Shallow water well cover

[Mikel_24]

Hello all,
A coworker of mine at the office asked me how he could make/get made a cover for a water well on his property.

This so called well is made of two pieces of stackable concrete pieces dropped into a hole dug out in his property (with a bucket). Seems like the water level is so high, it is plenty deep to get water. I don’t think it is even 2m deep. I asked him for a couple pictures to illustrate this thread but they haven’t arrived yet.

He wants to prevent humans and farm animals from falling into the well. Not likely to get either one in the property, but just in case. Also the cover should serve another duty which is supporting some kind of water pump (manual operated) to get water and transfer it to some recycled deposits.

Seems like the tube has 1000mm ID and 1180mm OD (wall seems to be around 90mm thick). Instead of taking the measurements with a tape measure… the guy just used a piece of rope with a couple knots on it. Oh well… I already told him that any measurement related screw ups are on his side.

Being it round, I suggested to get a piece of thick flat strap rolled into shape to fit the OD and then make some fixed grating on the sides and one or two hinged pieces in the middle to allow fixing the water pump and accessing to the inside of the well for maintenance purposes or whatever.

He suggested instead to make it square avoiding the need of having anything rolled by a third party and for ease of installation.
So I designed the following.

• Main square frame made of 60x60x6mm angle iron 1200mm between inner vertical walls (to allow some play just in case my friend screwed up measuring).
• Four additional pieces of 40x6 flat strap welded to the vertical sides on the contact points with the concrete tube to allow fastening to the tube itself.
• Two hinged covers made with 40x40x4mm angle iron.
• Grating made of 12mm rebar. 100x100mm maximum size of the gaps (will end up being a bit less)

And off we go!

MATERIALS AND PREPARATION
Shopping list as follows:

• 1 piece 6000mm long of 60x60x6mm angle iron
• 2 pieces 6000mm long of 40x40x4mm angle iron
• 1 piece 6000mm long of 40x6mm flat strap
• 1 drop 3000mm (aprox) of 16mm round stock
• 6 pieces 6000mm long of 12mm rebar

I asked for the angle iron pieces to be cut to size and the other whole length pieces to be cut in half so I can fit them in my van. All this steel added up to 120€ and the cuts were done for free.





As soon as I arrived to my shop I coped and removed the mill scale of the spots which were to be welded. I also beveled the edges since the outside beads are to be ground flush and I believe this will insure better penetration.



I also decided to buy a new box of 7018. I think that our regular 6013 is plenty strong for this project but I must say my welds look much better with 7018 and I enjoy burning them. ESAB is well known and easily found here. They do have a few different products for 7018 and I just buy whichever is available. This is 2,5mm rod.



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[Mikel_24]

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HINGED COVER #1
Getting the steel cut in the suppliers band saw makes welding stuff much more appealing. I squared the pieces on my table, clamped, and tack welded.





Ok, I cheated and used my mig welder for tacking. As far as I know there are no known issues stick welding over mig tacks.



As soon as the frame was tacked, I measured again and started cutting the rebar. First the long pieces and later the short ones. I used a small angle grinder and a cut off wheel. I marked the correct spacing with soapstone.



I also tack welded them to the frame, but not to each other at the crossing points (BIG MISTAKE #1).







Once the rebar was tacked I broke out the stick welder and before welding on my project and since I haven’t stick welded in a while, I run a few beads over a piece of scrap metal… Padding allows me to set up the welder correctly.

Once I had the machine set up correctly I flipped over my project and welded on the outside flats first. As you can see the slag on these electrodes does not resemble the popular Lincoln Excalibur (at least it doesn’t peel off by itself no matter what you do).






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[Mikel_24]

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I also flipped the piece on the edges and welded some more. Seems like I got some porosity at the beginning of this bead!



Once the frame was solid, I decided to weld the rebar to the frame and finally the pieces of rebar to each other at the crossing points. I stood the piece on its edge to make the welds in position and welded away (BIG MISTAKE #2) with no restrains of any kind. Some of you might spot some funny stuff going on on this picture.



First I started to make the welds in one motion from 11 to 1 or so. I realized that it was impossible to keep the travel angle even because the angle iron of the frame prevented me to make one fluid motion. So after a couple beads I started making them in halves. First from 11 to 6 and then from 1 to 6. That’s why the end crater is in the 6 position.





And then... the outcome of BIG MISTAKE #1 and BIG MISTAKE #2 is that what started as a nice solid, flat frame… ended up like a banana. Heat distortion is a b(i)tch!



I truly didn’t expect it to pull so much. Lucky me, even though I don’t have a torch of any kind, I do have Welding Web… and here I read about using weld beads as means of bending metal back to shape. I used 6013 for this.







