Welding Tips and Tricks

My son is doing an eagle scout project for our town. The town would like a "Welcome" sign at the north end. There is some old farm machinery already placed there. It was decided that they would like the sign made out of steel and just let it rust naturally. The letters would be raised and painted a different color to stand out. We are planning on doing an 8X10X3/16 steel plate. This weighs approximately 612#. In order to support the plate I planned on running two braces across the back, one near the top and one near the bottom. Is rectangular tube 1-1/2 X 3 X 1/4 sufficient to support the weight and not sag over time? Would I be better off going with angle or channel iron?
These braces would be tied to a two foot squared column on each side with the bracing extending to the outer edge. The columns would be steel structures of 2x2x1/8 steel and then covered with fiber board and rock or brick.

ttreb4 wrote:My son is doing an eagle scout project for our town. The town would like a "Welcome" sign at the north end. There is some old farm machinery already placed there. It was decided that they would like the sign made out of steel and just let it rust naturally. The letters would be raised and painted a different color to stand out. We are planning on doing an 8X10X3/16 steel plate. This weighs approximately 612#. In order to support the plate I planned on running two braces across the back, one near the top and one near the bottom. Is rectangular tube 1-1/2 X 3 X 1/4 sufficient to support the weight and not sag over time? Would I be better off going with angle or channel iron?
These braces would be tied to a two foot squared column on each side with the bracing extending to the outer edge. The columns would be steel structures of 2x2x1/8 steel and then covered with fiber board and rock or brick.

I believe the rectangular tube would be strong enough, it is definitely stronger then the angle or channel

LtBadd wrote:

ttreb4 wrote:My son is doing an eagle scout project for our town. The town would like a "Welcome" sign at the north end. There is some old farm machinery already placed there. It was decided that they would like the sign made out of steel and just let it rust naturally. The letters would be raised and painted a different color to stand out. We are planning on doing an 8X10X3/16 steel plate. This weighs approximately 612#. In order to support the plate I planned on running two braces across the back, one near the top and one near the bottom. Is rectangular tube 1-1/2 X 3 X 1/4 sufficient to support the weight and not sag over time? Would I be better off going with angle or channel iron?
These braces would be tied to a two foot squared column on each side with the bracing extending to the outer edge. The columns would be steel structures of 2x2x1/8 steel and then covered with fiber board and rock or brick.

I believe the rectangular tube would be strong enough, it is definitely stronger then the angle or channel

Thanks.

Congratulations to your son. The trail to Eagle is a long one. They call the rank before it Life Scout for a good reason.

Attached is a picture of a naturally rusting sign in our town. The words are plasma cut out of the steel plate. The blue is a ceramic wall about 4 inches behind the opening. Its a really awesome look in person. The grass and cattails are a separate layer in front of the rusted steel.

ttreb4,

May I suggest the alloy called "CorTen"?

It is designed to rust to preservation, meaning once it rusts, the oxides form a protective coating a bit like aluminum or stainless, so once it has a good patina on it, it degrades much more slowly and should last for generations.

Steve S

Do you guys have "weathering steel" over there? It's lcs alloyed with a little copper. You get some surface rust happening that turns to protective patina.

Oops. cor-ten is a weathering steel with US trademark.

Otto Nobedder wrote:ttreb4,

May I suggest the alloy called "CorTen"?

It is designed to rust to preservation, meaning once it rusts, the oxides form a protective coating a bit like aluminum or stainless, so once it has a good patina on it, it degrades much more slowly and should last for generations.

Steve S

I will look into this product. Thanks for the info and idea.