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Making a long range rifle target 4 ft tall 4 ft wide. I am using the tie plates as armor plates so that it dosent get torn up as quickly i am also working on this just to have something to do after work. I am burning 1/8 7018 @115 amps reverse pol dcSo far i have cut holes in the steel plate and tack welded the tie platesto the steel then i flipped it over and welded the plates from the back of the plate. I have also ran beads around the entire outer edge. I welded the back first because i was told if i did that last it would warp bad. I ground the rust off the 4x4 plate but not off the tie plates They are not terribly rusted but are used and were scrapped.Now i am welding the plates on the inside and the gaps in between up Here is where i am running into trouble reason being the slag is forming like concreteand its a pain in the butt to clean the slag and run bead over bead. Im thinking of buying a pneumatic hammer to help me clean the slag but i shouldnt have to so thats why i am asking here. It takes about 6 rods to fill the gap between plates on each gap.I am a beginner welder and I would appreciate any feedback or suggestions sorry about the terrible grammar and possibly spelling i am typing this from a phone.I know this is a tough question to ask on the internet but Am i welding too slow i know i got bad angle but im doing what i can to get in the gaps between plates running one bead along each side then a beqd in the middle then side middle again anyway thats about it
Reply:Btw. The question is how can i make the slag easier to remove or am i stuck dealing with it?
Reply:Coulpe of questions........How many of these "plates" are you welding to this quarter inch plate, seem like it's going to be very heavy to take to the range unless you can leave it where you set it up? What will you be shooting at this thing with? I can't recall now if my 600 yard target is half inch or quarter inch, but it's had thousands of rounds into it over the years and it's not tore up.6 Miller Big Blue 600 Air Paks2 Miller 400D6 Lincoln LN-25's4 Miller Xtreme 12VS2 Miller Dimension 812 4 Climax BW-3000Z bore welders Hypertherm 65 and 85Bug-O Track BugPair of Welpers
Reply:18 plates. Yes it weighs about 250-300 lbs. Shooting 50 cal and .338 lapua @1000 yds once mounted it will not be moved. Its going to be on chains to swing and get the gong effect at my cousins ranch. The plate is not hardened steel it is just regular plate. I will take a picture when i get off work
Reply:Originally Posted by DinglebungusBtw. The question is how can i make the slag easier to remove or am i stuck dealing with it?
Reply:Here are some pix I know it looks like crap but its my first welding projectI literally started welding 3 days ago for the first time As u can see in the final picture one bead wont do on many of the plates because they arent flush
Reply:Yikes! For just 3-days of welding, that is one darn smooth looking weld!Ok, it's hard to tell from the photo... it looks a mite on the cool side - bead should be flatter and more obviously wetted-in to the vertical and horizontal surfaces.Rick V 1 Airco Heliwelder 3A/DDR3 CTC 70/90 amp Stick/Tig Inverters in Parallel1 Lincoln MIG PAK 151 Oxy-Acet
Reply:Once i weld into the tie plate the slag gets nasty
Reply:Ok ill turn it up i think i can get up to 150 amps maybe a bit more i will take more pix of it including the really bad slag when i get off at 4:00 thanks for the feedback
Reply:7018 doesnt like rust. try a grinder or some 6010
Reply:Ok i will get what i can with the grinder
Reply:115 is a bit cold but 150 is way too hot. Try 120-130A, the right amount of heat will help to make the slag easy to remove.Too much moisture in the rods will also make slag hard to remove. You might try re-drying them if they aren't fresh.Also be careful how you mount that thing- I wouldn't want to be chased by a ricochet from a .50 Cal.! JohnA few weldersA lot of hammersA whole lot of C-clamps
Reply:we were punching through 3/4 hot roll plate at 700yards with a barrett m82a1tackleexperts.comwww.necessityjigs.comhttps://www.facebook.com/groups/mach...dingequipment/
Reply:Update the thread after you shoot it, I'm interested in how much damage to the target the rounds will do. I'd think the .50 would beat it up pretty bad since its not hardened. Several years ago I was shooting the Garand at a target I had nailed to a 30"+ diameter tree @ 200 yds. With 150grn M2 ball it was completely penetrating the tree.
Reply:Originally Posted by Silicon-based115 is a bit cold but 150 is way too hot. Try 120-130A, the right amount of heat will help to make the slag easy to remove.Too much moisture in the rods will also make slag hard to remove. You might try re-drying them if they aren't fresh.Also be careful how you mount that thing- I wouldn't want to be chased by a ricochet from a .50 Cal.! John
Reply:Originally Posted by DinglebungusThanks for the advice at 125 amps the slag came off much easier i also bought a pneumatic hammer to remove what i had built up from my previous passes and ground off all the rust but still had slag problems until the amps were upped i will post more pix and update once it gets shot at ! The steel plate its self isn't hardened but the railroad tie plates are. i suppose they are a mild hard steel.
