seems like it would be simpler to just bolt/weld the wheels right to the press legs though, eh?

[daniel_buck]

Some shelves I'm helping a friend make. Teaching her to weld, and cut materials. Almost done, just need to finish the wood work (sand & stain). They will look pretty good, a combo of metal and wood. Kurt, I think you saw these when you dropped off the Willys.

Test fitting one of the shelves before gluing. The glued wood pieces will rest in loose, with gravity.




and my "jig" to cut all the 30 some-odd square pieces of wood.




to add to the list of junk I'm working on, a liquor cabinet. I'll try and make this a unique one. Might re-purpose some jeep parts

[daniel_buck]

got about 1/2 of the press brake tack welded up. Got both posts hammered in and tacked, and the slider tubes tacked onto the big piece that presses into the die. A friend of mine is going to let me use 220 power at his garage, so once I get it all tacked up, I'll bring my welder over there and weld it all up with 220 and some .035 wire.

Just need to grind off the mill scale from the big angle iron piece that will be the die and tack it to the base. (the angle iron is not in this photo)

[daniel_buck]

I got the rest of it welded up at my friends house, wow the welder feels so much more powerful with 220 power and the .035 wire (not sure if the wire makes much difference or not?) I NEED 220 power at home now, haha! Or a generator. The difference was quite noticable. tack welding at home at full power on 110, these thick metals the tack weld is like a ball that sits on top of the metal. With 220 at full power, the tack sinks into the metal alot more, and doesn't just rest on top. I like