question on brazing rod and a few others

[lostissues]

couple of questions for you if you do not mind.
My brother in law and myself tried to braze for the first time today. all in all I would say it didn't go to bad. but I just wanted to check on a few things.
we were brazing some pieces of 1/4 inch break line (going to be using 3/16th for a tube chassis for my mrc but I grabbed this by mistake so i figure it would work well for practice) anyway we didn't have all the best tools for it so the gap between the metal was off on some of them and we had some joints that the filler plopped to the bottom of the joint but it was OK for a first try.

The main thing I was wondering is we were using a map gas setup from sears and some brazing rod from tractor supply. the brazing rod is Hobart brand its 3/32" Flux-coated Bronze rod it seamed to adhere to the break line OK but it I'm not sure if it is the correct stuff to be doing it. it made a pretty solid connection so I can only assume it was fine. I would just like to get others opinion on it and if there is anything wrong with using this stuff.

also I would have to make side panels for the tuber and was wondering if most people just buy small sheets of steel. the places I have checked for metal around me (home depot, tractor supply, have not yet checked Lowe's) they only had aluminum sheets. any suggestions on places to get sheets of steel? I live in southern New Hampshire.

Thank you,
Jonathan

[allgm1]

jonathan, to test your brazed joint, braze two pieces together to resemble a wish bone then try to break them apart by holding on to them close to the joint. If the tubing bends and your joint stays together then you should be good to go. For body panels you can buy aluminum flashing from the home improvement stores that is 6" wide and 20' long fairly cheap. How for south are you in NH? I live a little east of manchester.

[lostissues]

Originally Posted by allgm1

jonathan, to test your brazed joint, braze two pieces together to resemble a wish bone then try to break them apart by holding on to them close to the joint. If the tubing bends and your joint stays together then you should be good to go. For body panels you can buy aluminum flashing from the home improvement stores that is 6" wide and 20' long fairly cheap. How for south are you in NH? I live a little east of manchester.

OK I believe that the joints will be strong enough, also I talked to a guy at the welding store and he said it should be fine.

as for the siding, that is not really what I meant. What I'm looking for would resemble the stock Losi chassis plates, It would be about 3/32" steel that you would connect the tube chassis to the plate and the plate would have mounting holes for the skid plate and to mount the links to. Is it wise to use steel for this? I don't know how heavy it would be. I was would think aluminum would be better but I have heard bad things about trying to braze anything to aluminum.

I live in Deerfield, its about 20 minutes east/southeast of concord.

Thanks,
Jonathan

[frsttimer]

you could try using 22 gage steel from the parts store or hardware store for the plates or you could build the mounts into the chassis just an idea. for brazing i like harris saftey silv i use 45 % flows nice into the joints i get mine at the welding supply store merrium graves is the name of the place here in vt. i grew up in south east nh pretty close to deerfeild

[lostissues]

Originally Posted by frsttimer

you could try using 22 gage steel from the parts store or hardware store for the plates or you could build the mounts into the chassis just an idea. for brazing i like harris saftey silv i use 45 % flows nice into the joints i get mine at the welding supply store merrium graves is the name of the place here in vt. i grew up in south east nh pretty close to deerfeild

What kind of parts store? not auto parts right? I tried Home depot and Tractor supply but they only seam to have thin sheets of aluminum. I will have to try out Lowe's and maybe a local hardware store. I think I'm going to give the bronze flux coated stuff it seamed to work pretty well (to the untrained eye) but if it turns out like poop I will have to look into the safety silver stuff. the welding store I stopped into is a Merriam graves, they have one right down the road from where I work.

Jonathan

[allgm1]

jonathan, theres a place on cote ave in goffstown that sells aluminum,its called Choice metals. For steel I go to Mills Metals on maple st in manch. For brazing I use harris saft-silv 56 that i get at maine oxy in hooksett. Have you got any good crawling spots in deerfield? I'm right on the hooksett/candia line

[lostissues]

Originally Posted by allgm1

jonathan, theres a place on cote ave in goffstown that sells aluminum,its called Choice metals. For steel I go to Mills Metals on maple st in manch. For brazing I use harris saft-silv 56 that i get at maine oxy in hooksett. Have you got any good crawling spots in deerfield? I'm right on the hooksett/candia line

Thanks for the info. as for good crawling spots I do not know of any. but there are some guys that would probably know a few. there is a local hobby shop that have a few crawlers. the shop is 106 race park http://www.106racepark.com/index.php

as for me, I just got into the hobby picking up a MRC a little after they came out. so far I have only found the garden outside my house and a few rock piles around the yard. once the snow shows up and then leaves I will probably just go into the woods behind my house and dig up, gather and pile a whole bunch of rocks. one of the good things about living in New Hampshire, If you try to dig a hole, there is a 99.9% chance there will be one in the way.

