Container Weld Shop build -

[Big Barn]

I kinda like the individual hydraulic lower link mod and use the box blade to level idea.

Guess it’s too late now , huh.

Pretty sad when I have to quote myself but...

Did you consider a "quickie"? No no settle down, I was thinking a lift arm made of 2" square and matching receiver tube. (You must have 1/2 the inventory for the US west coast). You already have the mag drill set up for precision square tube hole drilling. Maybe a manually adjustable arm? I would imagine 2 or 3 (or 5) holes would provide adequate manual adjustment(s) to get this job done.

 

[BukitCase]

Terry, for the lack of info I provided the telescoping tube thang might work; now (emulating Paul Harvey) here's the "REST of the story" -

Both the Allis 160 and the Long460 already HAVE side tilt adjustments, (typical crank handle and acme screw or worm gear) but they're old and abused, and I can just BARELY get 'em to turn without a cheater bar, even WITHOUT an implement on the hitch - and even THAT requires that I dismount the tractor and do it from the ground :thumbdown:

Add to that a Gannon box blade that weighs roughly 1100 pounds - now the only thing that works is to just BARELY take the weight off the hitch by setting the blade lightly on the ground, cranking a little, lower/raise it a bit so I can tilt a little more, then get back on the tractor, oops- too much/not enough; try again Also, the Gannon needs the ripper cylinder either rebuilt or replaced for full functionality (meaning, when my clay soil is NOT in "brick mode")

I finally found enough Allis weights so THAT tractor usually keeps its front wheels on the ground when I raise the box with a load in it, so that's the tractor it gets used on. The Long is made in Bratislavia or some such, good luck finding the right weights for it; plus I'll still have to fab a weight rack that WILL fit it (and the 100 lb. New Holland wieghts I found at the local tractor graveyard) - the GOOD news on the Long is that for some unknown reason, there are 4 tapped holes where front weights go, and they're actually 5/8" fine thread - I already have the bolts for that, end of progress report

One more - before I can get top, tilt AND ripper control I almost HAVE to do the extra remotes mod on the Allis (not a QUICKIE either); right now all I have on BOTH tractors is a single remote; I've added a 2-way manual diverter to each, so I could do top/tilt - but again, the clay is in definite "brick mode" -

My favorite best-bud cat reached her expiration date about a month ago , I tried the 1-man 8" post hole auger for her final resting place - got almost an INCH in about 20 minutes, sharpened the auger cutting tip/edge and got mayby 2 MORE inches in 1/2 hour; finally fired up the hoe. It weighs about 12,000 lbs, the 2' bucket has basically brand new teeth on it, and the first couple feet had me resting the teeth on the ground with the only other contact being the loader bucket, and wiggling the hoe bucket back and forth - FINALLY got down to where it was more like SOFT brick...

Bottom line - even my involved pyramid scheme is probably twice as quick as waiting til I get everything done that would let me "just do it"...

The up side of having older tractors is no payments on $30k pieces of gear ('specially if you're not making money on it) - the DOWN side - you pay SOME of those payments on equipment to get/keep 'em running and useful (not to mention ZERO BOREDOM in the winter months, assuming you have a survivable work area )

The GOOD news - now that I HAVE a (sorta) survivable work area, I'm pretty sure that you could pick any moment during the 8-9 months of winter and you'd find at least ONE piece of gear in that area being cut/maimed/mutilated/welded/machined; probably MORE than one on average

I probably left out a couple really good excuses, but not fer lack of TRYIN' :laughing: ...Steve

 

[Big Barn]

I thought FOR SURE my idea would work. I've never thought of you to be the "lack of info" type.

