Are you tired of constantly filling up that water bowl for your thirsty four-legged friend? Make your life easier by using these step by step instructions to build an eye-catching dog water tower.
Forney Industries and Joe Mooney from Homesteadonomics teamed up to weld a water tower fit for a doggie king or queen.
Tools and Materials:
- Scrap Steel
- 16-gauge galvanized sheet metal
- Magnets
- Water barrel with desired dimensions
- Shelf brackets to match the angle of your chosen barrel
- Galvanized float bowl and attachable hose
- 4-1/2” Angle Grinder
- Flap discs
- Forney 700 P Plasma Cutter
- Forney 190 MP Welder
Project Prep:
Always remember to practice safe metalworking habits by wearing the proper personal protective equipment. A fire-resistant welding jacket or apron and sleeves, welding gloves, safety glasses and a welding helmet are vital to protect yourself against dangerous arc flashes and sparks.
Step By Step Assembly:
Begin your project by assembling your base frame of the tower, then tack weld the frames together using your desired dimensions.
Pro tip: Use the magnets to hold your frame together.
When the frame is square and held together with tack welds, finish with complete welds. Once that is finished, add some metal inserts so you have something to weld the legs onto.
Tack weld the legs onto the metal inserts.
Dimensions: 1×2” 16 ga for the top, 1×1” 16 ga for the legs, 3/4” 16 ga for the leg supports.
After you’ve finished your weld, begin cutting some recessed metal that would act as the diagonal support beams.
*Here Joe used tubing, but you can also use flat scrap pieces or a gusset triangle!
Now that the water tower is roughly assembled, weld your shelf brackets to the edges of the frame. These shelf brackets should match the angle and curvature of your chosen water barrel size.
*The brackets shown are old barbecue grill brackets. Brackets can be fabricated or found materials, all you have to do is re-purpose them!
Make your tower look nice and polished by cleaning off the surface rust with your 4-1/2” Angle Grinder and flap disc.
Now grab your Forney 700 P Plasma Cutter (you could also use a Forney Easy Weld 20 P Plasma Cutter) and cut some metal strips from your 16-gauge galvanized sheet metal. These strips will act as straps to secure the barrel to the tower.
At the bottom of your tower, attach the galvanized float bowl and hose.
Once that is finished, set the water barrel on top of the beams, and secure the straps into place. Now that you are finished assembling the tower, you can either paint it or leave it as is.
And that’s all there is to it! Now your pup is officially ready to have their thirst quenched when needed without you forgetting to refill the bowl!
To watch the step by step video courtesy of Joe Mooney, visit the Homesteadonomics YouTube page.
For more step by step tutorials and videos visit askforney.com.
This post was originally published September 18, 2018.
