project 2 from ogorir: windshield rack

I work for a guy who has a LOT of old SAABs. most are basket cases he's acquired for free/cheap for parts, ect. needless to say, we have a lot of glass sitting around. now that I have a real welder, I decided to make a rack to put most of the glass on.

I finished this last week, so I wasn't taking a ton of pics.
Attachment 2127Attachment 2126


the tines are 1x1x1/8" angle, 26" long on a 15 degree angle. I cut the ends of all of the tines @ 15 degrees, all the same direction (DOH). it turned out not to be a huge deal, as there was still plenty of weldable surface. in hindsight, I would've just cut them all off square.

the spine is 2 pieces of 1.5x1.5x1/8" angle welded into a 't'. I believe it is 5' tall. I have a measurement sheet for this somewhere, but I couldn't find it right now. I welded these together first.

I welded the tines on one side of one spine at the same time. this turned out to be a bad idea, as it warped the crap out of the spine. you probably can't see in the pics, but the first pair of tines on both sides are even, whereas the rest are staggered. I decided to try one weld non-staggered to see if it would move the spine back straight, but it didn't move far enough. staggering the tines allowed me to straighten the spine back out.

after I completed one upright assembly, I flipped it over and clamped the other spine to it. the first spine was still a little curved, so it was a bit of a 'best guess' alignment. on the second assembly, I welded one tine on either side starting at the bottom to keep the spine straight. that solved the warping issue completely. also, i clamped the tines for the second spine onto the matching tine from the first side so any error in angle I had for the first upright would be duplicated on the other side so the glass sits level.


after the tines were all on, I cut 2 5' sections of 2x2x1/8" angle for the legs. these got welded on the bottom of the uprights next. I tied the two halves together with 4- 2' pieces if 1" angle. I managed to tack the top 2 on a bit crooked, so I had to cut and bend them straight. it was the end of the day, only excuse I've got. I know better, but crap occurs. I welded all 4 cross braces on one side with it leaning up against the table. the uprights are pretty heavy, around 90lbs at a guess. heavy enough to make them real awkward to move around. I clamped the other side on, tack, weld, ect.

the foam is 3/4" pipe insulation from lowes. I bought a box of 50, which ran me way too much money @ $100, but they only had 10 loose. because the tines are 26" (based off the largest glass we have), I could only get 2 tines out of each piece of insulation.

I tacked 6 casters on the bottom. they're the 3.5" locking swivel casters with the blue rubber rolling surface from harbor freight. I think they were $4/ea. good casters for the money. this cart is really heavy all loaded down, and although it isn't rolling anywhere fast, it does roll and turn fairly well. I'd say all loaded, its around 800lbs, which is pushing the casters, if I remember right.

time wise I'd say I had about 2.5 hours cutting things (before I figured out you need to dress the abrasive blade), 3 hours welding, 3.5 hours taping foam on the tines and between the tines on the spine. the foam was a PITA, but what are you going to do?

you get 8 tines out of a 20 footer if you have them clipped in half like I did for transport. 7.5 20 footers for the tines, half a 20 footer for the ties between the uprights.

total BOM:
$85.60 (52) 26" - 1x1x1/8" angle (8- 20' sections)
$16.77 (4) 5' - 1.5x1.5x1/8" angle (1- 20' section)
$21.69 (2) 5'- 2x2x1/8" angle (.5 - 20' section)
$52 (26) 6' sections of 3/4" pipe insulation
$1.5 (3) rolls of electrical tape
$24 (6) 3.5" casters

$177.56 + tax and weld consumables.