 

[BukitCase]

In my defense, that wuz probly just one of those EXTREMELY RARE moments when I tried not to blather uncontrollably - sorry, it won't happen again (where's that "evil Satan grin" emoji when ya really NEED it??!?) ... Steve

 

[BukitCase]

Well, looks like manana's gonna be "critter cap" day, I'll cut 1/4" plate to cover all the holes in both ends of all the tubes (perfect job for the PM45 and a straight edge) - Found some 40-year old 1/8" 7014 rod; it's been about 10 years since I used stick for ANYTHING (5/32" 7018 modding my Gannon box so it'd work with the quick hitch) - so I was a bit leary of trying it without some "re-remembering", but - - Those welds in the last 3 pics were all done with OLD 7014 rod and this -

All the more impressive to me considering 40 year old rod, 10 years since I'd even TOUCHED a stick machine :thumbsup: - I gave it a little bit of hot start (.8 seconds @ +14%) and a little bit of "arc force", AKA "dig" ? (I think 10%) - and it just laid down easy like I re-remember NEW 7014 used to do 40 years ago

For more, see my post #409 on 7/18/18 for links...

For some stuff, I can see a LOT more stick welds in my future (did I mention this little turkey weighs a whopping 18 pounds? Or, that for stick welds that and some leads is all you need? Or that I'd forgotten how nice it can be to have a FAN on you without getting bird crap welds??!?

OK, can't wait for Terry and Oldpath havin' a CONTEST to see if my skin's REALLY as thick as I claimed about 400+ posts ago - GO fer it guise... ...Steve

Oh, one OTHER thing I got to "re-remember" - it's better if you do NOT pinch off the end cone of 7014 (like I do with 7018) before a re-start (the ONLY time I stuck a rod with this little wonder)

 

[BukitCase]

Oh, almost forgot - the ONLY complaint I have with the "little green monster" - same as with ALL new welding machines; the LEADS are too dang short (like, barely 10 feet each) - I thought I'd already SOLVED that one when I bought it, but turns out all I did was BUY a couple feet of lead and enough connectors to make 2 ADAPTERS for the stick part - so it probably won't be long til I dig out that stuff and make it so my 100 feet of stick weld leads can work on THIS machine too... Steve

 

[Big Barn]

73 year old grampa renews SMAW relationship after 10 year hiatus with 40 year old rods.

Your welds look better than mine, so I got nuthin'.

 

[Oldpath05]

So far I got about 70% of the tubes welded up (not including the "critter keeper-outers") - one of the "pyramids" is just two of the 3x8x 12" long tubes stacked; it seemed to me like it might be a little "squishy" with no smaller sized tubes bridging 'em, so I took a couple 4" cutoffs of the 2.5" tube, beveled one end a bit, ground a little groove down the middle (to clear the seam welds), and pressed 'em into the centers of those two 3x8 tubes with the hydraulic press - that should solve that "squishy center" thang :thumbsup:

Haven't been bothering with pics much, I'll try to get a few manana before I start

Power i-TIG 2T - TIG Welders | Everlast Generators
. Steve

Now that I got this quote sniped an picked a part, IF IF IF there ever was a time to take a picture, so am I to understand that you pressed a smaller square tube into another square that it just barely fit? I dont understand, where's that picture? I tried that and I couldn't do it without my biggest sledge hammer, I just ended up getting one piece stuck inside another part way in, had to go with a thinner walled outside piece.

I checked the specs on that Everlast welder, says 160 welding amps on stick, that's a little on the low side. barely enough for 5/32 if that. Now if memory serves, years ago according to my accurate welding speed measurements, one Mississippi two Mississippi or was it one Maniac two..........anywho I figured it would take a 5/32 7014 rod to weld faster than .030 70s and a 3/16 7014 rod to weld faster than .035 70s, with the 5/32 I'd have my Century AC DC 250 amp set around 150-170-ish welding amps, 3/16 I'd set it about 230-240-ish amps, I thought 7014 welded slightly better on AC then DC reverse, maybe because it's not a penetrating. rod

 

[BukitCase]

Terry, yer not really TRYIN' very hard today; feelin' OK??!?

