Wanting to make a pedestal stand for Mitchell Signature Machine

[Golfrnut]

Needs some help from people that are smarter/more experienced than I am on this one.

 

I have wanted to put together a pedestal stand to floor mount my bending machine for a decade or more.  Part of the issue is I am not quite sure how crazy I need to go on the pedestal itself.  I can flux core well 'gud enough' that it isn't pretty but its functional.  I am in between the cost of buying vs the cost of putting one together.  Mitchell sells theirs for $264 shipped.  I am thinking I can do it for half that at least but not sure how crazy I need to go on parts.  Low's locally sells. 1/4" 1' x 1' (I think that's what they are but regardless will work) hot rolled plates for $40-50 a piece, I just need to source whatever I am going to make the pedestal itself out of.  Couple of thoughts there.  I could get two pieces of 2x2 1/4" angle iron and make my own tube or try and source 2-3" square tubing from somewhere and go that route.  I do find it easy to get into the $125-$150 range just for 2 plates and tubing.  I don't necessarily want to overkill and waste money but certainly don't want to end up bending the post.  If any of you all out there are nerdy into metals, or do a lot of structural welding in life, what do you think would be sufficient?  And is there somewhere I can source the stuff for decent prices?  I'd like it to be about 40" tall.   I see 2x2 48" tubing for about $60.  Would 2" be enough or would I need to go larger?  I'm definitely open to any other options as well if people have some ideas.  If I knew stuff like the tubing used for portable basketball goals would work and where to source it, I would, etc.  

[Vertigo]

I'm lucky in that there are at least four places I know of locally to get material for making just about anything.  If it's going to cost you $150 in materials, IMO, the better option is probably just to spend the extra $$ and order the pedestal from Mitchell.  I don't see why it should cost more than $60-$70 at the most in materials unless you are actually in a "desert" for fabrication materials.  $40 for a 12x12x.25" plate is about 4x what it should be from an actual steel supplier. 

One other note with a caveat...I'm a titanium TIG guy and really don't know anything about flux core, BUT...I've regretted any time I've ever bought hot rolled if I have to weld it.  At least for the TIG process, I've spent entirely too much time grinding off mill scale so I can weld what would otherwise be a quick weld job. 

Maybe let us know what city you're in and someone might be able to help you source more reasonably priced supplies.  If you haven't already, look locally for a steel supply company.  You might get lucky with a remnants area where you can find something really close to what you need for super cheap.  If you have a Metal Supermarket near you...I try not to buy retail from them unless I have to because they're priced higher than a lot of places, but my local one has a great "rems" room where I can buy 6061 plate stock for $3/lb that I use for machining small fixtures. 

[Guest RobS]

I made my stand out of 4" sch 40 black steel pipe and 1/4" plate.  Stick welded the plates to the pipe.    Looks similar to the Mitchell stand.  I'd check around locally with some fabrication, welding and machine shops to see if they have some scraps they'd sell for cheap.  They might even give it to you.  You can also call some scrap yards or google scrap pipe for sale.  Scrap/recycled 4" steel pipe sells for around 25 cent an inch.  You can also get 1/4" A36 steel plates off amazon for $10-$20 ea.

[DooZ]

12 hours ago, Golfrnut said:

Needs some help from people that are smarter/more experienced than I am on this one.

 

I have wanted to put together a pedestal stand to floor mount my bending machine for a decade or more.  Part of the issue is I am not quite sure how crazy I need to go on the pedestal itself.  I can flux core well 'gud enough' that it isn't pretty but its functional.  I am in between the cost of buying vs the cost of putting one together.  Mitchell sells theirs for $264 shipped.  I am thinking I can do it for half that at least but not sure how crazy I need to go on parts.  Low's locally sells. 1/4" 1' x 1' (I think that's what they are but regardless will work) hot rolled plates for $40-50 a piece, I just need to source whatever I am going to make the pedestal itself out of.  Couple of thoughts there.  I could get two pieces of 2x2 1/4" angle iron and make my own tube or try and source 2-3" square tubing from somewhere and go that route.  I do find it easy to get into the $125-$150 range just for 2 plates and tubing.  I don't necessarily want to overkill and waste money but certainly don't want to end up bending the post.  If any of you all out there are nerdy into metals, or do a lot of structural welding in life, what do you think would be sufficient?  And is there somewhere I can source the stuff for decent prices?  I'd like it to be about 40" tall.   I see 2x2 48" tubing for about $60.  Would 2" be enough or would I need to go larger?  I'm definitely open to any other options as well if people have some ideas.  If I knew stuff like the tubing used for portable basketball goals would work and where to source it, I would, etc.  

