Post #2

Photos 6-10
6) Foot rivets have to be driven out by supporting piece on pipe or socket with rivet head centered inside.

7) Headboard angle rivets had to be removed from both sides.

8) Inside rivet removed from head side.

9) All the pieces ready for use.

10) The only scrap.

The result was 11' of 1-1/4" x 1/8" and just over 9" of 1" x 1/8" angle pluse 'accessories' for about 15 minutes of work and a few pennies of electricity for the grinder.

Angle frame bed springs can be used as well if all those spring anchor holes aren't a problem.

 

Duane you are soooo right about the old bed rails being recycled. I have three welding carts (one plasma actually) and a small pull behind the riding mower trailer, and the latest is the hot water tank BBQ grill in this forum. Man I like some used bed rails! Oh and I clean them up just the way you are demonstrating.
Can't wait to see your project posts.... I'm all ways looking for a good idea.

 

know i wonder how many people have thought about that. pretty slick thinking.. and you are right, you see those by the trash pile all of the time. i'll be looking for some. can't beat free. sometime or another they will come in handy.

 

Just remember that they are Spring Steel and will ruin a drill bit in a second:cool2:

Good fer weldin' not so good for Boltin'

 

i built my tig welding cart out of some, works fine. ive drilled it before, i just heat it and let it slow cool, normally works.

Good point and tip guys. It'll be a welded assembly but I will have to put a few mounting holes in it.

Of course you're hearin' this from a guy that used to turn the welder up to the max, and plunge cut holes with 6011 rod.:laugh::blob2:

Was that with 4AWG or 5AWG leads?:laugh:

 

i built my tig welding cart out of some, works fine. ive drilled it before, i just heat it and let it slow cool, normally works.

 

Good stuff to recycle. Broccoli clued me in on the fact that they're spring steel. Had no idea.

I wonder if you could hit the rivet heads with a torch, let 'em get a little soft, and whack 'em with a hammer to release them. I do it all the time with the bolts that hold the sickle guards onto the swather head.

Of course you're hearin' this from a guy that used to turn the welder up to the max, and plunge cut holes with 6011 rod.:laugh::blob2:

 

I just finished a project and i used bed frame rails, now i know why i need a new bandsaw blade lol. (pics tomorrow)

 

I always figured that someone else did this too, but I didn't realize how many; you did a nice job photo-documenting it. Nowadays, I sometimes use the mill on the rivet heads though. Makes getting those difficult ones in # 7 or 8 easier.
Long ago I noticed the older frame material was generally more stocky than the newer, and some of the newer has recessed sides, that is, the sides aren't full thickness from top to bottom.

BTW, chopsaws are ideal for cutting the hardened material.

 

I thought about using bed frames for material, so thanks for the information.
BTW, can you explain more about it being "spring steel"? Apparently it is harder steel, so would it be good for other uses - like making tools that need to be hard steel? I have made some parting tools and chiesels for my neighbor to use on his small wood lathe. But they wear quickly.
Or can you suggest what kind of steel to use for tools?

 

For wood chisels, old files are hard to beat.

Ed

 

I called it Mystery Steel until I was enlightened by a Pumpkinhead over on Hobart:drinkup:

Ruint a drill bit trying to make a hole:dizzy: used the same trick of heating it up to anneal it for the next hole.


Since then I have fooled around with Knife making and learnt me some stuff on the various steels, Heat Treating and such.

I have no idea of the carbon content of the Bed Frames- so I can't say if it is good enough for a chisel/Tool but any Leaf Spring or Coil Spring off an Auto will work good.

Old files- as mentioned- Keep an eye out at Yard sales

Made a couple Knives from a 1946 Jeep Spring.

A good tool to have around is the little Mapp Torch you can get at any Box Store- these will heat up the steel enough to anneal it for Cutting with a Band saw and for drilling.

Chop saw, as mentioned will cut it no problem.

 

Back in the days before landfills we had a plain ol' city dump. When I would haul off my trash these things were laying around everywhere. Free steel, hooray! The very first project I built with bedframe steel broke. All I had at the house at the time was an AC cracker box and I used 6011 rod. I was just getting started welding and although I thought it cut kind of funny with a torch I didn't catch on until it broke. I bought a DC converter for my cracker box and changed to 7018 rod. I built several shelf frames and a couple of tables with bedframes and am still using them over 40 years later.

 

I found this definition on the web:
"Spring steel is a low alloy, medium carbon steel with a very high yield strength. This allows objects made of spring steel to return to their original shape despite significant bending or twisting."

Now, this is a clean board, so no jokes on the fact that this is a perfect application for a bed frame! I think the spring steel requirement at my crib is more for the weight capacity than the bending and twisting!!!!!!!

:laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh:

 

Not my bed latley either man

 

Now whoda thunk this would have sparked such a diverse range of topics?



