Tractor dirt/snow blade - homemade

[mikehaugen]

Awesome work!

 

[Baby Grand]

Please share you secret for keeping everything aligned!

If I would weld this everything would be warped and misaligned.

Looks good!

Thanks

Sent from my iPhone 5s 64Gb using TractorByNet

Exactly what I thought.
Only explanation I can offer is that his fit up is so good that there's no gaps to close up during welding to cause distortion.
That and real good heat management.
Great looking work!
Any idea what it will weigh when you're all done?

 

[ericher69]

Exactly what I thought. Only explanation I can offer is that his fit up is so good that there's no gaps to close up during welding to cause distortion. That and real good heat management. Great looking work! Any idea what it will weigh when you're all done?

fit up is one thing that will help as is clamping but many of those welds are continuous meaning stitch welding on alternating sides was probably not used.

Clamping will only get you so far-then again maybe I'm not clamping properly and allowing to cool?

Maybe SA could enlighten us as well as BFreaky.

Thanks

Sent from my iPhone 5s 64Gb using TractorByNet

 

[BFreaky]

It's actually very simple. I learned it over the years. First and most important is the precision of each individual part. Next comes proper clamping and tack welding. After that I make continuous welds on oposite sides of one piece. That heats up the part equaly. Both welds tend to "pull" the part. This way they pull each other and are actually pulling the part in balance

 

[ericher69]

It's actually very simple. I learned it over the years. First and most important is the precision of each individual part. Next comes proper clamping and tack welding. After that I make continuous welds on oposite sides of one piece. That heats up the part equaly. Both welds tend to "pull" the part. This way they pull each other and are actually pulling the part in balance

I will take your word for it as it obviously works for you!

I will need to pay more attention to fit up and tacking/sequence of welds in the future.

Thanks for the explanation

Sent from my iPhone 5s 64Gb using TractorByNet

 

[sixdogs]

It's actually very simple. I learned it over the years. First and most important is the precision of each individual part. Next comes proper clamping and tack welding. After that I make continuous welds on oposite sides of one piece. That heats up the part equaly. Both welds tend to "pull" the part. This way they pull each other and are actually pulling the part in balance

Can you describe "weld opposite sides of one piece"? Do you mean small sections back and forth to keep the heat balanced? How long of a weld and how thick of metal?

 

[piercedtiger]

Can you describe "weld opposite sides of one piece"? Do you mean small sections back and forth to keep the heat balanced? How long of a weld and how thick of metal?

Yes, that's how you should be doing it to keep it from warping or lifting. Opposite sides, opposite corners, then fill in between as needed once the piece can't shift on you. I usually do half an inch at a time myself, until all the sides and corners are attached and I can fill in the rest for strength if needed. Or at least tack weld every inch or so to hold it down before going crazy with the heavy welds for strength. But then, I don't have a lot of clamps so it has to get held together before I really weld the parts.

 

[BFreaky]

Exactly. The idea is to minimize bending and lifting of parts you weld.
Anyway...I'm back on track after all these holidays so I finished trip mechanism and got 2 largest parts together.
Next come cylinders and skid shoes. After that lots of grinding, cleanup and paint

 

[ericher69]

Exactly. The idea is to minimize bending and lifting of parts you weld. Anyway...I'm back on track after all these holidays so I finished trip mechanism and got 2 largest parts together. Next come cylinders and skid shoes. After that lots of grinding, cleanup and paint

Awesome! How much do you think it will weight when done?

Sent from my iPhone 5s 64Gb using TractorByNet

 

[BFreaky]

Approx. 400 kg