Welding Resources and Tips

Art Welding Project Inspiration Part Two

From the fanciful and fun to the practical and user-friendly, art welding projects provide an excellent change of pace to your welding projects and can also provide a great opportunity to learn a new welding skill. In addition, an art welding project gives you a chance to try out different materials that can fashion gifts, lawn art, or decorations in your home. Last time we wrote about art welding projects, we kept it pretty simple. This week we’re providing part two, and we’re going to step things up a little bit.

Metal Elephant

Source: Lincoln Electric

“Brian Walters made this elephant from an old drum, stove pipe, sheet metal, an old snow sled from the 1960's, and thick wall pipe. Parts from old lawn chairs form the tusks.”

This particular project was made with a stick welder, which worked well since many of the parts were dirty scrap metal that would have taken a lot of time to grind and wipe down for a MIG or TIG welder. The downside of stick welding a project like this is that you need to avoid pumping too much heat into it since the metal parts are thin and could burn through.

If you have some options between welding machines or settings on a machine like the Miller Multimatic 200, you can weigh whether you want more control over your heat or less prep time on your metal pieces. If you’re working with found materials, then a stick welder is the perfect tool for the job, unless the weld joints are fine and difficult to reach with a fat stick electrode.

Biplane Welding Project

Source: Lincoln Electric

(The Lincoln website has project blueprints and the step-by-step process mapped out.)

You can get into the nitty gritty of TIG welding if you try out this complex biplane project that will provide opportunities to weld in a variety of different positions, especially if you want to improve your TIG welding skills. You’ll need a TIG welder with a lot of capabilities in order to get this project done even though you won’t need a lot of power for the small pieces of thin metal that you’ll be using.

Materials for this project include:

• 12" x 16" stainless (preferred) or mild steel 12 gauge sheets (.100" thick)
• Approximately 20" of 3/32" diameter stainless steel filler metal
• 2" of 1/8" diameter stainless steel filler metal (wire)
• Hammer
• Plasma cutter or band saw
• 1/8" and 3/16" drill bits
• Two 1/4" x 20 x 1" carriage bolts
• 1/8" x 1" machine bolt with four matching nuts
• Center punch
• Channel lock
• Needlenose pliers
• Clamps
• Side-cutting pliers
• Large and small heat sinks (aluminum or copper blocks)
• Small, "stainless used only" stainless wire brush
• Tape measure

 

Sea Turtle Welding Project

Source: Lincoln Electric

If the biplane is too much of a stretch, you can always try out this sea turtle project that is made from 16-gauge metal. This is an ideal project for a MIG welder, but it will also call for some pretty intense metal shaping. The welder who put this project together also used an oxy-acetylene torch setup for certain parts of this project.

If you want something that will challenge you beyond the welding work for the project, this project will be an excellent choice. In addition, many welders have MIG welders, so this is also an ideal advanced project.

 

Want to get started on a welding project?

Find the supplies you need in the Baker’s Gas and Welding Buying Guide.

Art Welding Project Inspiration

Welding holds our world together. From bridges to pipelines to cars, we benefit from welding every day. However, welding can also make our world a far more beautiful place. Besides creating unique furniture and decorations for the home and garden, welding can also create extraordinary works of art.

Some of these projects are not for beginners, but you can usually simplify the projects in order to match your skill set. In addition, these projects give you a great excuse to experiment with cutting, bending, and tacking metal and to perfect your skills at a variety of welding applications. Even if your first attempt isn’t good enough to give as a gift, you’ll at least give yourself some excellent welding practice and an excuse to pick up some new tools. Here are some art welding projects to consider:

Shepherd’s Hook Art Welding Project

This welding project offers both simple and more complex aspects that you can integrate into your own project plans. At the very least you can cut two long pieces of metal and bend them into the hooks for each side before welding them together at the point where they join together. Most Shepherd’s hooks are one long continuous piece of metal that have a shorter piece of metal welded onto the top where the two pieces diverge in opposite directions as the metal curves in loops.

