Building a Custom Computer Desk, Part 3
On this week’s episode, Will continues working on the steel legs for his custom computer desk. He makes more refined cuts to the steel tubing that will make up the legs, and begins welding them together! It’s an honest day’s work of building and learning from practice. (This video was brought to you by Premium memberships on Tested. Learn more about how you can support us with memberships!)
26 thoughts on “Building a Custom Computer Desk, Part 3”
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This is looking much more promising, Will 🙂
Great stuff, been really enjoying this segment
I look forward to reading the various welding-related comments that are sure to follow.. 😊
those are some truly godawful welds.
Reminds me of my shipyard internship not so long ago.Now I get to sit behind a computer and demand better welds 😀
Short welds are tricky, especially for beginners. Before starting on the legs spend an hour or so on flat sheet metal scraps and lay down some welds. Just add material to a flat sheet. If you have that down, try weld two pieces together in a 90°angle.
Try to get a feel for the speed of your hand versus the speed of your gun and practice starting and stopping.
And stay with horizontal positions. Welds that climb up are like running. Feel lucky if you master crawling first.
glad to be of service.
I’m not a welder, I tried to learn the same way Will is, by watching videos and trial and error. What I did learn is that it really isn’t hot glue for metal. Sure, the welding material is a little like glue, but the main strength of a weld is getting the source material up to a high enough temperature that all three parts become one. That stock being used is seriously high gauge for a desk, and I don’t think you’re getting any penetration at all with the speed you are going (both wire and hand speed).
I am still a total novice, so I’m happy to be corrected. I do know that my first attempts were equally shit, and I improved drastically when I slowed down, did longer smoother passes.
For the welding experts out there, how long should a pass take on that size and gauge of material? It feels to me like Will is trying to do the full pass in maybe 3-4 seconds, and it should be closer to maybe 8 seconds? Maybe even longer without risk of blowing out that gauge?
Are those new glasses? They make Will look really aggressive, I think its the way they are tilted.+
Also, why is it that the angle grinder create sparks when it cuts and the band saw doesn’t? I guessing its something to do with the diamonds on the grinder blades?
Just a tip, I think you should assemble this desk at your office, because it looks like it will be a pain to move when built.
I have a feeling he’ll slow down once he gets more comfortable, wouldn’t be surprised if he wanted to redo the whole steel-structure at the end of this to bring it to the point of his latest welds :p And yes, it isn’t really like hot glue at all, and the better your welds, the *less* like hot-glue it is.
I might be wrong about this, but I believe the bandsaw’s teeth acts like a cold cut saw, which transfers most of the heat to the chips. The abrasive disc on a grinder (which is pretty much just a thicker version of the disc on an abrasive “hot” saw) heats the metal up much more, and when pieces come loose (both from the workpiece and disc) you get sparks.
I would think it’s all about speed, heat and the hardness of the cutting material..
Angle grinder would be about 5000-8000 rpm I would guess, and therefor making a lot of heat.
Bandsaw is probably around 1000-3000 rpm, resulting in less heat.
Also, the angle grinder disk is relatively “soft”, and constructed to break down, resulting in more hot debris flying away. While the bandsaw blade is a harder material, which is made to not break down, ergo; minimal debris.
That time is actually pretty close, given the welder is set up correctly. That’s only an inch or so of travel.
Will, don’t be afraid to turn the power up and leave the gun on a little longer. If you open up the side of the welder, there will be a nice chart that tells you exactly what the machine should be set to given the material thickness.My bet is that your material is so thick you won’t have to worry about blowing through. Also, don’t be afraid to cup your other hand underneath your gun-hand and rest it on the material. Use that non-gun-hand as a stabilizer and a guide. I learned the same way you did and made the same mistakes you did, so I’m just passing on a few tips from someone who also welded horribly a few years back. 🙂 Keep it up, man. Loving this project!
Here’s an example of my progression just in the amount of time it took me to build a cage. My very first weld is on the footplate (bottom right) and was cold and shaky. The triple-join was one of my last cage welds, and was done while laying in the car sideways. Was pretty stoked about that one.
http://i.imgur.com/v1pEPHI.jpg
The satisfaction when the desk is finniched will be huge. Great work. Just love the part “my welds are getting better”.. Great..
