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.