In this project from the Lincoln Electric website, “Carole [Del Vecchio] carefully researched grape leaf configurations and after selecting ones to model, she formed the leaves from mild steel sheet metal.

The grapes are made from large nuts with ¼-inch round bar spaces in the middle surrounded by TIG weld (made using a Lincoln Electric Precision TIG® 225). Carole overheated the grapes to get the purple coloring.”

Doing this project correctly will require bending a lot of metal and making some precise tack welds, so make sure you spend some time checking out the pictures from Carole’s project before you get to work on this welding project.

Trout Mobile Art Welding Project

If you’re looking for an easier welding project that will have less metal bending and cutting, this trout mobile project is a great place to start. According to Lincoln Electric: “[Charles Buster] welded washers together to form each fish; 5/8-inch washers on the large fish, 5/16-inch on the middle-sized fish, and 1/4-inch on the smallest fish. Charles used various colors of spray paint for the finishing touch.”

This project will test your tack welding precision and also requires a lot of painstaking detail work. However, you won’t need too many tools or very much welding experience. If you have an artistic eye, the spray painting aspect of this art welding project will be especially challenging and enjoyable.

Best yet, this welding project makes the ideal gift for fishermen, welders, or welders who fish!

 

Not the artistic welding type, but you still want some welding projects?

Check out the welding projects page at Baker’s Gas and Welding for a variety of projects for all skill levels.

Need welding supplies or a new welding machine for your welding projects?

Check out the welding Buying Guide at Baker’s Gas and Welding for descriptions of the best welders and welding supplies.

Welding Project: Cutting Table Dolly

Hauling a larger welding machine or plasma cutter around the shop can be tough if you don’t have a welding cart among your welding supplies. However, some of the larger welding and cutting tables can be quite tough to move around as well. If you want a more easily organized welding shop for your home welding projects, why not consider welding your own table dolly like this project from Lincoln Electric:

 
Welding Project Materials

In order to get started on this project, you’ll need some sturdy metal pieces in order to build your frame. The original project listed with Lincoln used metal tubing that is 2” x 2” x 11 gauge. The cart rolls on 5” casters which are a bit on the high side, so this welder added leg pockets along the sides of his table so that the cutting table wasn’t raised off the ground more than 2”. This kept the table close to its intended height.

The dolly’s functionality is further improved by adding a piece of 3/4” plywood as a shelf inside the frame. If you have a plasma cutter, you can store it down below and keep all of your cutting accessories down there as well.

In order to attach the plywood, pick up some screws or nuts and bolts that can be attached through the metal sides.

When it’s time to finish off the dolly, you can protect it from rust for the long term by picking up a durable paint that you can use on metal.

Welding Project Machines

In order to make this welding project happen, you’ll need a way to cut your materials with either a chop saw, torch, or plasma cutter. You’ll also need a grinder to smooth off your edges and to remove any contaminants from your metal before you get started.

This particular project was completed with a TIG welder, but a stick or MIG welder would get the job done just as well.

When you add the plywood a drill will come in handy to both drill holes in the metal and/or to fasten your screws to the plywood.

Find More Welding Projects

Check out the list of welding projects at Baker’s Gas and Welding for more project ideas.

Pick Up the Right Welder for You

Learn more about buying a welder in Baker’s Buying Guide for welders where we offer tips on the best features and list some of our best selling welders.

 

Welding Project: Weld Your Own Lamp

During the winter months, the best welding project is something you can do indoors and, best yet, use indoors as well. In fact, welding your own lamp is the perfect indoor welding project for the winter since it also provides light. If you’re looking for a more artistic project, as opposed to welding a work table or bench, this is a great option since you’ll have to bend the metal for the legs and the more ornate cross pieces for the lamp. Below are some welding project instructions and some tips for setting up your work space for a project like this.

