Bucket repair

I haven't posted in a while.... haven't been doing anything really worth posting. I have a few buckets at the shop that have showed up over the last couple of days so I figured I'd share some pics.

This one is a little guy.... as you can see the bottom is caved in so we'll be replacing the bottom and the wear bars.


First step is to remove the floor..... just cut it out in one piece.. this is after I removed all the hardened asphalt.:realmad:


Throw it up on the bench to clean up all the joint areas...


After cleaning it up I make the template and it off to cut the floor material...


Notice I started the cut just inside the edge of the plate, cutting across and then down.... leaving that little tab attached keeps the piece from peeling from the plate, which could alter the dimensions of the cut piece.


Here is the new floor piece with the template... the floor is marked out to be bump rolled. The lines on the plate and the template are used to reference where to bump the plate.


Here is the plate after the rolling is completed.... This is where (I feel) it is important to be able to use a plasma cutter or a torch without the aide of a fence or straight edge. The line running length wise to the left of the plate represents the iside of the bucket. I already trimmed the right side. As you can see it would be difficult to place some type of a guide considering the curve of the plate and the slight arc of the line itself...


Here is the new floor in place.... pretty nice fit.... I just have to dawg down the roll a little bit..



I'll continue with some weld pis in the next post...

Thanks for looking...

Start welding .......











I'll post more when I'm done the job...

ordered a couple of rolls of the hobart excel duelshild off my dealer yesterday, next decent job il give them a go and post the results up. how much Co2 you running in the mix chris?

Thanks for posting this Lorenzo, very interesting, could you tell us the thickness
of the steel used it looks about 1" also do you use a certain type of steel for this kind of work. That welding looks amazing, how far do you aim to penetrate into the steel, and finally what welder do you use and how much power do you need to get the job done. Sorry so many question but I find this type of heavy fabrication fascinating.

Cheers,

W.

Top bit of work Chris, and I like yer tip on starting the flame cut just in from the edge to stop the free end curling with the heat!
Been having a look at your posts on WW. Great to see the free welding day you set up. I would have been over myself only it's a bit of a way for me!!!! - Did many turn up?

With a small dent like that why did they send it in for fixing?

Justme

Originally Posted by Justme With a small dent like that why did they send it in for fixing? Justme

Ha! Can tell you're a farmer justme!

That's pragmatic thinking. The dent isn't going to affect the amount of stuff you can get in there by much so why repair it? Maybe the dent causes problems with dragging against the ground? Or perhaps the teeth needed doing anyway? Would be interesting to know.

Fantastic welding as always there. Do you ever do any really thin stuff Lorenzo? Maybe 1mm or less. Would be interesting to see that sort of thickness so I can see how far I could improve my own work as I never get to do digger buckets.

The bottom of the bucket is typically used for smoothing off the soil. It's like using the back of a spade. Buckets are not just for moving material but for shaping too, so the physical condition of the tool can be important. Not such a big deal for a farmer shifting manure around the farmyard!

Also, the dent will only get worse if the bucket is smacked into the ground/rocks etc. The ideal and strongest profile is convex. When the profile becomes concave... it's time to replace...

Also worth giving the rest of the machine a once over, as the bashed bucket indicates the operator should be wearing a butchers apron! (no offense to any butchers reading this!)

Our farmer went over the track (driveway) with his bucket this week. He's a pain - we spend ages filling in the potholes and getting the track smooth, then he goes and scrapes all the top off leaving ridges at the sides. Next time it rains we'll be having potholes again.