First 'project' ........ shortening a "hand truck"

[johnnymg]

OK, only posting this because it's my VERY first MIG welding project. For reasons that will remain unwritten I needed to shorten a 'hand truck' by about 6". The 'hand truck' was made from ~1" thinwall steel tubing and I set the MIG at 17.5v and ~220 in/min.

Started by cutting out ~6" from the middle section and then welding in a short 3/8" rebar for reinforcement:


I then tacked the upper section of the hand truck frame/tubes to the rebar and lower tubes of the hand truck:


Final welding and a 'generous' amount of grinding yielded a 'just fair' review from yours truly. No need to post those ugly pics!

In hindsight I think the big shop fan blowing on me (~95 deg in the shop today) probably didn't help with the shielding gas. I'm still struggling a bit to not get 'mega lumps' that need serious grinder attention. Need to figure out how to lower the wire speed (to minimize the lumps) and still get enough amps to melt the base metal. ??? Any insight on that issue would be appreciated.

cheers all
JohnG

[redbeard]

I like the slits for added strength instead of just a butt joint. Seeing that popped an idea into my head, instead of rebar for reinforcement, maybe cut the removed section lengthwise (with a big fat kerf) and squeeze it inside as a sleeve. Slots front and back to weld to/through would make it extra stout.

Sorry I don't have any welding knowlege to share, I'm still at the same place you are when it comes to MIG.

[johnnymg]

I like the slits for added strength instead of just a butt joint. Seeing that popped an idea into my head, instead of rebar for reinforcement, maybe cut the removed section lengthwise (with a big fat kerf) and squeeze it inside as a sleeve. Slots front and back to weld to/through would make it extra stout.

Sorry I don't have any welding knowlege to share, I'm still at the same place you are when it comes to MIG.

That's an interesting option on the bracing. Probably would have been a little easier to weld because the rebar was WAY thicker than the tubing.