A dustpan is a handy tool for tidying up around the shop after a day of hard work, or for sweeping at home. If you don't have one in your shop or home already, or if you are dissatisfied with the plastic one you bought from the store, you can make your own out of sheet metal. You will find that your sheet-metal dustpan will be a lot stronger than the one you bought from the store.
Things You'll Need:
- Vice
- Scissors
- Welder
- Sheet Metal Cutter
- Marker
- Sheet Metal
- Hammer
- 3-Foot-Long Metal Pipe
- Cardboard
- Pliers
Cut out a 2- by 1.2-foot rectangle of cardboard. Cut off two 2- by 2-inch squares from each edge of the 2-foot-long sides. This will allow you to fold this side up 2 inches. This will be the back of the cardboard dustpan model. Fold up the other two sides of the dustpan model. Do not fold the front of the dustpan model. Cut the two folded edges on the side of the cardboard model into triangles which become narrower until they reach a point at the front of the dustpan. Unfold your cardboard model. This is your cardboard outline for the dustpan.
Unfold your cardboard dustpan outline and place it over a piece of sheet metal. Draw the outline onto the sheet metal using a black marker. Cut out the outline with a pair of sheet metal cutters.
Use a vice, hammer and pliers to bend the sheet metal into the shape of the dustpan. Use a welder to weld the sides of the folded sheet metal into place and to close the edges.
Weld a 3-foot-long metal pipe to the back of the dustpan to use as a handle.
