Bright Lights & Cold Steel

There is a saying amongst physicians that when all else fails, it may be time for "bright lights and cold steel."  This doctor is speak for surgery.  Basically, if you're lying on a procedure table with large operating lights overhead and a scalpel coming at you, its safe to say "medical management" has failed and you've probably seen better days.


In the world of welding, bright lights and cold steel are just part of a typical day on the job...

My preferred version of "bright lights and cold steel"

With all my materials on hand and modicum newly-acquired and partially-honed welding skills under my belt, I set forth to build my stairs. The first step was material prep.  My beam had considerable mill scale on it that had to be removed before I could start welding....skipping this step would allow oil, rust, and grime to infiltrate my welds and compromise their structural integrity.  This was easily accomplished with my angle grinder.

With my beam prepped, the next step was to address some minor defects on the riser wedges.  As you can see below, there was a small raised area on each of the riser wedges—a bye-product of the milling process, I suppose.  

How exactly these wedges were cut to their final shape I still do not know, but other than this small defect, they were practically flawless.  A few seconds at the grinding wheel and these raised areas were history.

My next step was layout.  Using my plans, I measured out and scribed lines to demarcate each riser wedge's attachment site.  Once all my lines were down, I began getting my riser wedges into position for tack welding.  To accomplish this, I used right-angled welding magnets—these allowed me to get each wedge positioned perfectly without an extra set of hands.

Right-angled welding magnets used to hold riser wedges in place for welding

With everything in position, I tack welded each riser wedge in place.  As anyone who has ever welded will tell you, pieces being welded tend to “pull” toward the weld...a phenomenon that can wreak havoc on a project like this.  To prevent this “pulling” from screwing up my alignment, I used a precisely-sized block of wood and a clamp to keep everything aligned.

Once each wedge was tack welded into position, I began welding the joints.  Each joint was pre-heated using a butane torch to improve weld penetration and broaden what welder’s refer to as the HAE (i.e. “heat affected area”).  Don’t worry; I’ll spare you the HAE dissertation.

Pre-heat joints = improved weld penetration = greater strength

Now, I’d like to tell you my welds turned out textbook…appearing as a virtual “stack of dimes.”  

Now this is a flawless weld...note the uniformity in width and thickness.  When done correctly, a good weld will appear as a stack of dimes.  I found this image on the web.

Despite my best efforts, however, I cannot report this.  Sadly, I can’t even report that the appearance and quality of my welds improved as I worked my way down the beam, because they didn’t.  The truth of the matter is that each of my welds varied considerably in appearance and quality and there was no appreciable successive improvement between my first weld and my last…the mark of a true novice, I suppose.  Below is a weld typical of what I produced.

Stack of dimes?  More like a stack of chewed bubble gum! For god's sake, it looks like I developed Parkinson's half way through my weld.  An experienced welder would be able to point out half a dozen problems with this weld.

Over the next couple weeks, I slowly chipped away at this phase of my project one riser wedge at a time. 

half way home

With the last of my riser wedges in place, I took some time to congratulate myself—this was no small feat.  The next step was to weld my tread support plates in place. Like the riser wedges, the tread plates are also 3/8” thick mild steel and they too necessitated some layout and prep work before I could start welding.

First thing first, I laid out all the plates on the ground and found center. These plates are 30” wide so even I was able to find center without too much trouble.  

 

3/8" mild steel tread plates

 I scribed a line demarcating center on each plate using a carbide-tipped marking pen.  

I then measured 2” to ether side of center and scribed another line on each side—these lines would demarcate where each outer edge of my riser wedges would rest.  Guidelines inscribed, I then set forth removing the mill scale from the soon-to-be-welded areas of my tread support plates.   

Once my layout and prep work were finished, I then began figuring out the best method for getting my tread plates to stay in place while I tack welded them into position.

 

As you can see from the photo above, I used a wooden wedge and clamp to keep the tread plate on the slanted face of the riser wedges.  With the tread plate positioned vertically, I was then able to slide it left-to-right to get my previously inscribed lines aligned with the outer edges of my riser wedges.   

Once in place, I used some small welding magnets to hold things in place while I tack welded everything in place.

With a few tread plates tack welded in place, my stairs began looking more and more like...well, actual stairs! 

 

In truth, I’d be lying if I told you I wasn’t a little surprised things were looking as good as they were at this point.  Having never made anything like this before, I suppose I expected to end up with a giant steel mess by this point in the project.

I have had more than a few night's dreams haunted by images like this since I started this project

But despite these fears, I think things are looking pretty darn good:

 

All of these tread plates are tack welded in place.  Once I get all 15 tread plates tacked in place (I have 4 left), I will flip the piece over and weld my joints from above (as opposed to trying to weld over head).  The first tread plate (furthest to left) is screwed up & out of alignment...that will be corrected before I weld all my joints.

Starting to look like actual stairs!  2" thick wooden tread covers will eventually be bolted from below to each tread plate

That said, I suppose it’s a little early to declare victory…the real test will come when I install the stairs--if angles and dimensions are off, it will be painfully obvious at that point.  Until then, I’ll just keep plugging away…of course, at the speed I work, we could be well into 2014 before that time arrives.