OP, "so am I to understand that you pressed a smaller square tube into another square that it just barely fit? I dont understand. I tried that and I couldn't do it without my biggest sledge hammer,"

One of these (minus the "U" bracket jig) - - In my case, it's a 20 ton press - the tubing in question is 3" wide, - 1/2" for 2 quarter-inch walls leaves 2-1/2" for the 2-1/2" tubing that I pushed inside - as you probably found out, the electrically welded SEAM gets in your way. My need was just to beef up the wide tubes so they wouldn't crush, so I used a zip disk and did a small "furrow" down the side of the small tube (it's still1/4" wall, so no biggie) - then I ground a short bevel across the end of the small tube on 2 sides so it'd START a little easier, I lined up my "furrow" with the weld seam on the bigger tube, couple taps with a small (32 oz) hammer, set the whole thing on the press, used that "Tee" pusher in the pic, and held the air on the air/hydraulic jack til it looked halfway there...

No welding necessary, there's enough tension to keep it from moving since any force is only gonna be trying to squeeze things closer together, NOT push the small tube back out sideways...

On the big tube with the Tee bar welded inside - contrary to Terry's assertion that I have half the west coast's supply of steel :laughing:, I actually ran OUT of the 2.5" heavy wall tube, so took 11" long pieces of 1/2" FB and 3/8" FB and stitched 'em together with "greenie" for some center support. All the stacks with the 2.5" tubes running CROSSWAYS shouldn't NEED internal support 'cause the 3 cross tubes are supported by (and bridge between) the vertical walls of the big tubes. (I hope )

And yeah, it woulda been nice if the STICK side of "greenie" was 200 amps too, but I mainly bought it for the TIG - didja watch Mark's 3 vids? I doubt I'm ever gonna need to weld with less than 3 amps - I got a bunch of 5/32 7018, I'll probly run the stick up to 160 and see what it does - even at full output it still has a 35% duty cycle, which should mean I can weld 3-1/2 minutes out of ten. 'Nuff to run a stick or two before running the needle gun/wire brush while "greenie" catches its breath, etc...

As nice as these inverters run stick, I might add one of the Powerarc 300's later on; but there's a few other toys higher on the drool chart than that... Steve

 

[BukitCase]

I got all 20 of the 1/4" cap pieces cut today, and 8 of 'em de-glazed, beveled and ready to weld on - my plasma cuts 1/4" steel at 60 IPM, which makes it real handy to just lay a ruler along the back edge of the 1" angle I use for a guide - ever since my military time I can count seconds accurate within about 1 second per minute, so I just hold the torch against the guide and move it past the inch marks at one per second - works pretty good - - The ones standing up against the pyramids are the finished ones...

We had a couple cooler days (low 80's) which was nice; but the next week (starting tomorrow) is supposed to be mid to upper 90's - it'll get too warm for playin' with HOT things by around 11am, so I'll probably start fabbing 2 templates for cutting 16-1/2" square and 24-1/2" square holes in container walls - the first of 4 of these
Greenhouse Ventilation Package - Greenhouse Exhaust Fans | Greenhouse Megastore

will be here Monday (I'm getting the 1620 packages; they'll exchange the air in a 40' container once every two minutes) - I'm gettin' tired of making rounds morning (open containers, turn on fans) and nite (turn OFF fans, close containers) - some of the things stored in 'em do NOT like 130-140 degree temps, so the 16" exhaust fan will go on the leeward side opposite the door ends, and the 24" motorized louvers will go on the leeward side just inside the doors. The included controller can then get set to maybe 90 degrees, so I can goof off another hour before I gotta pretend I'm doin' sumthin USEFUL

The templates (which I can make in the wood shop (already HAS a 24" gable exhaust fan and 2 other fans, yay) will let me cut the holes with the plasma from INSIDE, MUCH less of a PITA than tryin' to do it with a zip disk :thumbsup: - I checked and all 4 containers have exactly the same corrugation spacing (even tho they're two different manufacturers), so I'll only need to make one of each size template (yay) to do all 4 containers -

Time to hang it up for the night, need to get going fairly early to beat the heat... Steve