Welding Tips and Tricks

Also, I was really thinking about getting rid of DOM completely and switching to CDS tubing. The CDS is more money but I hate how dirty and inconsistent DOM is. Saving some time on prep could easily balance the extra cost.

lookin good afr

AFR_Autoworks wrote:Also, I was really thinking about getting rid of DOM completely and switching to CDS tubing. The CDS is more money but I hate how dirty and inconsistent DOM is. Saving some time on prep could easily balance the extra cost.

I'd never run across CDS before and it took a while to find up front pricing on it online but when I did I was surprised at how small the price difference was compared to DOM. Stockcarsteel.com had ground polished tubing for $.50 more per foot that regular DOM. I assume that a local yard would be even better quoting a 20" section. Seems totally worth it in general but especially if you are doing short connectors.

-Sandow

Someone left a shopping cart 15 feet from my house, so I set upon it with a grinder to relieve it of it's conveyance.

Not bad for a welder's first project made out of found items.

Not bad at all!

Problem is now you have no room left for groceries. Pretty short sighted on your part.

Nice job.

Len

I think I like projects from left overs the best of all.

AFR_Autoworks wrote:So it appears that there are quite a few cage builders here! That is very good to know. Pretty much all of my cages, with the exception of drag cars, get built to FIA specs. I honestly don't know one form of road racing that does not accept thier regulations. I would certainly recommend anyone who builds cages to familiarize yourself with those regulations. Allot of really good practices to follow, such as gusseting every junction that forms an "X". In the event of a crash the tubes that intersect will crush the tube that is one single piece. But enough of that... Here is a weld that I recently did on a tubular front end for a drift car I am constructing. This weld is 18ga cold rolled welded to 1.5" .095 DOM tubing. I have not had much luck with these welds in the past but I think I finally got a technique I am happy with!

I've been referencing the FIA spec for ideas and like the whole spec, it's pretty excessive for the amateur level but I've been modifying my kit with things I can reasonably do and I feel add significantly. I've seen some incredibly violent crashes with no major injuries where the cars had cages that were the typical SCCA spec, and didn't half the stuff in the FIA doc. For instance for gussets it's more than just Xs:

Every joint specified that requires gussets is where there would be two bars intersect to form an X. I would certainly agree that for most cases FIA is overkill. It is just great information to know. I find drift cages to be an absolute joke. Mind you the crashes that a drift car will see are very minor compared to rally.

Made a grinder stand out of a tv stand I found in the desert. The main support is pretty sturdy. The base piece is really thin, but it will do until I can find an old wheel in the desert. It looks tall in the pic, but it's chest high.
Just ran out my second small tank of argon ( second went quick because I accidentally had it flowing 25cfh instead of 15)
I think I'm coming along alright.


Close up of base joint. Blows out so easily even from a tack.




This was almost good, I just started after the tack instead of on the tack.




And finished product.

looks good!

Another frame repair, hyd cylinder pin support. Did this one hanging upside down most of the time otherwise twisted like a pretzel... Who ever decided to weld in all the guarding so you can get to anything I'd like to thank. Almost cut it all off...but then I have to repair that too..lol

rick
you have a great amount of various
welding jobs at your work. i guess
its anything but boring. also nice
weld!
craig

Powermatic Bandsaw Cart

Built this heavy duty copy of Powermatic's $180 cart for $15 in casters and scrap steel in the shop.

http://rs1070.pbsrc.com/albums/u490/Pol ... elbkab.jpg

motox wrote:rick
you have a great amount of various
welding jobs at your work. i guess
its anything but boring. also nice
weld!
craig

Yeah lots of different stuff, keeps it interesting. I've got some more sanitary stuff coming up once some fittings arrive.

Really have not done much for aluminum as of late. My new Dynasty is certainly not letting me down!

AFR_Autoworks wrote:Really have not done much for aluminum as of late. My new Dynasty is certainly not letting me down!

Looks good, did you weld this on a rotator?

Which Dynasty do you have?

Looks good afr. Wish I could weld like that.

I just have a 200DX. Really wanted a 280 but this one came up at the right price. Also, not done on a positioner.

I'm new to the forum and to tig welding. Here is my latest project, it's a hitch adapter for the gravely split hitch. My lawn roller uses the round split hitch and my riding tractor has the typical clevis hitch so i needed to make an adapter.



