Shop pedestal idea...

[komelika]

I'm sure this is far from original but I have an idea for a bender pedestal the will be integrated so I can remove the bender and use it for my vise and my grinder as needed. I have a length of 2"x3" square tubing that I will cut to 36" and weld to a 12"x12"x .25" plate that will mount to the floor. I'll insert a length of smaller square tubing (1.75" x 2.75")  inside the the 2"x3" all the way to the pedestal snd rossete weld it two to three places on two sides. The smaller piece will protrude from the top by about 6" with a pin hole to hold the attachment to the top. I can then build top attatchments to suite any tool that I need to mount. Right now I would build one for my bender, vise, and grinder. It would be simple enough to build and I could swap tools in about 30 seconds. I think primarily it would be a great space saver since I don't have a lot of bench surface. Another benefit is that I can use it in the middle of the floor where I will have more room to work with tubing. What do you think?

Also, I have a enough material to build two so I can mount one permanently near my bench for the times that I need the vise or grinder there.

[komelika]

Does anyone know what sizes of square tubing are available? I'm not sure if 1.75"x 2.75" is or not. If not, I'll have to figure out what to do for the center piece.

[fabr]

Your idea will work but the 1.75x2.75 will not be available. Just ask and I'm betting that someone here will be glad to make a stub for ya to use tho.

[komelika]

I was wondering about that. I think I can get away with two lengths of 1.75" angle opposite of each other and get nearly the the same result and keep costs down.

The black areas represent rosette welds. What do you think?

[fabr]

Nope. Personally I think if you just made a coupling collar that went around the outside and added a couple of pinch bolts like a gooseneck trailer coupler is done you would be much better off.

[Doug Heim]

I recently took a heavy wall tube and machined it all the way around to create an insert like that and it was to fit perfectly in 2X3 Tube just like you have stated above. The sizes to fit inside 2X3 are not available. Not sure if the angle will work without grinding a radius on them asth ID of the tube has a  big corner radius.

[fabr]

red is pedestal tube,black is collar,blue is pinch bolts

[komelika]

Thanks for the input guys. How tight of a fit could I get with the collar? What size tubing would I use? The reason I ask is because of the tourque that using the bender will create would constantly loosen the pinch bolts if there is any slop between the collar and the pedestal. Right?

What if I went with a smaller insert? I could use a 1.75" x 1.75" 11g square tubing centered in the pedestal with through pin to keep the attachment square and snug. Again, black areas are rosette welds.

[fabr]

You won't loosen the pinch bolts. Any slop is taken care of by the pinchbolts being 90* to each other and pushing the tube tight against the opposite wall. Make your collar with only maybe a 1/16" slop..  Make the collar from 4 pieces of 1/2x3" or so plate welded together. You're building a buggy so this should be no problem.

[komelika]

You're building a buggy so this should be no problem.

Ouch! Simmer down brushfire! 

[fabr]

 

[SPEC]

I heard Fabr called ALOT of things...
BUT NEVER BRUSHFIRE
 

[fabr]

I kinda like it!

[komelika]

I kinda like it!

Its yours! LOL

I'm trying to figure out how to do this with readily available materials simply because I don't have a shop full of cutting tools and I don't want to pay the steel yard $10 a cut either. I'd love to have the budget to go drop a wad on a plasma cutter, but it aint in the cards. Especially since I just dropped $800 on tools to build this buggy. So yeah, I have all the faith in the world that I have the ability to do certain things. It is the means to do certain things that tends to me square in the ass.

[fabr]

$10 A CUT?!?!?!?!! Damn,they really stick it to ya there! I gotta ask though.How you planning on cutting the tube and stuff? I'm not TRYING to be a smartass either. THe reason I ask is that the first 2 cars I built I used a hacksaw and a fricken file. I didn't have so much as a grinder. All I had basically was a drill,a hacksaw ,a file and an ancient scratch start TIG rig. I farmed all  my bends out.  Simply put, I did what I had to do to get what I wanted. Where there's a will there's a way ya know. Fortunately that was over 30 years ago. Now I'm a spoiled rotten old BRUSHFIRE! LOL!!!!! I'm REALLY glad those days are behind me.  We're behind you and know that you'll get the job done. When you hit a hard spot ,as we all have,someone here will jump right in and offer help. Be sure to feel free to ask any and all questions you wish and keep the pics coming.