Stainless Steel Trellis from Scrap!

I finished up school and have since started work at a local metal shop. Woo! I come home rather grimy every day, but I'm learning a lot and I'm always wearing my respirator so very little of the toxic stuff is reaching my lungs. Anyways, at school my teacher was making a fire pit with a stainless steel grill on top of it - yeah I know, fancy. When he plasma cut the grill out of 3/16" plate, there were about 40 round rods of stainless steel about 21cm long all in the scrap bin. I thought, "I could do something fun with that. So I did! Here are the pieces when I started.



First I ground them down until they were all shiny. Then I went to the shear and cut the ends off to get square-ish ends. Then I drew some ideas for a trellis out. Here is my second (neater) revision. I ended up not sticking to the drawing. Being the professional fitter that I am (lol) I made the gaps too wide so I had to improvise and make some diagonal bars. It ended looking great regardless!



Then I got the Miller Dynasty out and started TIG welding! Keep in mind this is at school and not home, I do not have the cash for one of those things at the moment. The real cool thing about stainless welding is the colours you get. Here is just one example of how vivid they are.



No I did not do that with a highlighter. Pretty eh? I think I had the welder set to 85 amps or so, but I had a foot pedal so it varied as needed during the weld. I started with the feet that will jab into the ground. I made them extra long for more stability. Then I welded a bunch of pairs together and started really building the trellis! To weld the pairs straight without a fixture table, I used a straight edge. At school I clamped the pieces down, and at home I used heavy objects to hold the rods on the ground. Here is my at home setup.




Now that school is over I no longer have access to the fancy TIG welder But I do have my cheap stick welder! So after school one day I stopped at the welding store and got some stainless stick electrodes. Rated for up to 50 amps, and 1/16" I think. Now it was fun doing the rest of the welding, because my fancy autodarkening helmet is at work. So I was set up with my old style passive helmet with a flip up lens. One of those helmets where you need to get all set up, then flick your head to bring the helmet down. It takes practice keeping the rest of your body still while you nod your head. But eventually it isn't so bad!

Here is my set up for at home. I can't wait to get or build a table and to work standing up!



And here is yours truly.



Just wanted this as a reminder to keep that respirator on when working with metal. Especially stainless steel, which releases hexavalent chromium when welded...just by the name you might be able to tell it is not a good thing to breathe. Chromium is great because it helps with stainless steel's corrosion resistance, but it will make you very sick if you breathe it in. Even if you're just working with mild steel, the fumes and dust are still harmful, just over the long term instead. It's why I wear my respirator all the time in the shop, even though the other guys give me weird looks. I know it works, because the one day I forgot it at home I went home with a sore throat and a headache - not a good sign! So protect your lungs!!

PSA over. Here is how the trellis turned out. Not perfect...but pretty cute I think. Gonna go stick it in the ground outside one of the raised beds for next year's garden. Just a fun idea!

Wow! A lot of work, but just think how long it will last.

I can't resist asking - what are you going to grow on it? My bush beans would love it as they keep trying to pretend they're pole beans! I have some tomatoes who would wrap around it too. But what plant would you love to see hugging it?

Jay Angler wrote:Wow! A lot of work, but just think how long it will last.

I can't resist asking - what are you going to grow on it? My bush beans would love it as they keep trying to pretend they're pole beans! I have some tomatoes who would wrap around it too. But what plant would you love to see hugging it?

Good question! I'm going to guess some sort of beans or peas. I always start the poor things too late in the spring and they get too warm. Having the trellis will motivate me to get them in the ground sooner!

Lovely work Cam!  Excellent use of scrap!  :D

Pearl Sutton wrote:Lovely work Cam!  Excellent use of scrap!  

Thank you Pearl Lots of work but lots of fun too. Love getting use out of metal that would have ended up in the scrapyard.

Right there with you on lung protection.

A few weeks ago I did some indoor woodworking and thought I was doing alright with the windows open and regularly vacuuming up dust.

Nopers. I got a mild sore throat and possibly minor sinus infection that made me wonder if I had a certain virus until I tested negative.

I'm back to wearing my respirator/mask whenever I do anything that puts out dust/fumes.

L. Johnson wrote:Right there with you on lung protection.

A few weeks ago I did some indoor woodworking and thought I was doing alright with the windows open and regularly vacuuming up dust.

Nopers. I got a mild sore throat and possibly minor sinus infection that made me wonder if I had a certain virus until I tested negative.

I'm back to wearing my respirator/mask whenever I do anything that puts out dust/fumes.

Good thinking. Yes it only takes the one time without one to realize, "wow those things really work". I'm the only one at work to wear one all the time, and I do get looks. I was self conscious for the first couple days, but I'm getting used to it now. I go home feeling tired at the end of the day, but just from moving and lifting, not from breathing paint fumes/weld smoke/grinder dust. It's a great feeling!