Welding 101 = Fun Brutus Build

There are many things that I've always wanted to try or at least get a sense of how they work. One of them has always been to weld something..anything.

Mind you I have know knowledge on how to weld as Ive never ever done this before. However, I have completed many projects that some folks would find difficult.
With this being said. I set out wanting to build a single tier brew stand for a AG set-up.

Looking at a lot of great stands on this site has inspired myself to take the plunge into building one. I did a Little research into the welding aspect by watching youtube.. (LOL) and reading a lot about the various forms of welding and the tools of the trade.
I started out thinking that ARC welding was for me. Yes, I know..some folks say ARC welding is the hardest to start out with. But I'm stubborn and wanted to try it. I bought a Clarke 110v ARC welder off of eBay for $65.00. It is new...Well needless to say that didn't last very long before I realized ARC welding wasn't going to cut it for my needs. Some people would have know problem with it I'm sure. But for me..it didn't workout.

My next stop was to NorthenTool. There I bought a Flux Core welder on sale. This welder doesn't have the shielding gas setup..you can just use the wire, not the gas. Which is fine for my build.
Boy, I love this thing a lot..works great!

So I started out buy buying the 1.5 X 1.5 16ga sq. tubing from a guy off of ebay. He didn't have my size in the length I needed so I emailed him. Which he said he could cut to 60" lengths.. I ordered 10, 60" pieces. Total cost to include shipping $94.00
The next thing I needed to do was sketch out some type of stand on paper. I looked around and got a lot of dimensions and then found the one I liked and drew it out.

Now the cutting of the tubing. I have a 10" table saw I used to cut the tubes. I removed the wood cutting wheel and replaced it with a 10" metal cutting one. I'm not sure if your suppose to do this or not, but in any case It worked out in cutting the tube.
Now the fun part...................................

Having to make everything square and line everything up is a PITA... But once its lined up and welded together its most rewarding knowing that you just have completed your first weld.

So right now I'm still in the process of welding it..Most of the frame is welded with only a few more pieces left to do. Also most of the welds have been ground down to clean them up. These photos are current.

So with all this being said...I'm really enjoying building the stand. And for those whom don't think they can weld or even build one..your wrong. Its fun and easy once you put your mind up to the task.

shoot any one can weld, it is fun and easy just watch for the half moon, no half moon no good weld but the trick is no warp-age. anyway i like what i see, and by the way your mash tun will melt if you use it for direct fire on your burner, haha just kidding!

whalenutz said:

shoot any one can weld, it is fun and easy just watch for the half moon, no half moon no good weld but the trick is no warp-age. anyway i like what i see, and by the way your mash tun will melt if you use it for direct fire on your burner, ha ha just kidding!

Click to expand...

HAHA..I see what you mean about the cooler sitting on an old Turkey fryer. Thats just an extra 5 gal. I bought and have it sitting on there. I use a 10 gal cooler for the Mash tun, which isn't in the photo.
LOL..you pointed this out and I had to laugh.
Yeah, the half moon...ARC wasn't my forte.

Looks great! I'm in the same boat as you, in that I've always wanted to learn to weld but never had a real reason to learn. Now I'm also about to build a single tier brewstand, so time to pop out and buy a welder methinks!

Looks good. You have learned a skill that you will use more often than you think. It's way better to make your own than buy someone's idea of what you want. And usually cheaper too. Unless you count the tool collection that will never be complete.

Arc Welding may be a bit more effort to learn than Wire Feed but keep after it and it will come to you. It has it's place. You can probably weld thicker metal with ARC than the Wire Feed you have.

Good for you for mastering the dark art of fusing metal with electricity and heat without injury to yourself or distruction of property.

I am real close to starting my own e-brutus build. I took an evening welding class at the community college last spring and learned stick and MIG. I had one day of TIG when my wife had an unscheduled dismount off a horse and shattered her femur. Now she's sporting some pretty impressive titanium hardware. I had to quit the class to take care of her. Once other things settle down in my life with work and such I'm going back this spring to pick up where I left off.

I did buy a Lincoln 180c MIG in the interim that I'm just itching to use.

I'm glad to see someone in the same boat as me! I also have a flux core welder. However, I haven't done anything more than taking it out of the box, and lately I've been obsessing about using it soon to do my brutus brewstand. Your post was encouraging for me to trust my welder and to learn how to weld. I look forward to completing my first weld, as well. I will post the pics on here when I do. If you would please post closeup pics of welds.

Thanks for starting a good thread!

onelegout said:

Looks great! I'm in the same boat as you, in that I've always wanted to learn to weld but never had a real reason to learn. Now I'm also about to build a single tier brewstand, so time to pop out and buy a welder methinks!

Click to expand...

Just make sure you buy the one you want from the get go. I'm on a limited budget and should of bought the Flux core from the start. But oh well..like I said. I wanted to try my hand at ARC welding and never have to wonder If I made the right choice at it or not.

how much was the welder on sale? I'd love a welder. I'm assuming 240V?

