Front Bumper Project

[cbmontgo]

Eeeeexcellent, Smithers.

You did a great job!

 

[LT]

Looks good, I was wondering how those pieces bent were going to turn out. I like how they angle forward

 

[Kon]

awesome bumper man!!!
big props!

that is unbelievably similiar to the bumper i have plans for, cept with my PTO instead of a Warn.. great minds..

iv now had to change my design in a few places! esp the hoops, thats brilliant btw!

any more pics? i can host if ya need...


un

 

[2mbb]

Looks good, I was wondering how those pieces bent were going to turn out. I like how they angle forward

Thanks. I think the tubes add a nice touch. The forward angle on the center tube was planned. I had to angle the side tubes forward by necessity--to clear the headlight washers. I thought I had the bumper angles all figured out, but I missed by a little bit. In the end, I think it looks better with the sides forward.

Thanks for your part in all this...

 

[2mbb]

any more pics? i can host if ya need...


un

All the pics I have taken so far are posted on the yahoo photos link in the fisrt post. If it stays dry, I should be painting it this weekend. I'll post more pictures when it's finished.

 

[LT]

Thanks. I think the tubes add a nice touch. The forward angle on the center tube was planned. I had to angle the side tubes forward by necessity--to clear the headlight washers. I thought I had the bumper angles all figured out, but I missed by a little bit. In the end, I think it looks better with the sides forward.

Thanks for your part in all this...

Psst don't tell Mark this... I bent them ;p

Well actually he helped me figure out the measurements, fun little custom project to do though.

 

[sixty]

Zactly what I did with my 40 design because of the same reason, wimpy welder. I suppose that once I get the 251 amp I could add 1" pieces, like CCOT sells, anywhere on the bumper without any worry of the weld failing.

It is not a problem welding 1" steel to 1/4" base metal as long as your welder is capable of welding 1/4" steel. Even if you add a 1" bead to connect 1" steel to 1/4" steel you are still no stronger (maybe marginally because the circumfrence of the shear plane is larger). also remember the weld bead is stronger steel than the mild base steel. All of this aside I think the thru the bumper directly to frame is a stronger design, just much more work.


2mbb,

One hell of a job on the bumper though, that thing looks very nice & I like how you seperated the winch mount from the bumper. how much time & $ do you think you have into it. what did you use for all of those long cuts in the steel plate?

NICE WORK!

 

[2mbb]

2mbb,

One hell of a job on the bumper though, that thing looks very nice & I like how you seperated the winch mount from the bumper. how much time & $ do you think you have into it. what did you use for all of those long cuts in the steel plate?

NICE WORK!

Thanks for the praise. Time wise I haven't really been keeping track. If I charge myself what I get paid at work, then I would be better off buying an ARB. But my work doesn't pay me to sit around watching TV on the weekends, so I'd rather be having fun in the garage. I've got about two weekends into the fabrication so far, and I should be pretty much finished this weekend, assuming the weather holds for painting.

The money is also difficult. I know how much I paid, but I bought all the steel over the internet and had it shipped to me, so I paid through the nose on shipping, and probably paid a premium for the raw stock. I looked at some local places, but they wanted me to buy a whole stick, and I didn't need 20ft of 2x6x1/4 in tube, etc. So I ended up paying about $250 for the steel and bent tubing, not including the shipping, but I'm sure thats a higher price than what could be gotten locally.

I have an abrasive chop saw and used that for cutting some of the smaller sized strips, but I did most of the cutting with my 4 1/2" angle grinder with a 1/16" abrasive cut off blade--I went through quite a few of those...The cuts are a little wobbly, but I couldn't justify a plasma cutter and don't have access to fancy water jet cutters, etc. In the end, I was pretty amazed at what can be done with a little grinder--it would cut through stuff that my chop saw wouldn't (my chop saw wouldn't cut the long chamfer on the 1" stock--it couldn keep the rpm's up, but the angle grinder went through pretty easily.

