New roof rack

[bobhenry]

I have access to the stick welder at work. The boss has a wire welder at home and he just loves to show off his tallents.
My neighbor was a welder for 9 years and has his in the garage 45 feet from my back door and he loves showing off too.

AND THE BEST PART!

It ain't my electric meter that's spinning out of control !

[Hector]

Dan I'm also better with the grider than the welder.LOL It's all in the finish product.They don't need to know what it looked like before the grinder clean it up.LOL

[len19070]

I bought this welder a few years ago at Harbor freight.



Just so I could weld my roof rack.



And have used it a lot since. For what I do with a welder it does just fine.

I also knew that welding galvanized material was bad for you. How bad, I didn't know. So I did the welding outside and blew a fan across my welding area.

Happy Trails

Len

BTW, I do a lot of grinding too. And, I'm pretty good with Bondo.

[Classic Finn]

Len or Dan

Can aluminum piping or tubing be used in construction of that type of rack? I found a variety of choices here. Granted galvanized tubing will not corrode or rust as easily.

Classic Finn

[len19070]

Len or Dan

Can aluminum piping or tubing be used in construction of that type of rack? I found a variety of choices here. Granted galvanized tubing will not corrode or rust as easily.

Classic Finn

Heikki

I looked into Aluminum Tubing and the only draw back I could see on my part was that I can't weld aluminum.

However I did find some hardware that would allow a flush cut piece of tubing to be Bolted at a right angle to another piece of tubing.

This hardware is used on RV roof ladders.



I found a place to buy it but you had to buy in such volume that it really wasn't worth it. Plus I don't think the bolts heads look as good as the weld does.

This hardware would also work well on EMT tubing.

And that is the reason I don't make these racks on a larger scale.

Happy Trails

Len

[Classic Finn]

Hi Len and Thank You, The way you and Dan are making it does look very nice..

Classic Finn

[cuyeda]

Excuse me, nothing to do with this thread, just wanted to flag Heikki's attention... check your PM. Maybe you have a pop up blocker enabled to prevent alerting you with PM's

[Classic Finn]

Hi Len and Thank You, The way you and Dan are making it does look very nice..

Classic Finn

Excuse me, nothing to do with this thread, just wanted to flag Heikki's attention... check your PM. Maybe you have a pop up blocker enabled to prevent alerting you with PM's

Hi Cliff

No pop up blocker on... no PM recently. Thanks for the heads up. Try Again Cliff. It took me almost an hour just to get back onto the Forum here and it takes a few minutes to get a PM going out..

Apologies to the thread holders to jump off subject..

Classic Finn

[Classic Finn]

Len can you figure I dont know how to weld either but my wife knows how

Classic Finn

[s4son]

I bought this welder a few years ago at Harbor freight.



Just so I could weld my roof rack.

Not to look like a complete dope, is that welder 110 volts or 220?

Scott F.

[len19070]

Not to look like a complete dope, is that welder 110 volts or 220?Scott F.

Its a 110V...Its also one of the cheapest ones I could find, about $120.

I don't do anything big with it. I make a few battery trays, weld some EMT, some bed rail, fasten some fenders, kids Go Kart/Mini bike repairs(it seems I'm an easy touch for any kid in the neighborhood who wants advice on building something). It has its limitations.

Its the same with a lot of that Harbor Freight stuff.

As long as you know its junk...and treat it like junk, it will last a long time.

Happy Trails

Len

[Wolffarmer]

After growing up on a farm and farming on my own. I can't imagine living without my welder, cutting torch and welding tips, angle grinders, wrenches, hammers, chisels, on and on. But right now my torch needs attention, going to cost a bit. But will get r done as I have some repairs and building to do soon.

[shawnkfl]

I bought this welder a few years ago at Harbor freight.



Just so I could weld my roof rack.

[/b]

i have this same welder. it's great for thinner material. i wouldn't weld anything heavier than 1/8" steel with it but anything else, no problem. i even welded up a choptop car with mine. the only problem is the electric meter needle spins like it's taking off while running it!