Skidsteer Mounting Plates....

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Hey guys,Have a customer who is a scrap collector & I can get some nice material off him occasionally as he will call to give me a rundown of what he collects during the week. Kinda advantageous to both of us as I do cut him a break on work.He backed his truck to the doors & opened the tailgate & showed me these plates he just picked up from a large commercial fab shop. They are 50"L X 20"W X 5/16" thick. He asked me how much I would charge to make them. Told him I didn't have a brake to bend that heavy of material nor a punch press to put the slots in it. He said that he gets these for $100/ea FINISHED!!!!! I told him that was a steal as the material costs that much. He has (6) more ordered to sell at a profit. These (2) are for his skidsteer to have a tongue/hitch welded to one for moving his trailers around his lot, & the other is a "spear" for breaking up "things" as he described.After looking at his drawing & listening to his instructions, I suggested a couple alternatives to strengthen a bit more using some 3"W X 1/4"thick "C" channel bracing & he was quite emphatic to just use the material he furnished as he wanted to keep costs to a minimum. I didn't argue..... no point in it.Here's the projects in sequence of construction. The tongue/hitch assembly was welded on with (2) of the 2"W angles for bracing. The "I" beam is a 6.5" X 6.5" X 7/16" thick X 7' long & the angles were 2"W X 1/4" thick. I had (3) hours in each project.Gonna need (3) posts to get all the pics on so PLEASE give me a couple xtra minutes to get them all on. THANKS!Denny Attached ImagesComplete Welding/Machine/Fab. ShopMobile UnitFinally retired*Moderator*"A man's word is his honor...without honor there is nothing.""Words are like bullets.... Once they leave your muzzle, you cannot get them back."
Reply:Group 2.... One more....please wait.Denny Attached ImagesComplete Welding/Machine/Fab. ShopMobile UnitFinally retired*Moderator*"A man's word is his honor...without honor there is nothing.""Words are like bullets.... Once they leave your muzzle, you cannot get them back."
Reply:3rd Group....Denny Attached ImagesComplete Welding/Machine/Fab. ShopMobile UnitFinally retired*Moderator*"A man's word is his honor...without honor there is nothing.""Words are like bullets.... Once they leave your muzzle, you cannot get them back."
Reply:Denny,Looks great.  Your welds look good too, but I would have done it different though.  I guess it is the stick mentality coming out in me.  I would have welded the spear with a stick or with innershield/dual shield.  In several shops I have welded for and men I have worked for, mig is king due to simply economics.  And too, we have done the same. as you turn it up and use an S6 wire that will handle light rust/mill.  I am amazed at the power that little wire has in it when welded with knowledgable hands, yet for those who don't know how to use that little wire it is deadly.
Reply:Hey Scott,All the welded joints were ground clean & bare as I don't weld rust.....period. The "I" beam joints were pre-heated w/O-A to about 450* & I welded at 250A. The beam was beveled, got a root pass & (2) cover passes all the way around as specified by the customer.DennyComplete Welding/Machine/Fab. ShopMobile UnitFinally retired*Moderator*"A man's word is his honor...without honor there is nothing.""Words are like bullets.... Once they leave your muzzle, you cannot get them back."
Reply:Originally Posted by yorkiepapHey Scott,All the welded joints were ground clean & bare as I don't weld rust.....period. The "I" beam joints were pre-heated w/O-A to about 450* & I welded at 250A. The beam was beveled, got a root pass & (2) cover passes all the way around as specified by the customer.Denny
Reply:Hey Scott,I didn't take your response as any kind of offense. I know the closeup pic looks like no prep as the heat from the O/A & the smoke from the paint on the hot metal kinda put a cover on the bare metal. The customer asked how much time & when I gave him an estimate, he asked why so long. I simply told him that a good weld joint can only be achieved with bare, clean metal & I'm not gonna change my methods to shave time off his bill. I think he kinda got the message as it's first class work or take it elsewhere. I really try to emphasize to the youngsters/newbies to be sure to learn on nice clean metal to get optimum results & generally, most can see the difference.DennyComplete Welding/Machine/Fab. ShopMobile UnitFinally retired*Moderator*"A man's word is his honor...without honor there is nothing.""Words are like bullets.... Once they leave your muzzle, you cannot get them back."
Reply:My preference is to go to bare metal due for just being anal.  On welds that count, I bare metal due to rework being costly and I don't want a bad reputation of having rework.  BUT, in the high pressure realm of production, the best I was given time for is a 4/5 inch grinder with knot wheel and/or cup.  Most of all the rust is gone and the worst you will have is mill with that combo.  I hated welding under that kinda of pressure.  Some bean counter with a clipboard fretting over pennies at the expense of quality.