TonyWilk
2-Pint Welder
- Messages
- 114
Hi,
This project was the original reason for learning to weld...
(quick explanation: bought new house, have land, also fly gyroplane, land makes runway, runway needs mowing etc., buy tractor, guy next door donates forks - just need tractor mounting. Obvious next step is: buy a welder, learn to weld and get some steel)
... a simple mounting for some front forks on my tractor.
This just fits in place of the original 4-in-1 bucket, but isn't 'parallel lift' - still, it'll be real handy.
I realised this would have to be pretty 'meaty' to lift in the region of 1/2 a ton so the main bars for sliding on the forks are 10x50mm bar reenforced with 40x40x5mm angle. For the mounting, I've just copied the mounts on the existing 4-in-1 bucket: 5mm side plates to pick up the main arms and tilt hydraulic couplings.
1. I got the 5mm plate cut rectangular then plasma cut the profile and pin holes. I wish all the holes had turned out as good as the top left, but even raggy holes weren't a problem since I was welding in bits of tube to take the pins.
2. Here you can see the start of the build, the forks are clamped to the bench and pointing straight down.
3. After welding on the 4 mounting plates, I tried fitting it to the tractor. Retracted the rams, fitted the pins, nudged the hydraulics back and forth...
Oh, B#@@*%$, S**%, T£%*.... etc, etc.
The ram was over-centre, so I just mashed the coupling rod !!!
4. After calming down, I used the TIG torch on 100A or so and warmed up the coupling rod to a nice red heat and bent it back into shape.
5. After welding on a couple of 'stops' to prevent the over-centering (all TIG welding so far), I stick-welded the angle bracing pieces in (mainly 'cos welding 5mm angle to 10x50mm bar is a bit beyond the 160A my machine can manage on TIG).
...continued in next post...
This project was the original reason for learning to weld...
(quick explanation: bought new house, have land, also fly gyroplane, land makes runway, runway needs mowing etc., buy tractor, guy next door donates forks - just need tractor mounting. Obvious next step is: buy a welder, learn to weld and get some steel)
... a simple mounting for some front forks on my tractor.
This just fits in place of the original 4-in-1 bucket, but isn't 'parallel lift' - still, it'll be real handy.
I realised this would have to be pretty 'meaty' to lift in the region of 1/2 a ton so the main bars for sliding on the forks are 10x50mm bar reenforced with 40x40x5mm angle. For the mounting, I've just copied the mounts on the existing 4-in-1 bucket: 5mm side plates to pick up the main arms and tilt hydraulic couplings.
1. I got the 5mm plate cut rectangular then plasma cut the profile and pin holes. I wish all the holes had turned out as good as the top left, but even raggy holes weren't a problem since I was welding in bits of tube to take the pins.
2. Here you can see the start of the build, the forks are clamped to the bench and pointing straight down.
3. After welding on the 4 mounting plates, I tried fitting it to the tractor. Retracted the rams, fitted the pins, nudged the hydraulics back and forth...
Oh, B#@@*%$, S**%, T£%*.... etc, etc.
The ram was over-centre, so I just mashed the coupling rod !!!
4. After calming down, I used the TIG torch on 100A or so and warmed up the coupling rod to a nice red heat and bent it back into shape.
5. After welding on a couple of 'stops' to prevent the over-centering (all TIG welding so far), I stick-welded the angle bracing pieces in (mainly 'cos welding 5mm angle to 10x50mm bar is a bit beyond the 160A my machine can manage on TIG).
...continued in next post...