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How long to weld chassis?
beagley - 7/12/11 at 04:24 PM

All wise and mighty locosters..... I am in need of some guidance. I have some time coming up in a couple of weeks and I'm contemplating trying to weld up as much of a book chassis as possible. I should have about 3 uninterrupted days to work in a ridiculously large shop. Am I dreaming in trying to tackle this, or should I stick to a go-kart chassis?

Unfortunately I'm thinking the go-kart is the smarter choice, but I'm wanting the advice from people who have been there. Oh, I forgot to mention that I'm a complete numpty at welding, that may have had a part in my decision making.

Beags

dave r - 7/12/11 at 04:27 PM

learn to weld on the kart chassis, then take your time on the car one

simples

jossey - 7/12/11 at 04:30 PM

i paid a fabricator to do mine which he did in 1 day. £100 cash in hand.

DONE...

big_wasa - 7/12/11 at 05:09 PM

Did this in one weekend...Two twelve hour days...


mark chandler - 7/12/11 at 06:19 PM

MIG couple of days, you will still have to fettle stuff and tack weld, then work your way around doing one flat per joint at a time then go elsewhere to keep the heat distortion down.

2 weeks later you will see the odd joins with only 3 sides welded.

beagley - 7/12/11 at 06:22 PM

quote:
jossey
posted on 12/7/2011 at 11:30 AM
i paid a fabricator to do mine which he did in 1 day. £100 cash in hand.

DONE...

For that price I would have a hard time saying no, except for the fact that I want to do it myself.


quote:
big_wasa
posted on 12/7/2011 at 12:09 PM
Did this in one weekend...Two twelve hour days...


Wasa, how much welding exp did you have when you spent those 24 hours making a pretty lovely looking chassis? That's what I envision in my head, but a pile of mangled metal is more likely what will turn out.

I'm actually thinking that a go-kart might be doable in that time frame, although I could "technically" say I've started my build if I do the chassis!

Simon - 7/12/11 at 06:51 PM

I took two weeks off work. On the first Friday eve, I did the funny shaped nose piece, then over the next two days did the the rest of the chassis - cutting each pair of pieces as I went; having the whole lot fully welded/sheeted and on its wheels by the end of the two weeks. And mine was IRS and a bit of an experiment as I was going along

ATB

Simon

richard - 7/12/11 at 07:44 PM

agree with the others practice on the go kart as you will need to be proficient with the chassis as you will be going much faster in the car with many more G forces.
rich

TAZZMAXX - 7/12/11 at 09:31 PM

quote:
Originally posted by beagley
All wise and mighty locosters..... I am in need of some guidance. I have some time coming up in a couple of weeks and I'm contemplating trying to weld up as much of a book chassis as possible. I should have about 3 uninterrupted days to work in a ridiculously large shop. Am I dreaming in trying to tackle this, or should I stick to a go-kart chassis?

Unfortunately I'm thinking the go-kart is the smarter choice, but I'm wanting the advice from people who have been there. Oh, I forgot to mention that I'm a complete numpty at welding, that may have had a part in my decision making.

Beags


Is it all tacked up or are you referring to cutting, mitring, tacking and welding? If it's the latter, having little experience, this might be a tall order to do it all in three days. If the complete chassis was tacked up, I'd want about 10 hours to weld the whole thing up but I'm going to TIG weld mine. Bear in mind welding thin box section takes a bit more finesse than welding plate so a bit of practice on some test pieces wouldn't go amiss. Good luck.

beagley - 8/12/11 at 01:15 AM

Cheers for the replies all. Logic has won this battle and I have settled on a go-kart. There is too little experience to to with too much box steel for a locost chassis. I would need to cut and mitre all of the joints as I have only done so in some CAD software.

SWMBO no longer freaks when I talk about the "project" so once her new car is paid for it's time to get down to business. I was honestly trying to get a head start...

Thanks again,

Beags