Best type of welder for me? Gym kit

[skyline]

I am not a welder, but I bought a welding machine for the same purpose you are: to build my own gym equipment. It's amazing the amount of money you can save by buying the tools & materials and doing the job yourself. I bought a stick welder as it seemed the simplest machine to just get on with learning to weld. I'll leave the real welders on here to argue the pros and cons. My first project was a power rack (complete with leg press, two parallel chin up bars, safety pins).

I'll fall apart before it does.

That's great!

What welder do you go for? And how long did it take you to get used to welding right be able to make your own power rack? And did you do your cuts with a grinder?

 

[Kent]

I actually built gym kit for a year or so for a fella. Sees some serious abuse and it's not all 5 mm there is a fair amount of heavy solid bar
On a very small scale I see no problems in skilled hands with a powerfull smaller mig but mig cam look OK yet give way very easy. stick will look like hell if it's not reasonable

 

[rockweasel]

I bought a no name 160A welder from the local welding shop. Rods, gauntlets and a helmet followed. GRINDER A MUST!!

I have never got used to welding right I'm rarely happy with my welds even thought they may be strong enough for their purpose.

What I did do was practice laying beads and then go onto practicing the type of joints required to build a power rack. I made up a small test piece using the same material I'd use on a rack. If I could do that, then I could weld a whole rack. It's a bit rusty now, but I'll post a pic of it. It was a couple of months before I felt confident enough to tackle it.

I used an Evolution saw to cut the steel roughly to length and then used an angle grinder to square everything off. The saw was too rough a cut and tended to wander a little. I used a square and Stanley knife to mark exactly where I wanted the steel ground to and stuck Frog Tape (that bright green stuff) along the line. It makes seeing the line to cut so much easier.

 

[rockweasel]

Test piece. It's been outside for over 2 years...

 

[skyline]

I bought a no name 160A welder from the local welding shop. Rods, gauntlets and a helmet followed. GRINDER A MUST!!

I have never got used to welding right I'm rarely happy with my welds even thought they may be strong enough for their purpose.

What I did do was practice laying beads and then go onto practicing the type of joints required to build a power rack. I made up a small test piece using the same material I'd use on a rack. If I could do that, then I could weld a whole rack. It's a bit rusty now, but I'll post a pic of it. It was a couple of months before I felt confident enough to tackle it.

I used an Evolution saw to cut the steel roughly to length and then used an angle grinder to square everything off. The saw was too rough a cut and tended to wander a little. I used a square and Stanley knife to mark exactly where I wanted the steel ground to and stuck Frog Tape (that bright green stuff) along the line. It makes seeing the line to cut so much easier.

Sweet pal!

You said earlier you brought stick welder....thats Arc right? Are the welds more messy with Arc that makes it a pain to use on gym kit? Think my friend was telling me to go Arc as it was the cheapest way to start.

I'll probably go through a large bottle of gas before i'm happy to start on a long piece of steel lol

 

[Tom Orrow L]

For the most part online shops are good for customer care as long as they're a well known outfit.
If you can find a local supplier that supplier that does the GYS then have a chat with them and see what they can on price matching.

 

[rockweasel]

Sweet pal!

You said earlier you brought stick welder....thats Arc right? Are the welds more messy with Arc that makes it a pain to use on gym kit? Think my friend was telling me to go Arc as it was the cheapest way to start.

I'll probably go through a large bottle of gas before i'm happy to start on a long piece of steel lol

Yes, arc welder.

It depends how messy you're willing to put up with. I have done a few nice welds (but only a few). Grind down any sharp edges. The welds will be in the corners (for a power rack), so you have little chance of catching yourself on them (so not a pain to use). If you're making smaller pieces of kit (I made a Grenade and a Dog Bone), you'll want to make sure the welds are smooth.

 

[skyline]

Ok, just missed a couple of posts earlier ....

I thought Arc was a no go from the first few posts (maybe me wanting to weld ali was the reason?)

As i'm just learning and all i'll be doing 90% of the time is mainly box section some barrel pipe (200mm-300mm) for making a log and some thick plate to make a sled to start guessing around 3-5mm thickness

This kind of stuff

An Arc welder will get the job done? Would be good to get something with out all the gas bottles for now, and if i catch the bug and get a feel for it and want to start the ali or do other bits I can spend out on a nice Mig for £500 later in the year?

I don't want to invest in something I could end up being absolute rubbish at and can't get the hang of and be left with 2000litres of gas in the yard...

I want to dip my toes into the welding and take my time making some nice bits. Then happy to invest in other machine for future if I enjoy it!


To give an idea of things i would like to make are like the things in the pictures

 

[rockweasel]

My Sled made with arc welder. Bolts used where appropriate.

 

[skyline]

Why did you use bolts instead of weld?

Just googled messy arc welds.... is to possible to remove these/ smith them off with a grinder? And use concrete filler and rub down with sand paper??

 

[rockweasel]

If you look at the price of some of the kit you can make ... the money you save could pay for the welder & the materials after one project.

Have a look here to get a ballpark figure for steel prices. I use a local blacksmith shop and buy what I need for cash.

 

[rockweasel]

Why did you use bolts instead of weld?

Just googled messy arc welds.... is to possible to remove these/ smith them off with a grinder? And use concrete filler and rub down with sand paper??

The platform is bolted onto the base using right angles brackets. The plan was to make accessories for the sled and have a flexible "Meccano" like design. Swapping the base was an option I wanted. Easier to unbolt than weld. http://www.roguefitness.com/dog-sled

I'll let the better informed give advice on how much to grind away & the use of body filler.

 

[Jim Davey]

If the welds are done right there is no need for filler and very little grinding. Maybe a lick with the flap wheel on stubborn spatter or the odd lumpy stop/start.

 

[skyline]

If the welds are done right there is no need for filler and very little grinding. Maybe a lick with the flap wheel on stubborn spatter or the odd lumpy stop/start.

Hi Jim

Could you recommend an Arc welder that would be suitable for getting me going for making the gym kit?

 

[Brad93]

I'm sorry but if you've never welded anything before and you don't understand the difference between a mma set and a MIG set you should not be welding critical assemblies that will take loads in excess of 250kg.

 

[skyline]

So I shouldn't start looking for a welder that enables me to do the jobs I want to do in the future? What welder should I use for now for practicing on off cuts and scrap then pal?

 

[Jim Davey]

We've all got to start somewhere. A little 160 amp MMA set will cover you for anything up to about 15mm (multi run you could go thicker) and won't break the bank.
I'll ping over some prices for GYS and the Parweld on Monday.

 

[rockweasel]

Common sense & caution.
After I practiced laying beads I tried sticking stuff together and then trying to break it apart with a sledge hammer or loading it with all the weight I could find. I was surprised at how much static weight a couple of inches of weld could hold. Or, what a pig's ear I could make of it.
Do this and you can be (cautiously) confident that your projects aren't going to fall apart under stress.
Look at the design of existing strength equipment. It's been designed and refined. Don't try and reinvent the wheel. Part A goes into slot B for a reason. My power rack design closely followed one from a well known manufacturer. By the time I'd tweaked it and stiffened it up, it was nearly identical. Part A, slot B

 

[skyline]

Great advice guys, thanks Tom that would be great!

I know someone who was a welder so I think he would pop over and give me a hand. I asked him advice on a welder but he worked with big industrial type and didn't have a clue with the smaller hobby ones which were decent

 

[Brad93]

Yes @pdg I didn't put that very well we all started somewhere but do a lot of practise before you make any functional parts.