The tools and materials listed at the original project page on Lincoln Electric Canada are as follows:

Welding Project Tools

• Welding Table
• Metal grinder, approximately 5"
• Reciprocating saw or chop saw
• Drill press
• Bench bender
• Round metal file
• Angle finder and protractor
• Speed square
• Level
• Ruler
• 2 squares - one large standard square and one small carpenter's square
• 2 C-clamps - for clamping project pieces to the welding table and drill press
• Pattern from Web site
• Marker, crayon or chalk
• MIG welder
• MIG wire
• Gas regulator and hose
• Shielding gas with a 75% argon, 25% carbon dioxide mixture

Welding Project Required Materials

• 2 pieces - 4' lengths of 3/8" steel rod
• 2 pieces - 1" by 1/8" flat stock steel
• 1 piece - 4' length of 1/2" steel rod

Make Sure You Have a Safe Welding Set Up

Starting with the basics, make sure you have a helmet that provides enough visibility as well as some shade options and arc sensors to keep yourself from getting flashed. An auto-darkening helmet is one of the most popular choices for welders these days since you can just line up your torch and start welding without having to flip a visor down. Other factors to consider in a helmet is its weight and whether it effectively locks in the upright position when you’re not welding. It can get quite annoying for a helmet to slowly slide down. Check out welding helmets by Miller, Lincoln, and SpeedGlas for some great options.

Welding gloves are another important safety consideration. This project was built with a MIG welder, so you’ll want gloves that offer enough protection from the heat and spatter without necessarily picking up heavy stick welding gloves. The best gloves will give you some flexibility without compromising safety. In addition, choose gloves that go well with your welding jacket or shirt in order to provide full protection. If you don’t have a heavy duty welding jacket, consider the longer gauntlet gloves for greater protection of your wrists.

Your welding clothing should be cotton or a non-flammable material such as a leather welding jacket or another flame-resistant material. There are lots of great options here depending on where you live. While leather is great for a cold climate, there are light weight jackets, aprons, sleeves, and bibs you can use in a warmer climate. It all depends on which provides the best safety and range of movement.

The best welding set up will provide a safe work surface where you can effectively clamp down your work and use a reliable ground clamp to prevent shocks. Your table should be level and secure and also as far away from water as possible. This particular project will call for bending metal, so some added stability on your table or work surface will be essential. You could consider adding pins to the legs of your table and drilling holes in your concrete floor for them to rest in. Don’t forget to also keep a fire extinguisher handy in your shop before you strike your first arc.

Welding Project Instructions

Download the project instructions at Lincoln Electric Canada and download the plans.

Learn more about home welding projects: What you need to weld at home.

Welding Project Plans: Baseball Backstop

The air may still have a chill and some may still have snow on the ground outside their homes, but that doesn’t mean you can’t start preparing for baseball season. And if there’s one thing that can bust a window or dent the siding, it’s a hardball. That’s where this welding project can come to the rescue.

Posted as an award-winning welding project at the Lincoln Electric Canada site, this pitching screen is a great welding project and a very practical tool for any aspiring baseball player. It’s large and sturdy enough to handle.

Welding Project Plans

The pitching screen plans available at Lincoln’s Canada site are quite detailed and helpful. In fact, you can just download it, print it out, and get to work in no time. However, if you’re going to tackle a project like this, you’re going to need the right welder for the job. Here are some welders that you could consider using in order to handle a project like this:

Thermal Arc Fabricator 181: This 3 in 1 welder is a great machine to use on a welding project because of the versatility it gives you. While you could just stick weld something like this baseball backstop, it’s nice to know that you can use whichever welding process feels most comfortable and appropriate for the task at hand. You may end up just MIG welding the whole thing, and in that case, you could look into using one of Baker’s other best selling welding machines.

Millermatic 211 All in One MIG Welder: This best selling welder is easy to set up and provides smooth starts when you set up to weld. You won’t have any limitations to what you can weld with the 211, making it a versatile machine for projects of all sizes because it packs in so much power.

With the right welding project plans and the right welding machine, you’ll be able to strike your arc and get to welding in no time.

Learn more about welding projects at Baker’s Gas and Welding.