www.ColoradoClassicBroncos.com

Owning a Bronco has led to a fascination with metal fabrication. I know I'm not the only one out there, and am curious to see some of the creations. Post'em up! What have you built?

These exhaust rings were my design, but I had to farm out the machine work:


I hate to post these hitch covers, as I planned to sell them for the bronco fund. Then got ordered to go out of the country, but I am pretty proud of them nonetheless.





Here's my ugly welding cart:




Silderz


Rear bumper/tire carrier:


soft doors:


toolbox tie-down:


Trailer tie-downs:


Front bumper from what was nearly just a piece of 2x6 with tapered ends:

to this:


What fun it is!

What takes up most my time. Designed built and raced by our team.

That thing is cool, looks like a ton of fun. What class/series does it race in?

JD, where did you get the spring loaded pin you used on your tire carrier? How do you like that setup?

Yeah, that buggy looks like lots of fun!

Got the spring loaded pin off Mcmaster.com. I could find it again if you have trouble. There is another near the hinge to keep the tire from swinging past 90*. It works good, but other people have opened it up not knowing about that and sheared off the pin.

The pin you asked about is there as a double safety in case the latch fails. I don't like it. Wobbles around too much. Maybe I could incorporate some sort of rubber stop and it would help, but I think there are better designs.


Forgot about another one. A track bar riser/ram mount:


And new track bar bracket on the frame:

Justin wrote:That thing is cool, looks like a ton of fun. What class/series does it race in?

JD, where did you get the spring loaded pin you used on your tire carrier? How do you like that setup?

We race it in a sae event against other school. This year it is in Kansas .
http://students.sae.org/cds/bajasae/
Our website has some cool videos and pics.
http://www.uccs.edu/~sae/

Here is an example of 76fordbronco's welding skills. Turning big ones and little ones into medium ones.

That's some great work!

I've had an oxy-acetylene torch for awhile, but have only used it to heat steel for bending. Broke out the cutting torch for it tonight, which I've never used before. This is a pic of the second cut I made in a piece of 3/8" thick plate for a small press brake I'm building out of scrap. Pretty happy with it as a first-timer, always glad to have a new fab skill in the arsenal even if it is a pretty basic one. My wife was pleased that the house did not explode.

That's a clean cut for a torch! Nice job!

You must of had that sucker dialed in, every time I cut with my torch I regret it

just a few of my radius arms.







And the skidplate/cross member







and the dinosaur that welded up the radius arms.

kinder wrote:You must of had that sucker dialed in, every time I cut with my torch I regret it

Thanks, guys! I spent a decent amount of time reading up and watching Youtube. Wanted to get it right.

Rob, that's cool! I love those old Lincoln tombstones. Stick welding is on my list of things to learn. Played with the torch a little more and recut the end I did last night. My skills are improving. Will post up the completed press brake when I get it done.

Took a break from the Bronco to finish the stand for my bench grinder. Its a WRX flywheel welded to a 9" axle with a piece of scrap plate on top. Stoked with how it came out.

Love the drilled supports!

Those are go-fast holes! Nice work Justin.

I loving all the cool stuff people are making. I'm still early in my build, so not much to show, but things are coming...


I made this today. It's a proof-of-concept for my accessory switch panel I'm making to match my VHX gauge cluster. Ignore the paint, the primer started blowing chunks I didn't bother fixing it.

Roughing out an idea:


I drew some indicators I liked and had them printed up:


Picked out some switches to match in the knobs in the Bronco and edge lit indicator panel. Red rings on the push buttons indicate an "ARMED" condition.


Screen shot of my CAD model for the final version. Includes PowerPole and Cig lighter outlets:

Digger, Wow is that cool! Peter

x2, very slick!

Jesus_man wrote:Those are go-fast holes! Nice work Justin.

kinder wrote:Love the drilled supports!

