Giant Steel Skeleton Hand (and coat rack)

Bulid your own giant steel anatomic skeleton hand out of junky nuts and bolts! It makes a nice coat & towel rack too.

This is a perfect first welding project because you can make lots of mistakes and it will still come out fine.

Step 1: Find some scrap nuts and bults

This project was inspired by finding a couple buckets of large nuts and bolts at a junk yard, and then deciding that i wanted to learn to weld. This project is great for your first welding project because if the welds are a mess it won't ruin the piece. There is not much measuring to do and if you make mistakes they are easy to fix or else they don't matter. You have a lot of flexibility on your choice of parts and you can easily build the hand at whatever size you want.

note: do not use galvanized nuts and bolts because they give off poisonous fumes when you weld them.

all the parts you need are shown below:

Comments

[ebend12]

As a experience welder myself I would suggest you get a nice thick slab of steel to weld on and various steel bars, especially if you plan to move up to a welding process that takes both hands (i.e. oxy-acetylene or TIG). Ground to the slab and use the heavy bars to hold your pieces in place. Yes I know htat there are situations where this is very inconvenient but knowing what to use when is how to do anything properly

[chicopluma]

haha cool

[GeArGuY]

Really cool, I wish my welder would come sooner!

[CaptPikel]

Nice project. I made a hand a few years ago and this reminded me of it. Probably right around the same time you first published this lol. I used steel wire for tendons. It was all scrap metal I had. Made it for the garden.

[аткаченко]

http://garant-stroy.com.ua/

[rkelly10]

whats the size of the nuts and bolts?

[killerke]

hay, i made one myself , your tutorial was verry helpfull, i wouldnt think of something like this in the first place.
I'm verry thankfull maybe i can send u a picture of my completed hand,
It took about 1,5 to 2 hours to finish it, my dad won't be pleased when he sees i took all of is big bolts and nuts xD

btw thank you for this

grtz killerke

[gaara0sama1]

Can you sodder them?

[pgd5000]

no the solder connection would be to weak to hold very much weight

[That Inventor Dude]

my grandfather works at a small welding company. and this is such a bl00dy good idea i may have to borrow some equipment from him ...

[T3h_Muffinator]

My latest completed welding project Not exactly an entire skeleton, more of a cat.

[That Inventor Dude]

looks like the cat from Coraline what with the flat head

[botronics]

I just finished the cat today.

[Jynx.]

This reminds me a lot of the cat from the movie "Coraline".

[T3h_Muffinator]

AWESOME! Great job, it looks sweet! What'd you use for the tail? I had problems with burnthrough on that one.

[botronics]

I should have arched the back a bit to make the cat look more natural. that back is pretty flat! Funny, one doesn't notice this until after it is done.

[botronics]

Its the iron wire they use to bundle up steel when it comes into the shop. About 1/8 " thick. I had to do it three times because I burned off the tail too!

[MumblingTuna]

I've been wanting to make a junk rat. (im an ametuer welder who has pet rats) and so I'm wondering where to start.

[T3h_Muffinator]

Hmmmm....... Well... I'd start with nuts and bolts, since they're easy to find and not expensive at all.

In terms of making the actual rat, make the body first, then come up with a creative way to make the head. Determine how 3-D you want it to come out, and just think out the whole process in your head; that's how I do mine =)

[pmac93]

that homework sheet looks familiar.....what is it?

[T3h_Muffinator]

I think it's a rubric for one of my English papers..... I don't remember exactly, though... it's been a long while!

[andy60]

wow thats really gd!

[dan]

wow! nice kitty!

[T3h_Muffinator]

Now hand pets kitty!

[botronics]

Love your kitty,so I made one too. Along with a few boltbugs. Welding in the "eyes" was difficult, so I attached them with a nut and washers on the back. The eyes would shift during the weld. By the way, I got one of those $50 Harbor Freight A/D helmets and it works great.

[zigzagchris]

Harbor Freight :)

[theghillieman]

I love harbor freight

[T3h_Muffinator]

Thanks =)

[Tupulov]

Very cool! A friend made one of these for me. I use it in my Cave to hang my different work aprons.

[NutandBolt]

Great instructable, Your creations are great. I made the skeleton hand and it works great as hook behind the door in my work shed.

[golddigger1559]

 here is mine. i plan to get started on a life size human skeleton  

[captaincoolness55]

:D i am totally going to do this! great idea!

[boneymaloney]

Seems to be a popular first project for up-and-coming welders like me. I'm using a plain old manual arc welder. Thanks for the instructable, Dan.

[hammer9876]

As previously noted by other people, this project makes me wish I had a welder. I really like the idea of starting with nuts and bolts and ending up with a great coat holder. Great imagination.

[mspark400]

Pretty awesome!! I have wanted to learn how to weld for a long time and you may have just convinced me it's time! Project 1 this ,Project 2 Skeleton!!! ps +1

[mspark400]

as promised i finally got my arc welder today! first project, This! After that, armor for my iron man exo-suit!

[Esmagamus]

Great idea, not new though. A friend of mine made a hand out of soft steel nails SMAW-welded together. Your welds do need some practice, but don't be discouraged. SMAW welding is tricky, a lot more than MIG.

[R4Man18]

The welds make me cry... Jeeze. Cool Idea very Terminator toy like.

[EnigmaMax]

you could use brass knuckles instead for the
palm

[masterochicken]

that would look awesome if you used blades for fingers.