Cage builders.. favorite tools?

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Reamer
Jeff Reamer
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Reamer

Re: Cage builders.. favorite tools?
September 22, 2011 01:48PM

Registered: 08/14/2010
Posts: 489

1/2" conduit and a conduit bender make almost the same radius as 1 3/4" dies. I bend the conduit to fit to the outside as snug as i can and all of the start measurements will transfer to the 1 3/4" dies. I cut the conduit twist and weld for the twisty bars. You can also keep these around for cheap templates for future cages.

Another good tool not sure what its called but it hinges and you set the angle you want and tighten a wing nut then transfer that to your tube notcher, torch ,grinder to get the angle of the notch close. Its cheap at home depot.

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Ratfink
Daniel Llewellyn
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Re: Cage builders.. favorite tools?
September 23, 2011 05:48PM

Registered: 10/14/2007
Posts: 26

That hinging bend tool is known as a "bend protractor" JD2 makes real nice ones and I usually mark them where the tube meets the die at the "start" of the bend to make measurements easy as can be And really adds to repeatablility and note taking.
As for notching, I have used every fancy tool, specialty stuff and nothing beats a dirty ol' chop saw backed up with a burrking with a 36 grit belt. The speed it cuts through material and the way it notches is ideal.

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alkun
Albert Kun
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Re: Cage builders.. favorite tools?
September 24, 2011 11:12AM

Registered: 01/07/2008
Posts: 1,732

My kingdom for a Burrking.

I have one of these; http://www.makita.com/en-us/Modules/Tools/ToolDetails.aspx?ID=181

It comes in really handy for prep and finishing and does the few things a 4 inch grinder can not do.

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SteelSolutions
William Timmins
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Re: Cage builders.. favorite tools?
September 26, 2011 10:05AM

Registered: 02/26/2008
Posts: 648

Sheet of clear plastic

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Ratfink
Daniel Llewellyn
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Location: SanBernardino
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I ride shotty in a huge truck

Ratfink

Re: Cage builders.. favorite tools?
September 26, 2011 08:58PM

Registered: 10/14/2007
Posts: 26

Quote
alosix

Quote

And we walked away from this. He is building my next cage too. I show this because building and welding a cage together really is a serious thing. Your life does depend on it. If you are just a hobby welder like me, then consider paying a professional to build it for you. It may be cheaper than you think, and save you in the long run.

I def don't take this part lightly. Took a good bit of welding in a Tech Highschool a long while ago, been hacking on Jeeps with my mig since around 2004. Lots of work on our comp rock crawler that saw a ton of abuse (though not the same as whacking a tree at speed). I'm pretty confident in my ability, especially after going over ever cage I could at the last few rallies I've been to.

I will be ordering up some 1.75 0.095 and cut/notch/weld/cut for a few months just to get used to that stuff, I'm used to working with much thicker tube. If I don't like my results I'll be sending the car off somewhere no doubt.

Also finding a 'pro' can be a bit of a crapshoot. A supposed pro on the east coast put this together :

No welding issues there right?

I do have a quote from a guy I'd trust to get the cage right, but its a bit of a logistics issue to get the car there.

We used to build our Pro4 uprights very similar to that picture only with a CV and believe it or not, we failed the steering arm in the very same fashon. I would count that failure more as a design error, than a welding error. We ended gusseting the crap out of the steering arm...

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/26/2011 09:00PM by Ratfink.

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