I had purchased a welder last year (2019) with the intention to begin learning how to use it – starting with small projects – and working my way towards a level of competence. The first project was a welding table – from weldtables.com. Essentially followed the instructions and it was nearly impossible to mess up.
My second project was dubbed “Project Trellis” and it started with some drawings as all good projects do. This was right around the beginning of the Covid lockdown and I was going a bit stir crazy and really needed something to do. The goal was to fabricate some simple yet good looking trellis for the various vines we have around the house. A little Adobe illustrator and the iPhone camera allowed me to put something together for my wife Sally to sign off on before got I started. The cut list is in the image below.
I first cut all the main frame pieces. Simple 45-degree cuts on the saw. Lined up and squared the corners with clamps before tack welding them.
In hindsight, I think I should have used 1″ square tube instead of 1×1/2. I was just really trying to keep the weight down. However the 1″ square would have made for a cleaner finished product as the 3/8in rod mesh would have been completely contained within the frame and hidden from the side view.
The 3/8in square rod had a lot of grease and mill scale so I hit it all with a flapper disk after cutting.
I made a pretty major rookie move and failed to primer the trellis before painting – so the latex paint (Left over from when they painted the house) just scratched off with a finger nail. Such failure. Wire wheeled it all off, hit it with primer, and then repainted.
The welder is a Miller Multimatic 255, using 0.30 wire and C25 gas. I used the auto settings more the most part tuned to the gauge of steel I was welding at the time.
The thin walled 1×1/2 tube was really easy to burn through and I had to be quiet careful.
The first 3 are done and I am quite happy with the finished project – and it’s 100% wife approved. Video Below.