Good to hear! Yeah I try to take it easy on that stuff ’cause I have had a taste of internet comments and my response is usually, “Yes, I know, I just need to practice.”
One of the most common weld-related phrases at the shop is, “Just lay in it.” Which, roughly translated, means, “Dammit, Ron. You didn’t have enough heat in that weld. Crank up the power!” Just lay in it, Will!
This is a video series in which ‘s hair gets messier and messier.
Funnily enough, this is the first of this videos series that I’ve seen. You sir, are a brave man for documenting your first time using different shop tools. Keep up the good work!
Soooo… will we ever get a Norm project?
I don’t think the brown that you were talking about is a problem. More than likely it was just the metal reacting to the heat. If the color change is consistent throughout the weld than chances are you’ve got a good weld. As you get higher temps your steel will normally go from a light yellow turn darker into a brown, then move into purple and finally a blue.
Also what brand jacket is that? Looks rather nice.
It is awesome you are having a go and showing that it is not simple to do. Thank you.
Wow Norm, you look so much more competent than me; but, I feel a little more inspired to learn after watching this series.
I really love this video series. I think putting up these videos of you learning as you go is really quite brave. You have a humble way of going about a build and I think we can all learn to approach making from that direction.
As well, this desk is going to look sweet! Keep up the great work.
I’m been welding for 20+ years… You’re not going to get “good” after just a few hours. It will take time. It’s too bad you don’t have someone there to help you get up to speed faster. Until you become “good” at welding (which takes years): For cosmetic welds… Grind, then use some bondo to clean up the finish. Then it will look presentable.
Soon you will find many reasons to weld. In time, “weld it” will be the answer for (almost) everything.
I disagree completely with what has said. It is completely possible to get “good” after just a few hours of welding. Mastering welding is what takes a long time. As other have said, you either need to crank up your power quite a bit and maintain your spool speed or you need to turn up the power a little bit and turn down your spool speed. A weld that sits on top of the metal is the result of either too little heat or too much wire. A weld that is concave is either too much heat or too little wire. If you are welding and it sounds like when you are cooking a pan of bacon, then you’re doing it right. If it’s spitting and sputtering, there’s something wrong.
The reason that the cutting disc sparks and the bandsaw doesn’t is because the cutting disc isn’t really “cutting” as much as it is very rapidly sanding away material. The bandsaw is actually cutting. I once let a cutting disc on a running grinder get too close to my finger and rather than “cut” my finger it pretty much just tore away the skin and burned it at the same time. It wasn’t very deep, because I caught it right away, but there was also no blood at all, which was pretty nice. A bandsaw would have produced a significant amount of blood, and probably a cut down through at least a little of the bone…
perhaps we have different definitions of what’s considered “good”.
My youngest son was interested in welding and I found this video for him, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mcTl0VrvWQ. It is quite long but the guy realy seems to knows what he is talking about. I grew up using a stick welder and am not very good with a wire welder but I manage. Will, don’t forget about Adams big disk sander for touching up the ends on your cut metal parts. You may have to replace the sanding disc more often than if you were sanding wood. I look forward to seeing your next video.
I suppose that is entirely possible. I am saying you can be a “good” welder as in, things stick together as well as they should and it doesn’t look like a bird crapped all over your material is good. Frankly, I’m not sure that someone “masters” MIG welding as it’s pretty brainless once you know how to set up a machine properly. Mastering TIG welding is a different story, and to become “good” at TIG welding takes months, mastering it takes a lifetime because different metals and different fill rods require totally different approaches.
I just started to learn to weld this weekend as well. My 7yo son wanted to learn, so I borrowed a mig welder from my dad setup as a flux core rig. I found this series of videos very helpful and we are both learning along doing the first few activities together. Welding merit badge. Nice to see your stuff, I hope to build some shelves like Jamie has in M5 in my garage once I am comfortable with the welding.