Pondering Nylon Cage Build - Any Thoughts?
 

I'm wanting to attempt a nylon roll cage build for my '46 Power Wagon (PW) on Honcho. Essentially, I want to make a cage similar to the Honcho but made to fit the PW and follow it's contours. I live in hotels during the work week so that is the main reason for choosing this option. If I can pull it off I think I'll like the weight advantage also. Not that I know what anything else weighs. In my head nylon is lighter since my Honcho cage seems pretty light. I plan to tap and screw it together. I have found a little bit of info by searching the forums here, it it looks like ePlastics has some good varieties of sizes etc. If anyone has any suggestions or some mistakes to avoid, please do chime in.

Since I am stuck in a hotel room right now I don't have any measurements. Is there anyone with a Honcho and some calipers? I'd like to order some stock to hopefully have on the road with me by next week. I need to know the diameter of the Honcho cage bars. If not, I'll figure it out when I get home.

Re: Pondering Nylon Cage Build - Any Thoughts?
 

Well, my Axial Bomber tubes are right at 7mm, and my Vaterra Ascender K10 truggy cage main tubes are at 5.5mm - maybe that helps?

Re: Pondering Nylon Cage Build - Any Thoughts?
 

Yes it does. That gives me a good ballpark figure of 6 something. "thumbsup"

Thank you!

Re: Pondering Nylon Cage Build - Any Thoughts?
 

Just ordered 4 pieces of 1' x .25" nylon rods from ePlastics. That should be more than enough to see if I can work with it. $2 worth of material and $10 to ship. Not bad. I know they've gotta earn something off of it somehow.

Re: Pondering Nylon Cage Build - Any Thoughts?
 

Well, the Post Office earns a little anyway! ;-)
I've never heard of someone making a Cage out of Nylon Rods before!!! It's probably been around for awhile, like when I was still in 1/8th Scale Buggies....
I'm going to subscribe to this. This old fart might just learn something!! ;-)

Re: Pondering Nylon Cage Build - Any Thoughts?
 

I'm a metal guy but you could be onto something here. Custom lightweight cages/metal work.....

Re: Pondering Nylon Cage Build - Any Thoughts?
 

Subscribed! I've been thinking about trying metal brazing but the learning curve seems pretty steep. Seems like this could be a more newbie-friendly way to do cage work.

How do you plan on bending it? Heat gun perhaps?

Re: Pondering Nylon Cage Build - Any Thoughts?
 

Me too. What is involved in forming the stuff? I'm guessing heat is required to bend it. Perhaps there is something that bonds it as well as using the screws. I will be watching your progress as well. "thumbsup"

Re: Pondering Nylon Cage Build - Any Thoughts?
 

I thought the problem with nylon and delrin is the fact that it has oils innate to the plastic that make it slippery in the first place. I know with styrene there is stuff like MEK that melts the material together for the strongest possible bonding, just not sure if nylon will involve using epoxy or something similar. Then the question is whether these bonds could resist impacts as well, like a roll over from 3 ft up or so.

Re: Pondering Nylon Cage Build - Any Thoughts?
 

I totally plan to use screws where possible. I'm looking into adhesives, but that will be only as needed. Since I'm planning to do most of this hotel rooms I'm not wanting to deal with fumes.

Re: Pondering Nylon Cage Build - Any Thoughts?
 

I've got to figure that out myself. When I get my material at the house I'll try boiling water, and a heat gun. As silly as it sounds, I'm going to try a hair dryer too. I doubt that would work, but since every hotel room has one it would be pretty convenient. I pretty much plan to build a simple and portable jig to aide in the bending, and I plan to try using sand paper rolled on a section of tube to indent the perpendicular joints. Then drill, tap, and screw. Wish me luck. :mrgreen:

Re: Pondering Nylon Cage Build - Any Thoughts?
 

Any updates on this? Just curious. Also, wondering if PVC type plumbers cement might be the ticket for bonding? I suppose it will all depend on the material as I know that shiz can be a bit caustic.

Re: Pondering Nylon Cage Build - Any Thoughts?
 

PVC cement will not solvent weld nylon. One of the great things about nylon is it's chemical compatibility, making heat one of common viable ways to "weld" or form it. I've been looking into this on and off for years and have done quite a bit of research on the subject. Have attempted before but had some issues plastic welding with a soldering iron. Maybe one day when I have some time I'll give solvent welding a shot.

I have in my research found that an (unknown) mixture of Calcium Chloride and Ethanol may work under certain temperature conditions and curing afterwards. This seems to be less scary than some of the other known chemicals that can solvent weld nylon.

My suggestion if anyone really wants a nylon cage is to mechanically fasten it.

Re: Pondering Nylon Cage Build - Any Thoughts?
 

Not really. I got the material but I haven't used it yet. It's already very flexible, much more so than I anticipated. I was originally planning to use it to build a roll cage for my Proline Power Wagon, but I really made a lot of mistakes on that body and I haven't had the ambition to try to do anything with it yet. I kind of think that one may be a total loss. I butchered it.