Building corrals

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kerley

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I'm priceing steel pipe for new corrals. I found three inch diameter x 3/8 inch thick pipe for $1.85 a lineal foot and 3/4 inch steel rod for $0.54 a lineal foot. Is this material heavy enough for holding pens and chutes. I will sink the posts three foot deep in concrete six foot oc and the rails twelve in oc. to five foot heigth. Any advice would be very much apreciated.
~Tom
 
kerley":4b3e8hq0 said:
I'm priceing steel pipe for new corrals. I found three inch diameter x 3/8 inch thick pipe for $1.85 a lineal foot and 3/4 inch steel rod for $0.54 a lineal foot. Is this material heavy enough for holding pens and chutes. I will sink the posts three foot deep in concrete six foot oc and the rails twelve in oc. to five foot heigth. Any advice would be very much apreciated.
~Tom

Ought to stop a freight train. :p 2 3/8 oilfield pipe is heavy enough. Might run the rod a little closer than 12 inches or tack a cattle panel over it to keep the heads inside the fence.

Not a great picture but I used a 3 in channel for a top rail and 6 sucker rods below. Spacing is about 8 inches. Baby calves can get their heads thru but not anything else. Did use 4 inch pipe for gate posts but not really nessecary.
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my corral is also built out of drill stem an cattle panel.the only place i have sucker rods is the chute.an i also had 2 by 4s for the bottom of the chute on both sides.an that was in case something went down in the chute so we could roll/pull them out.
 
Got a question about welding.
The man I was planning to do the welding on my new corrals never gave me a cost for his labor or his welding materials, not even an estimate. I finally cornered him and asked again. He said he charger fifteen dollars for each three inch weld and that was what everyone charged. Now I am thinking you have to know how to weld, but it is"nt brain science. Is welding fence panel worth fifteen five dollars an inch.
Were not out in the woods, standing in mud or manuer.

I am thinking of buying a decent welder and paying some one to teach me to weld. I guess the question is, Is five dollars an inch to high or is it fair?.
Tom
 
his charges are way to high thats for sure.most welders here charge $15 to $30 an hour for welding.
 
kerley":1t7bfzpo said:
I am thinking of buying a decent welder and paying some one to teach me to weld.

Tom

Probably the best move you'll ever make. Get yourself a cutting torch as well. It is even easier to weld these days with the see through hoods. Strike an arc just like striking a match. When one side starts to melt, walk across to the other side and let the rod fill the gap, then go back across. Back and forth until the rod is gone. Practice will get the rod angle right. I would run 1/8 inch rod on that drill stem. 7018. Sometimes it is magnetic. Wrap your lead around the pipe if you get into that.

I gave up on them making me a journeyman instrument hand. Went to night school on an apprenticeship. Got my stick certifications and started into heli-arc. That was right about the time they set me up as a journeyman so I never finished the welding school. Started to night school at a local college in engineering instead. Didn't strike an arc for about 5 years and couldn't believe how hard it had become.

Once I got my own rig, I was burning rod all the time around the farm. Built practically everything you can think of. Now I barter or just help good folks out in my spare time. There aint much spare time :D
 
I learned to weld out of necessity, working on the farm. If there are other ranches or farms nearby, I would go ask them what they do, it is possible they have a hired hand you could hire for a few days to do it. A certified welder in my opinion has a licence to steal just as a doctor does. Sorry, to you guy's that are certified, I also believe if you can charge that price and can live with it, more power to you.
 
backhoeboogie":3s0uneof said:
kerley":3s0uneof said:
I am thinking of buying a decent welder and paying some one to teach me to weld.

Tom

Probably the best move you'll ever make. Get yourself a cutting torch as well. It is even easier to weld these days with the see through hoods. Strike an arc just like striking a match. When one side starts to melt, walk across to the other side and let the rod fill the gap, then go back across. Back and forth until the rod is gone. Practice will get the rod angle right. I would run 1/8 inch rod on that drill stem. 7018. Sometimes it is magnetic. Wrap your lead around the pipe if you get into that.

