New RV Storage Box
Got the diamond plate aluminium storage box mounted on the RV last week, just before taking it up to Silver Creek Plunge. Had to weld a couple brackets on to the 4" tube steel bumper to support the chest. It is about 4' long, 20" deep, and 20" high. I used some angle iron, and the new MIG welder worked wonderfully (even as out of practice as I am at welding). I didn't have any shielding gas, so I just did the FCMAW, which leaves a little slag, but, damn that welder works nice. Even on vertical welds, I had some pretty nice smooth beads. Filled the fillet well, and... didn't have too bad of a birds nest anywhere. The new auto-darkening helmet worked excellent, and most of the welds cleaned up nicely. I burnt through the thin 4" square tube bumper in one spot (trying to weld 1/4" angle iron to thin 14 Gauge steel). But slowed the wire speed down, dropped the current one setting and filled it in nicely.

The angle iron still flexed when you pushed down on it, because the side wall of the bumper wasn't thick enough to support it. So, I welded some cross braces from the bottom of the bumper up to help triangle support the two outside brackets. That firmed them up VERY nicely. Wire brushed the slag, painted them and got the chest mounted quickly. Total time from start to finish was less than 2 hours.




- posted by Jeff @ 8:20 AM | 0 comments