The Armour Archive

Do you bend all the bars before or after you weld it together?

i have only ever made 1 helm (and boy what a doozie) but everyone i know would say bend first.

build the frame ( ie the outside bars/center bar on a basic grill)

THEN fill in with shaped bars.

welding a grill flat then tryin to dish it sounds like one hell of a mess, im sure it could be done but cant imagine it being faster without a big press and jigs.

Thank you both!
I had no clue and was just curious. Won't be making a grill for a long time still, but wanted to know

I would start witha mock up in wire...
The Chenille jumbo pipe cleaners actualy work quite well for this.

Then start with either with the outside/center bar frame or from the top down.
Usualy bending/cutting/sanding everthing untill your happy with the look then welding the bars together.
Then cleaning up the welds untill they are structurely sound and your happy with how it looks.

I cheat and use two pieces of metal shaped like a } so the bar spaceing is 7/8"

They really only fit where they belong after you bend them anyway.

Samuel wrote:build the frame ( ie the outside bars/center bar on a basic grill)

THEN fill in with shaped bars.

This.

losthelm wrote:I would start witha mock up in wire...

bending/cutting/sanding everthing untill your happy with the look then welding the bars together.
Then cleaning up the welds untill they are structurely sound and your happy with how it looks.

And this.

I do frame and then lowest bar (chin) then eyeline. Then I build the rest. Each weld is its own tiny piece of art. If you attack it from that perspective it will save you from finishing up, stepping back to look at it and shaking your head at what you've done.

if your making a standard grill and want to cut some time make yourself a little jig to keep spacing at a MAXIMUM. ( some people go 7/8, I tend to base it on what barstock im using ..)

a 3/4 peice of solid bar with a T welded to the top and a 7/8 one will make sure your in regs at all times. ( cant have a 1" dowel pass through it)

on the decorated grills ive done the spacing for most of it is in the 3/4 or less range. so the jigs are only really useful on standard grillwork.

What's the T for, Samuel?

to keep it from falling into the helm, the T hangs it between the bars,

I want to build myself a set of clamps for spacing and holding bars while I weld them up and shit. A lot of the while I shit because everything falls apart when I leave it on the bench and run to the toilet.

Take 2 pieces of scrap bar stock, say like 3/8" square. Put a brass shim a twixt them, and clamp them tight in the drill press vice. Maybe even tack weld them on the ends where it won't matter when I'm done and cut the weld off.

Drill a couple 1/4" holes using the brass shim as a centerline, and space them like 13/16" apart.

Rotate the whole thing 90 degrees and drill a hole, and tap it out for a 3/16" bolt.

I think they'd be cool and handy.