Thanks guys for your comments.
RonRock, you are right about finding other things to weld. My lawn mower needs some welding to be done.

Blane, sorry to hear about your wife. Hope she is feeling better? Also that Lincoln welder is a nice choice.

Durden, Here are some closeup photos for you friend. Its not that hard at all. Just make some half moon circles or zig zags...which produce a better weld then just running the bead straight.

IrregularPulse said:

how much was the welder on sale? I'd love a welder. I'm assuming 240V?

Click to expand...

Heres the Link:
http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_200403263_200403263

WOW, Its even lower then what I paid for it. I went to the store to pick it up and it was $199.99. I asked the manger if the store does price matching from the website. He said "yes". It was on sale for $169.99 which I bought it for. I just now checked again and its even lower. $149...dang, just my luck.

A few updated photos as of 2/24/2010

I see your keggle cutouts in the background. Lets get a shot of those keggles on the stand!

mrwolf4 said:

what rod were you using 6010? 6013? it looks like some arc blow. is the unit only ac? if not, try dc reverse (electrode pos) and 6011 3/32 90-150 amps. watch your arc length, if excessive, spatter will increase and deposition will not be optimal.

Click to expand...

Im not using ARC, Its flux core .030 wire.
I started off trying to use ARC 6011 3/32 rods. I got tired using it...So I switched to the Flux Core. The photos of the close up's are the flux core ones.

Scut_Monkey said:

I see your keggle cutouts in the background. Lets get a shot of those keggles on the stand!

Click to expand...

Here you go. I'm using the cooler for the Mash tun. But the keg in the middle isn't drilled out. I'm thinking about using this keg for the Mash tun once I get the fittings for it. Don't know yet.
Also, I would like to buy some Camlocks....

As a side note, The Brew stand is going to have 4" casters on it. So I can wheel it around my basement without a problem. Even wheel it to the outdoors.

Just a update. Several items arrived the last few days. The 4" casters and the bottom diamond plate. Which I cut some notches into it to fit it into place. I have not mounted it yet..just wanted to see if it fit okay.
Also the end caps for the square tubing.

I still need to grind some welds and then strip the crap off the tubing. I also might add some extra tubing to hold the water filter in place. Just to keep it away from the heat.

Looking Good!

Update: 3/5/2010

Its been several days since Ive had time to do any work toward the stand. But the last two days the wife has been kind enough to allow me some time to work on it. She watched our two small sons while I got to play in the basement.

Several mods to the stand. I added some more square tubing to the top. It help keep the keggles from falling into the square. Not that the square was too big or anything. But I needed to center the kegs with about a inch or so on all sides or one of the sides of the keg would fall a little into the square. This added tubing solved that small problem. Which really wasn't an issue or problem in the first place, Just piece of mine.

I also added and other piece to one of the sides. This is going to support my water filter. Remember the stand will have casters. This gives it another 5" of clearance from the ground.

Also got to grind down the welds and strip off some of the coating before the painting took place.

Still need to find a way to mount my two banjo burners. Ive been thinking on several different methods. I'm at the planning stage on them at the moment.

Make sure you can unscrew the filter housing without it hitting the floor. Though, once you add casters, this won't be an issue.

klyph said:

Make sure you can unscrew the filter housing without it hitting the floor. Though, once you add casters, this won't be an issue.

Click to expand...

Yeah, funny thing is. I didn't even think about the unscrewing part. I still added the room of when it is mounted that it still gives 2 or 3 inches even without the casters. But with the casters. No problem.

Looking good, man! How are you planning on finishing the stand? Did you say paint? I'm curious to see how the paint you use holds up to the heat.

The stand is looking great. Aint welding a lot of fun? I <3 arc'n and spark'n. I used a gas shielded mig setup last night for the first time. It was like using a damn glue stick! I have a big DC Lincoln stick welder at home. I've got a lot more time in on stick machines.

diatonic said:

Looking good, man! How are you planning on finishing the stand? Did you say paint? I'm curious to see how the paint you use holds up to the heat.

Click to expand...

Well, I went to my local HD and picked up 3 cans of high temp barbeque paint which is rated @ 1200 F. For some reason I just don't think I will like the flat black paint.
So I went on-line and found this paint which is also rated @ 1200 F. A lot more colors to chose from. Im thinking the Hanover Red.
http://www.hightempenginepaint.com/

RegionalChaos said:

The stand is looking great. Aint welding a lot of fun? I <3 arc'n and spark'n. I used a gas shielded mig setup last night for the first time. It was like using a damn glue stick! I have a big DC Lincoln stick welder at home. I've got a lot more time in on stick machines.

Click to expand...

