As I was cleaning I noticed the two magnets that I had resting on the plasma: gussets 11.jpg Hah! Magnets are good for something then! :D So I cleaned those and began walking to return them to the work cart. Hmmmmm...we have a sayin' in TEXAS: "Come hell or high water" ... that was running...

So by this point I knew that the night's welding had come to an end. But oh well, get it right...and in time all of these critters were ready: gussets 9.jpg And daddy had some cleanup to do: gussets 10.jpg I don't EVEN want the lil' un anywhere near this business, so that was first on the list of th...

And so I rotated the fence to the left, which brought the 45-degree mark well past the one side of the slot in the base. That made it look as though I had rotated past 45 degrees. However when I lowered the cutting wheel to the gusset, that wheel was in alignment with the lil' white line. Sigh. Who ...

Me being me, I had to know why. I mean just how in the heck did I end up here? I realize that chop saws aren't exactly known for their accuracy, but ... actually that's not a bad reason, but I digress. Anyway I yanked the bugger out of the work cart and set it onto the plasma-table-that-has-become-a...

Those marks might not look like much, but you need only attempt to conduct a simple test to see how far off things were.
I made one end of the gusset level with the long beam, thus: And then I took a look at the other end: Yeah. That's pretty awful there Jer ...

And that's when things went South. Although we (or at least I, which I should do, just speak for myself) don't like to admit to it when things go awry in a build, the reality is that they often do. Almost in defiance of careful planning to the contrary. Heck, some of my more wow-that-came-together-w...

Despite having errands after work to attend to, I managed to make a little further progress on the storage rack build. Funny how such an endeavor, while simple in premise and function, can require a seemingly large amount of time to complete. Ya know? :lol: Anyway the supports are now tacked into po...

Oscar wrote:Awesome work. Love seeing your projects come together so quickly.

DavidR8 wrote:More excellent progress!

Thank y'all for the support and feedback, I appreciate it!

Unfortunately the absence of light got the better of me before I knew what had transpired. For that reason, I had to end things with just the two (of five) tacked into position: So hopefully I can revisit this tomorrow after work. TBD.

However, instead of traveling down that path, I decided to o'er leap that for the time being and return to doing something I enjoy: welding. The support beams, gussets, foot plates and eventually the diamond plate all are in need of that service, so best get-on with it. However, I decided to use som...

Drilling holes ... good times! But in time all 6 plates were prepared for mounting to the casters:

So I managed to return to a big box store today to source the hardware for the casters. Chose 3/8" bolts, washers and nuts as they will fit into the caster slots well. Made it to the workshop as soon as I could to attempt to make further progress. I decided to take the plunge with the caster pl...

And speaking of that, I did turn the build-to-date right side up for the first time: storage rack 22.jpg storage rack 23.jpg I had hoped to install the support members as well, but darkness was approaching. I knew that it would be upon me faster than I could even-tack-weld those 5 members. Therefore...

By this time, the plates with the captives were more-than-dry, so I installed them on the verticals: storage rack 20.jpg Which meant that I would have an opportunity to employ whatever skills I have in the overhead welding area. Sigh. :lol: I decided that instead of doing that, I'd just tack the pla...

I then mocked up one of the casters onto the 3/16" plate that they will be affixed to via routine hardware: casters 3.jpg casters 4.jpg At that point it was time to rummage through the spare hardware that I keep on-hand to see what could be had. Boy, talk about a time sink. I don't have this or...

While that was happening I applied my go-to rusty metal primer to the verticals that I had installed earlier in the day:

Tacking issues aside, I made it through: And put both sides into primer: To give them time to dry prior to installing them on the verticals.

That sure worked well: storage rack 14.jpg It kept the nut in position while I tacked it on each of the 6 sides, no problem. What was a bit of an issue for me is using a 7018 rod to tack with ... boy is that ever not the strong suit of a 7018. I recall a video in which Jody mentioned that a 6010 is ...

So after all of that (and other unlisted) prep, the bits were ready to be "assembled": storage rack 12.jpg Here is a good example of how well the plasma table is serving this project. I needed to weld the captives to one side of the 1/4" plate that will then in turn be welded to the v...

So after some repetition those plates were prepared for their new role: storage rack 10.jpg Note that these plates are over-sized in regard to their new function in life. For that reason, I wasn't concerned with the straightness nor size of cut nor orientation to the center hole. These will need to ...

However the bend in the plates on the left needed removal: If they were to lay flat and without an awkward "lip" of sorts. I still had the chop saw on the cart, so I set it up and went to work:

With those two in position, I turned my attention to the bottom end of things. I wanted to get this thing on its feet ASAP and knew that the fabrication of those would be a time sink in and of itself. Especially since I would need to do some prep of the material prior to even being able to work with...

I did manage to make some progress today, though not quite as much as I would have liked. Eh, there I am again, falling into get-it-done mode... :D Funny how you finally come up with a process for doing a particular task only at the end of your need to complete that task, isn't it? Well the last two...

The other day I burned a few 3/32 6013 rods that have been laying around the shop for 25 years. The results weren't ideal since they had been in a box that was open on the end and were fairly dirty, but I did find the heat range which I liked to be around 50 to 55 amps. Even 60 and 65 seemed way to...

I really like the plasma table build. Did you intentionally build it that height to work off the back of your truck? And are you able to weld thru the primer? Well, I wish I could claim such clairvoyance. However that simply is not the case. The plasma table being the approximate height of the flat...