Safari Rack

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Finally I have a project to post...So over the weekend, my buddy and built a safari rack for his car, a 1993 Subaru Legacy wagon. I ran out of argon at 1:00AM on Sunday, and had to try to finish it with stick (that was a nightmare...). Once I got a fresh bottle of argon on Monday, I patched all the holes and smoothed out all the welds.The Maxstar 150 STL has a great feature called Adaptive Hot Start for stick...it cranks up the juice when you start the arc so the rod doesn't stick. Its pretty nice on plate, or pretty much anything other than what I was trying to do...the arc would flare up, and burn a hole through the end of the square tube, and I would have to try to patch the hole while preventing the arc flare from blowing another hole through the tube. Much profanity was uttered.Anyway, here are the pictures:Ryan grinding a corner smooth:Me giving a quick TIG lesson:Welding one of the cross members in:Bottom half done:Adding vertical supports:Really crappy weld...any idea why its so porous?Attaching top ring to bottom:Next post: "Ask not for whom the bone bones, it bones for thee" - Bender
Reply:Fog light mounts attached:Done! "Ask not for whom the bone bones, it bones for thee" - Bender
Reply:Very cool project. Running out of Argon is a bummer any time of the day! Hey, maybe make a few suggestions? From experience I have found that the way you made those fog light mounts you are going to experience a lot of vibration. They make preformed mounting tabs that are just bent on a 45* angle at the sides. This adds just enough strength to hold it steady. On yours If you had a brake you could have bent them before mounting them. Maybe you could add a small 1 inch triangular gusset on the top side of the tab connected to the bottom rail? Or just try it out and see if it does vibrate at all. I could be wrong. On  your vertical supports you could take a hole saw and cut out the center. It will save weight and you won't really lose much support if you can use a dimple die to finish it.On the plus side, it looks really cool. Keep the pictures coming! I wanna see it mounted up!!!Lincoln Power Mig 210MP MIGLincoln Power Mig 350MP - MIG and Push-PullLincoln TIG 300-300Lincoln Hobby-Weld 110v  Thanks JLAMESCK TIG TORCH, gas diffuser, pyrex cupThermal Dynamics Cutmaster 101My brain
Reply:Thanks for the tip on the light mounts, I didn't even think of that!I had originally planned to cut the holes in the verts, but I couldn't find my hole saw, and didn't feel like driving to the hardware store. HAHA that will come later.Thanks! "Ask not for whom the bone bones, it bones for thee" - Bender
Reply:Looks good. As for that crappy weld, my first guess would be mill scale. I don't see any evidence that the upright was sanded or ground and it looks kinda dirty. The other thing would be lack of gas coverage. If there was a breeze or gust of wind. Did you run out of argon around that time or soon after?
Reply:looks pretty good.the adaptive start feature is great in my experience, but never used it on something that thin.The Welder Shop has great deals and reviews on Hobart, Miller and Lincoln Welders.
Reply:i think that looks pretty cool. how dose it look mounted?4 1/2 inch angle grindermiller thunder bolt
Reply:1st picture= no gloves, what's up wit that. ever heard safety 1st make welding more satisfying. there's not enough good welders in this country, so we don't want to burn up the ones we have.Not trying to be harsh, just helping you to look out for yourself and to buddys.Last edited by mwccwi; 05-07-2008 at 10:00 PM.Reason: look is not spelled lokMartin MC Weld TechAWS-CWIAWS-CWEwww.linkedin.com/pub/martin-cramer/20/b36/940/
Reply:Yeah, no gloves was a mistake. He forgot to put the gloves on and I didn't realize it until after that weld. As for how it looks mounted...it isn't yet. the car its going on is on the other side of the state, so I can't do the fit up until next weekend. After it is mounted and painted, I will post a few more pictures. "Ask not for whom the bone bones, it bones for thee" - Bender