Whats this? Another bumper build???

Well, my most recent project has been a tube front bumper. Being 17, my fab skills are not any where near professional status, but I'm improving quickly. Ive been working on it on and off for wayy too long, but I have learned a ton and enjoy doing it.

Made of 1.5" .120 DOM tube. Plates are 1/4".

I figured pictures speak better than words, so here we go.













Teaser of (almost) final product


I had to stop there (about 1/4 way done with welding) due to a broken mig gun.

A 1/4" plate will be welded on top of the two brackets sticking out to mount a winch on. Stinger support bars and other aesthetic additions are still to come.

Any constructive criticism/comments/ideas will be greatly appreciated.

Looks really good can't wait to see it all finished up.

I like it so far. Lets see some more pics!

Well sheeettt!! I like it!!

how many bolts will you use to hold it on? make sure to use more than the stock ones

lookin good man i wanna see how it turns out

It uses 7 bolts per side I believe. The bolts (or lack thereof) being used in those pics were just for mock up purposes.

dude..that looks preettyy darn good. great work. cant wait to see the finished product

what did you use to bend your tube?

Pro-tools 105 Manual bender. 1.5"x.120x6"CLR Die. Very nice bender. Id recommend it to anyone.

I had some free time in my auto class, so I fooled around with their mig. Its nice using gas. Here are some pics of my welds.







Welder was a Lincoln 110v 140 amp mig with argon/co2 mix.

Feel free to critique my welds, I need all the help I can get.

nice bumper! how do you like that clarke welder in the first few pics? i have one and absolutely love it!

For the price I paid, cant beat it. Ill be building a cage soon and will most likely be bumping up to a 220v welder (possibly hobart handler 187) with gas. After fooling around with the gas welder in my auto class, its gonna be hard to go back to flux core :P

you could build a cage with that...mine is a 130en, and as long as you are careful and know what you are doing you can do it

the biggest key when using a small welder, is multi-pass welds and beveling your joints. That being said, buying a bigger welder would be a much better investment. I think you should go get a Lincoln PowerMig 255