That's what I like about this site. We can digress with impunity!
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Originally posted by DanStokes View PostWell you CAN buy bends in all sizes and angles so you can reduce the number of pie cuts with judicious ordering. I know you're cheap but you time does have value.
Dan
Let's say I need a 120° bend out of the down pipe.
If I had:
3'' Mild Steel Custom Exhaust Kit Tubing Mandrel Bend Pipe Straight & U-Bend Universal 8PCS
I would cut one of the U-bends and but weld the next peice.
Depending on pipe some will not fit in the horizontal band saw (the tool I used to make all the pie cuts). It's the straight / square radial cut along a U-bends pipe I am trying to make. I am thinking that one of the 14" abrasive chop saws will work?
Dave sorry about the highjack!
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Originally posted by Russell View Post
That's the plan to buy bends. Trying to get out of the pie cutting business. The problem with bends is the bend is rarely the angle I need.
Let's say I need a 120° bend out of the down pipe.
If I had:
3'' Mild Steel Custom Exhaust Kit Tubing Mandrel Bend Pipe Straight & U-Bend Universal 8PCS
I would cut one of the U-bends and but weld the next peice.
Depending on pipe some will not fit in the horizontal band saw (the tool I used to make all the pie cuts). It's the straight / square radial cut along a U-bends pipe I am trying to make. I am thinking that one of the 14" abrasive chop saws will work?
Dave sorry about the highjack!
Maybe one of the other denizens of Bangshift will find and post a video for us. Or find something already on the board.
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I look at vertical band saws sometimes on market place. Most are more than I want to spend, and floor space is getting get tight.
I have a porta band. I have looked at the tables like you have. Maybe I should get one of those. Do you think the one you have would work for that?
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Originally posted by Russell View Post
That's the plan to buy bends. Trying to get out of the pie cutting business. The problem with bends is the bend is rarely the angle I need.
Let's say I need a 120° bend out of the down pipe.
If I had:
3'' Mild Steel Custom Exhaust Kit Tubing Mandrel Bend Pipe Straight & U-Bend Universal 8PCS
I would cut one of the U-bends and but weld the next peice.
Depending on pipe some will not fit in the horizontal band saw (the tool I used to make all the pie cuts). It's the straight / square radial cut along a U-bends pipe I am trying to make. I am thinking that one of the 14" abrasive chop saws will work?
Dave sorry about the highjack!
Dan
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Originally posted by Russell View PostI look at vertical band saws sometimes on market place. Most are more than I want to spend, and floor space is getting get tight.
I have a porta band. I have looked at the tables like you have. Maybe I should get one of those. Do you think the one you have would work for that?
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So does taking delivery of an order of steel qualify as doing something on the Whatever? I'm saying yes! What say the denizens of the BSers?
Anyway funny story: I was at the grocery store just rounding the first corner after produce, when my phone rings. It's the steel supply asking if today was a good day to take delivery. In 20 minutes! It's already loaded and headed your way!
Of course I say yes, run around the store geting the essentials, and hurrying back home. The truck had just gotten there, and the driver was unstrapping the load and cutting the banding iron on the 1.5 inch dom tubing.
So we unload the steel, 6 sections of 1.5 inch dom, 2 sections of 1 inch dom, and 1 section of 2x4 box tube. Wait! 6 sections of 1.5???? I only ordered 5!
They don't stock steel like that, and they got 6, so they re-marked the receipt from 5 to 6 and sent it. For FREE! I don't know what it costs in everyone else's neck of the woods, but here it runs $200 per 20 foot length retail, or more (the more would be Metal Supermarkets). Will I shop that supplier again? In a heartbeat! And it wasn't a mistake!
Now I just have to make a storage rack for it...
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I've been collecting "cut offs" from the local steel supplier whenever I go there, just sort of look at the cut off rack and see what looks like it might come in handy, and haul some home...
well, I've been thinking I need to put together some of the angle I've collected into a "rack" against the outside wall of the shop under the lean to roof perhaps...
I'll be interested to see what storage ideas you come up with.There's always something new to learn.
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Originally posted by milner351 View PostI've been collecting "cut offs" from the local steel supplier whenever I go there, just sort of look at the cut off rack and see what looks like it might come in handy, and haul some home...
well, I've been thinking I need to put together some of the angle I've collected into a "rack" against the outside wall of the shop under the lean to roof perhaps...
