Where to buy small tubing?

[Racefan1115]

What is the best store to get the small 1/8 - 3/16 steel tubing or rod to make tube chassis?

[peej410]

id stay away from the tubing ive heard through a few people that the first time you drop your truck off a rock it bends, use 3/16 rod for your cage and you should be able to get it from home depot

[Racefan1115]

Thanks, I'm off to the Home Depot

['83 chevy]

what about brake line? i bought 10 feet of 1/4" line for like $10.00

[peej410]

1/4 might hold up, i use 5/16 ss it depends how hard you want to drive your car. ive dropped my tuber off a 9 foot rock and hit nothing on the way down except a rock at the bottom, all i did was dent my frame a little... 1/4 in brake line might be as almost as strong but i couldnt tell you for sure

[Robb]

Dozens (if not hundreds) of members here have built rigs from 3/16" and 1/4" brakeline with no problems at all.

[peej410]

then why does hulk tubewerks use solid rod ? he specifically said he built one out of 3/16th brake line and he bent it first time out?

[Robb]

Originally Posted by peej410

then why does hulk tubewerks use solid rod ? he specifically said he built one out of 3/16th brake line and he bent it first time out?

Am I honestly supposed to have an answer to that? Why have dozens of members here run brakeline tube frames with no problems?


I have done my own [non scientific] tests and found brakeline to be more rigid towards bending than solid steel rod. I also have four tube frames sitting around the house (two are 3/16, the other two are 1/4) and my 230lb a$$ can stand on them with no problem. If designed and built properly, I BELIEVE, that brakeline is plenty strong for +/- 1:8 scale rigs.

[Cloak]

Originally Posted by Robb

I have done my own [non scientific] tests and found brakeline to be more rigid towards bending than solid steel rod. I also have four tube frames sitting around the house (two are 3/16, the other two are 1/4) and my 230lb a$$ can stand on them with no problem. If designed and built properly, I BELIEVE, that brakeline is plenty strong for +/- 1:8 scale rigs.

Ditto on the 230 lb butt and ditto on the strength. I've rolled both my maxx tuber and my tlt tuber pretty hard and the worst that happened was a little paint chipped off and I had a small ding in the side.

[rocpede]

i use 3/16" brake line for my tube frames with no problems and i have 4 frames made and they hold up really good and it all depends on the drive of the rig too. if u drive it like u stole it then the tubing will bend.

[peej410]

Originally Posted by rocpede

i use 3/16" brake line for my tube frames with no problems and i have 4 frames made and they hold up really good and it all depends on the drive of the rig too. if u drive it like u stole it then the tubing will bend.

heh well thats me, i build my toys 1:1 and any other scale to handle WAY more abuse than i could ever dish out even if i was TRYING to break it. i like to build things once, from the 3/4 inch carbon fiber raced spherical bearings on my street cars control arms to the 5/16 304 stainless tig welded cage on my crawler. everything is over built. however you are correct in saying that everything thats built correctly can be built to withstand many lbs of force.

the problem is, that if a 10 lb rig falls 5 meters or 10 meters (its been too long since i was in school for this) but im pretty sure the sudden deceleration translates to a force greater than 230 lbs... if you dont believe this ill take the time to do the math and give you specific numbers...

[xjman]

Tube is better. Its biggest bonus is its weight. If you are worried about bending use solid rod for you sliders. Just like a bridge, with the right laddering of the frame it will be very strong. Ive been expiermenting with braizing recently and I've created some little boxes that can withstand some serious pressure.

[peej410]

tube is better, i just dont feel 3/16ths is strong enough. 1/4 is better IMO

[rocpede]

i was testing a tube frame for a little over a year and i beat the heck out of it and about 3 months ago it finely bent a tube on it. and the tubing was 3/16" brake line too.

rich

[peej410]

so it did bend... ive been testing mine for about 5 months. it routinely falls 3-4 feet because where i usually wheel is a 45 degree retaining wall that drops down vertical right below where i wheel... i could take pictures of all the rock rash if you really want hahaa

[rerock]

Originally Posted by peej410

so it did bend... ive been testing mine for about 5 months. it routinely falls 3-4 feet because where i usually wheel is a 45 degree retaining wall that drops down vertical right below where i wheel... i could take pictures of all the rock rash if you really want hahaa

Dude, if solid rod is so much stronger than tube, then why doesn't NASCAR or any other motorsoprt requiring a roll cage use it?

I was asking HULK about his chassis at a GTG once. He welds his chassis, so the rod works better for that application. He said that his opinion is also that it's easier to work with, and he had never really tried brazing.

3/16" brakeline is just fine for an RC car. My comp tuber was made with less 6' of brakeline, and I can stand on it. Then again I'm only 180lbs, but that still ain't bad for that much tube.

[peej410]

haha ok listen if you took a nextel cup car. and dropped it off 5 stories would it get bent up ? yes. i build 1:1 rollcages for a living. ive built many SCCA cages and rally cages. hulk does weld his chassis. i weld my chassis, because IMO welding is stronger than brazing because your not using dissimilar metals and all that junk. i understand that 3/16 may be fine. but the chance that your going to bend it IS THERE. if you want to build it so that youll never EVER have to worry about it, even from the equivalent of a 5 story fall then over build it thats all im saying.

[Racefan1115]

I went to home depot and found some of that rod, but it is extremely heavy compared to brakeline, my dad has a bunch of brakeline sitting in the garage from when we did the brakes on our 72' Cutlass so i think i will just use that.

[peej410]

go for the brake line then and see if you can bend it. ill give you 25 off a CSC-1

[Racefan1115]

We have one of those hand benders for brake line, that's what we used for the car