Anyone built front blade from scratch? + welding ?

[Mith]

looking for pics and ideas of blades people have made or just general ideas.
I have started making it, have the curve of teh blade and a huge sheet of stainless steel for the face. JUst need ideas fot the blade supports and angling mechanism. Have ideas of my own but in previos experience others here have better ideas than mine, if you would like to share them.

Thanks for any ideas/pics.

PS, I hate drilling and work in general, so all welded designs are prefered, thanks

 

[Mith]

The welding question (I forgot it previously) can I weld stainless steel to normal steel with a normail welder with 6013 rods. Surely if I get ti hot enough to melt it it should bond right?
Thanks

 

[PILOON]

I am planning on doing a similar project, so will be watching this discussion attentively.

Am presently undecided as to attaching my blade in a direct 'push' arrangement from the tractor frame or attaching 'ears' so that I can swap out with my loader bucket.

I do have a fisher snowplow handy for design copies but may go the meyer type of trip mechanism as it is easier to copy, and besides a tractor will not be a fast plow compared to a pickup truck, hence less potential damage issues.

 

[Deerlope]

Sorry to disappoint you but I am a retired professional welder and the is no way you are going to weld reg steel to stainless using 6013 rod.

 

[Mith]

Deerlope, Tell you what, I gave it a go an it worked! Seroiusly, I will get pictures if you dont believe me. It worked just like welding steel to steel. It stuck well. I hope i dont come across rude or anything, but the two peices were stuck together, honestly.

Piloon, Im not using any trip mechanism, I think it would just be better making it strong enough to take the power of the blade. IM nearly finished, just ran out of grinding discs to cut the stailess steel sheet fot the face. Will take pics when its done.

 

[SkyPup]

Good luck with that, but Deerlope is correct, it will not work.

 

[Mith]

Well got it all done today, just need a lift and angle mechanism built. Tried it out and it popped rocks out good and crushed a wheelbarrow againt the shed wall with it. The stainless steel face looks amazing, so cool, and it look huge compared to the tractor, kinda like a wheeled dozer. Will get some pics when I get the chance to pick up some batteries for the camera.

Well the inexplicatble has happened. I respect you guys know what youre talking about but I cannot ignore the fact that I have seen steel welded to stainless, heck, I did it myself. maybe its just them fumes again but that sheet is stuck solid to the frame.

 

[Highbeam]

Good for you. I've even welded mild steel to stainless without preheating... it works too.

We need pics, must have pics, that nice stainless skin must look nice.

 

[Mith]

Well im glad someone doesnt think im a crackpot /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Here are the photos, dashed out and got batteries specially, its pitch black so the pics arent so good but gets the idea across.
Its pretty strong, I crushed a wheelbarrow against the shed wall and no damage.
It has a quick ayyach on it so you can dive over it, if it is the right height pull 2 pins on the front and bars pop out and pin it in, to release pull in the pins and it drops off.
I added a photo of the welds holding the stainless front to the steel frame

Would also like to add that I made this with no plans out of 2 high school scince tables and a catering sink (for the stainless). I curved the frame by cutting slots with a hacksaw and bending it by hand. All the rest was made by cutting with a hacksaw and welding, grinding off and putting it in the right way round and rewelding. Holes on pillar drill. To bend the stainless I was going to use clamps to bend it onto the frame but the 3mm thich stainless was stubborn enough to break the frame. After that I took got it on a bending roller that I have acess to, but bent it too far. I jumped on it to fine tune it to the right curvature. Have been planning this in my mind for weeks but most was made up as I went along. Took 2 days start to finish, would have done it in 1 but the grinder broke and run out of grinding wheels

 

[Deerlope]

Well I guess we are never too old to learn, please do me a small favor, if you got a small piece of that stainless left over put a magnet on it and see if it will stick and then post the results.