I'll be interested to see what storage ideas you come up with.
Dan
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Lol- Dan you give me too much credit - I do know a thing or three about the stuff that goes into the road load of a vehicle, and I've been to a few meetings with the fine folks at the Ann Arbor EPA lab, even done some track testing with them out in Arizona, good folks all things considered.There's always something new to learn.
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Originally posted by DanStokes View Post
John - I dunno if you've been following along but Dave is an old friend and former EPAer. Whatever he comes up with will be innovative and too well thought out (he's an enginerd). Dave - John is an engineer at Ford and knows more about tire rolling resistance than any human should have to know. He's also younger than we are so he A) lacks the wisdom of old age or B) is further from the Final Nap if you get my drift.....
Dan
And now I digress for a bit. John, which is your favorite Michigan school, UofM or State? I don't think there's any third choice... Just saying!
Back to steel. Today I was laying out the next project on paper. That's a good thing. But also a bad bad thing, as I may have to rethink the rear axle for the Whatever project. I've been ruminating over recreating one of the dirt cars I built way back when. The chassis was the first one Jim built of his own design, and we used 1 1/4 inch black iron pipe for the structure. Don't laugh, it's just mild steel with a nasty black coating that has to be cleaned off at all of the weld joints. Very ductile. And as it's steel its Young's Modulus is 3x10^6 psi just like DOM and any other steel. And the bender available to us was only equipped with pipe dies.
The difficulty is that it's 1.66 inch od. Jim's book he wrote showing how to build one is dimensioned for that. Oh and the upper frame rail was 2 inch seamless tubing as we had 20 feet of it just by chance (see somewhere above). So I am in the process of redrawing the chassis with the new dimensions, making sure nothing is lost in the process. I'm also updating some areas as the basic chassis was used over 4 seasons and was changed every year with regards to the suspension, steering mechanism, engine, transmission, fuel systems, well everything but the seat mount and the clutch and brake pedals. Yes we could have saved time building a new chassis each winter considering the time spent cutting most everything off, grinding back to clean, and rebuilding and repainting.
For instance, we altered the wheelbase. That meant cutting all of the stuff from the firewall forward off, and rebuilding. But that turned out to be a good thing as the new wheelbase made it handle better. So I documented all of the changes and will incorporate the ones that worked. And it will have more cross bracing.
So a few more days in the basement at the drawing board and we'll see what it's going to take.
Meanwhile, I'm considering a Ford 9 inch rear for the Whatever project, and a 34 Ford front axle. It'll make the Whatever look more old school. More later...
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Dave - I've always heard guys scoff at using plumbing pipe in cars, but back in the day it seems you used what you had.... I wouldn't use it now, save for plumbing of course.
I'm a Michigan transplant - grew up in the south suburbs of Chicago, went to WMU, spent some time in Elkhart, IN, then Marysville, OH, and moved up to the big blue oval in 2000, no plans to move again, ever. Building and setting up work shops takes too much time, I'm not doing it again!
I look forward to following along on the whatever project. Neat stuff.There's always something new to learn.
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Originally posted by milner351 View PostDave - I've always heard guys scoff at using plumbing pipe in cars, but back in the day it seems you used what you had.... I wouldn't use it now, save for plumbing of course.
I'm a Michigan transplant - grew up in the south suburbs of Chicago, went to WMU, spent some time in Elkhart, IN, then Marysville, OH, and moved up to the big blue oval in 2000, no plans to move again, ever. Building and setting up work shops takes too much time, I'm not doing it again!
I look forward to following along on the whatever project. Neat stuff.
Was your time in Marysville spent at the proving track? Ran one project while at Battelle there. That place was awesome!
Still ruminating over the possibility of changing some of the underpinnings. The 34 Ford axle will increase the track width by 4 inches. Speedway sells a 9-inch grand national style rear that is 58 inches flange to flange. A near perfect match for the front. That would allow the axles currently under the Whatever project to be repurposed to that future project. So now I have to look at the big picture. Can I build both, what's the cost, can I find all of the extra parts?
For now forge on ahead as currently planned
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