While it’s always appealing to pick a simple welding project that offers a quick win for the weekend, the coming winter is the perfect time to start a bigger, heavy-duty welding project that stretches over a few months. While it rains or snows outside, you can strike up your torch inside the garage or welding shop and get to work on these larger, more time-consuming welding projects. Here are six recommendations on where to start:
MIG Welding a Park Bench
If you have a scroll bender and MIG welder in your shop, you can weld a custom bench this winter. This particular bench pictured above was welded with ¼”x 1-1/4″ flat bar steel for the seat and the back. The scroll bar can bend the steel for the decorative sides before joining them together with a MIG welder.
Also take note that you’ll add a bunch of much-needed reinforcement by adding a section of steel across the center of the seat across the underside.
Learn more about this MIG welding project.
MIG Welding a Wheelbarrow
If you’d like a welding project that is a bit more mobile than a bench, check out this wheelbarrow. The main frame uses ½” square tubular steel, while the handles are made out of round tubes welded onto the frame.
As with most welding projects, 1-inch square tubes also come in handy. The legs and frame supports are made from these sturdy 1-inch square tubes that can handle a lot of wear and tear. Once you’ve welded the frame together, you can use pressure treated wood or finished wood to finish the wheelbarrow.
Learn more about this MIG Welding Project.
Use Your Welder to Give Your Boat a Lift
If you’re looking for a challenging welding project for your stick welding machine, consider this heavy-duty welding project that constructed a huge boat lift. Using 7018 stick welding electrodes, you can build a similar lift for your boat, making it easier to transfer your boat from the water to a dry dock for the winter.
Learn more about this stick welding project.
Roof Welding Project
While a relatively small number of people own boats, everyone needs a roof. Whether you need a roof over your garage, shop, or gas storage tanks at a business, a metal roof will ensure that you’re up to code and don’t have to worry about rot or fire.
One welder set out to build a roof from scratch for the gas tanks at a local airport. He used 1 inch square tubing and relied on a friend to pre-cut the tubes each evening so that he could focus on welding. He completed 1 to 1 ½ trusses each evening.
He also used 3 ½ inch galvanized pipe for the stanchions, which had to be cleaned with muriatic acid in order to form clean, strong welds. Of course the fabricated roof had to be lifted into place with a crane, but if you’re brave enough to weld a roof from scratch, that shouldn’t be a problem for you!
Learn more about this welding project.
MIG Welding a Gazebo
Perhaps you want to weld a structure, but a large roof on a building is a bit too involved. Then you could consider this gazebo welding project since it offers lots of great welding challenges on a smaller scale. Once again 1-inch square tube comes in handy for the columns and handrails, but the roof itself is made from two-inch square steel tubes. All of the welding can be done with a MIG welder.
For decorative touches, ½ by 1/8-inch flat steel can be shaped with a scroll bender. The gazebo in this example included a bench made from rectilinear tube, but you could combine this welding project with the bench mentioned above.
Learn more about this MIG welding project.
Welding a Garden Bridge
If you’re looking for a welding project that you can install in your back yard or garden, one welder fabricated a bridge from scratch, creating his own design. He made a six-foot-long bridge with a one-foot rise in order to create an arch. Since the bridge curved, he used six-foot-long composite boards that he could bend easily into place after he finished welding.
He welded the bridge in his garage, clamped all of his joints together to ensure they were lined up properly before tacking them together. Take note that the vertical welds on the rails proved the most difficult part of the process.