Anne’s Bird Feeder Pole

[Don52]

Recently I remodeled the family room. As a part of the renovation, we replaced the windows. The swing arm that supported two of the bird feeders was attached to the frame of the old windows. We didn’t want to attach the swing arm to the new windows, so I designed a sturdy 1-1/4” black pipe pole to support it. While I was at it, I added bosses for a second swing arm to the other side of the pole. It turns out the ¾” EMT conduit is the same size and wall thickness as the original swing arm, so I will use ¾” EMT to make the second swing arm. My wife really enjoys the birds, so I made this new pole for her, so she can continue to feed her birds.

1. Pole asm


2. SolidWorks drawing


3. Point machined


4. Point in place for welding


5. First pass

[Don52]

6. Cover pass


I chose to use Dual Shield Flux Core wire (FCAW-G) to attach the cross plate to the tube. The plate is 3/8” thick and I was concerned with penetration if I used short circuit MIG. Here are the parameters that I used:

Process: Dual Shield flux core (FCAW-G)
Welder: Lincoln 210 MP
Gas: 75% Ar 25% CO2
Wire: .035” Lincoln 71M (E71-T1M)
WFS: 360 IPM
Voltage: 24.0 volts
Shielding Gas: 30 CFH
CTWD: 3/4” – 1”

These settings are close to the settings on the Lincoln cut sheet for this wire:
350 IPM WFS @ 23-26 volts
or
400 IPM WFS @ 24-27 volts

7. Cross plate welded


8. Boss Welded


9. Pole painted


10. Boss painted

[Don52]

11. Cross plate painted


12. Point painted


I still have to install the pole and make the 2^nd swing arm. Attached is a link to a one minute 22 second video showing the machining steps that I used to make all of the parts. It turns out that there are a lot of steps.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OaV...w?usp=drivesdk

-Don