novacaine
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| posted on 14/1/07 at 08:07 PM |
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steel tube
what are peoples opinions on this?
i could :
a) spend many hours in the gararge cutting steel tubes which will probably be quite innacurate, but free
or
B) pay my local steel stockholder to cut the tubes and label them with thier compound mitre CNC bandsaw which is accurate to +/- 0.5% at a price of
10p/ cut
from the stockholders i can get enough RHS to make the chassis for a couple of quid over £60 which from what i can tell is quite cheap so what should
i do? seeing as i am building a low cost locost should i go for the hacksaw method or should i take the easy, but not too expensive route of getting
the tubes cut for me?
cheers
Matt
[Edited on 14/1/07 by novacaine]
And you run and you run to catch up with the sun but its sinking, Racing around to come up behind you again, the sun is the same in a relative way but
your older, shorter of breath and one day closer to death
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Avoneer
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| posted on 14/1/07 at 08:10 PM |
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Hacksaw wins hands down every time.
You will cock some up and need to replace some and measurements will change - even if it's only slightly.
Every chassis is unique and ever so slightly different.
Pat...
No trees were killed in the sending of this message.
However a large number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced.
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Marcus
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| posted on 14/1/07 at 08:11 PM |
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It's simple to be a couple of mm out when making the chassis, rendering all book measurements obsolete. Make the base of the chassis, then cut
the rest of the tubes to suit. Avoids book errors this way too.
Marcus
Because kits are for girls!!
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ecosse
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| posted on 14/1/07 at 08:11 PM |
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I would go for the supplied and cut route, but only if they can guarantee the length accuracy as well as the angle accuracy.
Otherwise buy yourself a chopsaw and do it yourself 
Cheers
Alex
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Middy Tim
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| posted on 14/1/07 at 08:11 PM |
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If you have the funds, by all means, go for the pre-cut sections. I'm all for having my cuts be equal and square, even if it does cost a little
bit more.
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Marcus
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| posted on 14/1/07 at 08:12 PM |
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Is that a record, 5 replies inside a minute!
[Edited on 14/1/07 by Marcus]
[Edited on 14/1/07 by Marcus]
Marcus
Because kits are for girls!!
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meany
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| posted on 14/1/07 at 08:13 PM |
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cut them yourself in pairs as you go along.
thats what i did.
save the money for something else.
just my opinion
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big_wasa
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| posted on 14/1/07 at 08:16 PM |
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With out a jig and experiance of making a few chassis I would say cut the tubes one at a time as you need them.
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peterparsons
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 posted on 14/1/07 at 08:24 PM |
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Hacksaw - no way - do it yourself but -
I'd use a grinder with a cutting disk - electric is cheeper than sweat....
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The Baron
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| posted on 14/1/07 at 08:56 PM |
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I purchased one of those gadgets which convert’s your 9 inch angle grinder into a chop saw.
Top investrement, even if I did have to refurbish it come the end
The Baron
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emsfactory
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| posted on 14/1/07 at 09:00 PM |
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I had a steel shop cut mine the first time.
I had to re-do a lot myself as the errors popped up.
I would just do it myself now. Start at the bottom and work up. You'll feel more proud when you finnish it the more you do yourself.
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Confused but excited.
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| posted on 14/1/07 at 09:08 PM |
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10p per cut? You lucky b........d.
My nearest stockholder charges a £1.00 per cut! 
Tell them about the bent treacle edges!
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RazMan
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| posted on 14/1/07 at 09:49 PM |
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At 10p a cut it would be rude to not do it ..... providing you have double checked all your measurements and then double checked again.
Otherwise I would buy a reasonable chop saw and do it myself - extra job satisfaction value
Cheers,
Raz
When thinking outside the box doesn't work any more, it's time to build a new box
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hillbillyracer
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| posted on 14/1/07 at 11:10 PM |
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At 10p per cut it'd be a good option but how accurate is their work? If you dont realise that they've cocked up for a couple of weeks I
cant see you getting anything out of them.
I've got myself a cheap chopsaw for when I eventually get other jobs out of the way.
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Simon
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| posted on 14/1/07 at 11:48 PM |
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Do it yourself (with a hacksaw, 10 - 15 seconds per square cut by hand). The book inaccuracies will add up to one monumental fup with all tubes cut in
advance.
Do it properly - start at the bottom and cut as you build, starting with the obvious.
Make front frame first (that's the front lower and upper and two sides (4 pieces)), then lower perimeter, tunnel base, side uprights, top, then
the awkward ones.
Make sure all pieces can be clamped to the building board. Hold verticals in place with magnetic holders when tacking and double check before welding.
Diagonal measuring after every few pieces have been tacked.
Or buy one
ATB
Simon
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James
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| posted on 15/1/07 at 09:23 AM |
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For someone with (IIRC) only £1200 to spend on the car in the first place I'm surpised you're asking the question!
As the others have said, it's hard to get an accurate cut list in advance so just download the McSorley plans.
Having said that... I'd do it myself. Burn calories (lose weight) and keep warm in a cold garage! It also sounds like you need to learn to cut
straight!
And if you can't.... do you really trust yourself to build the rest of the car? You sure you don't want to order a chassis? The time
you'll save you could get a part time job to pay for a kit!
HTH,
James
[Edited on 15/1/07 by James]
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"The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses, behind the lines, in the gym and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights."
- Muhammad Ali
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Syd Bridge
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| posted on 15/1/07 at 09:31 AM |
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You may end up with a few armfuls of near useless tubes.
Remember, if their machine is as accurate as you state, the output will only be as accurate as the dimensions you give them.
As many put above; redraw it yourself and get ALL the dimensions accurate, before letting a computer controlled machine loose on the cutting.
Cheers,
Syd.
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MikeRJ
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| posted on 15/1/07 at 11:20 AM |
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Personaly I wouldn't I get my chassis tubes pre-cut as you will have very limited adjustmenet available to compensate for tolerances, i.e. you
can only make the tubes shorter not longer.
Whatever you do, certainly do not get a cutting list from the book otherwise you will end up with a pile of scrap metal.
Using a decent quality hacksaw 16 gauge ERW can be cut quickly and accurately, even the compound cuts are easy once you learn to mark out the end of
the tube and cut one face at a time. If you want truly locost and you don't already posess a suitable chop saw then it's the only way to
go.
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Alan B
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| posted on 15/1/07 at 01:33 PM |
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I'd be very sceptical that for 10p a cut someone is going to read every drawing and program every angled cut and end up with a good set of
tubes.
As they like to say over here...ain't gonna happen
Also, 0.5% works out at 2mm on a piece 400mm long...not very good IMO
Just IMO of course.
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trogdor
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| posted on 16/1/07 at 09:40 AM |
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man i am glad we didn't get to this stage, we were building a locost about when the first edition came out, must be getting on 10 years now, we
cut the tubes to the lengths the book said but didn't get to the welding stage, kinda glad we didn't would of sucked abit to find all that
work was useless
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