When you are at a garage sale and you come across a bucket of old steel padlocks with no keys, you just have to buy them. So what can you do with 100's of padlocks? Make an 18 inch tall Frankenbot. Padlocks are heavy, he weighs a little over 25 pounds. This is a very simple project and you can use any design that works well with padlock shapes.

Supplies

Steel padlocks

Welder - in this case a gas mig

Wire brush

Sand paper

Paint

Step 1: Clean Your Padlocks

Clean your padlocks as well as possible. It helps to make a better weld and paint will adhere much better. Here you can see how a dirty padlock becomes shiny. After cleaning, weld away. This is just a basic design and actually almost any design could work well with old padlocks. Paperweights, door stops, sculptures, lamps, etc.