Projects In Metal, LLC

July 11, 2011
10:13 PM

Tenn

Linden, TN USA

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I have found that you can get muffler pipe that slides inside of the next larger size at a reasonable price at you local muffler shop and they will even bend it for you. It's light weight and makes a good adjustable stand for any variety of things.

Add a heavy used truck brake drum or brake disc for a base and you have a stable portable stand.

These work great to mount a light on to light up your lathe or mill. Add a receptacle at the base and you have a handy light and plug wherever you're working.

Old brakes discs and drums are either cheap or free for getting them out of the way at the local mechanic shop.

Muffler pipe comes in a wide range of sizes so you can fit it to the need at hand.

It's fairly strong, you can weld hooks to it, put rollers on it, your imagination and stock of pipe is your only limit.

The pipe comes in regular, stainless and aluminized for rust resistance. In a shop setting it doesn't rust (much) as that is a byproduct of the heat and moisture of the exhaust system.

I even made a swinging arm to hang my bean pot over my B'Bque grill.

Drill a hole through the outside pipe, weld a nut on and weld a T on a bolt and you have an adjustable stand. Cool

What other ideas can we come up with ??

~Chris

The man who will not share his wisdom, however foolish it may seem, For the betterment of his peers and the improvement of his trade, Is not worth his weight in swarf ! Learn from others mistakes, you probably won't live long enough to make them all yourself. But I do think I'm making progress on a lot of them! ~Chris

July 12, 2011
9:57 AM

Jr.

West Branch, MI

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we have somthing like this at our shop except ours have vises mounted to them

"Once you get a reputation for being scatterbrained, people always think you never have a serious thought in your head, but that insn't always true. I ought to know." Tex – S.E. Hinton

July 13, 2011
7:34 AM

Ironman

Warburg, Alberta

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Here is something I made recently and have found very useful.
I took a 7000 lb trailer jack on sale for $49, and welded a base onto it to fit an old disk brake rotor.
I built a roller out of 3.5 inch heavy wall pipe and set it up for a
3/4 shaft, but my junkpile only yielded 1/2" flange bearings. So I cut
the shaft back to 1/2" on each end. The roller has a 15 inch adjustment
range and lets me use it with the drill press, and lower it for the 32"
welding table, and crank it up to 35" to support a sheet of steel that's
in the plasma cutter, or something on the workbench in the band saw at
39"

I'd post a picture but I've forgotten how to fight my way through the software jungle.

July 13, 2011
7:14 PM

Tenn

Linden, TN USA

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I like that idea Ironman Cool !!

Jr have you got a pic ??

~Chris

The man who will not share his wisdom, however foolish it may seem, For the betterment of his peers and the improvement of his trade, Is not worth his weight in swarf ! Learn from others mistakes, you probably won't live long enough to make them all yourself. But I do think I'm making progress on a lot of them! ~Chris

July 16, 2011
10:22 AM

Tyler

Seattle, WA

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Interesting Idea Tenn.

I'd like to see pictures as well!

@Ironman, there's a link in my signature to instructions (including video) on how to post pics. I know it's not as easy as it could be, but it's the best system we've got for now. Your patience and understanding is appreciated! Embarassed

NOTE: I work full time and I'm attending college full time as well. So if it takes me a few days to respond, please don't take it personally. If it's urgent please send me a Private Message.

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July 16, 2011
2:59 PM

Tenn

Linden, TN USA

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Tyler I still haven't got my camera to work yet. Think I fried my SD card and then have to figure out how to upload it to my computer before I can work on posting pics. May take me awhile as I seem to have a lot to learn ?? The equipment would work if the operator was intelligent enough to run it Embarassed !!

Actually I don't have anything built out of muffler pipe yet except my beanpot holder, so far I've used square tubing for all my projects and the muffler pipe was a later brainstorm that is still in my stock rack. I got the idea from my muffler man as he made adjustable supports out of it to hold mufflers level while he welded them up. Plagiarism can be a compliment to a good idea so long as it doesn't infringe on patents Wink .

~Chris

The man who will not share his wisdom, however foolish it may seem, For the betterment of his peers and the improvement of his trade, Is not worth his weight in swarf ! Learn from others mistakes, you probably won't live long enough to make them all yourself. But I do think I'm making progress on a lot of them! ~Chris

July 16, 2011
5:37 PM

GarethBell

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Seems like a great and simple solution to a few problems. Nice work.

Stand back.

July 18, 2011
3:51 PM

Jr.

West Branch, MI

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no i dont have a pic and i wont for a while. i dont get back into the shop untill september

"Once you get a reputation for being scatterbrained, people always think you never have a serious thought in your head, but that insn't always true. I ought to know." Tex – S.E. Hinton

July 22, 2011
2:47 PM

Tenn

Linden, TN USA

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Here's a pic of my muffler pipe bean pot holder and truck rim fire pit. An old grate off a retired gas grill just fits nicely across the rim so I can do my burgers and chicken on it too.

Hope this inspires somebody and I'm ready for it to cool off so I can stand to build a fire in it again. Cool

BTW I've got a disc blade in the bottom to keep the live coals where they need to stay and welded some rebar across the other holes in the rim for the same purpose. It's standing on 2" x 2" square tubing legs. If I had it to do over again I would make the legs a lot longer so I didn't have to bend over so far.

3 legs are more stable generally than 4, especially on uneven surfaces, but as it is this one has 4 each tilted away from the middle.

~Chris

The man who will not share his wisdom, however foolish it may seem, For the betterment of his peers and the improvement of his trade, Is not worth his weight in swarf ! Learn from others mistakes, you probably won't live long enough to make them all yourself. But I do think I'm making progress on a lot of them! ~Chris

July 22, 2011
4:38 PM

Tenn

Linden, TN USA

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Here I used a disc brake for the base of my shop light.

the base with pipe flange brazed on and the very handy receptacle attached.

A close up of the locking swivel joint in the middle. Use a "street elbow" on one side with the lock and a regular 90 on the other.

The light head and switch facing away of course Confused one day I'll larn how to take a proper pic, (maybe??)

Light is about 6 feet tall when opened up straight. the pipe is 1/2" galvanized regular plumbing stuff available at your local hardware store. The "lock" is a piece of 1/8th inch plate cut out ground to shape drilled the proper diameter for a 1/2" pipe thread and tapped all the way through so it is straight threads and not tapered threads with a 1/2" pipe tap.

I would want a heavier brake disc if I made it with 3/4" pipe, it's a little top heavy but not too bad with a little care about what you're doing. I really like it to light up my mill from whatever angle I need. The cord is run between the cooling fins of the disc so it doesn't get pinched on the floor. Then I bent up some 1/4" steel rod rounding their ends over on the grinder and fastened them to the bottom pipe to wrap my 20" cord on. Smile

~Chris

The man who will not share his wisdom, however foolish it may seem, For the betterment of his peers and the improvement of his trade, Is not worth his weight in swarf ! Learn from others mistakes, you probably won't live long enough to make them all yourself. But I do think I'm making progress on a lot of them! ~Chris