Jonathan

[allgm1]

I used to race nitro at 106, now I crawl with the guys that work there, but we're always lookin for new places. I've got some stone walls here in my yard and as you said living in NH plenty of stones everywhere. I may fire up the back hoe this spring and build myself a course. did you check out the "crawlers" section on the 106 website? We've got a awesome group together, and quite a few great places to crawl. If you need any help with fabrication lemme know. Ben

[lostissues]

well since the power went out pretty much all around the state I decided one day to go into work and see if I could try making my first chassis. well I did and would you like to see it? well I cannot show you because I will probably not have power for a few more days.
For a first chassis I would say it turned out pretty well. I modeled it after the DMG's NAT (though defiantly not as nice) some of the bends differ from side to side. I have no idea how I'm going to make the shocks mount up and where I should put them for that matter and so far it is only the top cage part because I have not been able to find any steel plate to make the side where the motor/tranny/links mount to. so for now its just the top cage part zip tied to the stock MRC.
once I get power up I will be sure to post pics so you can make fun of my fab skills

Jonathan

[allgm1]

I wouldn't laugh, you've got to start somewhere. To me half the battle is getting everything bent up evenly and then brazing it square, here's a pic of the first chassis I built

finished product


just got my power/cable back on today. Luckily I have a generator so we were able to keep the house warm and the frig cold, but no tv/internet really sucked!!

[lostissues]

OK finally got power back!
so here is my first attempt at a tuber for my MRC, again it is just the top part because I have not been able to find material to make the chassis plates. and so its just zip tied to the stock chassis. here is my mock up with pipe cleaners:

and here is how it turned out:





So there it is, if anyone has any critiques feel free, all I should have to do now is figure out a way to mount the shocks, I may make a large plate with many holes so I can hone in on where I want to mount the shocks permanently. and I also have to finish the lower chassis plate and relocate the electronics and battery. as of right now it is a bit more top heavy then stock and when I make the chassis plate it should drop the cage down almost an inch. all in all I'm pretty proud with my first build on my first crawler.

Jonathan

[allgm1]

Its a good start jonathan, you may also want to add some supports to your roof area, as it may get tweaked in a roll over. what are your plans for the lower portion of the chassis, alum. or steel? I made a roll cage for my ax-10 chassis shortly after I bought it, I got sick of the stock betty body cracking

[ecoli]

Looks good for a first tuber. Not everything is straight which is probably the biggest issue I see, just take your time and measure everything 3 times before brazing it together. You do need bracing, but not in the roof. Rather in the rear end and especially the nose.

As for the side plates, what I've done on my tubers for the MRC is braze on brakeline or nuts at the bottom of the frame and then cut out side plates out of aluminum to bolt on.

Otherwise, a good start!

[lostissues]

As for the bracings, I may just skip that part on this one. If something fails then that gives me more reason to build another one. the only thing I may do is put a tube between the back arches and maybe a tube from midway up the "windshield" area to the front "hood" area.
I think that for the next one I will make the top and bottom square shapes out of 4 pieces per square. measure them out and have them cut at 45 degree angles. that way I don't have to worry about messing up the bends and that way I should be able to keep it more symmetrical.
Also on the next one I will probably do that thing you mentioned, I believe you called it "measuring"

as for the side panels I'm not looking onto it for protection it will be a main part of the structure. I did design this heavily off of the DMG's NAT so this is the part I'm talking about circled in red (I just want to make clear that this is not my chassis I could not make anything this nice it is called the DMG NAT and this is the post about them the DmG's / the NAT)


circled in red is the part I need to make. It is a structural part that the bottom skid plate that holds the motor/trans bolts to and also the lower links and upper links. I would not mind making it out of aluminum but I have heard that getting aluminum to attach to anything is near impossible. so I may make it out of a thin sheet of steel. I just have to find a way to cut it (my access to tools that can cut steel is limited to a dremel and that would not make a very nice cut.)
any other suggestions for materials to make that piece out of?

Jonathan

[allgm1]

Alum would work, you would just have to braze some tabs on you tubes to bolt the alum to. Sheet metal also works, but don't go with thin stuff it will bend. I do most of my cutting with a hack saw then file to the final size, also have a sawz-all and a jig saw, which I've been known to put in a vise upside down to use as a scroll saw.