I gave up on them making me a journeyman instrument hand. Went to night school on an apprenticeship. Got my stick certifications and started into heli-arc. That was right about the time they set me up as a journeyman so I never finished the welding school. Started to night school at a local college in engineering instead. Didn't strike an arc for about 5 years and couldn't believe how hard it had become.

Once I got my own rig, I was burning rod all the time around the farm. Built practically everything you can think of. Now I barter or just help good folks out in my spare time. There aint much spare time :D
At the price that guy wants to charge you can save money and still own your own welder. That is why I ended up with one over thirty years ago. The plus side is I stll own the welder.
 
backhoeboogie":2iz5q4xy said:
kerley":2iz5q4xy said:
I am thinking of buying a decent welder and paying some one to teach me to weld.

Tom

Probably the best move you'll ever make. Get yourself a cutting torch as well. It is even easier to weld these days with the see through hoods. Strike an arc just like striking a match. When one side starts to melt, walk across to the other side and let the rod fill the gap, then go back across. Back and forth until the rod is gone. Practice will get the rod angle right. I would run 1/8 inch rod on that drill stem. 7018. Sometimes it is magnetic. Wrap your lead around the pipe if you get into that.

I gave up on them making me a journeyman instrument hand. Went to night school on an apprenticeship. Got my stick certifications and started into heli-arc. That was right about the time they set me up as a journeyman so I never finished the welding school. Started to night school at a local college in engineering instead. Didn't strike an arc for about 5 years and couldn't believe how hard it had become.

Once I got my own rig, I was burning rod all the time around the farm. Built practically everything you can think of. Now I barter or just help good folks out in my spare time. There aint much spare time :D
I am looking online at Loincoln Welders. They have a 220 volt-AC225 stick welder on sale for $269.00 plus tax. The welder is rated as Excellent by Lincoln. Will it do the job. Also what brand and type of torch head would do a good job. Any advise would be helpful.
 
Victor is my favorite torch. Kind of pricy but the regulators last a long time and they can be rebuilt by about any weld shop 30 years from now. Cutting tips and just about every assessory you can think of is easy to come by since they are such a popular brand.

My boss lady bought me a bobcat welding machine a couple of years back. I mounted it on a trailer along with tool boxes and bottles and cutting rig. Before that, I always got by with a cracker box type 220 volt machine. Probably similar to the one you are looking at. They'll push a lot of amps but you are limited to A/C rod only. That A/C rod is not really a problem for most welding.

The only way you can get really good is to burn rod after rod. It would be helpful if someone could get you off on the right foot and show you some basics.

There were a lot of old wives tales told to me about welding when I was in welding school that turned out not to be true. Those old timers telling the tales only meant to help me out. I had believed all of it for years and years until my company sent me to an ASME metalurigical class. It was hard to learn some things all over again. Things like after looking over cracks in root passes under a microscope I found out the old addage "If one pass doesn't hold it......" aint true. The second pass eliminates the cracks that occur in machine welds that are set up perfectly. There were a few others.
 
I started this thread on July 27,2010 and received some very good information on my project from our friends from Cattle Today. However after dealing with a local Steel Co. who kept changing the cost of materials, I desided to go with wood eliminating the Steel provider and welder. Now I can work at my solw [retired speed]
I made some small modifications in plans. This morning, with Kathy's help we tested the product. The Holding Pen and Loading Chute worked perfectly.
I chose 6" round posts sunk three feet deep in concrete on 5' centers. For wood rails I used treated 2"x8"x16',18' and 20.' I tacked my boards up with nails, drilled small holes through the rails at the post connections and bolted them with 7/16" lag bolts.
All that remains is mounting the Head Gate.
At last we can load the cattle safely and without any help.
 

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