First real welding project. (excavator bucket)

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Well i started stick welding in september, and a few weeks ago i posted a thread about how to plate an excavator bucket.. Well i decided to go for it, the bucket is off a 2008 Cat 315C. All in all i think it came out OK considering the first time i ever burned a 7018 was the morning i started this project. all of my welds looked decent and i cleaned everything up nice before welding. Bucket with bad wear plate torched offBad plateCorners of the bottom plate were peeling so i trimmed them welded them to the bucket then added patch plates and ground them downThis is what just about all of the welds looked like, a little runy and nasty but i know they penetrated (could see heat marks inside bucket. Only got to add 3 plates this weekend (i attend college full time and came home to tackle this)... bending the outside plates took me a few hours, i notched them headed them with the torch and hammered them or pushed them down with my Case 680L depending on the location, then filled the notches with 7018.This is how far i got... I am going to add about 4 more horizontal plates in the next couple of weeks, hardface the tooth shanks and plate up the sides. I am doing all of this for my father, he encouraged me to go for it saying i might as well get good by learning on the real thing. I would appreciate any feedback you guys have to offer, if im doing anything wrong let me know but be nice  i am a business management student minoring in economics and entrepreneurship... so the only way ive been learning how to weld is practicing, the internet and most importantly browsing this site. All of the welding equipment used to do this used to belong to my grandfather and just sits around in the garage at our yard.
Reply:The side plates look a little wide. Usually on a bucket, the teeth and side cutters are wider than the bucket itself. That helps prevent wear on the sides of the bucket and keeps things from getting caught and ripped off. Remember that the force of the machine will be trying to peel these off if they catch on something. You're probably ok with the way you've got it, just try and grind it back a bit and be carefull if you weld plates to the sides that you don't make the bucket too wide.Be sure your welds are 100% all the way around. Dirt and water can get in and really do a number on the bucket otherwise. Just the force of the dirt getting jammed in against a gap digging, will act like a jack and pry plates loose. Also if mositure gets in and freezes it will also tear things up.The welds you show up close look fair, but I see some welds that look like they are cold.You talk about hardfacing the shanks. Usually you don't face a shank. They shouldn't wear unless some knucklehead digs with missing teeth. Then you usually replace the shank. Teeth themselves aren't usually worth hard facing when they are that small. Big teeth can be worth the effort, but you need to get to them before they are worn. Once the teeth are round and show wear bad, it's usually too late to do an economical job of repair. The corner one I can see is worn well beyond any reasonable repairs.The cutting edge between the shanks looks scalloped pretty good. Again it probably should have been adressed when the wear was about half what it is now. If the shanks are worn and the edge is that bad, I'd replace the whole thing, edge and shanks rather than try and rebuild them. That or just say F it and keep using them as is a while longer and do it right when they are just too bad to work with.Oh please try and resize the picts before you post. The site chops off the text and it's a pain to read the way it is.Last edited by DSW; 11-16-2009 at 01:48 PM..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:DSW, thank you very much for the imput, i will need to go around it next weekend and really seal everything up, also the side plates were a little wider than the cutting edge so i wound up trimming them and grinding them after that picture was taken. As for the cold welds, i had a little troube with the welder because the plates seemed to melt alot quicker than the bucket. My father speculated because it is a rock grade bucket the plates may be of a milder steel but i did struggle with that, what i would up doing as i moved along was a root pass, a high pass that was a little cooler but penetrated the plates and a low pass that was really hot and burned into the bucket.
Reply:I just got done doing a couple loader buckets. looks good!
Reply:Wear some safety glasses.
