backhoe from scratch and scrap

[Ox]

OK, I remember reading about that earlier.  I've been fortunate with that part so far.... I always keep gear oil in an old pump can to squirt the guide bearings and I always get a little on the idler wheel.  I guess I'm getting enough in there cause all is well so far!  I've cut.....A LOT...... of steel with that little thing and can't believe it still works.

If you had to buy another one, would you buy the HF again?  It's hard to find anything on the low end that's worth much.

[Crusarius]

I have had my HF one for over 10 years now. only thing I have replaced is blades. best $180 I spent from them. it is my goto tool for cutting steel. I use it more than my plasma cutter.

[grouch]

I'd go with the HF because (a) the bearings are replaceable and readily available; (b) it does a good job after alignment and if you take it slow; and (c) the price hasn't creeped up beyond 'good value' yet.

[Ox]

Cool.  Thanks guys.

[Ljohnsaw]

I have an old (bought old) Jet clone bandsaw.  Was working pretty good until the top wheel started to wear out the flange.  I used it to cut steel for my sawmill (lots of cuts), a couple of trailers and trailer mods and assorted other projects.  I think I got my $75 out of it.  There is an extreme angle (camfer?) tilting the wheel back to keep the blade on the wheel.  That caused the back of the blade to wear out the flange.  I noticed it because the set was being taken out of the blades (teeth riding on the wheel).  So I chucked it up in my lathe, cut a slightly smaller diameter wheel with a new flange.  That worked for a while but now the flange has failed and the blade goes off the back side.

So time for a new bandsaw - maybe I'll give the HF unit a try the next time they have a 25% off coupon! (unless I can find a trashed unit that I can salvage a wheel from)

[Ox]

It's hard being frugal, ain't it?  Sometimes I've been told I squeak when I walk...

[grouch]

I haven't completely given up on the Clarke yet. If I can figure out how, I intend to put the same bearings in its idler wheel as in the HF. Don't know what I'll do with 2 metal cutting bandsaws but I DanG sure ain't throwin' it away.

Squeak squeak.

[Ox]

squeak  :D

Set em up side by side and you can cut twice as fast!  Actually, I'd have one set up for long stuff and another for the shorter stuff.  Clearance is everything on those things.

[grouch]

Hey! One set up horizontal and one vertical -- keep the table on one all the time to save that switchover time. (Lazy and frugal).

[Ox]

That's a better idea.  You win.  :laugh:

[Crusarius]

Hey! One set up horizontal and one vertical -- keep the table on one all the time to save that switchover time. (Lazy and frugal).

I agree wit this. I got sick of constantly switching back and forth.

[grouch]

Now I just need somebody to tell me how to fix those bearings.  ;D

[Crusarius]

duh, you use a hammer.

[grouch]

Stabilize some more.


Adding 1/2 inch thick brackets to the upper end of the stabilizer leg. The holes are 1 inch diameter.


1/4 inch thick flatbar between the brackets.


The other end of the leg. Note the milled chunk of 1 inch thick steel used to hold the bottom of the pin the correct distance above the leg.


Weld 'em up.




Part of an aluminum storm door used as a jig to get the spacing of pins correct and consistent.
Note the piece of milled angle near the upright bracket at this end. Handiest tool I made for laying out the parts. It's just a piece of 3/8 inch thick x 4 x 4 angle, milled as flat and square as I could get it. Made it much easier to square up lines and parts on square and rectangular tubing, which has rounded corners.


There's the 1 inch thick jig for pin height again.
The end of that 3/8 inch angle squaring tool is also visible.


The upper end of the stabilizer leg. The pin is too long, but it's the right diameter.


Test fit, left leg.


Clearance ok. Whew!


Same clearance, other end.

[grouch]

Stabilizer, other.


Some adjustment for spacing.


Welding warps things. Sometimes you have to unwarp them.


Same jigs, different leg.


Aluminum extrusion jig for pin spacing, 3/8 angle square for making the uprights upright, 1 inch jig for pin height -- same as for the left leg.


A better view of the 3/8 angle square. Note the tiny hole in the corner on the right. That allowed me to mark dead center along those radiused edges of square and rectangular tubing.


The angle square could be used directly, as in this photo, or with a combination square, try square, or framing square to lay out lines.


One more look.


Welding all over the place.


Boxed. Probably weakened it some with those welds straight across the brackets, but it should still be strong enough. Rigidity counts more, here.


All filled.

[grouch]

Stabilizer pads.


Baby needs shoes, so slice up some more 1/2 inch stuff.


Bored for 1 inch pins and centered on shoes. Centering helps make sure the pads will stay relatively level as the stabilizer descends. After contacting the ground, it can work out its own compromise with the surface.


Welded in place.


And of course it's a drooling weld bead.


C-channel would've been nice to use for these feet, but I didn't have any on hand that was wide enough. The stabilizer legs are 1/4 x 3 x 3 inches, so these needed to be a fidget over 4 inches wide. (Smidgen, fuzz, fidget and flop are the same universal measurements in metric and imperial. Related to Kentucky windage).

Some unequal length angle with a strip of plate welded to the long leg made a suitable facsimile of c-channel.

[grouch]

Dipper -- bucket cylinder base.


Jigs don't have to be fancy. These pieces of plywood just needed to hold the pins the right distance apart.




The bottom of the pin needed to be 5-1/8 inches above the dipper stick. I used a pair of 1-2-3 blocks and a piece of steel that's precisely 1/8 inch thick (one of a set of thin parallels for a milling machine) to get the spacing.


