Thinkin bout makin my own cage

[fallensk8man89]

hey guys im thinkin about makin my own cage and im lookin for some tips. i tryed to view that brazign video but it didnt work. any advice would b much appreciated

[dickwart]

Go into yer local welding supply store and ask for pointers on brazing and see what setups they have... I can watch a video and read all day but Having some one sit and explain person to person always seems to work better. Other than that I have no tips cause I'm tig welding all my tubing Far as the bending, get the Harbor Freight bender that, if you search on here some one posted the part number, and go by some brake line tubing from your local parts store and start playing... The tubing is pretty cheap so dont be scared to destroy some while yer learning...

[fallensk8man89]

ok so when i actually do make my own cage will i be using solid tubing or hollow like brake line?

[krazykrawler]

I have built afew tube frames and i use 3/16 brake line tubing from Oreilly auto parts,without the greenish coating.

[XxRockStar199xX]

u dont got to weld welding will look and work alot better but u can solder that brake line together but it dosent hold that good

[bent]

Will braizing the break line hold up good? Is the break line scale looking?

[Wicked_Jester]

I use 3/16" solid rod because im rough on my rigs and they get abused a lot

[prifral]

Some pointers I have learned since I started brazing->

Solid rods will definitely take more abuse than tube(brake line). BUT solids will also pack on a lot of extra weight that will adversely effect your crawler's performance. If you're not building a racer and are only gonna crawl, tubes are the way to go. I have been playing around w/using solids only on high impact areas such as bumpers and stingers leaving the rest of the rig to be totally tube. This hybrid construction ensures that the rig is strong where it needs to be and stays light.

I would definitely recommend acetylene/oxygen with the smallest torch you can find. This way you have a HOT and precise flame. Braze in a dim environment so you can see the color of the metal. As you're heating up the joint move the torch away to see the color and control the heat (when its getting too hot). A small torch will ensure that you are only heating up the area to be joined. An overly heated/worked chassis will warp so its important to heat precisely. A properly fitted fish mouth joint should need very little alloy. If you have joints that are rounded off w/gobbles of alloy, you are using too much! You should be able to still see the fish mouth joint after brazing w/no clean up. Make sure you heat up the front/back/sides of the joint so the braze flows easily/evenly. Properly done, a brazed joint will always look "more scale" than welded ones. At this scale, even the best weld joints will always look like they are hot glued together.

As with all things you will improve with practice! Just like brazing together a bicycle frame - you will probably abandon first builds because its just unworthy and scary. But keep at it and you will build one you can be proud of and even trust enough to let your friends ride

[bent]

Ty for that bit of information. It will come in verry handy here in a week or two

[punkfan]

another tip i found helpful was to start small. Bumpers, sliders, and then work up to a cage after you get the hang of brazing. I bought a torch from home depot that uses mapp, and o2. It has a small hot controlable flame that is much eaisier to work with than the straight Mapp torch (big flame for copper pipe).