My category was pretty much all vehicle related stuff. Most of it was light bars, a few roof racks, and a lot of hitch stuff. This is the only photo I have of some of the other stuff though. I'm pretty sure mine was the only bumper there actually.

 

Thats super cool.... great looking design and perfect execution.... "BUILTNOTBOUGHT"

 

What kind of welder you use?

 

Great work man!

 

For the arc welds on the inside of the main bumper, I used a Miller 225. For the arc welds on the unibody brackets, I used my Lincoln 225. The MIG welds were done with a Lincoln SP 175, and the TIG welds were done with an older Miller unit. Lots of different welders lol

 

Lol nice to weld thicker metal for bumper and bracing would a mig 125 be to weak?

 

It might work but you'll probably have to do multiple passes and be fighting it all the way to get good penetration, 1/4" is pretty much the limit for a 125A (multi-pass), so welding 3/16" or 1/4" with a 125A unit and getting strong welds with good penetration won't be easy. I would recommend at least a 140A unit, if you have access to 220V a 180A+ unit would be ideal.

 

^i agree
You could also try beveling the edges of the metal. That should help a lot of you're struggling with penetration

 

Congrats.

Nice work, glad to see younger people still learning trades, especially in MI.
It's been almost 30 years since I took metal shop .

Nitro

 

I usually dont have a problem with that hehe.

All jokes aside, that is a sweet bumper and if it were for sale I would buy it. Great work and congrats on placing in the competition. It's always rewarding when something you do is noticed.

 

Looks great, congratulations. Now for a rear bumper???

 

Thanks everyone! I do have plans for a rear bumper with a swing out tire carrier if I have time. I've got plenty of 3/16" steel to use up!

I realized I never posted some final pics of it, and I ended up getting my roof rack recoated in the same textured black, so here are a few:

 

Beautiful job. Great looking XJ!

 

Hey Kelly, can you send me the cad files for your bumper to dekamdylan@gmail.com, I have both autodesk inventor and google sketchup, so whatever works for you, I would really like to build a similar model for my 99 and 98 xj's