Mitten tree (glove drying rack)

[AndrewS]

Hello

I found this picture in a search engine, pointing to a thread on this forum that doesn't seem to exist any more: http://weldingweb.com/vbb/showthread.php...-drying-racks)



Is that thread still around? I am planning to make something of the sort. Except instead of free-standing there will be rows of pegs sticking out of a wall.

Since there is not much structurall strength needed - I'm hoping to get away with hot rolled round bars of steel, welded to angle or flat stock (depending on how flat my wall is). Using E6011. And prime/paint it afterwords.

But what are those balls on the ends made from? They are kind of a critical part of the design. Without them the contraption is a bit of a death trap Are they welded on the rods or are the balls drilled and inserted over the rods?

Thanks in advance.

[AndrewS]

Oh, look at that. The link works now. FYI: the broken link is here: https://duckduckgo.com/?t=lm&q=mitte...2FIMG_3496.JPG

[Kelvin]

If you can't find balls to weld on the ends (balls from worn-out bearings would work -- check ebay), you could clamp the pieces of bar in a vise, heat the ends and upset them with a hammer ... or weld washers onto the ends...

Personally, I'd just make a hat rack out of wood and dowels, but ya can't weld that, I know...

[AndrewS]

balls from worn-out bearings would work

I've been trying to figure out whether I'll be able to realistically weld anything other than soft steel using the equipment I've got. But there's an overwhelming variety for me to wrap my head around. I'm assuming ball bearing balls are some kind of hardened steel? What will 6011 do to that?

Personally, I'd just make a hat rack out of wood and dowels

I'm a far better woodworker than welder, but that's how I arrived at the metal rack idea.

There is no good way to attach wooden dowels to a backer board at such an angle, subject them to water for half of each year, and expect the joints to last. I'm hoping that even a lame welding job will perform far better in the long term

[shortfuse]

For just drying gloves or anything small like that, no welding required. Just stick some balls on with epoxy. Steel balls, use JB Weld; plastic balls, regular epoxy. Keep it simple.

[Kelvin]

There is no good way to attach wooden dowels to a backer board at such an angle, subject them to water for half of each year, and expect the joints to last. I'm hoping that even a lame welding job will perform far better in the long term

Not to be argumentative, but ... can't you just drill angled holes for the dowels in the backer board, with or without a drill press?

Not sure how wet your hats get, but I've seen plenty of wooden dish-drying racks ... and Titebond II is waterproof enough to use outside in my experience, and Titebond III is even more waterproof than that (and Gorilla Glue is even more waterproof than Titebond III) ... not that you should need any glue in a properly sized dowel-to-drilled-hole joint to hold a baseball cap...

Just food for thought...I wouldn't want to discourage anybody from welding on a welding forum. Welcome to the forum, BTW.

On the "welding ball bearings" issue -- I've had no trouble welding them, though I'm careful to get them REAL hot when I do, which should normalize them (in the past, I've normalized them by throwing them into a woodstove and them fishing them out the next day). Heating and quenching bearing balls could conceivably harden them to the point of causing them to crack, so you want to heat them to orange-red, then let them cool slowly, like buried in wood soot/ash.

[AndrewS]

can't you just drill angled holes for the dowels in the backer board, with or without a drill press?

I can, and I'm sure it will hold for some time. But a child's mitten where I live is literally like a soaked microfiber glove in the winter. 3 children I know will pull on those rods pretty hard, it will be too tempting for them to avoid completely. And the rack will be behind a steel door which if slammed open will generate a strong impact.

I'm a big fan of Titebond 3, I even used it for butt end-grain joints successfully, but for this use case I don't trust that will be enough. The glue and the wood has to withstand too much force spread over too small an area.

It would work for some time, but I don't want to rebuild it. I already have a very long list of projects for the house and I'd rather knock another one off the list than redo an older one

Welcome to the forum, BTW.

Thanks!

Heating and quenching bearing balls could conceivably harden them to the point of causing them to crack, so you want to heat them to orange-red, then let them cool slowly, like buried in wood soot/ash.

Well then, it's great that winter is coming Are there any resources you can suggest for a beginner to learn about this heat treatment stuff? I know practically nothing about it.

