Hey guys,

I just made this light bar and thought I'd post it up. It's made with schedule 40 black pipe from Home Depot (1-1/4") and (3/4") for the crossbar. I did the bends on the upper bar with a Harbor Freight pipe bender and cheated and used 90 deg elbows at the bottom. 1/4" plates for the flanges that bolt to the tow hook holes. Everything welded up fine, I was nervous because the elbows are cast iron and pipe isn't but I can bounce up and down on the bar and none of the welds broke. It was probably $50 of materials for the bar itself minus the investment of the bender $99.

 

idk how you got that bender to work but nice! not a fan of the elbows but it looks good.

 

think that the top loop is too high off of the lights..

 

i think it would look better if it were a little wider

 

not a fan, but if you like it, thats cool

 

nice welds

 

would take some time to grow on me, but it looks good.. kinda reminds of the bull bars they have over in england on the jeeps etc.. that wrap all the way up level with the hood.

 

x2, but if your happy with it then rock it. Just looks a little different. Good work though!

 

Nice bends on that #40.

I like it.

 

Looks pretty sharp to me. I like it.

 

why not just have used 1 1/4" 90's so you could weld it flush and just look like it was bent.

 

Who cares if it doesn't "grow" on others. Other members don't need to comment like that. You built your own light bar and saved a bunch of cash in doing so. I say you can sit back and laugh at those commenting who bought WAAG Bars and Westin Bars. If I could weld I probably would have made my own too.

 

poor mans light bar lol

 

nice username haha

and thats sweet for a diy project man

nice bends

 

I think your truck is to nice to have that on there.

 

i think it looks weird off the truck but it looks really good on the truck

 

I like it, just needs to be a little wider and shorter. I guess you could always put 2 on top hanging down

welding steel to cast in a situation like that isn't too big of a deal i wouldn't think, its not seeing that much stress..

I've seen roll cages built with them... apparently you just gotta be real patient and keep it greased up.

 

Lower the hoop and it will look even better. I like it!

 

x2 but if you like it, thats all that matters

 

hey man those welds look pretty good. do you use any gasses or just flux cored wire? i've got a little Hobart 140 thats about like that one and with just flux cored wire i get so much spatter its not even funny.

 

I vote for you to pull it off and re-do it.

 

Yeah Rolldogg I couldn't justify spending $300 on a piece of tube with 4 bends, I appreciate your comment. To the person not liking the elbows, I agree, but it's pretty difficult to bend in two planes with my limited tools and have it line up with the holes. As to the bar being narrow it's because the tow hook holes are only 18.5 inches apart and I didn't want to make the bar an upside down triangle shape. I think if I made any change it would be to just make it a straight bar across the tow hook mounts and move the lights out further from one another.

 

Looks pretty decent, but a little wider and a little shorter would have looked better imo.

 

I agree with you on that. Wider is hard to do unless I make a longer bumper bar and put the hoop on that. If that were the plan then I'd need a pipe/tubing notcher to join them and I was trying (had to) to keep it low buck. I'd love a notcher and jig though if someone knows of a cheap one.

Oh someone asked about the welder, it is a 110V 90amp Lincoln and I used fluxcore. Spatter is pretty minimal once you get used to it. I'd prefer MIG but I don't have money for the gas bottle at the moment and it's nice being able to weld in a breeze on the back porch and with less cleaning of the material.

My goal in posting was just to show people what could be done on the cheap not so much that I expected what I made to suit anyone. There will probably be many versions since this pipe is $24 for a 10ft stick.

 

IMO it looks pretty cool. The fact that you made it makes it way cooler. Part of the beauty of making stuff is not only the money, but the things you learned and the fun you had. and hey the other fun thing about making stuff is you can always go back and change it if you want. If it were mine, I would consider taking an inch or 2 off the height, but it ain't my truck, so do exactly as you please.

Great work on the welds. how difficult was in welding cast to worked steel?

Props.