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Frank S:
OK I can take a hint  ::)
Not really doing much to the shop lately since I have been quite busy developing a prototype machine for production
 But have added a few things to the shop and getting some other work done that doesn't show much
One thing I did that at first was thinking it would be just temporary but seems to be so handy will probably keep it  although eventually may modify it and rig it so I can raise it out of the way.
 Also made a couple of racks for steel storage, Need more but those will be added as time goes along.
 The curtain was hung to create a welding booth. Every shop needs a welding booth doesn't it? Well mine happens to be 15 feet by 35 feet

It is populated by obviously a welder and a plasma and cutting torch, additionally I put my tilt top work table in there and built some weld fixtures on it for making the beams for the machine I am prototyping. Well not exactly proto typing as we already have one in existence which has been in operation for the past 5 years I am making it so it will be production manufacturable. More about it at a much later date
 
These are the beams I made They are made out of 3/8" ASTM 514 T1 110KSI steel

the Steel racks

Populating the shop with a drill press

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Bruce S:
Nice welds on the I-beam!

Frank S:

--- Quote from: Bruce S on April 30, 2021, 09:09:58 AM ---Nice welds on the I-beam!

--- End quote ---
Thanks Bruce S
 My table is a tilt top that I made about 30 years ago to serve as a fit up table by adding or removing fixtures as needed.
 The stiffening spine is an 8 inch wide flange beam.
 Since I needed something very straight and a means to clamp the pieces of the beams together using the spine of the table seemed the most logical thing to do by adding a pair of pipes to the ends then adding a pair of 1" all thread for the clamping screws I then welded 2 larger diameter pipes to the ends of another beam to become the top clamp. Then some pipes with tabs sticking out on them to position the web.
 All I had to do was to tilt the table to its side and drop in the 3 components of the beam to be welded clamped it down.
 Tacked everything together Slightly warmed the pieces then skip welded it together rotating the table form 45° on one side and then the other until all 4 sides had been skip welded then kept rotating until all 4 sides were welded out 100%.
Leaving it in the fixture until cooled. The pair of beams I made are straight and true and square to one another to within 0.030" in 8 feet the flanges are parallel to within 0.05° Short of milling a beam there is no way that I can see to get a fabricated member and truer.
 A few of the reasons why I made my own beams was #1 the size I required for my design does not exist unless 1 flange is milled on both sides #2 the strength I would have had to have used 8" tall wide flange to achieve the strength that I will have in my 5" beams and design parameters met with an 8" tall beam
#3 straightness steel mill run beams are never all that straight from the mill let alone after they have been chained down to a trailer for transport.
 

Bruce S:
Watching the trucks bring in I-beams for the new hospital across the street, I can surely say there's a bunch that went up that were nowhere near that straight ! Much less true .

Cheers
Bruce S

SparWeb:
Holy smoke, Frank.
If I'd been taking bets, I would have lost. 

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