Reply:Originally Posted by DinglebungusHere are some pix I know it looks like crap but its my first welding projectI literally started welding 3 days ago for the first time
Reply:Originally Posted by ExpatWelderThis post has REALLY made me homesick----------can't shoot guns over here and won't be home till late December, and then will only be for 10 days-------you would be amazed how many rounds a guy can put downrange in ten days though.-------enough rambling--Matt
Reply:Originally Posted by Stick-manIf I was away from home as long as you are, I be thinkin bout shootin rounds, but it wouldn't be down a range!!!
Reply:Originally Posted by Stick-manIf I was away from home as long as you are, I be thinkin bout shootin rounds, but it wouldn't be down a range!!!
Reply:I would shoot that target before putting too much time, energy and $ into it.You'd be surprised how easy rifles shoot through certain types of steel.A .223 will cut through mild (unhardened) 1/4" steel like a hot knife through butter. RR tie plates are NOT hardened.A .50 BMG or .338 Lap may tear that thing to shreds no matter HOW many beads you put on top of each other ... though maybe not so much at 700 yards.Last edited by Kelvin; 11-01-2011 at 08:02 AM.
Reply:My money's on the rifle, not the target. I suspect the only thing that will save your target is mounting it in such a fashion that the rounds are "deflected" rather than taken head on.The .50 is a smokebringer.A quad .50 was one of my favorite weapons during the VN conflict. It would literally "cut down forests" to get at the bad guys.Syncro 250 DX Dynasty 200 DXMM 251 w/30A SG XMT 304 w/714 Feeder & Optima PulserHH187Dialarc 250 AC/DCHypertherm PM 1250Smith, Harris, Victor O/ASmith and Thermco Gas MixersAccess to a full fab shop with CNC Plasma, Water Jet, etc.
Reply:My money says that 50 will rip right through it even if its set at an angle. Just leave a bigger hole on the angle than he would if it were vertical.Might have had something if you'd left a gap of 1"-2" between the rail plates and the backing and had it on an angle. but even then you're still replacing the railroad plates on a regular basis.There are no problems. There are only solutions. It's your duty to determine the right one.Hobart Handler 210Airco 225 Amp MSM Stinger
Reply:paint the tie plates white and ventilate that bitch..tackleexperts.comwww.necessityjigs.comhttps://www.facebook.com/groups/mach...dingequipment/
Reply:Yup, a .50BMG is gonna go through that like it wasn't even there. Much to my surprise, a guy at the local range was shooting at an old cast iron drain cover at 300yds with his bolt action .50 and the impact barely left a mark. Big puff of smoke though! I'd fully expected the thing to shatter into pieces after the first shot.Yikes... now we gotto watch out for missing man-hole covers!Rick V 1 Airco Heliwelder 3A/DDR3 CTC 70/90 amp Stick/Tig Inverters in Parallel1 Lincoln MIG PAK 151 Oxy-Acet
Reply:Now I'm not making targets,but do have a project in mind and those tie plates could work for what I'm planning.I asked around about what type of metal those plates are made of... Some seem to think they are similar to the steel rails in composition..I'll only need 2-3 for my project ,but does anyone "know" what these plates are made of ? Any update on the durability of these plates after being shot ? Any improvement of the welds after drying the 7018 rods ? Did bullet impact loosen the plates ?
Reply:Originally Posted by mudbugoneI asked around about what type of metal those plates are made of... Some seem to think they are similar to the steel rails in composition..I'll only need 2-3 for my project ,but does anyone "know" what these plates are made of ?
Reply:LOL... My mailman is used to my unusual quirks and gets a kick out of trying to ID what's in the various packages he's delivering..Thanks for the offer,but there is a railroad maintenance yard close by...I just haven't made any connections with someone there lately since this idea came to mind... I think I can talk them out of a few plates hopefully.I've stumbled across dozens of the dang things without picking them up before. Isn't that how it works.?I would think they would have to be high grade steel to withstand the impact & abrasion they are subjected to. I doubt regular steel would hold up for any length of time without failure. Rails "work" & move constantly and that alone would necessitate high grade steel or a lot of replacement work. I don't know this for a fact it's just a logical deduction and I've never noticed the ones I've looked at looking "worn out".
Reply:Disclaimer: I don't work FOR a railroad, but I do work WITH them. Got a job for Harbor Belt Line in Hammond IN currently. Asked one of the RR engineers about the grade of steel. He said, the rails, plated etc are all mild steel now. The pieces of the switches like "frogs" etc are still the manganese steel. So bulk of what is out there is mild. This is for a new yard being built. A lot of the older rails from 40-50 yrs ago might have been manganese.
Reply:All the NEW plates seem to be made in China ..... considering we no longer make much that might explain the "mild" steel.There are numerous companies selling "used" plates (minimum orders in TONS) so at the moment there should still be American made iron floating around... Let's hope so.
