Here's the one I welded up and shaped. Hobart Handler 140 was really being pushed to weld up this 1/4" plate. Yep, I said 1/4"

About 7 hours of cutting, drilling, welding, shaping, and a little swearing later, here's what I got...





These are the pieces before welding and shaping, which the welding and shaping took 3 hours alone. Before I welded these pieces up, I drilled the antenna mount hole on the drill press. You won't be able to drill the hole squarely when the pieces are all welded together.



Currently letting the primer dry a bit and then paint will follow. Probably going to be satin black.


I know what you're thinking... "Holy ****, that's a big bracket!" Yeah, it certainly is, weighing in at about 2.5 pounds... well, running a 102" whip ain't for sissy wimp brackets, and losing one of them whips through someone's radiator certainly wouldn't be a good event for either party involved...

this bracket will be the last thing to fail, either the whip will end up looking like a question mark before the bracket even complains of stress. Not sure about the toolbox though, I think it should be fine, but we won't know until I start driving around and putting stress on the antenna.

 

looks great. how much for one?? lol

 

Wow, talk about OVERKILL…

NICE !

 

I don't know if I wanna make another one... it was a bit of a pita, lol.

I guess I'll make you one for say, 70 bucks. No paint or primer, that's your job, lol.

I painted it flat black... tomorrow, after I do an oil change on my brother's car, I'll be mounting it to the toolbox.

Then next week Monday, I'll be getting a grommet kit (probably at HF) and stopping by the CB shop to get some coax, coax ends, and an antenna mounting stud. As well as an SWR meter...

So... sometime next week, this things should be banging off of drive thru signs and tree branches... and I should be receiving and maybe transmitting a little as well.

 

Man I gotta get a CB... I'm just worried about A) Mounting the antenna properly and B) running the Coax to the cab and mounting the CB somewhere in the cab......

On second thought, I drilled holes in my darn roof for my OHC... this should be a walk in the park

 

I bought one for $8 at the store that looks just like it lol..unless you made it for a special purpose?

 

8 bucks? For a 1/4" plate bracket, about 4" by 4" by 2.5" with a 1/4" by 4" by 4" backer plate held on my four stainless 3/8-16 bolts? Gusset plates on each side? Stainless nuts welded on the outside plate/antenna bracket part? Flat and lock washers for the bolts? All stainless?

I somehow doubt you paid that little for something as beefy as this... pics or it never happened, lol.

I only built this because...

1. I can and wanted to, and already had the steel on hand (I have a line on buying steel at great prices... pops deals with suppliers at work, and they make huge orders of steel every now and then)

2. I wanted to see how well my Hobart 140 did on 1/4" plate, with a not so critical part (unlike a bumper) and it did alright. Welds probably could've been done better if I had preheated the plate in the oven to help penetration with the small 120 volt welder.

3. I learned that I think I'm going to buy or borrow a stick welder to do 1/4" plate or bigger on later projects. Or at least preheat the 1/4 plate pieces in the oven to say, 200-250 degrees.

4. Why not? It's fun to weld and learn something new about welding and the machine itself.

5. 1/8" diamond tread aluminum bent to 90 degrees without side gussets welded on like I saw on another forum surely ain't gonna cut it for holding a 102" whip... and plus it was held on by three tiny 1/4 bolts to boot... hit a big branch or drive thru sign and the bracket will bend like a limp noodle... or rip the bolts clean through the toolbox.

I don't want that... the antenna will flex well and take care of clearance issues, for the most part. However, I plan on tying the antenna down if I need to go into a parking garage (unlikely) or drive through an area with a large abundance of low hanging crap.

But it definitely will be tied down for areas with low power lines. Which so far, I haven't had to drive in any areas like that. (if there are even any around here... few places are inaccessible by a big rig, so a regular truck with a 102" probably will be fine)

 

Hate to burst your bubble here, but 7 freaking hours? I put a set of forklift forks on a back hoe (all 1/2" and 3/4" plate steel, all cut with a torch, ground down and arc welded) in less time. You talk 1/4" like its thick and it's not even welded on both sides which if you know anything about welding you will know is very weak compared to welding both sides. Not to mention you want $70 for something that with the S.S. hardware (and yes I am aware of what S.S. hardware costs) should cost NO MORE than $20. I could build the same thing with mild steel hardware (no need for S.S. other than it will stay shiney) at home with my arc welder, have it twice as strong (not needed anyway, a 102" whip has very little pull compared to my old 4' fiberglass firesticks on much smaller brackets and never had any fear of breaking) in under an hour and have it cost me less than $10.

 

Hey now, I'm more of a hobby welder. If I wasn't happy with the weld, then I ground it down and ran a new weld. Looking back, I realized that I was using the wrong technique to weld, thus causing the problem with incomplete penetration.

1/4" is thick for a 140 amp 120 volt welder. In fact, the actual max thickness for this class of wire feeds is 3/16" and that's pushing it.

I don't have a stick welder. Yet.

As for making another one for someone to buy, I won't, lol.

You're on your own, that's why I gave the specs. That way someone (like you) who hopefully has a higher amperage welder and more welding practice can whip it together in 30 minutes.

I take my time and do my best. It's holding up no problem and I will never have to worry about this beefy *** bracket.

Also, I am running a 5.5 foot Francis fiberglass whip (clearance reasons, decided it's probably a good idea to not beat the **** out of the drive-thru overhangs) and it has more pull than the 'Big Mama' 102" SS whip.

Yes, it's overkill for an antenna. I did not weld both sides because I thought about it a minute... it's for an antenna, not a hydraulic cylinder. Just made sure my outside welds were good (that took a lot of the time, amateur me kept making crappy welds, which obviously require grinding down the old weld and laying a new bead. You can't weld over a bad weld and expect it to be good.

Situation understandable now?