Welding Tips and Tricks

Just for something new to look at, here’s another farm project I kept some pictures of. I had some time last summer to make a 3-point middle buster for digging potatoes. Digging potatoes by hand is about as fun as amateur eyeball surgery, so I was desperate for an escape plan. Also, I’d seen how cheaply made the ones they sell locally are, and… well you know the rest of the story

If you see something I could be doing better/smarter, please let me know. I’m always making things like this and would appreciate any pointers.

We live on a centennial farm so there's steel everywhere you look. It's all older than me so forgive the fine patina.


I have a Swag press brake for my small press, but I have to heat thicker stock to be able to bend it. Same goes for anything cold roll. They crack if I don’t heat before a major bend.


Drilling holes for the lift arm pins:


Temporarily bolted the arms where I wanted them. I think this flat bar is in the neighborhood of 3/8" x 2-1/2".


Laying out the cross bar (~1/4" angle with 2-1/2" legs, I believe):


Welded up with 6011, then 7014 (only had AC):


Had to buy some 1" x 4" for this and another implement I was making. I don't have a terrific sense of how thick I need to go for these kinds of things, but I'm probably overdoing it.


Not sure how many passes would be "enough" to hold the shank to the frame.


So I went with a belt and suspenders approach




I've used this for two seasons now and I still need to buzz off these sharp corners




Doing a test fit-up to make sure I have enough ground clearance. I wanted to get maximum digging depth, but still be able to drive around without scraping the ground with it fully raised.


I didn't get great photos of the foot, but the idea was to be able to get two bolts through it in order to mount the plow.


Again, I just ran 6011 and 7014 over all these. Until a couple weeks ago I only had the AC machine and had never run 7018 before.


Here's the plow mounted to the foot. It's around 16" across at the widest point of the wings and I picked it up new for $18 - much cheaper than I thought it would be.


Just a closeup to see how it's mounted.


Wasn't sure how much horsepower it would take to run this, so I put it on a 45HP tractor. (turns out it digs potatoes just fine on a 30 horse machine, at a depth of about 10")


I did quite a bit of stress testing with it to see if it would break, and I think it's sturdy enough for light abuse. I ran it at full depth (~22") at about 5mph and nothing snapped. I also dug a little ditch to help drain a field at the bottom of a hill just to see how that would go. I caught my kids lounging in it after the first big rain we had


Made a little point for ripping through the subsoil to help with drainage here and there.


Overall this was really fun build. Like I said, we've used it to dig all our potatoes (about a 1/4 acre) for two seasons and it's been a life saver. If you see anything in the pics that looks off/dangerous/stupid please let me know. Now that I have a DC machine I'm learning to run 7018. I'm pretty lousy at vertical and overhead so that's what I'm practicing these days.

-Brandon

Overall great build with recycled materials - top marks - only comments on improvements would be ( and I understand for the amount your using it probably not a concern ) you would normally find on a factory implement that the leg is bolted into the frame by a large bolt right at the top allowing it to hinge backwards & retained by a smaller shear bolt lower down so if you encounter an unseen buried object it will break the safety bolt rather than bend the leg or do an epic wheelie ! also on legs used for subsoiling there will be a triangular profile replaceable wear bar up the front edge which also reduces draft requirements - but I understand with the limited hours service & power what you have will work fine - trying to figure what the Massey is - back end looks kinda 135 but the tin wear is newer - often get tricked by models from other countries .

Your Son really CAN weld!

Thanks for the feedback, Brian! A hinged design with a shear bolt would be brilliant. When I dug that first trench I hit a root about 3" in diameter and about sh!t my pants. What you said about a replaceable triangular wear bar on the leg makes a lot of sense. I could easily add a piece of angle to at least reduce the drag - not sure if I have anything super abrasion resistant (unless I join some strips of old plow shares together). The Massey is a 245 with the gas engine. Simple machine, but it's been pretty bulletproof. We picked it up used about 10 years ago to run a sicklebar mower we bought. That's another perfectly safe machine I've never had any close calls with

tungstendipper wrote:Your Son really CAN weld!

TD, I was afraid you'd recognize his work! I guess my cover is blown

I would'nt sweat it on the wear resistance unless your going to use it much - you could always shave the leading edges of the bar to create more of a sharp edge & hard face it - you can usually pick up smallish packs enough for that without breaking the bank ( in my youth I've put hundreds of pounds of hard face on similar but larger implements )- not seen a 245 in person - it kinda reminds me of a 135 rear with later 590 styled tin making it look bigger - was never a fan of MF or had much dealings but that era of them were simple & fairly reliable ( I kinda liked the 135 for orchard work if not too hilly ) - never seen a gas model - last non diesel over here was likely the TE20 gas / paraffin model but I guess it made sense across the pond with your fuel prices - nice to see the old tractors still around - I like your post with the string of build pictures - reminds me of our sadly missed member AK.

Ha! I think you’re right on the money with your Massey tractor combinations. We bought the gasser hoping for easier starts in the winter. We still use the old Allis and Farmalls from the 40’s and 50’s for odd jobs in the summer just because they’re paid for and do certain things really well. We raise pumpkins for the families in town to come and pick in the fall, and I cultivate the whole field with a Farmall 130. Only does one row at a time, but man is it thorough.

I’ve never hardfaced anything before, but that’s something I’ve been wanting to try. Is one pass enough, or do you lay it down thicker?

I grew up blue ! as a kid I drove Fordson majors then 5000 / 7000 before getting onto big stuff - not had much to do with Allis or Farmall ( there are some here but were never a big name - we tended to see more Ford / MF John Deere / IH / David Brown in volume & most farms were brand loyal across their fleets ) - only really see them here as restored ones @ fairs - but it's nice to hear some are still out earning their keep.

Hard facing is more about the patterns than amount - though if putting very hard stuff on it's normal to do a butter layer of less hard first as a transition to prevent cracking / peeling - for what your doing I'd put a few runs on top of each other down the leading edge of the leg especially if you shave the edges back - then do small X's for about 10" up the leg - the idea is to use the pattern to trap soil so there is effectively a layer of soil that stays put on the leg & this protects the leg from abrasion of constant ground speed soil passing it - kinda easy in practice but not for me to explain - maybe there are some images around on the web that can help - same patterns apply to most ground engaging wear parts both farm & heavy plant.

Aha, that makes sense. X's I can do. If I had to do this, I'd probably need some LSD to get in the zone:



The internet is a strange and marvelous place to learn about new things.

That needs to be in an art gallery!