Welding cast iron brackets

     Today, 2 brackets that hold up a side shelf on our wood stove broke off, so i took them into welding class to see if I could fix them. I was worried they wouldn't weld well, as they are made of cast iron, and neither me, nor my welding teacher knew if it would work. To my surprise, I easily joined them with a MIG welder, and grinded the weld so it was flush with the rest of the piece, then polished it off. Here's a picture I took after I did the first one. It was much easier then I thought it would be, and I am quite pleased with the final product.

Offroad Truck Bumper Part 1

     I've decided to build my own bumper for my truck that will increase it's capabilities, allowing it to be more agile over rough terrain. I've looked into buying a bumper, but there aren't too many available for the 97-03 generation of F-150s, and all the one's I've found are highly expensive. The style of bumper that I've chosen is prerunner/baja. These bumpers are widely used in desert racing and offroading in areas such as Mexico and Southern California.
         




The main point of these bumpers is to improve the clearance of the front end. Normally, if you were trying to drive your truck from flat ground onto a steep incline, the bumper would hit, and you'd get stuck. These bumpers expose much more of the wheel, thereby allowing the truck to handle drastic changes in incline.  




      
     
     To build my bumper, I would first need to find a way to mount it to my frame. The old bumper was bolted onto 2 large brackets that were welded to the end of the frame. To mount my bumper, I would need to chop the ends of the frame off to allow the skid plate to have shallower angle, which will keep air resistance to a minimum.




    

    First, I drew up some designs for the mounting brackets of my bumper. I then cut out the pieces I would need with a plasma cutter. I used 1/4 inch iron, as it would give my bumper a good strong base to sit on.
         





    


   
    I used a mig welder to join the pieces together, and once I had both brackets built, I arc welded a piece of tube in between them to get the width right.

     

Loader Bucket Completed!

      I finally completed the loader bucket today, the welding took a while because I was welding outside, and the weather has been rather dodgy lately. I used a Lincoln arc welder running at about 130 volts, with 7014 AC rods I believe. As you may be able to tell, I completely welded the patch to the bucket, covering every edge, gap, nook, and cranny. Generally it would have been easier(and maybe a bit structurally stronger) to just use a bunch of short welds spaced along the seams, however, it is a bucket that is used to haul manure and other liquids, so I needed to make sure that it wouldn't leak. Overall, I'm fairly proud of the job, especially since I've only been welding for a few months.

Before

After

The Loader Bucket

 This is a loader bucket we use around the farm for odd jobs. As you can see, it's rusted out around the bottom. I'd thought I'd put my newly acquired welding skills to use at school, and build an inner plate to patch the rusted spots. (it's currently incomplete, pics will be posted of the final product).