Better view of that setup.


Working alone, you call on whatever you can to lend a hand. The chain (just draped) keeps the plywood from flopping and coming off the pins while I work at the other end.


Brackets welded to the dipper, DOM welded to the brackets, and a spacer of 1/4 inch thick steel welded between the brackets.


Chip the slag off before you grab the camera, DanG it! 1/8 inch 7018 at 115A DCEP.


The 1/4 inch thick spacer is just tacked at the corners.


Ready for boxing.

[grouch]

Controls.


Time to hang the control valves in space.


That's 1/4 inch chain acting a bit like a spiderweb.


Just for looks, the valve body is level left to right and front to back. It would function the same if it was tilted.


Extra chain is used to hold the whole thing centered, relative to the boom, and back away from the seat.


The 1/4 x 2 inch square tube has brackets for the 3 bolts holding it to the stack valves. That bolt through the chain allows forcing the whole assembly to stay where I want it in mid-air.


Cutting pieces to go on the ends of the square tube shown previously.


Once the position is decided, wood makes for a better temporary platform than that chain.


Needed to revise that piece the stack valve was mounted to. Bandsaws don't like the rounded top of a weld bead so it got milled off.


The cut still wavered a little at the start, but not too badly.


One of the 45'd pieces on.


This is what happens when you leave off the "Inert Gas" part of MIG. Those dastardly garage gnomes will sneak in and turn the gas off as soon as you turn your back.


Other end tacked on.

[gasman1075]

I am impressed with your welding and fabrication skills. I am just looking to learn how to weld and was most of this done with a MIG welder? A friend in Poughkeepsie NY is going to show me the basics on his Miller mig and then let me borrow it till I can figure out what I need / want and can afford. I would mainly be working with 3/16 or below steel and have only 110V available at this time.

Thanks

Jack

[grouch]

gasman1075,

Thanks for the kind words!

Almost all welding was with a Lincoln 225/125A AC/DC welder -- a "buzzbox". About the only MIG welding I did started with this last group of photos posted, making the mount and pedestal for the controls. This was done with a Harbor Freight "MIG 170", which lists 1/4 inch as the maximum thickness. It is barely capable of that thickness when all conditions are right. [edit to add:] The HF MIG 170 is a 240V machine on a 20A circuit.

You have to really work at getting good welds with a 120V AC MIG. (You'll see 'em listed as "110V" or "115V", but the standard is 120V 60Hz). Voltage drop on an extension cord is enough to reduce its capacity. You can power through some amount of less than ideal prep if you have enough amperage. A 120V MIG doesn't have much cushion for that. MIG can deceive; it can lay down a pretty bead that's not doing much fusing of pieces together. A breeze can disrupt any MIG.

I would not recommend learning to weld with a 120V MIG unless *all* you are going to weld is sheet metal such as auto body panels. A buzz box is tough to use on anything less than 1/8 inch (for me), but it will have more tolerance for lack of prep and skill while you learn.

Weld something together with that 120V MIG, put the piece in a vice and then beat the crap out of it with a good machinist's hammer. Look at where it breaks and see if it's the weld or the material around it that cracked.

[snowstorm]

A mig is much easier to learn to weld with. As long as the steel is clean. They dont work well if there is any wind to blow the gas away. With stick it still needs to be clean. With 6011 you can get by without grinding as much but dosent mean you should

[grouch]

snowstorm,

You *really* don't like 6011, do you?  :D

Here's someone who does:
6011 Welding Rods for Fab Job
From that:

For fabrication jobs like this dolly, I usually choose 6011 stick rod.

And Here is why...

E6011 rods are all position welding rods AND...can weld downhill very well.

Framing jobs like this dolly often have outside corner joints and being able to weld those downhill really speeds things up because the same amperage works for downhill and what you use for flat and horizontal welds.
.....AND 6011 rods will easily penetrated thru rust, mill scale, dross, paint, or pretty much anything.

Now, who is that guy saying good stuff about an ugly rod?
About Me

I'm Jody Collier.

I was lucky enough to spend 13 years welding pipe on Nuclear Plants, Coal fire power houses, and paper mills...and after that,  I got to spend the next 21 years as welding instructor for Delta Air Lines Technical Operations.

I even got to spend 5 years working in Delta's Metallurgical Lab.

Even if I had no first-hand trial and error experience with 6011, and had not read literature from AWS, Lincoln and Miller regarding the uses for 6011, I'd be inclined to give some credence to that guy's welding advice. (Giving him the benefit of the doubt as to his claims being true, since I've seen his info routinely recommended on weldingweb).

As to MIG being easier to learn to weld with than arc, I don't know. I've never gotten good enough with either to suit me. MIG is more problematic because of its appearance, in my opinion. I've made some pretty beads that were nothing more than pretty. Still learning.

[snowstorm]

No I don't. I started out with it 40 yrs ago. It has its place. With 7018 when everything is rite the slag will lift as it cools hit it once and it looks so nice. Almost as good as a mig

[Kbeitz]

Have you tried the 80T rod ?



 

[Crusarius]

I am impressed with your welding and fabrication skills. I am just looking to learn how to weld and was most of this done with a MIG welder? A friend in Poughkeepsie NY is going to show me the basics on his Miller mig and then let me borrow it till I can figure out what I need / want and can afford. I would mainly be working with 3/16 or below steel and have only 110V available at this time.

Thanks

Jack

Anytime I teach someone to weld we start with the stick. once you learn to weld with a stick mig comes very easy. Where are you located? I be happy to help you learn if you are interested.