Winter Contest Project #1 Return Air Furnace Stand

I am the service manager for a small HVAC shop in Goodyear, AZ. Recently I secured a contract for the city of Surprise,AZ to do all their mechanical work. They have a program for low income households every year. If you fill out all the paperwork with the city and qualify, the city will pay for some needed renovations to your home. 1 of these jobs was for a very nice retired lady on Social Security. I replaced her gas furnace, evaporator coil, and her air conditioner. There was nothing wrong with her existing equipment other than age... So I decided instead of scrapping the old equipment I would install the system on my garage.

So this project is a stand for the furnace.

The plan is to use 1" 6061 Aluminum square tubing to build a stand for the furnace. I will use some aluminum sheet to encompass the stand and use a 16 X 25 X 1 filter grill on the side.

I used my Everlast 225LX set in AC with frequency at 120, balance set to 35%, Amps set to 140, CK130 Flex with gas saver kit. 3/32" 1.5% lanthanated tungsten ground sharp using about 7lpm argon using 4043 Aluminum fillrod.

Dimensions of the stand is 28" x 21" x 21" tall.

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I ran out of 1" square tubing before I could finish the stand... 36" short... Will resume Monday after I go get some more tubing and some sheet.

That seems to be the way it always works. You either end up with way to much, or just a foot too little.

I haven't purchased any new tubing for this. I got extremely busy at work and have not had the time to complete this project. But I have learned a few things from this project and a few other projects I've welded at work.
One thing that I didn't do here but should have is cut the ends of the tube at a 45 degree angle and welded them together so there is not a awkward open end. I learned this doing some 1" steel frame for some stuff at work!!!
Looking to finish this project possibly next week.

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Originally Posted by sw2x

I haven't purchased any new tubing for this. I got extremely busy at work and have not had the time to complete this project. But I have learned a few things from this project and a few other projects I've welded at work.
One thing that I didn't do here but should have is cut the ends of the tube at a 45 degree angle and welded them together so there is not a awkward open end. I learned this doing some 1" steel frame for some stuff at work!!!
Looking to finish this project possibly next week.

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For joints you forgot to miter, you can get some square plastic plugs that snap in the end of the tubing. It's a quick and easy way to finish off things, and looks nice. Another option is to weld flat caps to the ends, and grind smooth. I used the plastic cap for the tube that the hand winch mounts on, and welded caps for another project.

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I'm pretty much learning from my mistakes... I don't have anybody to teach me so....

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Originally Posted by sw2x

I'm pretty much learning from my mistakes... I don't have anybody to teach me so....

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As I read elsewhere, 'experience' is what we name our mistakes :)

I have a lot of 'experience.'