Welding Tips and Tricks

This was something I made for an awards show, it was combination scenery and a practical unit. It was a fire escape that also doubled as a DJ booth. The whole unit was 11 feet high, a 4 x8 footprint and had to roll on and offstage with the dj on the top level. It also had to look like a fire escape because it sat in front of a building façade for one of the scenes.

I made the whole thing out of 1 1/2 and 1x1 square tube, both 1/8th inch thick. Since money was tight, I used something called "mill surplus", that is, pieces from the end of the mill run that may have been a little short, maybe a little warped. It didn't matter much to me, I was going to cut it all up and square it anyways and it cost less than regular square tube.

Since the unit was 11 foot high, it wouldn't fit as one piece into the truck, so I made the legs removable by welding in some square 1/4" plate with uncoated nuts welded to it to receive the leg bolts. The cross bracing was all bolted on too.

The first picture is the ladder layout, the second is the lower deck layout and the 3rd is my receiver plate for the leg bolts. These were on both the top and bottom decks, and the legs had a similar piece welded on each end but without any nuts.

I'll post pictures of how the whole thing came out in the next post.

Other Steve

Here's how it turned out while we were setting it up in the shop. We had to use a chain motor to pick the top deck up to hold it into place while we bolted everything together. I'll have pictures of how it looked on stage when I get them out of my phone.

There's also a picture of the plates being welded to the legs. On the leg plate, I drilled out the holes to a much larger size than the 3/8ths bolts. Just in case something didn't line up exactly like it should, there was a little slop.

Other Steve

DelRayDella.

From the photo background, it looks like you run a wood shop and a metal shop.

Did one job similar in the past, where we were fabbing welding up the skeletal structures for cinema props. All the approximately 6' x 12' bases required wheels. The heights ran up to about 40' and we built them in sub sections, like yourself. We climbed up those structures like when children played on the jungle gyms and wrapped and curled ourselves like snakes around the structures while hand drilling the bolt holes between the sections. Newly discovered muscles were aching by the next day. The job went fast.

Delraydella ... tanks for the flashback.

Alexa

I look forward to seeing it as part of the scene, onstage!

Is this for cinema, or live theater? What show?

Steve S

It was a show for a mortgage company. Kind of an end of the year thank you to all of their employees. They have a big party, hand out awards to the top people, motivational speeches, all that stuff.

What got me was that one of the scenes called for us to build a huge pirate ship to come onstage for one of the scenes. A pirate ship for a bunch of mortgage bankers. Ah ,the irony!!!

Other Steve

Good project. Can you imagine going back to doing just one kind of job?

TamJeff wrote:Good project. Can you imagine going back to doing just one kind of job?

AMEN!

And, Steve, yes, I get the amazing irony in the "pirate ship".

Steve S

Hey, Steve,

I know a super-easy and dirt-cheap way to artificailly age/rust carbon steel, if you're not already aware of it.

A solution of 50% white vinegar and 50% plain household bleach makes a weak solution of hypochlorous acid, which promotes immediate rusting of bare steel. It can simply be sponged on, as often as needed for the desired effect.

Useless trivia to me from a grade-school science experiment, but if I were building a scene where the steel needed to appear aged...

Steve S

Thanks Steve,

I had never heard of that treatment before, but for something like that, for live shows, where something needs to be aged or distressed, we will always use paint for that effect. Actors can be notoriously clumsy and if there's ever any chance of them rubbing parts of their costumes on something rusty, greasy, dirty-----it will happen! The last thing in the world that you would ever want is an angry costumer coming after you because she's had to get that same stain out night after night. Trust me on that.

Another reason for using paint for effects like that on live shows is that we have to build, paint etc. on the fact that it has to look good from 40 feet away, never up close. The closest audience member is usually at least 40 feet from what's on stage so any kind of effect has to be exaggerated quite a bit to be seen and to make any sense. If you were to load in a show and have a good close look at what's coming in, you'd probably think it's just a big pile of crap from the way it's built, painted, blah, blah, blah, but once you see it on stage, under lights and the magic of distance, the stuff will look like it's museum quality.

Other Steve

Mixing bleach and vinegar is a bad idea. Toxic chlorine gas is released,
which essentially serves as a way to wage chemical warfare on yourself.
http://chemistry.about.com/od/toxicchem ... inegar.htm

Otto Nobedder wrote:Hey, Steve,

I know a super-easy and dirt-cheap way to artificailly age/rust carbon steel, if you're not already aware of it.

A solution of 50% white vinegar and 50% plain household bleach makes a weak solution of hypochlorous acid, which promotes immediate rusting of bare steel. It can simply be sponged on, as often as needed for the desired effect.

Useless trivia to me from a grade-school science experiment, but if I were building a scene where the steel needed to appear aged...

Steve S

Werkspace.

The chemistry.about.com was quite the website.

Tanks.
Alexa

I suppose I should have mentioned the chlorine hazard, and the need for ventilation, but it's been so many years since I've done the experiment, I simply forgot.

Thanks for the reminder.

I note the site doesn't mention my intended use... It's the increased hypochlorite concentration that causes the effect, and even more chlorine is released when the rusting is occuring.

Steve's points about stage productions and props are insightful (and seem obvious, now that I reflect on it ), but as he does on occasion do work for museums and the like, I thought it an interesting idea for that toolbox. (With Werkspace's cautions in mind, of course.)

Steve S

It's a good idea, but we would never be able to use that effect for any type of museum work. Any process that involves any type of off-gassing, especially around valuable artifacts, would be strictly frowned upon in a museum setting. Any museum job or quote we've done will set strict parameters for what materials and processes can be used, particularly if its display case work where an artifact is sealed inside.

Plywood and most sheet goods are a good example of what can and can't go into case work. Most sheet goods like plywood, MDO, MDF will contain an amount of formaldehyde in them. It might not be a lot, maybe just a trace amount, but the off gassing from it can destroy museum pieces over time. For any type of case work we would do, if not out of natural wood, we would use a product called Medex. It's very similar to MDF but it's made without formaldehyde. Certain plastics also have formaldehyde in them, but there are also museum grade plastics that we can use.

Other Steve

Here's a couple of pictures as to how it came out. This is under work lights, not actual show conditions. if this were show conditions, the drop behind the fire escape would have been weighted down to stretch it tight.

Sweet!

I'd love, maybe just once (or maybe I'd fall in love with it), to be involved in a project like that, to experience it... to understand the nuances.

I've more than once found a job I loved by saying to myself, "Hell, I'll give that a try...", and I'm guessing that's how you found THIS career.

Steve S

Steve,

I think you would enjoy this type of work, there's a lot of problem solving involved on an almost daily basis. Someone with your skills and analytical mind would do pretty well in a scene shop. If you're interested in the basic ideas of how shows are built and put up, I'd suggest taking a class in Stagecraft. Most college or community colleges with a theatre department should offer it. It will give you basic knowledge in lighting, building, rigging, etc.......just enough knowledge to make you dangerous! If you're ever in Detroit, stop by, we'll put you to work!

Here's a picture of the pirate ship, I wasn't too involved in this, except I put on all the casters and base painted it. I think this is under work lights too and I've seen pictures of what everything looked like during the show, I just can't find them to put them up here.

Other Steve

Steve,

I think you're right, I would enjoy it immensely. While no one particular craft skill for the job seems particularly difficult (from my perspective, never having done it), I'd think, as you said, the problem-solving would be the fascinating part.

Next time I'm in Michigan, I'll look you up!

Steve S

Nice work!