Reply:Originally Posted by mudbugoneThanks for the offer,but there is a railroad maintenance yard close by...
Reply:Both the railroads & the oilfield yards around here try to slow the thieves down,but if the scrap yards accept the material and immediately load it into box trucks it gets lost in the shuffle.I had some 5" pipe stolen just before Christmas & if I hadn't hit the scrap yard immediately it would have disappeared ....I got lucky..The driver spent Christmas in jail but he's refusing to rat out the other 3 helpers... They got $50 for $800 worth of pipe ...I think those plates are around 16-17 #'s each... The single rail ridge configuration may be for slipping a replacement plate into place without lifting a rail.Thanks for the lead on the foundry in Arkansas BTW... Might be an interesting excursion if I'm up that direction...
Reply:I finally located the one switch plate I had yesterday and suspended it so I could strike it with a hammer... it rang like a deep toned bell with some resonance like a tuning fork hum.I then took it to a friends shop that makes armor and we tried the larger tie plate he has it rang with a brighter higher pitched tone. My plate is 1/2" thick ..his is 3/4" thick.We decided they were both pretty good steel although the piece he had is probably better steel (older perhaps ?)While we were at it we rang his good 125# anvil the face was sorta dull but the tail rang in a high pitched tone... It had been welded along the edges long ago which probably accounted for the dull face tones.We then rang his Harbor Freight anvil that was purchased long ago when they came from Russia and were steel instead of Chinese cast iron lumps. It rang well from end to end (sorry I never bought one now) He thinks the russians made them by melting down WWII tanks,don't know that for a fact,but it seems to be a pretty fair anvil too bad HF quit selling them for $85 years agoI may get a short piece of rail after talking to an Uncle yesterday...at least he says he can get a piece. If that's the case I'll weld that to the tail of the old anvil that had it's entire tail broken off over 50 years ago to repair it somewhat. I think if I invert the rail and used the rail base it should be about the same width as the original anvil face.This anvil was sorely abused and the face resembles a mushroom so anything I do will be an improvement. I rode it as a small child for a pony and the tail was gone then & that was over 55 years ago. I'll gradually repair it and keep looking for some hardfacing mig wire for a deal on ebay and then reface it if I can. At the retail price of hardfacing mig wire I could just buy an anvil instead so I'll just wait until I find a used partial spool at a liquidation price.. since this is not a must have now project...only a learning project.
Reply:I recently reada comment on WW about HF's "anvil-shaped objects." I know now not to buy one of those.I had at least two guys come up to me during a 2011 track upgrade project at the west end of my company's line, looking for stubby lengths of rail to make into anvils. In scrap prices, #1 rail (T-rail cut into not-longer-than 1') is always the highest priced railroad scrap. We had a couple of guys "lift" two 33' lengths that I think were 85 lb./yd. from near a grade crossing in 2008. It happened in an area where I used to live, and a neighbor was all too happy to tell me who took the stuff. It was cut up and sold by the time I got to the one guy's welding shop, but they paid restitution. I think they got $300 for it, and paid the RR $300. "Zero gain." It was a "misunderstanding." They thought a minor town official had given them permission to take the rail; he thought they were talking about some old metal guard rails that had been replaced by wooden rails on a little bridge nearby. Uh huh. @Dinglebungus: Didn't mean to hijack your thread. How's your target project going?
Reply:Having ran ranges for the better part of my life in various capacitys, the absolute best metal targets I have come up with was 1144 cold roll - round bar. I used to keep all the end cuts (2-5 inches thick) from the shop and weld a single hanger on them with a few degrees of downward deflection. The 4-6 od cuts were good at 100 yrds 8-10 for 200-300. The absolute worst I have seen was at a small private range where someone had donated a motorgrader blade - the torched it into pieces 12 inched or so long and bolted them to rr cross ties. Even the most butter soft cast boolits would come back to visit you.Moral - Softer metal in thicker slices beats hell out of hardened plate.When any government, or any church for that matter, undertakes to say to its subjects, "This you may not read, this you must not see, this you are forbidden to know," the end result is tyranny and oppression, no matter how holy the motives.
Reply:Okay guys, I can tell you that those railroad tie plates are very SOFT! Here is just one that i use for target practice. These pics were taken at 100-150 yds with a .223 .55gr FMJ. One side is spray painted orange so I can see it down range.Looking at the photos is difficult to see, however the craters created by a mere .223 FMJ putls the holes at around 1/4" deep! This steel is very very soft!!!!A .50BMG will cut through this steel like a hot knife through butter! Attached ImagesLast edited by SuperArc; 01-03-2012 at 01:00 AM.Lincoln Power Mig 216Lincoln AC/DC-225/125Miller 625 X-Treme PlasmaMiller 211 Forney 95FI-A 301HF 91110Victor Journeyman O/PMilwaukee DaytonMakita Baileigh NRA Life Member |
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发表于 2021-9-1 00:02:33