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Recently the county re-did the traffic lights and widened the road at several of the intersections in town. As a part of the retrofit, they dug up some of the existing posts and discarded them in a dumpster. My customer thought that post that used to have the street crossing button on it would make a nice mailbox post. The Aluminum post is 4-5/8” OD with a ¼” wall, so it is sturdy. I made a plug for hole where the button used to be and welded up a half a dozen tapped holes in the post. I welded two blocks to the horizontal tube, so that my customer can attach a piece of wood to mount the mailbox. I left the horizontal tube open, to be used for newspapers. Even though there is a cast cap on top of the post, I welded a cover over it to minimize moist air getting into the post and condensing. It was a challenge TIG welding on the post because my Dynasty 200 DX welder is a little wimpy for the ¼” wall thickness. The other challenge was that the Aluminum post was heavily oxidized because of the years of exposure to the elements. I cleaned up the area of the post to be welded with a 4-1/2”stainless Steel wire wheel. I used 75% Ar 25% He mixed gas and a little preheat to extend the capacity of my little 200-amp welder.
-Don
Pictures:
-Don
Pictures:
- Pieces all cut up
- Tee joint
- Block to mount mail box
- Mailbox all done
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