The problem is that I still don’t know how much my beads are going to pull… So I must say I overshoot it a little bit. I either bent it too much the other way or I run too many beads without checking or both at the same time. Anyway, I put a couple beads on the inside of the angle iron and I ended up with this.



Not to bad and definitely better than what I started with.
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[Mikel_24]

Once I finished with the rebar-angle iron interferences I welded the pieces of rebar to each other. The long pieces closest to the sides were bowed up a tad… so I believe that the steel not only bent lengthwise but also shrunk lengthwise. Anyway I forced back to where it belong by means of clamping.





I only welded on one side (not seen from the top) but for the intended purpose should be enough I don’t want to risk even further distortion welding all four sides of the intersection.

And this is how it sits now. I also tack welded the frame of the other cover but I won’t be welding anything on it until I get the water pump from my pal so I can check the bolt pattern and add whichever pieces are needed to support it. Gaps will be grated with more rebar.



I will keep you updated!

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[Gravel]

Nice fab skills! Good job flattening the banana!

[Murphy's law]

Nice job!

[Mikel_24]

I just received the pictures of the water well construction from my friend so here it is.

WATER WELL

Seems like he sourced the piece of tube and asked for help to some local neighbors (definitely he does not own that machine!). I have no idea if this well has been built in the proper way or not. Nor do I have any knowledge, besides some common sense, about operating heavy machinery, digging holes, etc.

So if anyone more familiar with this stuff feels the urge to point something out... well... feel free! I am all about learning.

















And this is the well we are going to make a cover for. Edge seems a bit beaten up. I hope it doesn't interfere much with the cover setup!
Mikel

[Fast Leroy]

Looks real good, now get back to work on that European Style BBQ grill, can't wait to see it finished.

[Mikel_24]

Looks real good, now get back to work on that European Style BBQ grill, can't wait to see it finished.

Agreed... XD I did have a mini-update yesterday. I bought the correct length 16mm bolt along with bronze washers and installed them! But didn't have the chance to weld anything else. Not worth posting! As soon as I have everything welded on the cart, I will probably paint it to prevent rust issues and start with the grill itself.

Mikel

[BD1]

Very interesting for sure. Nice job on the build and straightening . I know you DID the welding to put that radius in it just to show your skill to make it flat. 7018 does flow nice for sure .
I built a set of drive on ramps 10' long and 18'' wide for access to my shed. I had to think when welding because I did want a bow in them.

[Willie B]

Does he not object to creepy crawleys in his water supply?

[VPT]

Yeah, I'd do a full cover to keep stuff out. We have a 8' diameter well much like the one pictured with a full top to keep everything out.

[Mikel_24]

Does he not object to creepy crawleys in his water supply?

He didn't seem worried about it. He doesn't want it for drinking or anything like that. I think he just plans on growing some veggies on his property and this fits him well (irrigating purposes). Actually making a full cover would have been much less work. Just get a ring rolled, weld some flat strap diagonals to add some support, get some plate cut to size, a few stich welds and... voilá! Cover done.

Mikel

[crystal]

oohoo nice..look real good man

[dumb as a stump]

What happens if an animal get its leg caught in between the bars? Besides didnt i read here recently about making stuff out of rebar can be very dangerous, in that it breaks easily or sumthing?

[docwelder]

long ago i had a very bad experience welding re-bar but for this application there should be no problem. nice build mike. very good narration and pics.

[Mikel_24]

What happens if an animal get its leg caught in between the bars? Besides didnt i read here recently about making stuff out of rebar can be very dangerous, in that it breaks easily or sumthing?

Actually the chances of something going through this cover are minimal. Private, fenced property with no farm animals of any kind. Also I bet you have them over there too but... around here, to prevent farm animals from crossing at certain points (think a road going trough a fence with no gate of any kind), there is a certain setup of rolling bars in the bottom which seem to deter animals from attempting to cross. This rebar setup should serve the same purpose.

Regarding welding rebar I also recall a discussion about it. That's why I asked my supplier to make sure the rebar I was getting was weldable. I don't think we should have any issues with this provided the loads it is going to support. We could have used round stock, but it would have been somewhat more expensive.

Thanks for pointing it out anyway!

Mikel

[Gravel]

Actually the chances of something going through this cover are minimal. Private, fenced property with no farm animals of any kind. Also I bet you have them over there too but... around here, to prevent farm animals from crossing at certain points (think a road going trough a fence with no gate of any kind), there is a certain setup of rolling bars in the bottom which seem to deter animals from attempting to cross. This rebar setup should serve the same purpose.

Regarding welding rebar I also recall a discussion about it. That's why I asked my supplier to make sure the rebar I was getting was weldable. I don't think we should have any issues with this provided the loads it is going to support. We could have used round stock, but it would have been somewhat more expensive.

