Steel / stainless fireplace spark guard curtain, rails, and fascia

[jakeru]

Here is a personal project I've been spending a number of hours on over the last few days.

Its a custom fireplace "spark guard curtain" mounting bracket and fascia plate. It is for a wood burning fireplace with an "L" shaped opening (open on two sides.) I've got 5/16" diameter stainless steel rails that will sit in holes on the sides of the frame, and bolt up through other holes above, from which three hanging "mesh" steel spark guard curtains will hang.

I TIG welding the 1/8" thick 1018 cold rolled steel pieces together, to make the required frame and front fascia plate. On a couple of the weld joints shown, I felt I got the settings dialed in. I used some high speed (300Hz) pulsing with the DC arc to help concentrate the heat right along the joint, without melting the edge, which will be visible when this bracket is installed. I tack welded a few dabs of very small filler, then just welded it up autogenously. I also put a strong fillet in the under side. I used techniques to get full strength at the joints while keeping distortion to a minimum. There will still a little bit of distortion I sanded flat on the visible side of the fascia.

I gave the fascia plates a "brushed" look by sanding them with the arrangement shown. 60 grit 3M "sandblaster" (the good stuff) sandpaper backed by some flexible scotchbrite pad and an aluminum sanding block. Took some elbow grease, but turned out nicely.

More to come later as I put the finishing touches on this project...