First welded add on, Hooks & D Ring

[BMan2005]

Broke down and bought a stick welder about 6 weeks ago mostly for farm repairs, but thought it would be nice to add or build some of my own stuff around here also. Never welded in my life but been getting some good advice over in the welding section and working on it pretty hard last month & a half. Anyhow, other than repairs this is my first custom add on. Used some 3/8" flat stock to weld together the width of the top of the bucket & added a back strap to add extra support. Then added two hooks directly in front of my loader arms and a weld on D Ring centered. No telling how many times I needed these already! Don't beat me up to bad on my welding, but feel free to criticize me, I know I'm new and still have a long ways to go. Used 6011 & 7018 rods btw.

 

[Gordon Gould]

They look OK to me - like they will hold up just fine. That is the important part. Perfect looking welds come with time and practice. Keep up the good work, you are doing great. Nothing like using a new skill to do some real work. :thumbsup:

gg

 

[Threepoint]

+1. Good work. That welder's paid for itself already. :thumbsup:

 

[dragoneggs]

Looks good to me too... I love having a couple hooks on top of my bucket. Now I carry a chain on board all of the time. Hooks sure are handy.

 

[square1]

Not to shabby. I visualize beautiful stacked dime welds, reality is they hold and I DO NOT post pics of them on the welding forum

j/k about the welding forum, all in all a great helpful group over there with tons of knowledge they willingly share.

 

[sdef]

Not to shabby. I visualize beautiful stacked dime welds, reality is they hold and I DO NOT post pics of them on the welding forum

j/k about the welding forum, all in all a great helpful group over there with tons of knowledge they willingly share.

+1. My welds are tested and work great, but nothing I would post for pros to see... Your welds look fine. As long as they hold is all that truly matters for home use. Last week I welded up a 36" x 36" welding/plasma cutting portable (90#) table top. I had trouble with the gas system on the MIG and never got it figured out until after I had completed the project. All welds are porous (due to insufficient shielding gas) but strong enough for the task.
I placed a 2x3 block under each corner and sat a 1250# weight box across the table top balanced on a 2x4 sitting on edge- numerous times in various locations with the table top bowing down from the weight. Never a problem with a weld. Also sat a 710# ROBB across the table top in various locations with the ROBB sitting on its cutting edge and me standing on the QH. No problems here either.

 

[BMan2005]

I could have ground them smooth, but honestly it didn't bother me much. I had some beads look great, then would have a hiccup. Bound to happen with multi pass stringers for me. Not defending my welds, they show my experience level but I don't think I'll have a problem with strength. I do wish I stepped up to 5/32 rods so I could have probably done this with a single pass.