Thanks! The holes add 500 rpm. They came in this weeks ruffstuff order, right I'd Ty them out before using them for anything that mattered. Wanted to brush up the welding skills, thought I'd kill 2 birds with one stone.

way cool Digger!

Digger those are really cool.

Would you be willing to make / sell extras ?

I'd be interested in a set too.

Rox Crusher wrote:Digger those are really cool.

Would you be willing to make / sell extras ?

Thanks for the compliments! The switch panel is still a work in progress. I still need to decide what finish to use on the panel and if I need to switch materials. I milled the first piece out of aluminum, but I would rather have it made of plastic. I was having some surface finish issues with the AL. Problem is finding a source that sells UV stable plastic. McMaster and the other usual sources are not turning up much.

I don't have problem building a few more for club members. Right now I'm swamped with trying to get the Bronco totally ready for an August Ouray trip. I still have to rewire the truck, swap transmissions, transfer cases, axles. Build the suspension I'm designing, fabricate a cage, install a rear seat and belts, build a tire carrier bumper and winch bumper, and fuel inject the engine.

Before I make any panels for club members, I want to make sure what I've designed will hold up well to the elements. I'd hate to make a crappy product for another guy's rig.

If someone wanted something sooner vs. later, I could provide some instructions for doing it yourself. It's not too difficult, just labor intensive. The machined plate is the hardest part, but I have an alternate idea that could be made with simple hand tools.

Ultimately it will be more than a switch panel. There were be a micro-controller that sits behind the panel, reading the states of the switches, it will sends signals over a single pair of wires telling another micro-controller which relays to turn ON or OFF. This will really simplify wiring and keep things clean looking. It's not limited to 8 switches either. Theoretically there is no limit to the # of relays that could be controlled with 2 wires.

On my scrapyard runs I've been picking up pieces of metal for a welding/fabrication table. While I'm waiting to see if Battlement is actually getting their act together I decided to get it built. Finally got the frame finished tonight. Just need to paint it and cut the 1/4" steel top sheet to fit and it'll be done. Looking forward to finally having a flat surface that won't catch fire to build things on. Gunni, the first thing getting welded on this is your rear shock hoops. I've been playing with the design and I think the final version is really, really cool.

I built this trellis for my mom on Saturday. She had this old bed head board and foot board and was hoping my dad could screw them together. Instead I cut and welded them, then added the stakes so they would not have to bolt it to posts.

She loved it, dad did too, mostly because it saved him a bunch of work

Now the fam and I are off to the lake for a day on the boat and Memorial Day pic-nic. And just so you all know I have not been just resting on my laurels this weekend, I replaced the tilt switch and ignition switch and re-wired the dash as well as rebuilt the control on the boat yesterday. So today is a shake down run of sorts I suppose.

Justin wrote:On my scrapyard runs I've been picking up pieces of metal for a welding/fabrication table. While I'm waiting to see if Battlement is actually getting their act together I decided to get it built. Finally got the frame finished tonight. Just need to paint it and cut the 1/4" steel top sheet to fit and it'll be done. Looking forward to finally having a flat surface that won't catch fire to build things on. Gunni, the first thing getting welded on this is your rear shock hoops. I've been playing with the design and I think the final version is really, really cool.

Cool, looking forward to seeing them, wish I was "building" stuff. Instead I'be been hanging drywall, taping & texturing. Hopefully I can get the house far enough along I'll be in good shape to tear the Bronco apart soon. Looks like I'm lining myself up for a big "build" session with the Bronco- Atlas, ZF, wires, dash, front coil buckets/push axle forward, push rear axle back, rear shocks, etc.

Figured I'd revive this thread. Took a short break from the Bronco to fab up some shock hoops for a member here. Pretty happy with how they came out. I tried a different method for capping the tube ends that results in a stronger weld and better appearance. I've got most of the materials on hand to make more if anyone is interested.

Those look great Justin! I always envision my projecting coming out that nice, but it takes a fair bit of artistic ability, which I severely lack.