first attempt roof rack

[LUISJG]

i bought a little mig welder at harbor freight and had a bunch of conduit tube laying arround so i proceeded to make a roof rack,, never weld before, its big like 6 x4 jeje for almost all my cherokee roof
it take some practice and took me alot of grinding but it looks cool
and im proud of it so far. now i dont know what to use for the floors,,
""thiker tube " or ?

 

[LUISJG]

another take

 

[Grim Reaper]

Looks great. I really like the design.

You might want to do a little reading up on welding on Galvanized metals. The fumes off it are bad news.

 

[erin]

Very cool job, reminds me of the new stye ConFer racks. As for a floor, since you are pretty light weight so far, with minimal material cost, I would use some 1/8" aluminum diamond plate, all you will need to do is add some cross bars and maybe a couple corner tabs to support the edges fully.
Do be careful with the fumes, they are very nasty as previously stated.

 

[goodtimes]

Looks great. I really like the design.

You might want to do a little reading up on welding on Galvanized metals. The fumes off it are bad news.

Yup. IIRC it is the Zinc that burns off that will, literally, kill you.

 

[robert]

Drink milk- lots of milk; and make sure you are in a well ventilated area.

Looks nice by the way, nice bends.

 

[LUISJG]

thanks , i was welding outside, will keep the fumes in mind and drink milk.

anyways i like the aluminum diamond plate idea.

 

[FourByLand]

Very slick design, I like the updated styling!

:campfire:

 

[robert]

I don't think the milk thing is practiced much anymore, but they used to believe it helped.

I would grind as much of the galvinizing off as you can and have a fan blowing it away from you- it is actually dangerous to your health.
http://www.eco-usa.net/toxics/zinc.shtml

ETA- not sure how that other link got in there

 

[p1michaud]

Watch the fumes!

I will never ever weld galvanized againg after my last experience. My friend was welding a piece of floor grating that was galvanized and I ended up sick for two days. Very nasty stuff, those zinc oxide fumes.
Anyhow, very cool and light weight design. I've built a roof basket as well and would have gone much lighter if I were to do it again, similar to what you did. I really like the rounded corners, looks like a manufactured unit. You could use a few strips of 1" wide flat bar by 1/8" thick and weld them in place for the flooring. I would start with less then add some later if you feel you need it. Keep it as light as possible.
Cheers :beer:,
P

 

[LUISJG]

well thanks for the advice, will keep it in mind next time,
now since i had a bunch of that tube i had to use it, i used a great breathing mask and welded outside plus the fan .
anyways the floor "tubing is on " this time my welds came out great.
tomorrow weld light tabs ,,pass a thin bondo to my inperfect welds, day after prime and paint., i bought some rostoleum primer, and rostoleum black textured paint for exterior metal furniture.

looking good,.
will post finished pics ...

 

[BajaTaco]

That looks really nice I guess you already added some flooring, but if you are thinking it would be nice to have a more solid floor, you should contact Chuck (Ursidae69) about the kennel flooring that he used for his. I think it is in his mod thread in the Toyota Tacoma section.

 

[OverlandZJ]

Nice styling! :clapsmile

Will you be gutter mounting? Yakima or Thule clamps or are you going to fab up something?

I agree with BajaTaco, that kennel flooring looks very promising, and i will probably use it when i do some upgrades to my rack.

I assume you'll mount the Kayak clamps to the rack somehow?

 

[LUISJG]

that kennel floor looks sweet man,, to late though maybe later,
John,,i have some brackets that mount on the factory rails. and i have some saddle mounts for the kayak
that will clamp to the tubes,, this is the reason for the front style of the roof rack
so the lights wont interfere with the kayak ,, maybe will use rectangular lights ithink they will look and work better on this rack


rack is primed!!! tomorrow will be finished.

 

[LUISJG]

well its pouring outside so havnt been able to take some good pics
but here is one