 

[dogboy2]

Outstanding! Wow that tube was a full stick not long ago, you move fast! Great looking bumper, I like how you tipped the tubing forward a bit, looks great. Well done!

110v welders: An 110v welder can do great stuff in the hands of someone who knows how to use it. I think 110v units get a bad rap since usually they are in the possession of someone who is learning. (My first welder was one) Good 110v welds are prep, chamfering out the area to be welded, flux core w/ double shielding gas are all things that lead to strong welds with low voltage. The shop next door to me is an independent SCCA race car guy. He built his entire tube framed car with an 110v welder……9 yrs ago. 7 hard seasons on it not one weld failure! (Crashes and all)

Again great looking bumper!

Mark

Hey Mark,
Any chance for a lesson or two for this local boy?
on me...
-dogboy- '87 FJ60

 

[Mace]

It is not a problem welding 1" steel to 1/4" base metal as long as your welder is capable of welding 1/4" steel. Even if you add a 1" bead to connect 1" steel to 1/4" steel you are still no stronger (maybe marginally because the circumfrence of the shear plane is larger). also remember the weld bead is stronger steel than the mild base steel. All of this aside I think the thru the bumper directly to frame is a stronger design, just much more work.


2mbb,

One hell of a job on the bumper though, that thing looks very nice & I like how you seperated the winch mount from the bumper. how much time & $ do you think you have into it. what did you use for all of those long cuts in the steel plate?

NICE WORK!

I don't really agree with this Corey,
For a good weld penetration is necessary, and if you cannot penetrate the Thick stuff the weld will never be strong enough.

No penetration makes for lots of trail fixes

 

[sixty]

I don't really agree with this Corey,
For a good weld penetration is necessary, and if you cannot penetrate the Thick stuff the weld will never be strong enough.

No penetration makes for lots of trail fixes

It all depends on the size of bead your welder is capable of running. When calculating weld/ joint strength its all based on the strength of the steel times the area of the section of the weld bead. Even if you have a very high amperage welder that is capable of running a 1" bead you would still need to bevel the joint in a butt weld to get full penetration.

I just had to study all this in structural books for the structural portion of my test.

the only issue with welding on thick steel is that the thicker steel will draw off more heat, but this is usually negligible providing the temperature of the base metal is not very cold.

the standard allowable strength of a weld using 70ksi steel is right aroud 40ksi that means a 1/4" weld that is fillet welding a 1"x 4" piece of steel to flat 1/4" plate you would have an allowable weld shear strength of 100,000 lbs (2.5"X40ksi) (breaking strength is 175,000lbs). This is not the joint strength though because the 1/4" steel plate is not valued as highly somewhere around 16ksi (I don't have my books here). So the actual joint strength is around 40,000 lbs. So in this situation you could actually get away with a smaller bead. Also remember that with a fillet weld, unless you bevel that the penetration needed into the actual joint is theorectically nothing, since the weld is taking all the force & the weld is attached to the face of the 2 base metals.

If you weld with a 110 you have to design your joints to have your required strength base on the maximum size bead your welder can make. Also remember that if you grind the weld smooth you could potentially weaken the weld strength if you cut past the reinforcement area.

There is alot more issues that can come in to play so if I have a critical joint I will design it to up to 2x the strength to allow for poor weld quality, penetration etc..

Stuctural engineers feel free to correct me

 

[Mace]

It all depends on the size of bead your welder is capable of running. When calculating weld/ joint strength its all based on the strength of the steel times the area of the section of the weld bead.

the only issue with welding on thick steel is that the thicker steel will draw off more heat, but this is usually negligible providing the temperature of the base metal is not very cold.

Also remember that with a fillet weld, unless you bevel that the penetration needed into the actual joint is theorectically nothing, since the weld is taking all the force & the weld is attached to the face of the 2 base metals.

