Subsoiler build

[dstig1]

I always thought they were decent price for drops. But never even think of ordering from the website. It seems they double prices on the web! I don't get there often (a bit of a drive and I don't use a ton of metal) but they always seemed like a good place. Their cut charges are pretty high, IMO. I have a small shop over in River Falls that is a satellite office of a bigger place out near Eau Claire that has been good to deal with. Doesn't seem as cheap since they don't do drops, they just do everything by the inch or pound (Steel Towne, if you are curious). They can do some basic work too like punching or shearing, too.

Where is McNeilus?

 

[Jim Timber]

Dodge Center McNeilus Steel, Inc.

Discount's gotten pretty good at having material in the 10' lengths available at regular per-lb pricing, and they'll chop a 10' once for free. Their prices went high when steel went up, and haven't come down now that it's much cheaper on the wholesale market. Used to pay .60/lb for cold rolled, now it's $1. They have far more to offer in small quantities than Garelicks so I'll keep dealing with them. They're also pretty good about getting you in and out, so that's another thing they have going for them. Some of their clearance stuff is a bargain. I got some aluminum diamond plate for like $1.25/lb and there's nothing wrong with it aside from being a smaller size drop.

 

[dstig1]

Thanks. That's quite a hike!

Ever try Metal Supermarket in Roseville? Just north of Rosedale. They did good by me on a couple small items I needed one time. Cut to suit and I didn't feel gouged. But again a bit of a drive for me.

 

[Jim Timber]

I had no idea we had 3 Metal Supermarkets in the area now. I've seen them online in the past and their prices were obscene then so I wrote them off. Just did a little spot check for giggles with Discount's online pricing. 1" 1018 round bar 60" long from MS is $32.12. Or, I can buy the whole 12' stick from Discount for $32.42 and they'll cut it to 5' for free.

 

[dstig1]

Ignore the online prices - call the store. They have the same issue Discount does - think web sites are there to increase prices :confused2: If you want to compare, call both Discount and MS directly.

 

[Jim Timber]

This morning I started in on the ripper shank.

These are the two points I got sitting on top of my 6x42x1" chunk of AR400.

Made the mole out of a section of 2x2x1/4" and a piece of 1/2x1.5" cold rolled.

Drilled my holes for attaching it.

Ok, that was just to prove a point. You can drill abrasion resistant steel without a mag drill or big drill press. It's slow. It's hard on drill bits (that's true regardless of what you're using to propel them). And it's generally not "fun" - but it's entirely do-able with a reasonably powerful handheld tool if you take your time and step them up to size. I piloted both holes and then took it over to the mill to bring them up to 5/8".

Then tacked up the mole to the shank, leaving a (bigger than I really needed) gap so I could get the weld way down in between the two pieces. This is 1" thick after all, and that much metal sucks a lot of heat out of the puddle. You can chamfer to get your weld down in between the two parts (ha! This stuff is grinder resistant), or you can leave a gap - I left a gap. I also added a little more angle to the mole by putting the nose down.

Now the fun begins - gotta bridge that canyon with liquid metal while running hot enough to get a good bite on the 1" side. Which happens to be a really good skill to have. Sometimes the fit-up of what needs welding has a gap that looks just like this.

And underneath it looks like this.

Being less worried about the weld falling out the bottom (since that's now sealed), it's a lot easier to run one in hot over the top of it.

With the root now filled in on both sides, I put a couple more passes down for good measure.

Time for lunch and to let that sucker cool down.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

The metal or the operator?

 

[Jim Timber]

The metal or the operator?

The red spot on the back of my left hand is getting smaller by the minute. :laughing:

You know you're dedicated when your skin is about to start smoking and your brain's going "suck it up sunshine, there's only 2" left!"

The 2x2 was at 450F when I was done, and the AR was at 250F where my hand was, and 136F 6" from the weld.

 

[Jim Timber]

Pretty sure the sheer bolt is going to break first. :laughing:

Needs paint.

 

[Mysfyt]

Nice build, Jim! Every welder knows about that 'suck it up for the last two inches' thing.

How do you embed those nice, large pictures in your replies?