Custom Metal Firepit: FCAW & SMAW Plasma Cut 3/16″ Hot Rolled Mild Steel

My past firepits have lasted 2-3 years, it’s time to make my own custom metal firepit that will last decades at CNCROi.com!

If you aren’t familiar with what FCAW and SMAW are, FCAW is basically the gun I use that has an “unlimited” amount of wire while the SMAW is the stick I use for welding – there is no one process that’s better overall than the other, each has its niche.

The reason why you see me using FCAW and SMAW over other processes for this specific custom metal firepit project is because neither of them need external gas, FCAW has the coating inside the wire while the SMAW has the coating on the outside of the electrode.

The major advantage of FCAW for this project is that I basically point and shoot, there is no need to start-up an arc and overall, it’s a simpler process thus a lot harder to screw-up, the downside is the cost though relative to GMAW, which is also a “MIG” process, it evens-out as that process does require external gas.

For SMAW, I prefer it for the actual welding as you can basically weld anything with it, stainless steel, aluminium and yes, mild steel, without requiring any additional equipment so very little can go wrong if you have the skills to pull it off.

Plasma cutting produces very fine details on just about any thickness of steel, it easily makes big and small items, in this case… a BIG firepit at CNCROi.com.

At CNCROi.com, I have a plasma cutter and that works fantastically with cutting metal and after almost two years of welding college, I can finally start sticking it together permanently and as my shop is relatively small, not requiring yet another gas cylinder, FCAW and SMAW check all the boxes at the moment regarding the projects that I do in the shop, such as this custom metal firepit.

CNCROi.com has years of experience CNC cutting just about anything and everything using a variety of platforms, from  CNC laser and CNC router to CNC plasma (used for this project) and  CNC waterjet.

The size of this sheet is 48″ square, 3/16″ hot rolled mild steel thickness and now I’ve cut a bunch of holes and made it smaller pieces that then need to be welded together to produe the finished custom metal firepit.

The nice thing about metal is that it can be completely recycled, so the “scrap” inside and outside parts that don’t make-up the custom metal firepit aren’t wasted.

CNCROi.com has made a countless amount of projects using our plasma cutter and metal, but now, I can finally take-on larger projects that require welding it together as well, so basically, the skies the limit!

There is dross on the backside of all the firepit pieces, as a result, this must be removed using an angle grinder and sometimes, a chisel as well at CNCROi.com.

This custom metal firepit is HEAVY, all together, it’s well over 100 pounds, but to make sure everything fits perfectly, I must remove the dross especially on the edges as even a small insignificant nugget of dross can cause issues with proper fit-up.

Once everything is level, square and parallel, it’s time to begin tack welding the pieces of hot rolled mild steel together at CNCROi.com using FCAW.

This project is literally my first one on the new table with the new legs I made earlier at CNCROi.com… lots more fun projects coming!

Once I have all the sides of the custom metal firepit tack welded, it’s time to place the bottom, though I’m making this upside down, so it’s more of a top right now.

Once the tack welding is complete and everything is in a proper fitup, it’s time to use SMAW (stick) to do full welds on both sides of the mild steel assembly.

Although there are a lot of welds on this to take pictures of, let’s take a look at a few close-ups of the 7018 SMAW after cooling down at CNCROi.com.

There are tie-ins and slight deviations in speed as the metal melts slightly differently going basically on edge, but overall, I’m very happy with these welds and you have to keep in mind, this isn’t a rocket ship, it’s a firepit that won’t be moving anywhere once set-up.

I can’t wait to be making more welding projects at CNCROi.com, having a proper welding (fixture) table is just an absolute pleasure to work with compared to my old one, it served it’s purpose and I’m happy to retire it.

To limit the amount of heat distortion that can happen with full welds on both sides of this custom metal firepit at CNCROi.com, I make sure to mark and segment my welds, so the heat is spread-out across the firepit during the casting process rather than isolated in any given area.

Although there are lots of different angles and positions possible with welding this at CNCROi.com, the more flat welds I can make, the better, as this is by far the best welding position for the least amount of casting issues.

The air holes at the bottom of the custom metal firepit will hopefully, in theory, also allow rain to wash the firepit when not in use, as a result, I need to introduce legs to allow air to come from the bottom of the firepit to keep it cool while also giving it an easier height to work with when it’s burning stuff.

The legs are made out of 1/8″ walled 2″ square tubing, extremely solid and like the rest of the firepit, welded in place.

If you are wondering how I made my old welding table, before this one, the above video shows you back in 2018 my ambitions, it only took 7 years to achieve my goal of being able to actually make noteworthy projects after a year and a half of full time welding school.

Making sure things are as square, level and parallel as possible, even when it comes to simple items as legs, the nice thing about this custom metal firepit is the weight, it’s HEAVY, which means it won’t be prone to tip over.

It’s now time to make the inside grate, that’s made using 1/8″ walled 2″ x 2″ angle iron that will be FCAW together at CNCROi.com into one solid, heavy and resilient chunk of metal.

Before welding anything, I did a dry set-up to see what worked best and from there, I knew exactly the optimal size for FCAW this together, I didn’t use SMAW because it’s all little segments and that would be a pain to do at CNCROi.com.

I’m not sure what part I enjoyed welding most about this custom metal firepit, the firepit itself or all this angle iron, it was surprisingly fun in a strange way.

I got into welding almost when I first started CNCROi.com over a decade ago, it was something I always wanted to get into and I got along great making custom tags for welders all over, which I still make to this day… I’m happy to finally start doing what I saw them do.

The bottom grate of this custom metal firepit was HEAVY, I’d say about 25 pounds, it will experience the most stress of the entire burning process, having hot coals on it and super heating and cooling each time a fire is done literally on top of it.

Although redundant, I cleaned- up the finished FCAW bottom grate and then proceeded to paint it, the paint won’t last, it will be gone quick, but it looks cool for the first fire – hence why I put it there.

The custom metal firepit is treated with black enamel paint that’s good for 2 000 F or 1100 C but will see how long that lasts, the red is just regular enamel paint that will burn off quickly, let’s see how it performs!

Having a removeable grate is an idea I came-up with last minute, originally, I was actually have it incorporated with the overall custom metal firepit, having the bottom layed with expanded metal, but then this idea came about and it’s way better!

Looking for a custom metal firepit? Contact CNCROi.com right now!