Thanks! Welding is fun and addictive. Im already wanting to weld another stand. Just for the fun of it. Heck I just might do that and sell it for dirt cheap to anyone in the metro Atlanta area.

Update: 3/7/2010

Ive been thinking how I wanted to mount the banjo burners and also add a heat shield/windshield at the same time. So I came up with this. It is a 12.5" x 4" 16 ga. carbon sheet metal heat shield.
I only could mount two of them since I ran out of flux core wire. But here are several photos to show them. The Shields themselves are welded to the tubing.
I only added one burner to give you a better understanding of how it looks.

Also got around to mounting the casters, Which will be covered up when the stand gets painted.
I picked up some gas valves, and several pieces of black pipe to get started on how I was going to plum the thing.

This rig is looking good! I like the wind/heat shields. I'm planning something similar on mine (maybe with aluminum).

jlandin said:

This rig is looking good! I like the wind/heat shields. I'm planning something similar on mine (maybe with aluminum).

Click to expand...

Thanks jlandin, I'm very pleased how the shields came out and fit the burners just great. They burners don't move at all once mounted to the shields on the stand. Very solid!

I finished installing the last shield today and also some more grinding and sanding. Some prep work on the gas valves and pipe.

I also came up with the idea about mounting two small tabs that stick out over the top on the rear tubing which will stop the 3/4 plywood from sliding toward the rear. The wood is another form of a heat shield for the middle burner (unused since I only have to banjo burners ATM) which will be used for the plastic cooler (mash tun). I still need to cut the wood to size and sand and stain it. But will post photos once I do this.

Several photos of the tabs installed and the "counter-top" shelf/ heat shield.

Also, spray painted the top and the shields with the 1200 F paint. The rest of the stand will be painted in a dark red. Once this is complete I will install the diamond plate shelf and mount the burners.

Primed the rest of the stand. Getting ready to coat it with red.

Looks fantastic. This is exactly what I want to do. I may have to copy some of your ideas if you don't mind. I will give you full credit. I might even pick up the same welder as you. What did you use to buff the steal before priming and painting? Also what did you use to clean up the welds? Dremel? What bit?

Also would you be willing to share the dimensions you used for this? Or maybe the blueprint/cad drawing?

Thanks.

Gregg

ghart999 said:

Looks fantastic. This is exactly what I want to do. I may have to copy some of your ideas if you don't mind. I will give you full credit. I might even pick up the same welder as you. What did you use to buff the steal before priming and painting? Also what did you use to clean up the welds? Dremel? What bit?

Thanks.

Gregg

Click to expand...

Thanks and feel free to use anything you want. The welds were grounded down with a 4 1/2" angle grinder with a grinding disc (buy at least two). Lowes and HD both sell them. Dont even try to use a dremel, you will be sitting there for days!

To clean up the steel. I used a 50 or 60 grit flap disc which I changed out with the grinding disc on the angle grinder. Once again buy a few.

ghart999 said:

Also would you be willing to share the dimensions you used for this? Or maybe the blueprint/cad drawing?

Thanks.

Gregg

Click to expand...

The blueprint was drawn out. So the best I can do for you is post a photo of it. Overall height is 27". Also remember that I added the 45 degree tubing to the top corners after I made the drawing.

Wow, the dimensions on our stands are nearly identical

Thanks for posting your blueprints and the advice.

What software do you guys use for your blueprints? Anything free that works decent?

ghart999 said:

What software do you guys use for your blueprints? Anything free that works decent?

Click to expand...

Google SketchUp is great, and free. Lots of tutorials, and great for conceptualizing.

I'm using AutoCAD lately, which is far from free, but it is awesome . Employer bought it for a recent project and I'm digging it.

diatonic said:

Wow, the dimensions on our stands are nearly identical

Click to expand...

WOW.. almost to a tee. I like the dimension's a lot. It isn't to big and not to small. Also, If I wanted to use anything other then keggles on the stand. Lets say a deep fry kettle or household pot to boil. Everything will fit on top and have plenty of room to work with.
I know for some the footprint might be too big. But once you have your kegs setup on top of it and stand there for a moment. Its just right.
But everyone has there option on size. For me the size is just right for my needs.

I'm thinking of doing a rig, eventually, and this thread is going to be very helpful. Thank you all for sharing your experience.

DrawTap88 said:

I'm thinking of doing a rig, eventually, and this thread is going to be very helpful. Thank you all for sharing your experience.

Click to expand...

Not a problem. I really wanted everyone whom never welded before know that it isn't that hard at all with a flux core welder. My welds might never pass an x-ray. But for me it is a great satisfaction building it myself.

I thought I would also share the build process. I know there are a alot of builds on here.. but just to show everyone what a never before welder can do.

Update: 3/11/2010
Finished painting the rest of the stand lastnight. This morning everything was dry. I had time to put the diamond plate on and install the burners. Water filter added to the side.

Still need to install the black pipe etc....
Its getting there!