[SlowBlues]

Steel spheres are common for decorative metal work (gates, fences, rails etc) and shouldn't be too hard to find. They also come in various shapes and designs (not true spheres for the sticklers), which could add a little flair to your piece.

My local steel suppliers sell hollow and solid steel spheres in various sizes (1/2, 3/4, 1, 1-1/2, 2, etc). The hollow spheres even have a venting hole to prevent blow outs when welding.

King metals will have them online off the top of my head, but be sure to look around for the best price (shipping included) and for different "styles".

The small ones are cheap, larger are relatively cheap, and I've seen bigger spheres (1 foot+) that can get relatively expensive.

If you're further worried about someone hurting themselves on the protruding end you could curve the end so it's nearly impossible to "poke" yourself with it.

[12345678910]

If I was to weld up a mitten tree, it would be stainless for no rust stains, it would be hollow tubing or pipe, it would have fan or heated fan air for drying, probably with a timer.

Or for lightweight, non welded, just bent pvc tubing with extra holes for airflow

[SlowBlues]

The pvc is a good idea but wouldn't look very nice.

I think you'd be delving into glove dryer (machine) territory and leaving mitten rack valley a little too far behind with the rest.

Unless I had the stainless scrap around I'd just use mild carbon, and prime/paint it. a top coat of clear spray paint would allow for fast, easy, and cheap touch ups/recoats with more clear spray paint when/if needed. I've also seen plastidip used on the ends of things like this with pretty good long success.

[MinnesotaDave]

Hello

I found this picture in a search engine, pointing to a thread on this forum that doesn't seem to exist any more: http://weldingweb.com/vbb/showthread.php...-drying-racks)

Is that thread still around? I am planning to make something of the sort. Except instead of free-standing there will be rows of pegs sticking out of a wall.

Since there is not much structurall strength needed - I'm hoping to get away with hot rolled round bars of steel, welded to angle or flat stock (depending on how flat my wall is). Using E6011. And prime/paint it afterwords.

But what are those balls on the ends made from? They are kind of a critical part of the design. Without them the contraption is a bit of a death trap Are they welded on the rods or are the balls drilled and inserted over the rods?

Thanks in advance.

When you're just starting out, places like this sell interesting stuff for you to use: https://www.steelsupplylp.com/ornamental-iron/store

Or, once you know what to look for by browsing, you can check around to save money.

Those little ball ends are pretty easy to tack on. You shouldn't have much trouble with them if you don't get carried away and weld "too much."

[Kelvin]

Are there any resources you can suggest for a beginner to learn about this heat treatment stuff? I know practically nothing about it.

I would just google around, searching articles on quenching, hardening, tempering, normalizing/annealing steel. For probably 90% of the stuff we do (and 100% of mild steel projects), it's not an issue and moot, but for a ball bearing, it might not be. It's an issue for medium- and high-carbon steels, tool steels and the like: O-1, A-2, etc. The kinds of steels used in high-strength (axles, springs) and/or high-hardness (files, cutting tools) applications. Blacksmithing forums are also good to find these kinds of discussions.

Normalizing is pretty simple: You heat the steel to critical temperature (at which temperature it becomes non-magnetic), then allow it to cool it as slow as possible by burying in wood ash or cooling slowly in an oven over hours, depending on the particular steel.

Quenching and tempering to a particular hardness is where it gets trickier, particularly with objects where you want one part of the object to be harder than the rest (the edge of a knife or axe as opposed to the backbone of the knife or poll of the axe)...then you have to quench the edge, then let the heat from the thicker part of the object creep back in and temper it until it gets to a certain color/temperature, then quench the edge again, then let the heat work its way back in toward the sharp edge (which heats up fast due to its lower mass) to a certain color/temp, lather rinse repeat until the whole thing is cooled down below whatever the lowest desired tempering temperature is...

[Weldalittle]

If I was to weld up a mitten tree, it would be stainless for no rust stains, it would be hollow tubing or pipe, it would have fan or heated fan air for drying, probably with a timer.

Or for lightweight, non welded, just bent pvc tubing with extra holes for airflow

ditto on that, beat me to it...

[AndrewS]

Thanks everyone!