Yet Another Set Of Bucket Hooks

[mrcaptainbob]

Good job! Well thought out and well done!

 

[beenthere]

Great set of hooks. You will find them real handy. I sometimes could use the middle one.

Now, don't do anything to scratch that bucket. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[robertm]

Looks Great! MIG or ARC? Pointers for anybody about to weld them on? Rod size (if arc)? Thanks.

 

[Henro]

Nice job!

I like the 15 degree angle on the outside hooks.

I put a slip hook in the center on my bucket which works pretty well too...

My guess is MIG...wish my hand with stick could do that well...in any case...nice welds! /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[BGL990]

Thanks! It is MIG. I'm not so great with stick but do OK with MIG or TIG (although aluminum is still a challenge...). I'm definitely no expert (totally self taught), but if I were to offer any advice it would be:

1. Clean and prepare the parts to be welded thoroughly. No rust, no paint remnants, NO GREASE, just shiny clean metal. Stick will blast through a certain amount of crud, but MIG or TIG are fairly fussy about having pure clean metal.

2. Use a little more heat than you think you might need and don't go too fast. When I was first learning I would get too excited about burning through and move the MIG gun along too fast. Just ended up with a bunch of blobs loosely stuck on the surface. Once I figured out that it won't burn through that easily, especially with thicker pieces, and slowed way down my welds suddenly became 1000% better. I have a 170 amp MIG and it was turned up to full power and about 80% wire feed speed to do the hooks and it took probably about 30 seconds to go down one side of a hook.

Here's a picture of my welding toys. I mounted everything on an old tent trailer frame so I can pull it out into the field or to the neighbors with the quad if necessary. There is a 10,000 watt generator, air compressor, Lincoln Pro-Cut 25 plasma cutter, Lincoln Square Wave 175 TIG machine, Lincoln SP170T MIG machine, and oxy-acetylene tanks. I have all the machine's ground clamps clamped to a piece of 3/4" copper pipe and one common ground cable soldered to that. There is still a bit of a tangle of wire, but the 2x4 frame with hangars help keep it somewhat organized.

 

[Junkman]

I see that you have the acetylene lying down. I was taught that you always use acetylene tanks standing up and if they have been laid on their side that you should wait a few hours before using them. Is this correct or just an "old wives" tale??
I like the set up that you have there.... do you make house calls beyond the local neighborhood????? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[BGL990]

Actually, the acetylene is standing up, you just can't see it in that picture - it's on the back side of the trailer. You can just see the gauges sticking up to the left of the oxygen tank (the big one at a 45 deg. angle). The two tanks laying right down are argon and argon/CO2 mix for the TIG and MIG welders.

You are right, however, that acetylene isn't supposed to be layed down, or if you do you are supposed to let it stand upright for some time before using it. I believe the reason is that the tank has a steel mesh of some sort and liquid acetone inside and you want to make sure all the acetone has settled to the bottom so it doesn't spit out the valve.

 

[riptides]

You have quite a serious setup. I need to examine it more in detail. Well thought out.

I liked your idea on the hook angles too! I would have NEVER thought about that. Thank you.

-Mike Z. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[pekabu]

Just curious, but do you use the bucket? It's still awefully green. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif (Pun in there somewhere) Not picking on you but my bucket is fairly naked compared to yours.

 

[Golfgar4]

Dave,

He just received it on the 19th after waiting for 3 months! /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

See his thread (with pics!) from the JD forum here. IT'S HERE! IT'S HERE!!!