Here are a few good projects that you can make at Your DIY Spot in 3 hours or less. Let me know which of these you’d like to start with and you can get going straight away.

If you like these ideas, and come up with some variations of your own, give me a call and I can talk with you about how you can do the modifications.

Spark Plug Holder

A spark plug holder can be quite helpful when changing engine spark plugs. It keeps the plugs in one place so you won’t lose them in your workshop. Race teams use holders when they don’t have time to deal with the plug packaging – the holder makes a fast changeover possible.

Adjustable Stand

When you need an extra hand to manage large workpieces, this simple adjustable stand is extremely helpful. It acts similar to a sawhorse for supporting materials.

Workshop Stool

A shop stool is a comfortable addition to your garage or work area. Durable construction with steel legs and footrest bar. Generous 13 x 13 inch seat. The overall height of approximately 23 inches suits most people, but if you want to change it to be lower or higher, we can work that into the plans.

Serviette Holder

Aluminium Serviette Holder

This is a perfect starter project for when you move on to welding aluminium.

Camp oven lid lifter

This is a Camp Oven (Dutch Oven) Handling Tool. To maintain an even oven temperature and prevent “hot spots”, you need a tool to lift and rotate the oven and lid periodically during cooking. This tool makes that easy. If you need to check on your food or rotate the lid, you just place the tool over the lid, squeeze the tool handles together, and lift. When you need to rotate the entire oven or pick up and move the entire Dutch oven, you just hook the tool on the oven handle and pick it up and move with ease.

Materials used: Bolt, nuts, 1/4″ steel rod, and weld rod.
Steps to build: Take measurements of your camp oven and plan the idea; cut the steel rod pieces and heat and bend applicable pieces of steel rod to desired angles; fit and tack weld the nuts, bolt, and steel rod pieces together; check to make sure the tool works properly, then weld to complete.

Trailer Trolley

This one would best be tackled after you have mastered welding and metal work basics. It will take longer too, about 4 or 5 hours and will require additional material than what we usually carry in the workshop. The trailer trolley will allow you to move your boat, trailer or caravan quickly and easily. It’s a useful tool for positioning and manoeuvring a trailer into tight spots. A long handle reduces the strain on your back. We recommend using larger pneumatic tyres than the ones pictured here.

The information provided here has been gathered from a wide variety of sources and is not subject to any intellectual property rights law. It is provided for the purpose of general knowledge and as an insight into the ability to fabricate using a metal fabrication processes. The indication of times to manufacture the projects are based on an estimate for the average person to complete and should not be relied on when you decide to make the item. Talk to us first and we can go through the details with you.

Metal is a chemical element that is a good conductor of heat and electricity. Metals have varying degrees of hardness, density, malleability and ductility. Malleability means its ability to be rolled out and hammered. Ductility has to do with being drawn out, as into wire. Metal has a definite melting point and will fuse with other metals to form alloys. Unlike pure metals, most alloys do not have a single melting point. Instead, they have a melting range in which the material is a mixture of solid and liquid phases.

Carbon and low-alloy steels are by far the most widely used materials in welded construction. Carbon content largely determines the weldability of plain carbon steels.  There are many grades of steel available, and their weldability varies.

Aluminium and its alloys are also generally weldable. Sometimes the oxide film on aluminium tends to prevent good metal flow. There are welding techniques to get around this, such as fusion welding which is more effective with alternating current when using the gas-tungsten arc process to enable the oxide to be removed by the arc action.

Copper and its alloys are weldable, but the high thermal conductivity of copper makes welding difficult.

Other metals such as zirconium, niobium, molybdenum, tantalum, and tungsten are usually welded by the gas-tungsten arc process. Nickel is the most compatible material for joining, is weldable to itself, and is extensively used in dissimilar metal welding of steels, stainlesses, and copper alloys.

Alloys

Many metals, when they are in the pure state, have properties that are undesirable. This is why most of the metals commonly used today are alloys. Pure iron is too soft to be of much value, so it is used most frequently as steel, which is an alloy.

An alloy is a metal consisting of a mixture of two or more materials. One of these materials must be a metal. Alloys usually have different properties from those of the component elements. Alloying one metal with another metal or non metal often enhances its properties.

Iron

For example steel is a metal alloy whose major component is iron, with carbon content between 0.02% and 2.14%. Steel is stronger than iron, which is its primary element.

Copper

Copper is a reddish metal that is very ductile, thermally and electrically conductive, and corrosive resistant. Copper is often used to make electrical wire. Copper-lead alloy is an alloy containing copper and lead, which has thepoorest weldability because the toxic lead often contaminates the weld.

Brass

Brass is an alloy made from copper and zinc, and has poor weldability tends to give off offensive fumes.

Bronze

Bronze, used for bearings, statues, ornaments and church bells, is an alloy of copper and tin. Tin adds strength and hardness to copper. It is the most weldable of the copper alloys.

Gold

14 karat gold is an alloy of gold with other elements. Silver used in jewellery and the aluminium used as a structural building material are also alloys.

Cast Nickel Alloy

Cast nickel alloy is an alloy containing nickel that has been poured as a liquid into a mould and cooled into a solid shape. Cast nickel alloys are often difficult to weld because of their high silicon content.

Zinc

Zinc is a bluish white metal that is corrosive resistant and has a relatively low melting point. Zinc is often used as a coating on steel.

Filler metal is a type of metal added to the join in welding. Filler metal adds to the strength and mass of the welded joint.

With the exception of mercury, all metals are solids at ordinary temperatures.

All the information in this entry has been gathered from a wide veriaty of sources and is provided for the intention to inform and illustrate a general knowledge and should not be relied on as a comprehensive source of information. Your DIY Spot provides no warrenty and accepts on claims against any use of this information.

Friday night. 23 October 2009

What an absolute thrill is was for me to have our demonstration night. Although we only had low numbers this allowed for a really intensive explanation of the different types of welding one of the attendees had his Arc welder at home that just wouldn’t do what he wanted to do so after only a short time I was able to point him in the direction of the amp range and some of the type of sticks that would get him welding well, (maybe without sticking to the  job so much). then he had a go with our welders and what a difference he is going home with metal he bought from us and new rods in hand to fix that fence. I know he will be back again because MiG welding is in his sights.