Tuber sketch, rate it please.

[joemomma95]

Well, I've got all the things to start a tuber except for the ideas. I drew this up tonight and I kinda like the looks of it. I'm trying to keep things simple as this will be my first attempt at a tuber and brazing. Do any of the bends look too tight or to hard to attempt?

Just wondering what others think....BTW, the length is 10", the width at the center is 3 1/2" and the height at center is close to 3", do these dimensions sound right? I'll be putting a WK tranny and axles in it hoping for a 12.5" wb..

Any and all comments are welcome, like it or not!

PS...Just in case you can't tell the front is on the left side ..

 

[Calderwood]

whats the plan for bending the roof lines?

 

[joemomma95]

No idea really, figured I could make something work..is it hard to make long bends smooth like that? Should be close to about 5" in length according to the drawing..

 

[Jamus]

Maybe bend over a large pulley, v-belt pulleys are pretty good for making swooping arcs.

 

[Calderwood]

it was a pain doing the two hand bends on my tuber imo. if i wasnt making them match the contour of the hood it would have been easier though. maybe you could bend them around a coffee can or something similar. maybe im just a sissy, lol

 

[joemomma95]

it was a pain doing the two hand bends on my tuber imo. if i wasnt making them match the contour of the hood it would have been easier though. maybe you could bend them around a coffee can or something similar. maybe im just a sissy, lol

Hmmm, seems that everything I've read in my endless tuber searches have turned up people bending the brakeline by hand. And they made it sound so easy.

I guess I should go get a small tube bender or something, I haven't tried bending the brakeline by hand yet, don't wanna bend things up and then figure out I should've done stuff different. So I guess I don't have everything I need:x :-( ....

 

[H3RESQ]

Needs more triangulation.
Get a brake line bender.

I like the rounded roof.

 

[Robb]

I guess I should go get a small tube bender or something, I haven't tried bending the brakeline by hand yet, don't wanna bend things up and then figure out I should've done stuff different. So I guess I don't have everything I need:x :-( ....

For the "overall" symmetrical bending, especially for a newbie like myself, a bender is the way to go. By hand is great when you only need to produce one of something (like a stinger or a bumper), but if you need two, I would go with a bender.

But using a bender by no means makes it easy! The tube will slide in the bender causing one piece you bent at the same spot to be different than the next piece you tried. It takes practice to get good, just like anything else. Just sit down with the bender, a measuring tape, a Sharpie, and a bunch of "experimental" tubing. Mark the beginning of the bend and where you wish the actual bend would be, and experiment. I know that last sentence makes no sense, but it will as you play. Just experimenting with bending for about an hour, plus about $10 worth of tubing, will save you a lot of hassle when you get down to actually bending the pieces you want for your rig."thumbsup"

 

[obijuan]

you can bend them in your hands in pairs.

 

[dirk379]

honestly... bag it, you can make a much cooler design way more simple too. If you like that look, just slant the supports up top, makes it look a lot better. I've built 4 tubers so far too

 

[Bronco]

ill build it. send me a pm

 

[joemomma95]

ill build it. send me a pm

If you wanna do it on your dime and send it to me for nothing then go for it ...

 

[BlueMonster]

Looks fine, make sure you factor in shock and link mounts, they can change the look if the whole thing. Also, your design is too short to be legal, minumum height is 3.75".

Build it!

 

[eric113]

heres my tuber design maybe you could steal some ideas off it
its just an idea

It looks good if your building a boat....:lol:

 

[NickRummy]

in my opinion a jigsaw and some 3/4" MDF is your best investment for making complicated curves in brake line. You can cut out whatever curve you want out of the MDF using the jigsaw. Just draw the curve out on the board, cut it out, sand it down nice and smooth and then clamp it to your workbench and you have a profile to bend your brake line. I'd used this idea a few times but haven't completed a tuber yet. I'm working on getting my shop together now. I plan on using this idea and then marking on the template what radius it is and keeping them. After a few builds I'm sure I'll have enough templates to make up about whatever radius I want.

 

[STANG KILLA SS]

Double J is a long curve freak, its sorta his trademark, hit him up on how he does it.

 

[mrpink]

nice and simple "thumbsup""thumbsup""thumbsup"

dont let these guys worry you about the bends; just get out there and stat building it... it will look right.

A little tip... dont try and design a suspension around a tuber, design the tuber around the suspension.

 

[rockmike]

Needs more triangulation.
Get a brake line bender.

I like the rounded roof.

x 2 on the lack of triagulation.I bent my tubes by hand and used a 10mm socket to make the tighter bends.Just drilled the right size hole in the bench and pounded the deep socket into the table and let about an 1" or better to stick up."thumbsup"

 

[joemomma95]

Thanks alot for the comments everyone...I'm gonna pick up a tube bender today and get started. I will change things on the way, I expected that...especially the triangulation, I'll be adding more bracing and support than you see in the drawing, just wanted to get some ideas and get started. Didn't know about the legal height requirements, I guess I'll try to stick with that just in case, a redesign in is progress after I check the rules... I would like to keep the overall look of it though.

Thanks again guys!

 

[joemomma95]

Well, tried a few brazes today and I don't think I did half bad. Someone tell me that the application of the flux is the key to brazing...it seems that if I put the flux on just the parts I want to have brazed that it worked alot better than just fluxing everything in site. Let me know your opinions on this...

Here's a few pictures of my first 2 tries, I tried to grind one of them down a little, it didn't look too bad but I thought I'd try the grinding some..also, I put the piece in a vise and grabbed the small pieces with pliers, wouldn't budge, I guess that's a good thing"thumbsup" "thumbsup" ...