Well after a week of welding I finished the 4 frames for the new solar array only to discover I could barely lift them let alone carry them to where they needed to be – design flaw I might make them out of alloy next time. Luckily Lachlan came to the rescue and half a day of post ramming and welding later the frame is up. It needs a bit more welding and trimming of steel but all the heavy stuff is done. All the posts are rammed in with my air driven post rammer as far as they will go, half are more than 1200mm in and the rest between 600 to 700mm. One post is not in line as there was a big rock in the way. This frame is much beefier, further in the ground, has a wider foot print, lower angle (35 Deg) and will only have 10 panels per frame (2500Kw) and will therefore stay where it is supposed to.

The trick with welding a large heavy RHS frame to a pipe is holding it without it slipping. How do you do it? With a new tool of course. In this case a Strong Hand 4 in 1 F clamp. I really rate this stuff. It has jaws to grip round section which can be removed to make it a standard F clamp. Worked a treat and did not let go even when to frame was bashed with a sledge.

All the same size, who would have thought.

All up.

Lach welding

Post rammer in action

Cheers

Franky