crash325
Elite Member
It was time to put up a mail box. Where the mail is delivered to is near the hwy. Kids catch school bus and then there are the "normal" vandal's".
Wanted it fairly strong and weather resistant. This was the first Mail Box that I have ever built. Even before it was done some minor improvements were figured out, but too late to change the design. Not shown in the pictures is a expanded metal screen that goes inside, should some rain get in, it holds the mail about 3/8" off the bottom of the box.
Most of the cutting, fitting & welding went pretty well. Spent more time finding or looking for tools than actual building. Some of the tools I had just used, laid down and they went into hiding. The pivot pins were zinc coated, even with a lot of sanding & grinding, they still gassed out in places.
Pictures tell the building better than me writing about it.
Really Dumb mistakes! Most of them came when installing the box. Thinking it was going into soft dirt. Did not point the end of the pipe going into the ground. Put on some good sized wings so it would not turn and 2 pieces of re-bar so it would be hard to pull out. (Forgot to take a picture.) Box to pipe was a very tight fit, with tight holes, a few thousands under size. Another bad idea, Took my light post driver and sort of an after though took the heavy one, 60 /70#. It was not heavy enough, over an hour driving the post. All that pounding partly closed the top mounting holes and flared the pipe out. Did not take a drill, drift or file with me. Another hour pounding the flair out, driving in the mounting bolts. The box must be close to 40 /50#, holding it with one hand while driving in the bolts was a lot more "Fun" than I really wanted. So in only about 2 hours a 1/2 hour job was completed. Naturally the bolt thread were destroyed, so in a day or 3 they will get hammered out, holes reamed and new bolts installed.
Should you need advice on how "Not" to do things, just let me know. Be Glad to "Help",
:drink:
Wanted it fairly strong and weather resistant. This was the first Mail Box that I have ever built. Even before it was done some minor improvements were figured out, but too late to change the design. Not shown in the pictures is a expanded metal screen that goes inside, should some rain get in, it holds the mail about 3/8" off the bottom of the box.
Most of the cutting, fitting & welding went pretty well. Spent more time finding or looking for tools than actual building. Some of the tools I had just used, laid down and they went into hiding. The pivot pins were zinc coated, even with a lot of sanding & grinding, they still gassed out in places.
Pictures tell the building better than me writing about it.
Really Dumb mistakes! Most of them came when installing the box. Thinking it was going into soft dirt. Did not point the end of the pipe going into the ground. Put on some good sized wings so it would not turn and 2 pieces of re-bar so it would be hard to pull out. (Forgot to take a picture.) Box to pipe was a very tight fit, with tight holes, a few thousands under size. Another bad idea, Took my light post driver and sort of an after though took the heavy one, 60 /70#. It was not heavy enough, over an hour driving the post. All that pounding partly closed the top mounting holes and flared the pipe out. Did not take a drill, drift or file with me. Another hour pounding the flair out, driving in the mounting bolts. The box must be close to 40 /50#, holding it with one hand while driving in the bolts was a lot more "Fun" than I really wanted. So in only about 2 hours a 1/2 hour job was completed. Naturally the bolt thread were destroyed, so in a day or 3 they will get hammered out, holes reamed and new bolts installed.
Should you need advice on how "Not" to do things, just let me know. Be Glad to "Help",
:drink:
