My Custom Winch Plate (1 Viewer)

[tpham32]

Wrapping up this semester at school, I decided to take advantage of all my resources to fabricate a winch plate for my Harbor Freight 12K that I recently acquired. I used Solidworks to design it, and our torchmate table to cut out the pieces. I TIGed everything together last night and started throwing some layers of paint on them. Everything is made out of .25" steel.

 

[tpham32]

Here are some more pictures of it. I am fairly new to TIG welding and some of these beads turned out better than expected.

I am gathering all the hardware and will post updates later.

 

[tpham32]

The two slots in the base plate were cut-outs for my rock lights previously installed. The bar with 10 holes sits right in front of the steering cooler. Its there to add rigidity to the plate while still allowing airflow to the cooler.

 

[Hornd]

Nice Work!
You should have made about a dozen.
You a ME?
Love some FEA, Learned in school haven't used since. That's real engineering.

 

[tpham32]

Nice Work!
You should have made about a dozen.
You a ME?
Love some FEA, Learned in school haven't used since. That's real engineering.

Thanks! Aha I wish I the time to. Indeed, I graduate next Spring. The chassis in the background is for my SAE BAJA car we are building for my Senior Design project.

 

[NLXTACY]

Agreed, should have made a handful at least. Was it designed to fit with any bumper it particular or stock setup?

 

[tpham32]

Agreed, should have made a handful at least. Was it designed to fit with any bumper it particular or stock setup?

It is made to fit underneath the frame rails under the factory "trim" bumper. This is my temporary plan until I can afford a full bumper, or if I feel creative enough, build one off of the plate. It can also fit on top with a litte trimming.

 

[NLXTACY]

That's exactly what I figured. It wouldn't take make to fit it to an ARB. Doing so would mount the feet parallel to the ground vs perpendicular to the ground the way the ARB is setup now. At least for those using the Badlands. I'm sure others are the same. Great welds btw!

 

[tpham32]

That's exactly what I figured. It wouldn't take make to fit it to an ARB. Doing so would mount the feet parallel to the ground vs perdebdiculat to the ground the way the ARB is setup now. At least for those using the Badlands. I'm sure others are the same. Great welds btw!

Thanks! Oh I had no idea the feet were perpendicular to the ground on the ARBs.

 

[tpham32]

Finally got a chance to bolt it in the other day. Not too bad looking! I will get more close ups soon.

 

[Whileemptyheadsdream]

Very good work..! I love to see young men taking a concept and building everything to completion. I do not see that often today. I am Impressed with the quality workmanship, keep It up. Good Luck..! !

 

[e9999]

nicely done.
Remote control?

 

[tpham32]

nicely done.
Remote control?

Thank you. I've been exploring a few options. I've heard good things about the badlands remote control and with the harbor freight coupon, it's certainly not a bad price. If I were to use the wired controller (there's plenty of room underneath to access the socket and lever), I thought about installing a socket extension to the outside of the bumper but they are kinda pricey.

Very good work..! I love to see young men taking a concept and building everything to completion. I do not see that often today. I am Impressed with the quality workmanship, keep It up. Good Luck..! !

Thanks for the kind words! I really have to give credit to this forum as it fuels my inspiration to modify my 80.

 

[Pin_Head]

On the outside corner welds, the bead profile should be convex and not concave. In other words, they need about 3x the amount of filler. Use a larger filler rod and dip more often or do another pass.

 

[tpham32]

On the outside corner welds, the bead profile should be convex and not concave. In other words, they need about 3x the amount of filler. Use a larger filler rod and dip more often or do another pass.

Thanks, I will keep that in mind for the next one.

I was able to finally install it the other day and snapped some pictures. Can't wait to use it!

 

[tpham32]

 

[tpham32]

 

[Rifleman]

TPHAM 32, i would really love to have a jig/fab table in my shop like what your welding your project on. Since i see you live in NC, do you happen to work for one of the Nascar teams building tube chassis?

 

[tpham32]

TPHAM 32, i would really love to have a jig/fab table in my shop like what your welding your project on. Since i see you live in NC, do you happen to work for one of the Nascar teams building tube chassis?

The table is straight awesome for fabricating. Unfortunately, I do not. I have only worked tearing down Nascar engines. I would like to though.

 

[MinorESalas]

Very good Design and wonderfull Job. Congrats!