Get a never before seen breakdown on how I welded together some of the most INSANE Rat Rods here at WelderUp. I’ll walk through a couple of my favorite pieces and describe my process and what makes these rat rods so special. If you’d love to weld together your own unique rat rods some day then stay tuned!
The Iron Rod
The Iron Rod is one of my favorite builds because it really represents my lifestyle and who I am. Everything on this welding truck was fabricated here at the WelderUp shop in Las Vegas, NV. Most of the pieces on the Iron Rod I found in an old welding shed where silver, zinc and lead were being mined here in Las Vegas. Throughout several years of building flat beds I have built creative designs to help be user friendly and work more efficiently being a portable welder. Some examples include the “V” I have on the back of bed. If you’re out in the field and you want to butt weld two pieces of pipe together this will keep your piece perfectly straight after you tac weld them onto the V. I’ve also added a flat bar on the back in order to have a space where I can easily clamp pieces down. As years have gone by I’ve evolved the Iron Rod flat bed and put receiver tubes down in the bed to easily and efficiently move pieces from one side to the other. Watch the video above to learn more about the famous Iron Rod.
The Diesel Rat Rod
The Diesel Rat Rod is one of my best known builds and was built over 10 years ago. Every single piece was super in-depth detail fabricated here at the shop and was built from nothing. Everything from the frame, custom made rear end and four links made in the car was all put together from scratch. I welded all the pieces together with a lot of pride and purposely exposed all the welds so people can see and appreciate the work that went into the Diesel Rat Rod. Everything about this build will grab your attention. All the tig welds, the little nipples I tig welded around the car and all the small attention to detail welds. Check out the video to see what else this beast has to offer like the twin turbo 12 valve Cummins Diesel Engine I installed.
Creativity
It’s important to add your own creativity to your projects if your goal is to stand out. Use of a plasma cutter was a technique I incorporated in a couple of my projects. I wanted a unique 3-dimesional look that looked tore out and the plasma cutter helped me accomplish that. As seen in the image above I used the plasma cutter to cut into the hood of the car and since I made this cut about 8 years ago its become pretty popular where you’ll see a lot rat rod builders use this look in their own creative way. If you’re looking to get into production I recommend investing in a plasma cutter. You can get really creative with the machine and it will help you save a lot of time on working projects.
For the majority of my projects I really build with the intention of displaying most, if not all of the welds I weld together. I believe this style of mine is what seriously amplifies the popularity of my builds. Welding is an art and it’s important to showcase your art when you’re working on your own rat rods or any other project for that matter. Pay attention to detail and take pride in your work. Start with the basics and you can be creating some insane rat rods yourself sooner than you think.
If you’re new to welding or looking to learn more about my creative process then please feel free to check out my course with $200 off.
