No welding, just holes and bolts

[kwolfe]

OK, I can't weld and if I value my life, I don't dare propose purchasing a welder to the wife. My question is what kind of mods have my fellow TBN members made using a drill, bolts, glue, duct tape, etc. Metal, wood, plastic, whatever.

bucket hooks
subsoilers
ballast boxes
carryalls
etc......

I am looking to tinker a little, but want to be able to use the tools I have handy (i.e. drill, sawzall, circular saw, grinder....that's it). I know, I am tool deprived.

I have made a subsoiler out of a drawbar, scrap metal I found on the side of the road, and a Ripper Shank I bought at TSC for $24. I will post pictures once I get home.

 

[hudr]

Have you checked into a welder? I bought a Miller Thunderbolt XL stick welder for less than $300 and use it nearly everyday in the shop.
But... yes most of this stuff can be bolted together but it is SO much faster w/ a welder. If I had to drill holes, hunt up bolts and then re-tighten when things vibrated loose I would have the cost of a welder tied up in broken drill bits, lost bolts and time.
And believe me, I can't weld either but I can make stuff stick together.

 

[kwolfe]

Believe me, I would love to have one. However the wife and I are considering putting in a swimming pool which is going to empty the wallet, so justifying a welder for my "hooby" would get me a hot tongue and cold shoulder. I have a scrap dealer near me where I can get some nice angle and square stock for $0.20 per lb (last I checked). I figure that and a couple of bucks on bolts will have to do for now.

 

[digger2]

kwolfe,i hate the thoughts of building ANYTHING out of steel without the use of a welding machine,seriously.So i guess I myself cant answer your question.
But its like hudr said,once you have one,even if you have to learn to weld
you wont be able to imagine yourself without it!!About four years ago i sold
my old machine,a lincoln 225 ac buzzbox,in a local paper for $100.There wasnt a thing wrong with it,and it wasnt really that old,maybe 8 yrs. old.
I just wanted a AC/DC machine so i could hook up a Tig torch to it.So if you keep your eyes open,maybe somebody your way will have a deal for you like that,where they just want something a little better and will give you a deal.
Or you could run an ad in your local paper.Theres alot of these things sittin around that maybe just dont get used anymore.And unless somebody really used one of these buzzboxes really hard theres not much that can really go wrong with them.Even though there just a base model machine,they are still a welder.One word of advice if you do decide to buy one,new or used,try to stay with a name brand.Good Luck........digger2

 

[dholly]

Not exactly a tractor attachment or mod but... prior to owning a welder, I used simple hand tools to cut-up and bolt my old Kubota shipping crate into a reborn workbench. Fun little project, works great and hasn't fallen apart yet.

 

[whodat90]

First thing I'd say is fill out your profile so we know where you are. Once we know that, we'll know the closest member to you that has a welder, so's you can see what it's like. Remeber, the first taste of crack is free. I went from having no welder, to having a little 110v buzzbox, to having that little buzzbox, a HH180, a 210a AC/DC stick welder and a scratch start tig setup, and a lincoln weldpak 110. Honestly, once you either have or know someone with a welder, the projects you can do become nearly infinite.
whodat

 

[Pooh_Bear]

I bought one of those little Harbor Freight Hobby Arc 110 welders
off of Ebay for five dollars. Works great. I had never welded before.
I have practiced enough now I can weld little stuff up if I need to.
But for heavy duty welding and critical stuff I just tack it in place
and then take it to a real welder. This way I can do all the fitting and
positioning to get it just like I want it and not have to pay the welder
to do all this for me. Saves me a lot of money that way.

You could pick up one of these welders real cheap and get started.
It was real easy for me and I got fluff for brains.

Pooh Bear

 

[kwolfe]

OK, here are the pictures I promised in my first post. The first picture is the 3pt trailer mover. It is simply a 26" drawbar (bought at TSC) with the two pieces of 3/8" that go to the top link (I bought them for $35 on the web).

The second picture is the ugly, yet effective subsoiler (if you want to call it that) that I made from a BB ripper (again bought at TSC) and some 6"x24" that I found laying in a trash heap next to a parking lot. I cut slots for it to slide onto the drawbar, then bolted some angle iron across the back to keep it from pulling off the drawbar when in use. I used this to help dig a 140' trench to lay wire for a lamp post, worked great. First pass went a few inches, second passe (with 220lb BIL stnading on it) got me down a good 10 inches at least.

The last picture is off my ballast tub in progress. It is a 15 gallon tub. I have cut holes in order to put a drawbar through it (made it so I could pull the drawbar out if needed). I also cut out a piece of the side so that top link would fit. I have 3 bags of conrete waiting to go in.

That's it so far, but I am still brain storming.

 

[kwolfe]

Duh...Sorry, her are the pictures

 

[MikeD74T]

kwolfe, What's with the metal cased battery charger sitting on top of a battery between the posts ???????????? MikeD74T