Reply:Oh yes. Your eyeball is the fastest healing thing on your body. One piece of metal flies in there and sticks and you don't do nothing about it, by the next morning new eyeball material has grown over the metal and it begins to rust inside the eyeball. Worst case, invest in a shield that has the flip up lens. Works great as an face shield when cutting or grinding.BTW, looks good though.Miller:Millermatic 252Dialarc 250Thunderbolt 225Syncrowave 180 SDSuper S-32PSCP-200CHF-15-1225D Plus225G PlusBig D2Lincoln:Arc Welder SA-200Victor:315FC setup with fullsize bottlesJ-28  setup as portable
Reply:Silverado, Nice first project!Next time, skip the notches for bending the patch plate, it's unnecessary, and terrible hard work with that miserable, noisy, spark-spitting abrasive saw. Just heat the plate at the bend points and form and tack in short lengths. For a pusher to form patch plates, use a lever, or a bottle jack, or a chain and screw binder. It may be necessary to anchor with some temporary frame work, but any of them will have more push, and be easier to work with, than a second machine pushing on the plate; safer too.Thanks for posting it up! Good LuckLast edited by denrep; 11-16-2009 at 09:21 PM.
Reply:Good stuff, but please protect the eye ballses. I hear the replacement parts ain't near as good as the OEM stuff.Ranger 250 GXTSmith Gas Axe
Reply:not only your eyes, but you should be protecting your ears as well. i helped a buddy put up some 12" i-beam rafters this weekend and we had to knock them in place with a hammer. long story short my right ear has been ringing/pounding for the last two days. no reason to prematurely start your hearing degredation.I break things for a living...
Reply:Safety facts have been noted, my dad is pretty old school and there is minimal safety equiptment at his yard. I will definately be bringing some earmuffs and goggles next time im working on it. I actually spoke to him today bucket has been through 3 days of digging and loading granite boulders with no problems! haha so my worst fear of falling apart the first day is gone... i should be going down to work on it more in about 2 weeks.
Reply:Great job on the bucket.    I m an operator myself, and welding is something always good to know.   When I bought my Case skidsteers for my private business they came from a cotton gin.  They had yard buckets and you couldnt move dirt with them.  a new bucket for dirt was 1500.   I was at a machinery yard and in the bucket pile I found a case dirt bucket that had a bowed bottom and, the toothbar and cutting edge had been bent under the bucket and the quick tach weded to the older unit. I got it for 20 bucks and picked up some A36  sheet at the salvage yard for 25 bucks.   I made a new bottom and bought a 35 dollar smooth edge and made a nice new bucket for around 80 bucks.   For my old Ford hoe and my Komatsu mini ex or any custom buckets Ill make the mounting brackets and  the side plates. then measure the material needed for the back and bottom of the bucket and Ill cut it and then tack it to the top and mounting brackets  or the Edge of the bucket.  Along with some heat and a large chunk of Railroad iron,pipe or drill stem on the ground with the shell mounted on the machine  use its weight and  hydraulics to do the bending for me.   Ususally Ill bend then tack and bends some more.       To make your teeth last longer we take old truck leaf springs from dump trailers and cut them off about 3 or 4 inches longer than the tooth.   Then weld them up good.  I was working for a man in Alabama loading clay gravel and every day we wore through a set of teeth.    5  teeth at 85 bucks each plus pins and keepers.     One evening I was at a friends shop and saw hime doing this and he let me cut a few  for my machine.    I welded them up that night and the next 4 days  went by till I had to  reline them and then after another weak they started to wear on the inside of the tooth and fall off.       They look like crap at first because each part of the springs will be a bit wider or narrower because of their taper.   They will wear to a uniform shape pretty quick.
Reply:Thought that looked familiar... showed up on my cousin Jenny's FB page! Nice work, I usually run 3/4 x 2" bars 1" apart across the bucket, never thought about doing it your way.  Nice to see someone doing bucket build up before it's tin foil!  I only get em when they're see through!
Reply:Originally Posted by Dr CraneThought that looked familiar... showed up on my cousin Jenny's FB page! Nice work, I usually run 3/4 x 2" bars 1" apart across the bucket, never thought about doing it your way.  Nice to see someone doing bucket build up before it's tin foil!  I only get em when they're see through!