Lawn Care & Clean Cooking: "...small pull behind the riding mower trailer..." "...hot water tank BBQ grill..." - STwelder

Sanitation: "...the trash pile..." - patrickp

Metallurgy & Time Keeping: ..."Spring Steel and will ruin a drill bit in a second." - Broccoli1

Cyclic Temperature Changes: "...just heat it and let it slow cool..." - drivethruboy54

Agricultural: "...sickle guards onto the swather head." - farmersamm

Fabrication Equipment: "...new bandsaw blade" - Doug247

Photography, Machining & more Fabrication Equipment: "...photo-documenting it." "...use the mill..." & "...chopsaws..." - Oldiron2

Collecting: "Been collecting them..." - dellwas

Education & Woodworking Tools: "...can you explain more..." "...and chiesels for my neighbor to use on his small wood lathe." - wb4rt

Hand Tools: "...wood chisels, old files..." - EdKing

Cultism/Religion: "...I was enlightened by a Pumpkinhead..." - Broccoli1

Off Road Recreation: ...a 1946 Jeep..." - Broccoli1

History: "Back in the days..." - Oldtimer

Internet Sex: "...on the web...a bed frame...bending and twisting!!!!!!!" - metalworx

 

That is the hallmark of a good conversation - a good topic and friends willing to ask and answer questions. Thanks for the post!

 

i'm working on turning my old bed frame into a deer stand. i'm just getting into hobby welding and this is my first real project - up until now i've just been practicing on scraps. i'm having problems with the quality of the welds. they look great but when i hammer-test them (ie put them in a vice and wack them with a hammer) they crack after a few blows. this has never been a problem with the scraps ive previously worked on.

i'm using a mig-welder and ive tried to pre/post heat the material for a few minutes with a torch since that is supposed to help against brittle welds on carbon-steel, but it doesnt seem to make too big of a difference.

is anyone else seeing this? got any ideas what i may be doing wrong?

thanks

 

I know you're using MIG but other than Oldtimer's description of switching to 7018 rod I don't know what you can do to solve your dilema but you definately need to get it worked out before using it for a tree stand. It would not be good to have it break apart 20' in the air.

Can you post some photos in the hope someone may be able to offer suggestions?

Have used up alot of bed frames for small projects, another good source for some heavier angle iron is old manure spreaders, the apron chain, or any old equipment can supply some good angles, tubes etc....Jim
Duanne, Will this fall under Ag or sanitation??

That would require the new category Agricultural Sanitation.

 

Hey guys thanks for the info about bed frames being spring steel! Now I know why I have to sharpen the bits so often.:angry: I have one of those drill doctor sharpeners and it has saved me a bunch of money! I work at a camp where we get a lot of things donated, usually after it is wore out and we always have a surplus of drill bits! After buying the drill doctor, that coffee can of dull bits just became a cash cow! Even when I was drilling on bed angle, I would drill slow with oil and sharpen often, but I will have to try the torch trick!

 

Have used up alot of bed frames for small projects, another good source for some heavier angle iron is old manure spreaders, the apron chain, or any old equipment can supply some good angles, tubes etc....Jim
Duanne, Will this fall under Ag or sanitation??

 

My 'five bed frames' score from yesterday. Friend from work picked them up for me a couples weeks ago and brought them over with him yesterday when we did the Lombardini / HF generator load test. The light blue one (3 pieces) on the right is actually made from a formed channel.

 

Gee! Duanne you your lucky! Seems that lately the supply of bed frames as dried up.

 

And these all came from the same house! One stop shopping.:laugh:

 

My wife gets sooo pissed when I steal the frame from our bed.

 

Well, JC, at least you can't break the frame if the box spring is sitting on the floor ....

Duane, epic win on that earlier post about the wide and diverse range of subjects in this thread.

 

I can shed a bit of light on the "Problems" with using bed frames.

As Ed said, they are spring steel. This means that they have enough carbon in them to be heat treated and tempered. They are hardened to keep them from bending and not supporting the box springs. If they were regular mild steel, over time they would bow out on the sides and fail at their job. Hardening them makes them difficult to bend.

To drill them just heat the spot you want to drill until it turns blue and let it cool slowly. It will then be able to be drilled.

They can also break like the problem d94jonca is having. The reason for this is that since they are a hardening steel welding takes them up past their critical temperature (above the point a magnet is attracted to them, try it and you will see). Although it would be an oil hardening steel, just allowing it to cool quickly like in a breeze, cold weather or with a fan blowing, the steel cools fast enough to get hard again. Unfortunately the steel get VERY hard and Brittle making it easy to break. It will just snap off because it has not been tempered (softened) at all. If you weld it and let it cool and then come back with a torch and heat it up to blue, it will not break like it would without heating it.

I posted an explanation about heat treating and tempering in VERY laymans terms in another thread if anyone is interested in reading it.

http://weldingweb.com/showthread.php?t=27238

 

I forgot to add. Another good place for free steel is Northern tools. Find out when they get in their shipments of HEATED pressure washers on trailers. They come in a steel frame about 8' square. I have picked up a couple.

Also go to motorcycle dealers, a lot of the atvs are shipped in metal frames.

 

Good pointers in both posts Bob.