FINALLY...Progress on the Squidget with PICS to prove it!!!

[Micro469]

Cracker, you got a bathroom scale that goes up to 1600 Lb??? Man, how big are you guys down there anyway?

[cracker39]

Nahhhh... It only goes up to 300 lbs, but with it, I can easily weigh a 2500 lb trailer. You just weigh one side of the trailer (up to 1200 lbs) using this technique with a 4' board (I used a 2x6).

http://www.easternmarine.com/em_store/t ... _info.html

Double that weight calculation and add the tongue weight for the total trailer weight. This is how I will weigh mine before it is fully built to get the tongue weight the axle location.

[brickz]

Cracker, just catching up on postings and saw your thread from last week. Just a thought but I welded on hitch receiver (about $20 from TSC) on the back end of mine as I wanted to use my bike rack while traveling. I then got thinking about bumpers for when I don't have the bikes and made a simple one with a couple pieces of 2" tubing. Worked great, wouldn't take a big hit but would fend off a small bump better than the wood hatch.

Brickz

[madjack]

Cracker, just catching up on postings and saw your thread from last week. Just a thought but I welded on hitch receiver (about $20 from TSC) on the back end of mine as I wanted to use my bike rack while traveling. I then got thinking about bumpers for when I don't have the bikes and made a simple one with a couple pieces of 2" tubing. Worked great, wouldn't take a big hit but would fend off a small bump better than the wood hatch.

Brickz

Brickz, ya know I can't let a post like that go without asking...wher'z da pic...we wanna see it too
madjack

[cracker39]

For my bumper, I should be using the 3/16" tubing, but it's so heavy, I decided to use the 1/8" instead. Yes, It might bend if hit by another vehicle, but for protection if I bump into something backing up, it will hold up.

Tomorrow is the big day. I have a Hobart Iron Man 210 welder in the truck ready to unload and be used. IF...and there are several IFs. My son-in-law let his cousin use the welder for a while. He isn't sure if the tip will feed the wire, if there is enough wire, and if enough gas is left in the tank. And, now, the piece de restance...the socket I installed won't fit the welder. My son-in-law said it was a typical dryer socket, so that's what I got. The upper hole is L shaped, and the two lower ones are slanted. His plug and extension cord has plug and socket just like my 30 amp 110VAC shore power cord I bought. I wonder if I can buy an adapter at HD?

We'll just have to try and see. If all goes well, I'll have a frame tomorrow evening. Once I get the sides together, and weigh and balance the tongue weight, we'll weld on the axle. The axle won't go on for another week or two.

[cracker39]

EUREKA...IT'S A FRAME...Well, almost...

Despite winds hitting upwards of 50 MPH, we got started today. In the pics, you'll see blue and green tarps hung to try to block the wind. But, it was so strong, it kept moving the concrete blocks and spare steel that I had holding down the bottoms. But, Mike, my son-in-law, managed to do the MIG welding despite the wind. I watched, and even tried a little on the floor gussets, where structural integrity was low. My welds sure didn't look like Mikes. I need lots of practice. I have the jack stand to weld together and mount on the tongue when the Rustbullet dries where I coated the pieces on the inside that can't be protected from the elements. Maybe I'll try welding those. I still have the tank and welder here for a week or two until it's all done.

Other than the jack stand, we did get everything welded, including end caps on all of the pieces with open ends and the bumper. I have lots of grinding and clean up to do before the coating, and I may leave than until after we get the axle on so I can move the support blocks to the axle shaft and can coat every frame part at one time.

The pics are not the best, as they are shot under the carport with half of it covered with tarps, so the light isn't good. They show the frame without any grinding or clean up. I'll do that this afternoon in preparation of coating it with the Rustbullet. And, the jack stand still has to be completed. But, the weather is turning foul and I may not get anymore work done on it before Tues or Wed. The wind is supposed to stay with us for 2 or 3 more days, and the temps will be too low to paint. I had to strap the tank to a carport column to make sure it doesn't blow over.

Anyway, for better or worse, here it is:

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/cracker39 ... 66&.src=ph

[Kevin A]

Dale,

Lookin good, those are some really nice looking welds.

[cracker39]

I went back out after my son-in-law left and tried to do a little welding on my own...what a disaster. It would only spit and sputter... open the gas valve, dummy. Then, I got the wire stuck in the tip, replaced the tip and did it again. Was able to clean this tip, but it still spits and sputters, and won't lay down a continuous weld. The nozzle is all chewed up and the opening is too large. I think with the wind that comes aroung the edges of my tarp, and the enlarged nozzel opening, the gas is being spread too wide. I'm off to TSC and get another nozzle. Thenk Maybe I'll try it again. I'm determined to learn how to weld.

[Steve_Cox]

Beautiful work Dale, those miters and enclosed ends on the box tubing are top notch, very professional. Much better quality than most the store bought utility trailers you see on the road. And, if your like me when you're driving and have someone with a trailer sitting beside you at a light, you're checking out how the trailer is built....At least I do.


Steve

[cracker39]

Thanks, Steve, but the welding credit goes to Mike, my son-in-law, and he is a professional welder...or rather was. He worked for a company that built those trucks with the lifts that rolled out to airplanes with their meals until the company closed down after 9-11. But, I will take credit for the design and all of the details that went into it. He welded what I gave him to weld.

OK...so, I stretched the thuth a bit about the credit. Most of the credit goes to members of this forum, without whom, I wouldn't have a fame to show. All I know about trailer construction came from this forum.

[brickz]

Don't want to hijack the thread but Madjack wanted to see pics so here they are. Hard to see receiver on the end of the frame before I started as it's welded right on the main tube running length of trailer. Other pic shows bumper in the hitch recvr. Last pic is with two bikes hanging off the back of the tear.

[Ira]

Okay, Dale.

You had to buy the welder, and a new TIP.

DID YOU FACTOR THAT INTO YOUR PREVIOUS COST OF THE FRAME!? THE GAS TO AND FROM THE STORE!? THE CINDER BLOCKS TO HOLD DOWN THE TARP!?

[cracker39]

Good try Ira. Nope...won't wash. The welder was bought 3 or 4 years ago for my son-in-law. It is his, and since I didn't get paid back yet, I guess it was a gift. And the blocks came with the house. The previous owner left them behind the utility shed. I already had the tarps and they get used for lots of things. Gas to and from stores to buy supplies??? C'mon...give me a break. Who adds up their gas bills. That's a pleasure trip. Do you also keep adding the cost of gas used when you go camping? And, I KNOW you keep track of the beer bills.

[Ira]

Foiled again.

[cracker39]

But, please do keep trying. You may catch me with something yet that I forgot!