Custom Steel Towel Holder: Hot Rolled Mild Steel Fabrication

I really enjoyed making this custom steel towel holder using hot rolled mild steel at CNCROi.com, I learned a lot on this simple little project.

The reason I’m stick welding this project is one, for the challenge, and second, because I’ve really come to enjoy the flexibility that using rod provides, in this case, I used my trusty 7018AC with a diameter of 1/8″.

Although there will be some stresses on this custom steel towel holder from it’s very function, the metal is relatively clean and in good shape and they are nowhere near the dynamic forces that would exist with a paint stand, the last project I documented on CNCROi.com.

As a result, I didn’t see the need to use 6011 for a root pass, this made things simpler though that’s relative when it come to shielded metal arc welding as changing amperages and rods on the holder are way easier than gas metal arc welding rolls.

After skimming the surfaces that will become a finished custom steel towel holder, it was time to measure-up the pieces and define what was what – as this project was to be painted black, I wanted to make sure all surfaces were clean before welding as it’s easier to clean individual parts properly than an entire welded assembly.

This custom steel towel holder will be anchored on a wall so the client gave me the measurements they required for it to work so I just transfered them over to the mild steel and made my reference points to make sure I had the correct orientation after welding everything together at CNCROi.com.

Drilling holes is a breeze with my spindle powered drill press, it has helped me out of so many binds and drills great today as when I first got it.

The next challenge for this custom steel towel holder was the end-cap on the square tubing, leaving it open would just fill it with junk over time so welding a permanent cap was the most obvious next step through this fabrication journey as then I’d be free to weld everything together.

There are many options to capping, CNCROi.com actually makes plastic ones for a wide variety of applications but it was obvious that for this project, this would simply not do.

You can’t buy caps as the local store, so I made my own using scrap from my plasma cutter, cut it roughly to size and then ground it down to fit properly on top of the mild steel tubing.

Like the rest of the metal I used for this custom steel towel holder, all surfaces were cleaned to make sure I had proper penetration with as few defects as possible in the finished product.

End caps at this size are rather hard to hold in place and to also stick weld, they really want to move during the welding process but as I was grinding this down anyways, as long as it stayed roughly where it was meant to be, it posed no issue for me.

I used the plyers to give you an ideal of scale, the end cap and the sizing of the tubing are rather small on this custom steel towel holder.

One thing you learn fast, especially when it comes to stick welding, is that proper grounding is an absolute necessity, this is why you see my grounding directly on the steel tube I was going to weld the end cap on rather than get it through the vice then the table.

Back when I knew nothing about welding, I actually welded the table I’m doing all my welding on, it has held suprisingly well through the years.

The welding might not be pretty on something this small, but I was grinding this down anyways so I didn’t worry too much about the aesthetics, basically, it was so small that you never really get a chance to develop a proper weld puddle and even worse, the tubing was a bit thin as was the cap, so if I let the weld puddle dwel any longer than I did, I’d go through both.

The results after grinding were great though, this is the very first end cap I’ve ever welded, so things can only get better from here on out!

The next step towards fabricating this custom steel towel holder was welding the anchor, which was made of 3/8″ plate, to the base that would then have the metal tube welded to it, it was VITAL that I have a very good weld on this part with as little heat affected warping as possible.

So as you saw in the video, I made a few tacks on one side, and the endges, and then spun the custom steel towel holder upside down and ran my full bead be on the underside where it would be out of view before grindig it flush.

Don’t forget, CNCROi.com also makes custom welding tags, so if you are in the market for those, be sure to contact us.

After the underside was welded, I flipped the custom steel towel holder back right side up and did another full weld bead on the top, where the joint mated, this still warped a little on me, but pretty close to nothing which was well within tolerances for this application.

The next step was welding the tube to the base, the tube was thinner than 3/8″ so I put a lot more heat into the plate instead of the tube to prevent me from blowing a hole into it, I then built-up the weld profile a bit just to give it a little more strength, going into my root pass more than the tube for the same reason.

Before applying paint, I allowed everything to cool at CNCROi.com, some people say it’s best to paint while things are hot as it seals in the pores of the metal, but I wanted to review everything very carefully and I wasn’t in a rush, so waiting a bit was fine.

The end result looks fantastic to me, I still finding welding around something to be a challenge and strangely enough, that’s what I seem to be doing more than anything else at the shop.

The end cap looks great, again, the little details are as important as the big ones when it comes to custom fabrication, regardless of the process or the machine involved.

I’ve very happy with how this custom steel towel holder came into being, there is always things I’d do differently but that’s what experience is, you try different things then learn what works best for you.

Here are a few pictures I got from the customer once this was installed in their kitchen.

The goal for this custom steel towel holder was to have a solid holder, this is impossible to rip apart, and it looks great, so in my book, all the goals were met.

Need custom fabrication services? Contact CNCROi.com right now!