Greetings! 1st Project

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Greetings everyone!  Been lurking.  Super lurking!  Have been enjoying the Projects Forum since about last October when there were “only” 240 pages of threads.  It’s taken almost a year of L8 evenings to get thru them all, and now there’s 323 pages!!!  Most enjoyable?  The sheer variety of the work everybody does, and their willingness to help, solve problems and show off techniques.Biggest disappointment?  The number of pics that have “fallen out” of the older threads.  Looks like we’re now missing a gr8 resource here.  Decided to post a few projects back when PapaLion issued the call this spring, but I wanted to rvu all the posts to be sure I wasn’t just repeating someone elses project.  It took this long!  I want to say I enjoy the projects and particularly appreciate the wisdom in the comments.  I have a couple dozen projects from the last couple decades I’d like to contribute.  Primarily to say “Thank you guys”.  And hopefully, some will be of interest as project ideas for the noobs.  These are mosty “hobby” projects – for me – for around the house or shop.Xmas coming up soon – how about stuff for the kids made from scrap?  Maybe something to heat the house with?  Got em – but have to hit the wayback machine  – all the way back to 1988.       The Jungle JimA contractor friend gave me a stack of about 3 dozen scrap ¾” x 16ga square tube fence pickets 5' long.  He also let me borrow a Victor oxy/ace outfit, and my saw was a cutoff wheel in a 1965 Sears circular [hand] saw.Design.  What do I do with dozens of 5’ steel tubes?  Spent evening “TV time” with a clipboard and a grid pad, drawing things that could be built with no waste.  Some even fraction of 60” – like 30”, 15” and 7.5”.  Play equipment of some kind, like a jungle gym, might be the best use for it.  After all, ¾” is a good size for little [my 4 year old’s] hands.  So I came up with that ladder frame shape.  Repeat it 3 times?  Not enough metal.  And what could I put on top with the material I had?  Two frames and a fire pole?Miter cut the pieces.  Lots of them.  Freehand!  Then started the project by brazing [!] the pieces together.  You can see the joints – sorta – in pic #1.Taken at 5am with a 1970 Pentax – made 3x5 prints – remember them ?!?!? – then 20 years later, scanned them to a jpeg.  So, sorry about the quality.  And lack of progress pix. I switched to gas welding and 1/16” rod for the top “story” of the frame; I got some pretty nice beads because the metal wasn’t too thick.At about this time, a contractor friend let me borrow a Carolina horizontal band saw and a 1980’s Miller Thunderbolt – the blue version of the tombstone, so I had to teach myself to use it.  And, of course, made a little wagon style welder cart – sorry no pix.In the next picture, I added an extra 30” to the height, welded 3/4x9 expanded metal into the steps and top seat, and bumped the tubing size to 1”.  The slide tube was 2” emt conduit, which slowly bent over the years.  At that point, I was stick welding – I think 3/32” 7014 was my favorite – seemed a lot easier than gas.  Sandblasted the whole thing, shot with Frazee 661 Metalprime, then their industrial enamel.  $15 a gallon back then – imagine!  The floor was ¾” mdf painted with Frazee industrial enamel – it lasted a dozen years!  Wood!  In a welding project!  The blue chalked in about 5.  We had 3 adults up there quite often – it was great for watching sunset over the neighbor’s houses.  And during pool season – from about Valentines Day thru Thanksgiving – the kids  and neighbors would play in the pool at least a couple days a week - climb out of the pool, up the Jungle Jim, jump back in.  Rinse.  Repeat!  As they got bigger I dug the middle of the pool down to 6’ deep.  Kids (all ages) loved that thing!  Was still intact – no broken welds – when I gave it away in 2002.Thanks for looking.  Newer projects will have lots more pics and a lot less words!
Reply:No pics..... it never happened!!GeorgePrincess Auto "PowerFist" Dual MIG-136, WF & cap modGas Powered Alternator Welder (being rebuilt)
Reply:You made your point about the pictures falling off, I hate when that happens.
Reply:Wow!   That sux!  Thought I had found a way to put text between the pics, but I guess it didn't work.  Let's try it again without text in between.Pic 1:  Thought I had it together - half the joints brazed, top oxy/ace welded.Pic 2:  Here's an antique!  Expanded it 30" taller with one of these.Pic 3:  Finished jungle jim after about 5 years.Does anybody have any advice about how to separate pics with lines of text?  I seemed to be able to do it by attaching a pic with the paperclip button,then using the "twin peaks" button to place the pic between paragraphs, but then the pics would show up again at the bottom of the page. So to solve that I deleted the attachments thru the "Manage Attachments" box.The pics showed up on the preview anyhow, and when I posted, they showed up when I reviewed it.  Thought all was okay.  Guess it wasn't.  Any advice?  Thanks. Attached Images
Reply:You should be able to up load the picts using the "manage attachments" area below the advanced reply box first and then click on the little paperclip above the text area and select the pict you want to insert in the text where you want it to go.I'd guess thats what you tried to do the 1st time, but I'm not sure why your picts didn't post..No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan
Reply:A great buzz box there ( the same one I use) ps most had the handle on the top. I also read all the threads when I started here. I believe that shows a level of dedication most don't bother doing, congrats on the dedication.I hope you have fun and learn.Miller thunderbolt 250Decastar 135ERecovering tool-o-holic ESAB OAI have been interested or involved in Electrical, Fire Alarm, Auto, Marine, Welding, Electronics ETC to name a just a few. So YES you can own too many tools.
Reply:That's quite a project.  Bet the kids love it!(Retired) Professional firefighter, amateur everything else I try to do...Oh yeah:  Go Big Red!   (You know: one of the 12 members of the Big 10 cuz we left the 10 members of the Big 12...)
Reply:A great buzz box there ...
Reply:Really cool stuff Fab! I am shocked that no kids were injured playing on the jungle gym, its pretty tall and hard... I can't imagine my kids not loosing some teeth on that thing. How do you like the Northern Tool auto helmet? I have the same one.AC-180 Lincolnwelder circa '50's
Reply:How do you like the Northern Tool auto helmet?
Reply:I am a newb and for the money I think it works great... I have no clue what I am missing, but this is just a side hobby, came across this as I wanted to build a welded steel frame for a mobile table. Learning some hack welding has already helped me much though, I was able to save a x-mas reindeer display from the garbage can! One of the antlers cracked off at the weld last year as it went into storage but I was too lazy to take it back down and toss it. Lucky deer!  Looking forward to seeing more of your posts AC-180 Lincolnwelder circa '50's