Well, consider this.
when Alper welded the frame side link mounts to my rig he used a Miller Matic 185 (which has been rebadged as a 210 now) . The bead was about 1/2" thick and the material that he was welding to was 1/4 and 3/8" thick.

The weld looked Beautiful.. And failed miserably due to lack of penetration into the 1/4" material.

With the thermal properties of steel I would think that the physical removal of heat from a weld would be a principal issue. Hence the larger machines for thicker metal.

As for penetration being basically nothing.. Mine was nothing and it showed.

I just am having a hard time wrapping my mind around this.

Which is funny cause I am a BIG proponent of 110V welders.. But not with really thick stuff.

 

[sixty]

Well, consider this.
when Alper welded the frame side link mounts to my rig he used a Miller Matic 185 (which has been rebadged as a 210 now) . The bead was about 1/2" thick and the material that he was welding to was 1/4 and 3/8" thick.

The weld looked Beautiful.. And failed miserably due to lack of penetration into the 1/4" material.

With the thermal properties of steel I would think that the physical removal of heat from a weld would be a principal issue. Hence the larger machines for thicker metal.

As for penetration being basically nothing.. Mine was nothing and it showed.

I just am having a hard time wrapping my mind around this.

Which is funny cause I am a BIG proponent of 110V welders.. But not with really thick stuff.

Do you have any pics of the failure? a machine that can produce enought heat to lay a 1/2" bead should have absolutely NO problem penetrating 1/4" frame steel (you should have seen the tall tale penetration marks on the back side of the weld)sounds like he had way too much wire speed and not enough amperage, but that does not really make sense. Did the weld pull right off of the frame metal cleanly? it should have been clear when he was running the bead that he was not getting penetration. I would think that with enough amperage to lay a 1/2" bead he should have had a real problem burning thru the frame (I have a problem burning thru frames with my stick welder set on 110 using 1/8" 6011 rod). Wierd....


Maybe someone can weigh in on this since in all of my reading & expierience I've never really noticed or read of heat removal being a big problem in steel (Al is a different story). Plus just the difference in bead strength o/ base metal strength should more than make up for the slightly cooler (smaller) bead. I think watching & listening to your bead you should easily be able to tell if you are not penetrating & getting a hot enough bead.

 

[Mace]

A pic was taken but it is so fuzzy that there is no reason to post it.

the 1/4" thick stuff was just reciever hitch tubing. It pulled away fairly cleanly. Meaning that the bead layed up against the steel and that is all it did. There was a couple of small spots where he actually got penetration..


And the welds sounded good. At least to my ears

 

[sixty]

so the weld pulled away from the 1/4" not the 3/8"? sounds like bad technique to me

 

[Mace]

so the weld pulled away from the 1/4" not the 3/8"? sounds like bad technique to me

Or letting the guy whom you stole his fiancee away from weld on your rig




The weld did look nice tho

 

[dukester]

I too am wondering about the black plastic guards pictured on the front behind the bumper. I think they could be factory mudflaps that have been trimmed and modified. Possibly the rear flaps? What ever they are I kinda like them.

Oh yeah, nice job on the bumper - can't wait to see it painted.

 

[2mbb]

Here are some pic's of the final result, painted and installed. I had a bear of a time with the paint. I decided to try a power painter, and that was not the way to go. It puts the paint on way too heavy and I had to do a lot of sanding to get the big runs out. I finished it off with a rattle can: semi-gloss black rust-oleum. I'm not sure what to do about a front license plate. I'll leave it off for now and see if anyone notices.

 

[chicago]

HELL YEAH...
Im just checking this thing out for the first time, and it is NICE bro...If you hadnt said that it was "home made" id have thought you had paid BICK BUCKS for it cuz its so pretty looking.

NICE JOB!!!

Chicago

 

[SleekFJ62]

VERY NICE BUMPER! Too bad somthing like that is not commercially available. I think the size of the bumper would appeal to many.
Great Work! If you ever consider setting-up shop to make these for fellow muds, let me know - I'd be interested.