Gazz
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| posted on 25/12/05 at 10:55 AM |
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Welding Opinions please.
Could I have some feedback on welding the chassis of a Locost. I have never done any 'real' welding before. However I did pass all my
welding modules when I was at school, although that was only 5 mins of each different types of welding, but I would image that doing a chassis is a
little bit harder.
I am looking at a budget here as well so I would be grateful if you took that into consideration.
Basically looking for the type of wlding that is quite easy to master and isn't going to cost me a bomb to do.
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dave-69isit
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| posted on 25/12/05 at 10:59 AM |
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WELDING
best to mig
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big_wasa
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| posted on 25/12/05 at 11:10 AM |
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MIG.
Cheap if you already have it .
If you hav'nt ,will it get used for other stuff ? If not then buy a ready made chassis.
Welder + wire,gas + materials and your not far from a pro chassis. imho.
Im making my own. 
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jock
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 posted on 25/12/05 at 11:15 AM |
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welding
hi i live in west lothian. do whot i did buy a unfineshed one i gave £100 for mine and came with nosecone .scutle all wishbone brkets. ceep as chips
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Gazz
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| posted on 25/12/05 at 12:01 PM |
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Is it only the chassis that needs welded ? Can everything else be bonded, rivited, etc ?
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jon_boy
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| posted on 25/12/05 at 01:47 PM |
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BE carefull what you buy. I done the same thing, had someone make me a chassis as i didnt feel i could weld and didnt have the equipment. What i didnt
think of was all the brackets/ wishbones etc that need to be made and welded on, so if your going to buy get one from a company and stick with their
stuff, ie get a chassis with EVERYTHING attatched and buy wishbones etc off them. Jon
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Hugh Paterson
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| posted on 25/12/05 at 03:42 PM |
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A wee DC Tig inverter nutsack job of it. Mig if you like big blobs n splatter 
Shug.
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jambojeef
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| posted on 25/12/05 at 05:25 PM |
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Like most people on here Im MIG'ing my chassis and bones.
My welder:
http://www.machinemart.co.uk/product.asp?p=010114040
According to The Race and Rally Car Source Book and going by what some race car engineers say - its worth looking at braising your chassis tho.
A little stronger in tension and yields more progressively iirc.
I guess that means big gas bottles and stuff though and you have take a little more care shaping the ends of your tubes to make a neat job.
Geoff
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Gazz
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| posted on 25/12/05 at 05:47 PM |
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I'll let you know how I get on soon enough. Not even started anything yet and dont know if everything is going to be possible so far.
Really hope I manage to do something.
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NS Dev
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| posted on 27/12/05 at 05:52 PM |
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The long and short of it is that to get a 1/2 decent welder you really need to spend in the region of £400.
Yes there are plenty of cheaper migs out there but I don't rate them, having used one for far too long!!
You can get oil cooled arc welders really cheap s/h and they are brilliant, but you need to be pretty skilled to make a nice job of the thin stuff
enountered on car builds.
the alternative to a £350-£400 mig set, if you never weld more than 3mm thickness, is a decent inverter tig, but you need one with HF start facility
really, and there are only a few machines at this price with it, look at welders warehouse (google search) and they have one.
GYS Tig machine.
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britishtrident
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| posted on 27/12/05 at 06:33 PM |
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Cheaper to buy than build a chassis -- building apart from the obvious costs -- steel, decent MIG welder you have to add the hidden costs, at least
three angle grinders, dozens of grinding discs, decent automatic welding helmet, wire, gas, decent bi-metal hole saws --- by the time you add that lot
up the 550 + vat A couple of the big locost names charge seems good value.
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Mix
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| posted on 27/12/05 at 06:52 PM |
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Couldn't agree more, but what price do you put on the feelgood factor of 'I built it myself'
And I'm sure there's a use for that welder after the build
Mick
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Mark Allanson
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| posted on 27/12/05 at 07:13 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by britishtrident
Cheaper to buy than build a chassis -- building apart from the obvious costs -- steel, decent MIG welder you have to add the hidden costs, at least
three angle grinders, dozens of grinding discs, decent automatic welding helmet, wire, gas, decent bi-metal hole saws --- by the time you add that lot
up the 550 + vat A couple of the big locost names charge seems good value.
I disagree, the steel cost me less than £100, I already had a mig, I used the same angle grinder that I bought in 1990 and have used for MoT welding
since (buy cheap but buy many?), if you use dozens of discs, you need more welding lessons, I think I used about 5 disc in total. Auto masks are
unecessary, and what on earth are you using bimetal hole saws for?.
Build you own chassis and mod it to suit yourself, if not you will be building your car to someone elses specifications
If you can keep you head, whilst all others around you are losing theirs, you are not fully aware of the situation
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Alan B
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| posted on 27/12/05 at 10:23 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Mark Allanson
....I used the same angle grinder that I bought in 1990......if you use dozens of discs, you need more welding lessons........
That's my experience too...one decent grinder should last a long time.....are the cheap ones really that bad?, perhaps they are......also I
don't recall more than 5 or 6 discs on two car projects...
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Mark Allanson
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| posted on 27/12/05 at 10:52 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Alan B
quote:
Originally posted by Mark Allanson
....I used the same angle grinder that I bought in 1990......if you use dozens of discs, you need more welding lessons........
That's my experience too...one decent grinder should last a long time.....are the cheap ones really that bad?, perhaps they are......also I
don't recall more than 5 or 6 discs on two car projects...
Thank Ron for that reply, sometimes I think I was dropped on earth by space aliens, three angle grinders, one for the master, one for the dame , and
one for the little boy who....
If you can keep you head, whilst all others around you are losing theirs, you are not fully aware of the situation
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Danozeman
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| posted on 28/12/05 at 09:31 AM |
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I got half way through my chassis and decided to make it wider so pulled it apart. Then didnt touch it for ages due to house purchase and other
things. I then bought a Luego chassis as it was easier for me at the time. Now i wish id made it myself for the satisfaction factor and theres a few
bits i want to/have changed on the chassis.
The metal cost me 90 quid when i was goin to make one and 600 for the built chassis.
I would get a mig any way theyr always handy. But for a decent 150 amp or higher its decent money. You can weld the chassis with a 130A but when u
come to the thicker plates u really need more power.
As for the grinder. Iv got a draper one cost me 15 quid. Iv had it for about 7 years and its been left outside and had alsorts of abuse works a
treat. Cuts slabs and alsorts
[Edited on 28/12/05 by Danozeman]
Dan
Built the purple peril!! Let the modifications begin!!
http://www.eastangliankitcars.co.uk
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Nisseven
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| posted on 28/12/05 at 10:29 AM |
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I agree buy a decent mig and a decent grinder. I've actually got two a good 5inch to use mainly with a 1mm cutting disc and a cheap 4inch with a
flap wheel on it to use to give the cuts a light clean, just saves changing discs all the time.
From learning to weld years ago with gas, then with electrodes and laterly with the mig IMHO there is no contest, the mig is easiest. Brazing is
however a viable option especially if one was going to use less than 1.6mm tube as is tig. Brazing requires very good preperation which is 90% of the
secret to makeing a good job. Believe it or not but brazing is stronger than welding if using the right rods and technique etc. Tig is also a very
strong weld but the process can be slow and also requires some skill.
Once you've got a decent mig in your workshop you will find all sorts of uses for it other than the car.
My vote buy a mig, you will have it for years, and build your own chassis.
One final word. Get a proffesional to give you some tuition. Half an hour to an hour will be all that is needed on thin section.
Bruce
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