acebristol
New Member
Well I first want to thank everyone for the vast amount of knowledge on this forum, I have benefited for the past several years without giving much back. I came up with this idea after seeing some posts on the DIY PVC towers but loved the look of the commercial SS towers just not the hefty price tag. I have some decent sources with work for metal and decided aluminum would be fairly inexpensive and easy to work with. I picked a sheet of .090 aluminum and a section of 3" tubing for $27 at a local supply "seconds" pile which I thought was pretty good. I have a good friend with a machine shop that does a lot of work for our company and decided to see if he could help me out. I also found prints online for a 5 tap tower that was exactly what I wanted so I took them over to see what he thought.
Here is the column after he cleaned up the tube and pressed on some 1/2" flanges.
He mentioned that he was not set up for welding aluminum and I found that not a lot of people are around here so I decided to check the net. What I found was a site called www.customaluminumboxes.com. Mark was very helpful and reasonably priced for what I received.
I paid $53.25 for this box with the lid and I am very happy with the finish and clean welds. Thanks again Mark!
So back to my buddy at the machine shop to finish drilling the holes and get it ready for paint.
Mount the box to the column and we are ready for primer.
After primer
Final coat and laced with "Perls"
This is where I have stopped for now, I have foam to cut for the inside and tubing to run before I mount it where my 3-tap tower was.
Will keep you posted!
Here is the column after he cleaned up the tube and pressed on some 1/2" flanges.
He mentioned that he was not set up for welding aluminum and I found that not a lot of people are around here so I decided to check the net. What I found was a site called www.customaluminumboxes.com. Mark was very helpful and reasonably priced for what I received.
I paid $53.25 for this box with the lid and I am very happy with the finish and clean welds. Thanks again Mark!
So back to my buddy at the machine shop to finish drilling the holes and get it ready for paint.
Mount the box to the column and we are ready for primer.
After primer
Final coat and laced with "Perls"
This is where I have stopped for now, I have foam to cut for the inside and tubing to run before I mount it where my 3-tap tower was.
Will keep you posted!
