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Then added 4 pieces of 1 1/2" X 1/4" in the middle as support. By the way the main frame
is 2 1/2" X 1/4" thick angle bars which I think will be enough to hold the weight of the welding cart or the MIG welder. At the lower end, I added another angle bar, the same size, 2 1/2" X 1/4" but made a semi cut on one portion then hammered it inside to form a sort of triangle to make that lower end stronger/stiffer.

Then made a full weld of the entire length of 60" using 8 pcs of 7018 welding rods. Sorry but I missed out on taking pics on the procedure of this lower angle bar.
🙁

i67.tinypic.com

Just some welds I made using 7018 rods. May not look the best weld beads out there
but I made sure the butt joints are beveled and are well welded.

Just some welds I made on the butt joints. Well not really the best looking weld beads
out there but I made sure joints have been beveled and welded well with 7018 rods.

Then with the remaining 1 1/2" angle iron, cut and made the supporting " shoes " to be
welded under the main frame.

Here is the welded ramp frame with the supporting " shoes " welded and then followed with
flap sanding all over, top and bottom after which painted it with three coats of Boysen
Red Oxide to prevent it from further rusting..

Next, I purchased some 4 pcs. of pre cut steel plates measuring 18" X 48" .Then cut
the fourth plate crosswise into 3 pcs of 10" each so I can just weld it to the remaining
larger plates and fit the entire 58" width of the ramp.

By the way the plates I purchased were only 2.0mm in thickness so I guess there is no
need to bevel the sides to be welded. Decided for a butt joint, flap sanded the surface to
be welded, removed traces of oil and mill scale. Then started welding by tacking the ends
and applied an inch of beads in the center.

At this point I decided to experiment on the three plate I will be welding since the plates are
somehow thin and for sure there will be some distortion on one of the plates. With the first
plate I will try to do longer distances between tacks then apply full welds and will see how
the metal plates will react. Then on the second plate I will do tack welds with shorter
distances the follow it up with full welds in between and again will observe some distortion
if there will be any. And then on the last and third plate I will do more tack or stitch welds
in a more shorter distances, starting at the edges perhaps then to the center and then to
the left then right side letting each stitch weld applications cooling off. Will be observing
again for distortion or warping. Welds will be applied on top and bottom sides, the top welds
will be grinded almost flat but not so to the surface.
:chopper:

And there's me working and welding on the first metal plate ! :attack:

To be continued.........

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This is the first metal plate that I welded. If you will notice I still did apply another tack
in between the edge of the plate and the middle tack weld fearing that the space between
the edge and the middle tack has still a wider distance. The top pic is the first left half and
the lower pic is the second half.

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This is the full image that I welded using 4pcs of 3/32" 6013 rods at 85 amps. The metal
plate has been secured properly on both edges with vise grips to minimize distortion but
still the metal plate had some movement and got distorted. What I did was apply the first
weld on the far left side then stopped on where a tack is applied, then went to the other far
right of the plate. Then moved to the other inner left side where I stopped and applied another set of weld and stopped right in the middle, let it cool for a while then proceed to complete and finish the weld applications.

Did the same procedure at the back side to counter act the distortion but it was not enough
to bring the distorted metal to an almost flat surface. Well I suppose will just do some hammering to even out the surface. :hammer:

This now is the second metal plate, again a butt joint. For the lower pic I started
applying several tack weld on the edges and some stitch welds on the inner portion.

On these two following pics, I did a different approach in applying my welds, first used
stitch welding on the spaces between the previous tacks letting it cool down a bit then
after finishing the first set, went again to apply more stitch welds in between the previous
applications, moving back and fort and letting them cool ones more. Did this procedure
too at the other side( back side ) and it did worked, distortion was relatively managed. .

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Then wire brushed the welds in preparation for the final application.

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As I have already worked on the final applications and connected all the welds.
Here just cleaning again and removing the slags, same process was done on the
back side as mentioned before.

Then for the third metal plate, again a simple butt joint. Cleaned the surface to be welded and just did the same procedure from the second plate applying welds from the edges then the middle portion. But here I was welding the top side and the back side one after the other. Tack welds were now a bit more closer with shorter distances..

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Don't expect a well looking weld beads at the end coz these are several short stitch welds
connected together done on both sides to prevent metal warping. Well that is more of my
concern since anyway the top side welds will just be grinded off but not totally flashed to
the surface.

Anyway my findings with this procedure came out very positive, the metal joint
had no signs of warping. Applying the welds and flipping the metal plate after each weld on
both side countered act metal movement. Its kinda tedious and tiring since the metal plate is a bit heavy but it worked, I got a straight and flat surface.

Any way before finishing the third plate I made a dry fit just to see how it will appear.
During this stage I added some strips of flat bars in between the plates, its 1 1/2" X 1/4
and 58" in length.
:whistle::thumbup:

Decided to clad the flat bars and so started cutting two strips of 1.6 mm thick
" checkered " stainless sheet/plate I have in stock, its 4 1/4" X 48", sort of short to
fill the entire flat bar strips so I will just cut some 10" of stainless sheet and just
connect and weld it to the 48" stainless strips.

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I hammered the sides to soften the edges and then welded it to the angle bars
using 3/32" Nihonweld stainless rods.

:thumbup: