New to the forum and new to fabrication. For my first project, I am making a hose reel mount that pivots and extends. I want to slid metal tubing inside itself to extend it (like a receiver hitch). My local metal supplier sells mostly off-cuts and is not very helpful. Tubing that is about 2 inches (outside or inside) would work. I am thinking aluminum for weight, but I can do stainless. No steel because I will not be able to paint the sliding parts, and I want to avoid rust.
Can some recommend compatible sizes with the specified tubing thickness, maybe something that is widely available? BTW, I hired someone to build this for me first, and it turned out so terribly. I thought (for sure) I can do better. I will post a pic, but you will not believe it.
Stainless tube that fits 2x2 is called receiver tubing. It’s seamless and is really expensive over 20$ per foot. I’d recommend standard 2in square tube whatever wall thickness you want and build the over sleeve with flat bar straps or make a tube out of angle iron. The straps are simple and don’t require a lot of material. The straps attach to the structure that would normally be welded to the outside tube. You just bend the narrow flat around the tube to create the shape. The angle method is popular because you can adjust the fit that you desire. Basically making the two 90s into a square.
Thanks for the reply. I thought I would post some photos and video to help with understanding my goal. I actually purchased a fixture table with the idea of getting into welding several years ago (before Fireball made tables). This was the table Jason recommended then. I even bought a welder. I am a car guy that does all his own wrenching, but I have never welded. Work got in the way, and I finally have that under control. So, I now have the gas for welding. I lack a few things, like the correct filler rod, the material I am now looking for, etc.
I do wonder if they make that in receiver tubing in aluminum. I did also search for some in stainless, but it looks like it’s sold in 10-inch sizes for custom hitch builds. I need a good, real supplier to get it. I think you have overestimated my skills greatly with the recommendation for welding strapping or angle iron.
Looks like you have all the tools you need to bring your ideas to life. Here’s another idea if you need something to move or slide. It’s a cheap unistrut trolley. You don’t need to worry about rust with the unistrut because it’s coated steel. It will roll/slide easier than telescopic tubes.
I went by my local metal supplier. They did not have tubing in stock (aluminum or SS) that would slide inside one another. I asked about ordering “receiver tubing,” and they had no idea. Basically, I have to figure out the exact dimensions of what I need to get. Is there any standard for what tolerance you should leave for tubing to slide nicely but not sloppily?
Then, I can find some tubing on Kingmetals.com or something and just find something that works. I don’t know else to go about doing it. Thanks!
I am confused. Your application does not need to be pretty. It just needs to work. What your fabricator made for you appears to work. Why don’t you mount it to your wall and see if your current design is what you want. If not, you may be modifying your design before you commit to more expense and time. If you end up convinced to start again, try extruded aluminum, where only assembly is required and no welding needed. I like: https://8020.net/shop
Why do you think I mounted it to a 4x4 in my yard instead of my nice garage wall? To test the theory, at least. Do you see the warp in the plate? You think I can mount a hose reel to that? I would need differently length bolts. And, yeah, I want it took look like someone knew what they are doing. This thing is embarrassing; the pictures do not do it justice. My 12-year-old nephew saw it and asked what happened.
2x2 x .120 and 1 3/4 x 1 3/4 tubing will telescope, you just have to either make something to rip the seam out/grind it out or mill alittle groove all the way along the smaller tube.
I have only seen receiver tubing in carbon steel. 2.530x2.530x.250 or 2.5x2.5x.238
However, I don’t think it will work the way you think it will. If there is more than one telescoping section, it will be very prone to binding and jamming as the two will not be 100% parallel. It will also have a lot of friction when collapsed. Most applications fix this with either lots of grease, or plastic slipper pads between the tubes or both.
As Jason says, a trolley system will likely do what you want. I’m guessing you want this to slide easily. Does it need to lock in positions? Weight? Loads?
On that mount you had made, is that stainless? I know it looks a little “off” but I see just a few fixable problems with it. A bed welder can look like a good welder if he’s a great grinder.
Yeah the tubes fit sloppy, but that slop should make it slide easily even if it’s not exactly parallel.
The outside ends could be capped and welds ground to make it look nicer, nobody will see the inside ends so leave those. If it bothers you, cap those also.
Yes the tubing is different thickness but nobody will see it once you cap the ends.
The seam on the inside vertical is very hack, but you could clean that up with a little more weld and a grinder. Or even cut it, align it better, and re weld and grind it. That could easily be made invisible with a grinder and a DA sander.
Those flat parts are warped as hell yes, but that’s from being two pieces of scrap welded together. I’d cut both of those things off and plug weld on two pieces, or maybe one big piece which would help with sag keeping the top and bottom constantly aligned. It won’t warp as bad and doesn’t need to be fully welded.
Run a wire wheel and a DA over the whole thing once all the new welding is done and it’ll get rid of all those welding burns.
Of course this is considering that this design has the mobility, reach and strength you need for this project (which I’m thinking it won’t - that’s a lot of rubber, and water filled hoses aren’t light either) so I’d first mount your reels full of hose and see if the sag is acceptable for you. There will be some sag with two full hose reels, one of them filled with water, so you’ll probably want to add in some triangulation to help with that.
How about mounting your reels to the wall where they are, one on top of the other nice and solid.
Then on the front of the garage, right next to where the garage door rail is mounted, bolt into the wood, some mounts that hold a long piece of round tubing that will act as a roller for your hoses.
The green in this pic is a tube that spins on another smaller tube inside. That small tube is welded to the mounts on the top and bottom.
Maybe even another one just outside the garage door?
Or maybe instead of making the hose reels swing out, make this roller thing idea swing out. Then you’d only need one roller, kind of like this, my drawing skillz are lacking… Lots of fabricators here. Anyone else want to build off of this idea or have another one?
Wow, thanks for the reply and idea. It’s nice to see someone take the time to think through it. I never thought about this. I did, in the meantime, buy some aluminum tubing to see if I can make this work. We will see how that turns out first.
