l0rd
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 posted on 20/7/08 at 10:35 PM |
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What grade steel?
Being a newbee!!
I have been reading the books of Ron Champion and Chris Gibbs and they both say about using 16swg steel for the frame. I am thinking of doing it on
14swg as i want the chassis to be quite strong.
As my fiance is a structural engineer, she is the one that makes all the weird questions about what i want to built and hence
she asked
What sort of grade is the steel you want to use?
my reply
hmmmm i don't have a clue. the strongest i assume.
My question to all of you. What grade is the steel you used for yours?
Lord
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MkII
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| posted on 20/7/08 at 10:54 PM |
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most chassis are made from normal mild steel. you could use T45 which would be stronger and lighter but it is expensive more difficult to source
andrequires a different welding process.mark
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Chippy
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| posted on 20/7/08 at 11:07 PM |
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Hi, 16g mild steel will give you a strong, light chassis, the only thing that 14g will do is add weight not strength, and you really don't want
that.  Cheers Ray
To make a car go faster, just add lightness. Colin Chapman - OR - fit a bigger engine. Chippy
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Simon
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| posted on 20/7/08 at 11:58 PM |
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If Geoffrey de Havilland can design a plane (Tiger Moth) on the back of a fag packet then what the book (and hundreds of builders have used) says will
be fine.
Don't let swmbo near the project if she's an engineer. You'll end up rebuilding the forth road bridge
ATB
Simon
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britishtrident
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| posted on 21/7/08 at 06:21 AM |
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Stick to 1.5mm RHS mild steel. 1.5mm is the nearest easily available modern metric equivalent to 16swg.
Mild steel (low carbon) is used because it is the most suitable steel for welding by an inexperienced welder.
1.5/1.6 mm is particularly easy to cut and weld, 14swg will take you a surprising more effort to cut and welding requires more care to get
"full penetration" through the full thickness of the steel.
[Edited on 21/7/08 by britishtrident]
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aerosam
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| posted on 23/7/08 at 10:10 PM |
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WARNING - WARNING - THREAD HIJACK IN PROGRESS!!!!
So I'm guessing from whats been said above, using 1" box section with a wall thickness of 2mm will not necessarily give me a stronger
chassis than one built using 1.5mm thick stuff.
I was planning on using 2mm thick as my BMW lump is big, heavy and powerful. Is this just a pointless excercise? will 1.5mm have enough stiffness?
[Edited on 23/7/08 by aerosam]
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l0rd
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| posted on 24/7/08 at 05:09 AM |
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I guess that 1.6mm thick should be enough for every chassis. The thing that could be improved would be the brassing of the chassis.
BMW engines are really heavy. I would not personaly use one. My favourite to use would be from a Honda S2000.
L0rd
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