Headache Rack Build

[Deleted member 995608]

Wayne - I have a 7" x 12" Turn Pro band saw that I use. It cuts slow, but it cuts pretty accurately so I don't spend much time afterwards, if any, trying to my perfect 90's, 45's or whatever angle I need. In essence, I spend less time cutting using the bandsaw.

Here's a pic of the one I own. I bought it from Enco a few years back when they had free shipping on machinery items. Sadly, MSC (owner of Enco) is closing the Enco wharehouse this month :{

 

[Wayne M.]

That's a nice saw. I see hydraulic raise/ feed. I once received Enco catalogs in the mail.

 

[promisedland]

My saw looks the same but has a JET sticker on it.....

 

[Deleted member 995608]

Yep, it's a China import that wears different badges.

 

[Deleted member 995608]

Got the ole flapper wheels out today with hopes to hide my bird poo welds. Cleaned up pretty well I think.

Speaking welds, here's the complimentary sample of my bird poo welds, Lincoln 256 mig with 0.35 wire and 75/25% gas.

I bit the bullet and drilled holes in the stingers for my amber marker lights. Not sure that I'm in love with them, but I sure am not going to fill the holes in so they're staying.

Couple of poser shots against the cab

 

[Wayne M.]

Nice. What's the finish going to be?

 

[promisedland]

Real purty bird poo!

 

[Deleted member 995608]

So I had a buddy come over this evening and helped me load the 3x3 angle frame onto the bed, and then we centered up the rack and tacked it into place. Only left is to cut the 1" solid rod rails that will run the length of the bed and attach to the lower portion of the rack. Was hoping to do that tomorrow but the costume shop called, so I have to go pick up my fireman costume and cover station 14 tomorrow from 0800 until the afternoon.

In the back, you can see the square tube that's temporarily tacked into place to make loading and unloading a little easy......er.

 

[Deleted member 995608]

Nice. What's the finish going to be?

It will have it sand blasted before I paint. Trying to talk my wife into powder coating, but not sure she will left my cough up $300 right now. If not, I will re-use the Duple Color Bed Liner in a Can that I sprayed on the rockers of my 3rd gen. That stuff never chipped or peeled over the 100k miles it saw. Good stuff.

 

[w6pea]

Nice set up you got there, Thanks for posting the pictures.

 

[promisedland]

Bed Liner in a Can [/I]that I sprayed on the rockers of my 3rd gen. That stuff never chipped or peeled over the 100k miles it saw. Good stuff.

Would you please post some pics about this 'paint' ^^^^^ I have a Wyoming truck that has been sand blasted by the gravel roads and the PA winters will find a place to bite in and rust.... I am really thinking about doing something like that....

 

[Deleted member 995608]

Would you please post some pics about this 'paint' ^^^^^ I have a Wyoming truck that has been sand blasted by the gravel roads and the PA winters will find a place to bite in and rust.... I am really thinking about doing something like that....

I posted about it here on TDR a few years back. When I get home, ill search for it.

 

[Deleted member 995608]

This is the Dupli Color stuff I used, not the Armor Coat version. http://duplicolor.com/product/truck-bed-coating

I spent roughly 2 hours per side with prep before spraying. Heavy degreaser, followed by a red Scotch Brite pad, and then taping off with auto body style vinyl 1/8" tape to make a razor sharp edge. If I remember correctly, I used 4 cans per side, allowing about 20 minutes between coats. I put over 100k miles on that product and it never did chip or peel. Not bad for an $100 investment. The bed liner shops in my neck want about $1200 to do rocker panels nowadays.

 

[Deleted member 995608]

Worked a little today on the rack. All that's left is to build a cradle for my Pro Tech chest box to sit in. The chest will hang from the side rails so I can keep an open space below the box to fit full sheets of plywood or drywall underneath.

 

[promisedland]

Nice! Really want to see it on the truck!

Dont EVER say you cant weld! I"m impressed!

 

[Deleted member 995608]

Well, today brought the suck to my project. What you didn't see once I had the 1" rails tacked into place, is that that I noticed the rack was 3/4" off perpendicular to the rails on one side. Don't expect you to understand that (I don't). All I know is that I spent the next hour cutting the rack off, and then some grinding occurred......lot's and lot's and lot's of grinding. Got that all back into place and reattached the 1" rails.

Then I went to work on the cradle for the tool box. All was going well until a buddy came with some silver bullets. I only had a couple, but I lost my focus and cut the long portions short by 1". So I made up the difference by adding a 1"x2" spacer. I got it tacked into position and soon realized that I had made another mistake. Oh well, I have to drive down to town tomorrow anyways, so I'll pick up another stick of 2'x1"x.250 and fix my mistakes later. I'm ready to be finished with this; yesterday.

 

[Deleted member 995608]

I ended up rebuilding the cradle to the correct size so I could get rid of the spacers. Call me crazy.....

This afternoon I heaved up my tool box into the cradle and drilled/tapped some 1/2-13 holes to mount the chest. All that's left is to drill a few more holes for wiring purposes and send it off to the sand blaster Monday morning. I'm gonna pony up the money for a powder coat job. I've wasted and spent too much time on this stupid thing, so I think it would be dumb to rattle can at this point.

Wiring is going to be tricky simply because the openings are so small. I'm used to working with standard size trailer lights like the 6x2 ovals or 4" round fixtures that have a gigantic openings compared to these little LED's. Just will have to get creative when fishing the wires through.....

 

[Deleted member 995608]

Brought a buddy over this evening to help me load the rack on the truck. Tomorrow at the crack of dawn, I'll be on my way to the blaster. Should have it back later this week, so I can get the dadgum thing wired. I'm tired of looking at this thing, but I'm excited to get this project out of the way as I already have other welding projects waiting to start. One of those will be making an almost identical rack for another friend, but without lights or the bed rails.

 

[Deleted member 995608]

So excited! Powder coat turned out great. Now on to soldiering the wire harness up and finish installing the lights.

 

[BSeyler]

That looks great! How much do you think it weighs? I've got plans to build a rack for my pickup when I get some time. I just haven't decided what it will look like, yet.
I had a Lincoln 256 follow me home in December. I love it! Neither of my stick welders has been turned on since.