Metalworking Badge Oddball Thread

Some PEP badges allow for oddball points.  This was introduced in this thread.

When submitting something in the official Oddball badge, you get points based on the time it would take a professional to do the same task if they have a bit of luck.

When submitting something within a badge that allows oddball points (Homesteading, Metalworking, etc), they are based on the time it would take a talented newbie to do the same task.

When you did something that should be in a badge but there isn't a BB for it, post about it in that badge and maybe it will become a BB.  If that badge allows oddball points, you can submit it there, otherwise it has to go into Oddball badge.

Some examples:
You welded up a 20 foot unicorn - put it into the Metalworking Oddball thread
You made a candle - put it in the regular Oddball thread since it isn't a clear fit for an existing badge
You build a pump house - post it in Homesteading since it should be a BB there and/or put it in Homesteading Oddball

Otis wants to hang things on walls with confidence they will not fall off, and to do it without glue or paint or an Amazon purchase, right?  The wall clock I made using the end of a used wine barrel was apparently too heavy for the store bought picture hanging bracket and it bent and broke.  Luckily I noticed before it fell off the wall and did some damage.  So I decided it was time to fabricate a beefy steel hanger for it that I guarantee won't fail!

Recently a design flaw was discovered on the dump trailer when it got a flat tire. The person I had loaned it to went to install the spare tire and found that the sidewall of the spare was significantly worn, to the point of being dangerous to use. This was caused by the spare tire storage location, which is a metal rack on the neck of the gooseneck. The spare tire rested on this rack and was held in place only by gravity, so every bump and turn would cause the tire to shift position enough that over time it wore the tire sidewall rubber thin.  It also wore through the paint of the trailer in the contact points which allowed rust to start to take hold.

I decided this called for a permanent fix to this design flaw.  I used an angle grinder to grind off the rust and flaking paint. I fabricated a spare tire mount bracket by cutting down a store bought spare tire mount to the right length, and cutting a piece of 2"x1" channel steel to the right length, welded them together, painted them, and welded this to the trailer, then wire brushed and painted the remaining exposed steel.

Now the spare tire is securely held in place with two lug nuts making it harder to steal the spare and suspending it about 2" in the air so the rubber is not in contact with anything.

A neighbor had a gate with unusual integral hinges, but it was missing one of the two hinges so it wasn't able to be used.  They had a need for the gate so I volunteered to fabricate a hinge for it using scrap metal from my boneyard.

Had to fix a chainsaw. The plastic worm gear on the oiler stripped out. I couldn't find a replacement, and prefer metal anyway. I didn't have a piece of brass or bronze, so went with 6061-T6 aluminum.

Today I finished making a curved card scraper from an old saw blade.

I generally avoid metalworking because it's really noisy and it terrifies me... but I suited up with my respirator, heavy leather gloves and goggles and had a go at it.

starting metal


removing handle


removing saw teeth


marking up


using disc grinder to remove bulk of waste


Short aside. I have no training in metalworking, but I quickly realized a danger and addressed it with extra caution. When you grind to sever metal, it could theoretically shoot off as a high velocity projectile. Once I realized this (thankfully before it happened) I made sure not to grind all the way through at any point, and snapped off the pieces with my heavy leather gloves or pliers as need be. I also picked up any metal shards and larger fragments with some U magnets and collected them in my metal scrap jar.

cut to shape with grinder


smoothed with a file


For sharpening I watched three different famous youtubers videos, compared the main points, and decided it was easier than I had always assumed because they all left out or did slightly different things with a similar overarching theme.


I don't have a burnisher. I do have a hardened steel screwdriver though. It worked well.


The resultant burr/hook is obvious, I can feel it with my fingertips around the edges. Using it is pretty easy. I get nice shavings. Now I can avoid huge amounts of sanding. I hate sanding even more than metalworking, I guess that's why this project happened!!!


It took me about 3 hours. I'm a newbie. I don't know if I'm talented or not. You tell me!

It's a little bit permie because I upcycled an old saw that had been rusting for ages into something quite useful.

I built a top-lit updraft gasifier (TLUD) from a metal barrel.
Before


Marking for the top cut and cutting wheel.



Top removed


Before and after cleaning up the edge with a grinding wheel.



Marking for bottom holes.


Drilling holes for that draft. Smaller bit for pilot holes, larger bit. Water to cool off the bits.




Installation of chimney into lid.







Finished