These are pictures of my first "real" metalworking project. It is a box for my generator. The frame is 6061-T6 1*1*.125 aluminum angle. The skin is
050 sheet aluminum. The hardware is all stainless including the piano hinge in the back. The box is open on the bottom and sits on a 3" concrete pad with indentations for the wheels so it doesn't walk. The idea is that the box can easily be detached and lifted over the generator so I can remove the generator and take it elsewhere to run my welder or plasma cutter. I was nervous about heat build up so the one end has a fan to keep air flowing through. There is a screen in front of the fan behind the louver to keep kids from cutting off a finger if they were to try and put their hand in. The bulky device in the front is an external muffler from Jack's Small Engines to quiet it down. Truth is, most of the noise comes from the generator unit and not the engine. In the spring I hope to add some sound insulation to the sides and lid and some baffles in front of the louvers to quiet it more. I have one current problem. As the ground froze, it heaved more in the front than the back. As a result it leans in towards the house and currently I cannot open the lid all the way. This will make it difficult to refuel. I will try to lift the back and put some stone underneath to solve this when I get time. Ironically, this winter we have not had a single power outage. Had several last summer. Any additional suggestions or advice is always appreciated.Of note, I was learning to weld on this project. First time I had welded aluminum. Fortunately it is nonstructural. Some of the welds are nice looking. Some are fugly. I believe they are all strong enough for the application. Of course the skin helps hold it all together. All is aluminum except the handles that hold the box down. I welded nuts in the end of a tube with a cross handle on the other end. The frame of the box sits over concrete anchors. I screw these handles down over the frame onto the anchors to hold it down. This way I can reach them and detach the box in about a minute. I just get some help lift it over the generator after I remove the external muffler. I may or may not keep this muffler after I add the baffles. If it does not contribute much to quieting it down I will probably remove it as it is just another step in getting the generator out.
Barry