Where are you located? I'll make you a helluva deal on mine. Mounted my Mitchell bending machine to my bench. I'm in N WI

[Golfrnut]

5 hours ago, Vertigo said:

I'm lucky in that there are at least four places I know of locally to get material for making just about anything.  If it's going to cost you $150 in materials, IMO, the better option is probably just to spend the extra $$ and order the pedestal from Mitchell.  I don't see why it should cost more than $60-$70 at the most in materials unless you are actually in a "desert" for fabrication materials.  $40 for a 12x12x.25" plate is about 4x what it should be from an actual steel supplier. 

One other note with a caveat...I'm a titanium TIG guy and really don't know anything about flux core, BUT...I've regretted any time I've ever bought hot rolled if I have to weld it.  At least for the TIG process, I've spent entirely too much time grinding off mill scale so I can weld what would otherwise be a quick weld job. 

Maybe let us know what city you're in and someone might be able to help you source more reasonably priced supplies.  If you haven't already, look locally for a steel supply company.  You might get lucky with a remnants area where you can find something really close to what you need for super cheap.  If you have a Metal Supermarket near you...I try not to buy retail from them unless I have to because they're priced higher than a lot of places, but my local one has a great "rems" room where I can buy 6061 plate stock for $3/lb that I use for machining small fixtures. 

 

Yeah, I know of one that sells to non-contractors/account holders.  Looks like their raw stock is 21' sections.  Haven't called them or anything, but I figure it be 50/50 that they would have some leftover cut stock laying around that might be more manageable.  If not, I figured by the time I paid them to get a piece down, the price might be a wash.  That's the price of not wanting excess material around I guess.  From the post below yours, if Amazon has that kind of price, that would help too.  There's also a scrap yard in town, just never heard or anyone leaving with more than they came with from there.  I could just stand outside and wait on someone to roll through with something I want.  🙂  lol

[Golfrnut]

2 hours ago, RobS said:

I made my stand out of 4" sch 40 black steel pipe and 1/4" plate.  Stick welded the plates to the pipe.    Looks similar to the Mitchell stand.  I'd check around locally with some fabrication, welding and machine shops to see if they have some scraps they'd sell for cheap.  They might even give it to you.  You can also call some scrap yards or google scrap pipe for sale.  Scrap/recycled 4" steel pipe sells for around 25 cent an inch.  You can also get 1/4" A36 steel plates off amazon for $10-$20 ea.

 

Yep, this was my initial intent.  Crazy enough, I've had a rougher time than I thought trying to find sch 40 pipe that size.  At least around here.

 

Thanks for the insight on the plates on Amazon, I briefly browsed there looking for pipe, but wasn't aware I could source some plates that cheap.  Guess I didn't try hard enough.

[Golfrnut]

1 hour ago, DooZ said:

Where are you located? I'll make you a helluva deal on mine. Mounted my Mitchell bending machine to my bench. I'm in N WI

 

Eastern NC.  Not terribly far from Raleigh.  I thought about throwing a WTB ad out there, but figured shipping might be cost prohibitive.  If you wanna let me know what you can do and want to offload it, shoot me a PM.  Thanks!

[Nessism]

Go to a metal salvage place.  MUCH cheaper than buying from a hardware store.

 

Are you going to bolt the stand to the floor?  If so, all you need are two 3/8" steel plates, 18" square or so, and a post of some kind.  Square, round, doesn't matter.  About 4x4" square, or bigger.  

 

Something like this...

 

 

 

 

This would be easy to make too.

 

Edited January 7 by Nessism

[Golfrnut]

30 minutes ago, Nessism said:

Go to a metal salvage place.  MUCH cheaper than buying from a hardware store.

 

Are you going to bolt the stand to the floor?  If so, all you need are two 3/8" steel plates, 18" square or so, and a post of some kind.  Square, round, doesn't matter.  About 4x4" square, or bigger.  

 

Something like this...

 

 

 

 

This would be easy to make too.

 

 

 

Your top pic is my ideal solution.  The plates are seemingly pretty easy to resource.  The pedestal being the more difficult, and largely, the pricier piece of it to acquire.  In the end, I might have to see if the local places around here allow for rummaging.  

[Nessism]

Steel salvage yard.  They got tons of odds and ends.  They may charge you to cut the pieces to size, but it shouldn't be that much.

 

I bought all the steel for this lathe stand for a very reasonable price (can't remember exact price).  The place cut the pieces to size, and all I had to do is weld it up.  For the center post, you can use almost anything.  Even two large pieces of large angle iron (more welding is all).  

 

 

Edited January 8 by Nessism

[Golfrnut]

15 minutes ago, Nessism said:

Steel salvage yard.  They got tons of odds and ends.  They may charge you to cut the pieces to size, but it shouldn't be that much.

