Aluminum tool chest tray, TIG welded (jakeru's #2)

[jakeru]

A friend of mine wanted a new tool tray in his vintage craftsman toolbox, to replace an old worn out wood one he made a long time ago. (Apparently, he never did have the original tray, or maybe he told me is disintegrated from old age and rust.) But the main toolbox is still in good shape and hey, great excuse for an aluminum project he's been wanting to do.




I had some 5052-H32, .065 aluminum sheet remnants that was about the right size, we decided to use. Good, pretty high strength stuff as far as aluminum goes, high as-welded strength and good corrosion resistance too. One good thing about this thickness is, it's not so thick that you can't cut it with tin snips. We would fabricate it out of one piece.

It was not too easy to form without a break. We reverted to using "get the job done" methods like c-clamping two pieces of angle iron and hammering the edge over.



I had some nice tubing to form the handles out of, but he liked the edges just bent, and I think it gets the job done.

He wanted me to do the welds, which I just did kind of quick. The prep wasn't totally consistent but it was OK. Generally welded outside open corner joints, then a short stitch/tack on the inside of the corner at the top edge, to reinforce it where it will likely be stressed the most. I used a 1/16" tungsten truncated point (like a crayon), pure argon, 3/32" 5356 filler rod (cut from a MIG spool.) I set the amperage for the footpedal at full throttle to about 100 amps @ full down, and 20% DCEP (the minimum AC balance setting on my machine.) I used a #5 non gas lens cup, which worked out just fine. Maybe about 10 cfh or a little more.





I might have clamped some stainless steel angle on the inside, if the formed handle wasn't interfering with where the angle would need to be. I didn't feel like cutting a small piece of stainless angle just for this project, so I just welded it without backing. I tried not to overpenetrate, a hard thing to do with inconsistent joint fit-up on fairly thin material.

I wanted to show how I positioned a block of metal to lay my arms against, to slide against and get good control. Getting good precision on small joints is often a matter of "getting comfortable", so your muscles have good control. If your muscles have to work just to hold still, they won't have as much control.


This made me think, I wouldn't mind, if I ever do build a welding table for TIG work, to build an armrest into the front edge of it. I would have the armrest adjustable height or course. It could be pretty handy for a variety of welds.

[acourtjester]

HI Jakeru
Here is a tip for you when hammer forming if you use a plastic hammer with a big face it will give you a smoother bend. Here is on I made years ago with UHMP head on it. It’s heavy enough to bend steel and large enough so no dents when working and pliable enough so no scratches.

have fun
Tom

[SDunlop909]

Looks like you were a little cool on your welds. When they are shiny/chrome looking you aren't getting enough penetration. Make sure you are letting a little pinhole start before you feed rod in. Also, Ive switched to kevlar gloves when using the tig, they are a bit less clumsy which makes it easier to control your rod.

[jakeru]

Duplop - Actually, I intentionally tried to *not* keyhole the weld from one side without any backing piece behind it, to prevent an oxidized, uneven looking back side. My reasons for that were mainly for cosmetic consistency, but also a little bit to try to challenge myself.

I considered welding the full length of the back side for additional penetration and rigidity, but after I got the edge of the back side tack welded with a good tack, I decided the weld joint is not going to crack, at least not before the sides and bottom of the tray would have been way ballooned out, at which point it wouldn't matter. So I decided it would be strong enough with just the top edge welded on the back side.

PS - I did not achieve this consistent of a result on all four edges welded, mainly due to the imprecise weld prep, which my friend did (who is not a welder, and wasn't interested in taking the time to do it that well.) Specifically, he thinned one edge with a grinder, which resulted in overpenetration in that area. I served mainly as kind of his mentor on this project, helping him plan it and execute it, but letting him make the calls on its design and construction techniques, and hopefully to help him learn from any mistakes. I was going to let him do the welding but he asked me to do it, because he got in a hurry and didn't want to have to learn to weld on it. (I have spent a few hours teaching him to weld 1/8" aluminum, but this would have been his first time going 1/16", so he would have needed to put in some practice before being ready to weld these edges on his own.)

Courtjester - that "soft" hammer does look handy. I have a big rubber one, but find it's not heavy enough (or maybe too soft?) for this type of job. I could have formed the edges a lot better if I did it myself, but my friend did all this, in the way he chose to do it, and hopefully he learned a few things. What I would have done and recommended (but my friend did not have the patience to allow) is to clamp four pieces of steel angle to make the two planes rigid, and bend those to form the two long ends. My friend tried doing it with only one angle clamped on a side. It was not my idea, and an instant divot formed, where the c-clamp contacted the metal. Sometimes you've got to screw something up a little bit to learn though, right? This is a learning project for him, and a teaching lesson for me.

Although I did try pointing out all these things to him, I am not sure he maintained interest as time passed and the project dragged on. Oh well. He was very happy with the result, and can say he made it - at least for the most part. I think it will be something he can be proud of.

One thing I know my friend did learn through this, is the proper way to use tin snips on relatively thicker metals, so that just one side (the "waste") curls and the other (the side you want to keep) stays straight, IE: unbent. He told me he was pretty jazzed to have learned that. You should have seen him dig into the first cut with the snips - mangleage of both sides ensued. After I showed him how to cut with snips properly, he did all the rest of the snipping all by himself, unsupervised, properly it seemed. So I know he at least learned *that* lesson.