Here is a photo of the split hitch if you're wondering.

Welcome! I am sure you will love it here. Certainly allot to be learned here

AFR_Autoworks wrote:Every joint specified that requires gussets is where there would be two bars intersect to form an X. I would certainly agree that for most cases FIA is overkill. It is just great information to know. I find drift cages to be an absolute joke. Mind you the crashes that a drift car will see are very minor compared to rally.

Came across this today, goes back to what we were talking about... just because someone will let you do 9s passes with barely a hoop, it doesn't mean you should...

Video showing his "cage":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9UCaVGBd5k

RIP:
http://honda-tech.com/attachments/drag- ... 160709.jpg

Completed all of the additions I wanted to do. I couldn't fully weld the forward/upper joint on the gusset bars for the strut tower bars, will weld a 1/8" triangle plate in there to make up for that.

I only had a small piece of aluminum on which to try aluminum welding for the first time. So, I took a spare intake manifold, that was pretty nasty inside, and cut into it with a cut off wheel. I think it turned out ok considering how much oil and grease was on the inside. I wouldn't trust it to hold boost, but I think it would be fine on a stock engine.

Looking pretty bombproof BigD. FWIW, I looked through the FIA regs and they regard the bend in the belt bar as totally kosher so I'm not sure why lemons is mostly opposed to them. I've got a race next month and I'll ask then.

That guy's cage... Too bad it went that way but we've all seen cars wreck on the track. Stock body panels might as well be made of tissue paper but it is amazing what kind of punishment a cage will let you walk away from. Racing with a bare minimum cage seems about on par with wearing a t-shirt and jeans on a motorcycle.

There was a driver in another car that died my first race. He had a massive MI approaching the last turn (CMP turn 14) and T boned the wall at around 100. The front of his car was just gone. Autopsy showed that if he hadn't been dead already he would have walked away though. Passenger compartment was undeformed enough that the doors still opened and closed normally. Makes an overkill cage seem well worth the effort.

Just out of curiosity, how did you terminate the back stays?

-Sandow

Sandow wrote:Looking pretty bombproof BigD. FWIW, I looked through the FIA regs and they regard the bend in the belt bar as totally kosher so I'm not sure why lemons is mostly opposed to them. I've got a race next month and I'll ask then.

Thanks!

No problem, I am happy I added the brace across the bottom. While I'm not worried about the bent belt bar, there was still nothing really keeping the bottom half of the hoop from caving in, especially on the driver's side. Now there is. I also tied it to the trans tunnel so it should add a bit to the stiffness.

Sandow wrote:That guy's cage... Too bad it went that way but we've all seen cars wreck on the track. Stock body panels might as well be made of tissue paper but it is amazing what kind of punishment a cage will let you walk away from. Racing with a bare minimum cage seems about on par with wearing a t-shirt and jeans on a motorcycle.

Yeah, when one of our guys crashed our Chump, it looked rough from the outside. The driver was only emotionally damaged and the car was almost unchanged between the axles, while outside of the cage it was wiped out pretty hard.
I refused to get back in the car (I was pretty much done with this kind of racing at this point, maybe I'm not "hardcore" enough but this was unacceptable to me) but the other guys used two trucks to bend the ends straight as much as they could, sawzalled off the metal touching the tires and finished the race!

Sandow wrote:There was a driver in another car that died my first race. He had a massive MI approaching the last turn (CMP turn 14) and T boned the wall at around 100. The front of his car was just gone. Autopsy showed that if he hadn't been dead already he would have walked away though. Passenger compartment was undeformed enough that the doors still opened and closed normally. Makes an overkill cage seem well worth the effort.

Just out of curiosity, how did you terminate the back stays?

-Sandow

Agreed. At a club race last year a guy crashed head on into the pit in wall at Mosport. It's a CMod car so he was probably cooking at a good 90mph when he lost it. The front of the car was just gone but all he had was a broken foot from the wheel intrusion. I added a bar to the wheel well to hopefully prevent that.

The back stays are terminated on top of the stock spring perch area. This was part of the original roll bar and it's too much work to improve for now. At some point I would like to tie it into the strut towers and diff mount.