 

I bought all the steel for this lathe stand for a very reasonable price (can't remember exact price).  The place cut the pieces to size, and all I had to do is weld it up.  For the center post, you can use almost anything.  Even two large pieces of large angle iron (more welding is all).  

 

 

 

Yeah, as I noted in my first post, the angle iron has been a thought.  I can get that just about anywhere up to 2x2.  The question with that only being strength and whether that is strong enough.

 

[Nessism]

4 minutes ago, Golfrnut said:

 

Yeah, as I noted in my first post, the angle iron has been a thought.  I can get that just about anywhere up to 2x2.  The question with that only being strength and whether that is strong enough.

 

2x2 is too small, unless you use four pieces, spaced out roughly at the same size as the plates.

[Golfrnut]

15 minutes ago, Nessism said:

2x2 is too small, unless you use four pieces, spaced out roughly at the same size as the plates.

 

That had also been a thought.

[Guest RobS]

3 hours ago, Golfrnut said:

 

Yep, this was my initial intent.  Crazy enough, I've had a rougher time than I thought trying to find sch 40 pipe that size.  At least around here.

 

Thanks for the insight on the plates on Amazon, I briefly browsed there looking for pipe, but wasn't aware I could source some plates that cheap.  Guess I didn't try hard enough.

Here's a thought.  Amazon sells a safety bollard for $45.  It's 42" tall, 4.5" diameter pipe on an 8"x8" base.  The pipe looks like Sch 10.  You can cut the cap off and weld a plate on top.  

[Golfrnut]

2 hours ago, RobS said:

Here's a thought.  Amazon sells a safety bollard for $45.  It's 42" tall, 4.5" diameter pipe on an 8"x8" base.  The pipe looks like Sch 10.  You can cut the cap off and weld a plate on top.  

 

Ironically, I saw the same thing the other night and had the same idea.  Do we thing that the wall thickness is think enough?  That's one of the things I am just not smart enough on and was hoping someone around had previous experience with.  I know a lot of basketball poles aren't all that thick either and do pretty well.

 

Edit:  I guess there would also be the cheap option of filling with concrete.

Edited January 8 by Golfrnut

[Guest RobS]

33 minutes ago, Golfrnut said:

 

Ironically, I saw the same thing the other night and had the same idea.  Do we thing that the wall thickness is think enough?  That's one of the things I am just not smart enough on and was hoping someone around had previous experience with.  I know a lot of basketball poles aren't all that thick either and do pretty well.

 

Edit:  I guess there would also be the cheap option of filling with concrete.

The pipe will be fine. I’d just inspect the weld at the pipe and base to make sure it looks good and is continuous, not just tacked in a few spots. That can be fixed if you have some welding skills. You could also consider beefing up the base but I bet it will work fine as is. My base is 8x8 but thicker. I have it anchored in a concrete floor with 3/8” drop ins and it’s rock solid. 

[Golfrnut]

Welp, went the bollard route in the end. 
 

- 1 bollard from Amazon. $40

- 1 12” steel plate from lows $45

- 1 crappy welder (me)

- some leftover Krylon. 
 

Came out well.  
 

 

[DooZ]

11 hours ago, Golfrnut said:

Welp, went the bollard route in the end. 
 

- 1 bollard from Amazon. $40

- 1 12” steel plate from lows $45

- 1 crappy welder (me)

- some leftover Krylon. 
 

Came out well.  
 

 

I see no crappy welds...well done

[Nessism]

12 hours ago, Golfrnut said:

Welp, went the bollard route in the end. 
 

- 1 bollard from Amazon. $40

- 1 12” steel plate from lows $45

- 1 crappy welder (me)

- some leftover Krylon. 
 

Came out well.  
 

 

 

Outstanding job!  

[Golfrnut]

6 hours ago, DooZ said:

I see no crappy welds...well done

That’s cause it’s underneath the top plate.  🙂

 

For anyone wondering, that tube is about 4 3/8” IIRC and and like 1.7mm thick I think it was.  Plenty good to bend against. 
 

I also learned they sell cutoff wheels for circular saws.  🙂 So I guess that was 15$ for a pack of 5 that I’ll have for forever  

 

[Golfrnut]

I know I left everyone hanging in suspense on this one. 🙂
 

Finally got around to mounting it to the floor. The supplied sleeve bolts sucked and slipped to had to get new ones. Partially my own fault for using a 1/2” bit because the instructions wanted some metric sized bit that no one sells. Go figure. 
 

I also learned an SDS drill it worth its weight in gold after burning up a standard hammer drill. Life lessons, even in your 40s.  
 

Feels good to finally have a permanent home for it.