Thanks for pointing it out anyway!

Mikel

Down here they are called a 'cattle guard'. In Alberta, Canada they are called a 'Texas gate'.

[Mikel_24]

Down here they are called a 'cattle guard'. In Alberta, Canada they are called a 'Texas gate'.

I just looked them up in Google, and yes, this is exactly what I am talking about. Thanks!

[Mikel_24]

Well, after a few days slacking I am back to work.

First let me say that I am the proud daddy of a 3,720kg 50cm little lady (when born). The rughgrat and the mom are perfectly fine. At least that’s what the experts say because I was there during the stitching and that DIDN’T LOOK GOOD! However doc said it is perfectly normal and external stiches are already removed.

And here you can find one of the so called selfies of us both in our way to the LWS to buy more stainless rods (for the BBQ I am also making) and some washers in the hardware store.



Got to love multitasking (mom was in a job interview at the time). She looks pissed off… but she is not. We get more mileage out of her while carrying her on this front packs instead of the baby cart… something related to the shaking or so they say.

Now, back to the well cover.

The main frame was built out of 60x60x6mm angle iron. First I made four holes in the middle of the side pieces since this cover will be fixed to the concrete tube on the tangent points. 16mm drill bit after a 4mm pilot drill… a tad too fast for this drill even on the lowest speed (blue short chips… not ideal!)



I also plan on adding some tabs about 15cm long to allow for a second bolt to be installed further down the concrete tube.

After being changing bobby trapped diapers for a few days, I felt brave enough to tackle some out of position welding (vertical, horizontal and overhead) and so I did. I also ran out of welding gas so I tacked everything with 6013 first.


Forgot to take a picture of this after chipping the slag, but it came out looking good. For vertical and horizontal welding I used 95 amps. For filets I used 105 amps.



This one is overhead (not my best weld). These welds are to be ground smooth to allow the covers to lay down flat over the frame.

[Mikel_24]

I started with the second cover and at first set it up like this. The square gap is meant to hold the pump (not available at the moment) and will be temporarily covered with a piece of plate. You can see the main frame fully welded in the ground behind the welding table.



However later on I realized it might interfere with the closing system I have in mind. So I changed the design to this. I just centered the square gap (camera did a poor job on this one)



The first cover became a banana when I welded the snot out of it without any restrain and I had to fight it a little to get it back in shape. This time I decided to fully restrain it against the table and weld it as it is.



I also learnt this here from Zap no less! So it has to be good advice. It is a stub of 2,5mm rod stuck between the piece and the table midway (both sides) to pre-bend it in the opposite direction of the expected distortion.



I intended to weld the vertical filets in position but I am not proficient enough to weld 4mm plate uphill with 2,5 rods… too hot even when I lowered it to 85-90 amps. So I welded 12 filets after flipping the piece. Also I learnt from Jody that the direction of the weld also affects distortion… so this time I welded them from the edge INTO the corner. This forced me to use 0º travel angle and I belive sometimes even a negative angle… but it worked fine (may have some slag inclusions).
This is what I came up with.

The outsided edges you see there are only welded from the inside (beveled on the outside). Those were ground to remove the slag (no doubts about sufficient penetration…), welded and ground flush.
And this is what I have so far.






I am working on the hinges but I don’t have any pictures. A few more hours and it should be finished!

[6Boys]

Congrats on that beautiful little girl! As you can see from my name I don't know much about them.

[surfside]

You got great fab and welding skills. The cover is looking good.
What did you use to cut the rebar?


She's a beautiful angel.

[JKMotorsports]

Congrats and good work. Life changes from here on I have 2 boys and a girl all under 5. Busy but great.

[Mikel_24]

Congrats on that beautiful little girl! As you can see from my name I don't know much about them.

One is enough to keep us busy all the time. If we wanted to, we could devote ourselves to her the whoooole time. Even when sleeping are interesting to watch. I cannot imagine what it could be with 6 instead of only one....

You got great fab and welding skills. The cover is looking good.
What did you use to cut the rebar?
She's a beautiful angel.

Thank you! Rebar is 12mm so for individual cuts I use a small angle grinder with a zip wheel (1,2mm thick). Cuts nicely. When I have to cut several pieces of the same lenght and I don't need to be absolutely precise, I cut them in the abrasive chopsaw in bundles of 4 or 6 pieces at the time. cutting them with a wheel provides me of a square clean end to butt against the angle. If I used a properly sized bolt cutter I could probably blow through the pointy edge at the end when welding.

Congrats and good work. Life changes from here on I have 2 boys and a girl all under 5. Busy but great.

Busy... you bet!