OMG that huts, watching you drill :) When drilling in steel use low speed and big pressure - push it hard. If a drill bit slips it means not enough pressure. Using high speed especially when a drill bit is slipping will get it blunt very quick. Plus, I'd use some oil or WD-40.
Haha, I definitely have seen the speed chart for drilling steel somewhere. If I have more expensive bits to protect I probably would have been a little more interested in getting that set up correctly. Thank you for sharing. Upon recommendation of another commenter, I've ordered some tap magic for next time 🤙
Get another piece of 2" square tube, weld a flush pug in one end, position it so that it sets flush with the blade and drill your holes in it for your pin. That should help keep the mud/crud out of it.
Carbide burrs are far better than those sandpaper tubes. Also use some type of oil when drilling steel. And lastly, brace the drill against a knee or something to save your wrist. Those larger bits tend to grab. That's all my advice. I welded a hitch receiver on my box blade not long after i started welding. It's uglier than yours but it's strong and super useful. Good job getting to done.
Thabks for the tips! I was really thinking a die grinder would have been nice for that project. I've never used one, but they look like they would be super handy. I'm imagining this will be one of those things that will be handier than I thought it would be. Time will tell 😅
I have a 2-5/16” and 2” ball welded on top of my Deere 35G excavator’s blade. Wonderful modification. Didn’t want to keep chiseling packed-in dirt out of a square hole for a reciever. The best thing for tree work? The ability to hitch a dump trailer to the blade on the machine, and carry it with you to the base of a tree being removed. Fill it up and push it back into the woods. Dump. Repeat. I do mostly rural tree removals where the customer has an acre or two of forested land, or wants me to simply dig a burn pit to dispose of the tree.
@@zaccheus just buck everything shorter than the trailer is WIDE, and you can keep loading it laterally, dropping it in, and packing it against the tailgates using the back of the bucket. 😎
Not sure why my comment didn’t post but this is a cool idea !! Good job !! They make caps for hitches and the have them on Amazon to keep dirt out of it .
There is also some lubricant called tap magic that will will help with drilling through the steel. While it's actually cutting oil used for tapping/threading it will aid in drilling through the steel, make your drill bits last longer.
@villageearthwright It's held up great. I haven't had any issues with it getting packed with mud or anything. I dont actually use my blade much for dirt though, so that might be why 😅 I have t seen any signs of deformation or anything. I have moved super heavy loads with it, but it's been really handy when I've needed it. Worth doing for sure
@@zaccheus So I ended up actually just cutting a slot in the top of mine and then contouring the front to match the blade, I really liked the flush face idea you have. I had mine just sticking out in the middle of the blade before and it never got packed with dirt to much.
Oh DANG! The way you snapped that steel like like still has the Gp mind blown. Put a plug in that sucker so it dont get packed full of dirt on you. Im sure for what your doing with it your welds will be just fine.
Haha, I worked hard to make that a smooth break, thanks for noticing 😂 That's a great idea. I think I'll try to make one next time I have some spare tube lying around.
I notched mine threw the top lip of the blade and put the tube flush with the top lip. Plenty of weld without braces. Also had a gap to get penetration of the weld.
11:36 Comparing the welds, the one directly on the hitch tube was worse, im wondering if the tube isnt galvanized? I bet you are gonna use it to move a trailer 😂
Milwaukee 12V - They have nice little die grinders. The 90 deg Milwakee 12V die grinder is nice but expensive for what it is. I do have a bigger straight Makita 18V die grinder - also nice. But air die grinders are super cheap and good in the shop. I don't have much for Milwaukee 12V. The die grinders are nice and I have a job speaker. Otherwise their battery design is dumb. Oh, I got a few 12V soldering irons really cheap on ebay a while back. They actually work well for quick jobs.
I've been torn between building a makita or mikwaukee collection for a long time. Makita seems to cost slightly more and there are fewer tools, but I already have the big angle drill and 4 batteries to go with it. Plus they seem to keep more of their tools in the 18v category rather than downsizing them to 12v
@@zaccheus Seems to me like Milwaukee batteries cost more, and some tools require huge 18V batteries. Makita is good at letting you get cheap batteries on some of their kits. Yeah, I don't like Milwaukee's push to make you get 12V tools. Milwaukee still does not have a 18V nibbler and Makita has had one for years. For the money, I like my Makita 36V top handle chainsaw and I don't have to buy special big batteries for it. That said I do have some Milwaukee 18V since I wanted to try the red framing nailer. I'd likely stay with Makita if I could choose only one.
@boomupengineering Thanks sharing your thoughts on the matter. I'm really not sure which direction I'll end up going in the long run 😅 seems like not a big win or loss either way.
Easier to get good penetration with stick welding so it isn't a bad way to go. But a cheap wire feed welder with flux core wire is nice for such things. Or solid wire if you use shielding gas and do it in the shop. I have a Miller Passport which runs on 110V and 220V. Has a paintgun CO2 bottle in the Pelican style case so you can literally plug it in and weld.
@@zaccheus I don't think there are any welders available now that compare to the Miller Passport. I paid $800 for mine off of Craigslist. Too bad Miller replaced it with a more expensive do-it-all welder that doesn't MIG as nicely as the cheaper Passport. I put 0.023 stainless wire in mine to weld up my chainsaw muffler (Makita 7900) after gutting it. Works well on carbon and stainless steel.
Haha, well I learned my lesson on a project or two later as I did end up with a bit on my arms 😅 not having any formal welding education has put me a little behind in a few areas. PPE is definitely one of them 😬
Why bother fabricating the entire thing you can buy a used receiver for just about any truck application on fb for $50 or less turn it upside down and cut it to length to span the inside to those side gussets on the blade and weld it in place..
