1 3/4” (44.45mm x 2.63) cds tube supplier

[Rrobson]

Does anyone know of a supplier for tube as per title for a roll cage build? Looking about eBay is coming up fairly reasonable compared and works out at £50 for a 5m length if I buy 4+ lengths. Not quite how much I’m going to need but I suspect I’ll need at least 20m, maybe as much as 25 design dependent. Any suppliers that might offer a better deal?
Thanks in advance!

 

[addjunkie]

Cds is now formally called CFS3, there are various types or heat treatments depending what you want to do with it.

 

[Rrobson]

Just needs to need msa’s minimum specs for yield strength. Off the top of my head it’s 2.5mm wall thickness on 44.45mm and 350 n/mm2. Most of the “roll cage spec” cds tubing tends to be 370+.
It’s not for competition and doesn’t need to go through scrutinising but my thoughts are that’s the approved regs so stick to it. There will be other tubing which exceeds the technical specification but I’ll stick with the standard stuff

Just looking to see if there are any suppliers that’s cheaper than I’ve found really!

 

[nickk]

Hub le bas.

 

[Jedamere]

Hub le bas or proformance metals will be be the best suppliers for it. Proformance stock ropt510 which is designed for rollcages so its nice to bend and its not that expensive either

 

[Rrobson]

Thanks for the suggestions, seems it’s time to make some enquiries...

 

[Turbo]

Have you any experience in designing cages or bending tube accurately, what about your welding abilities?

Unless you are very good at all of the above I would buy a ready made roll cage, it's not something you want to go wrong! For a start, it's quite hard to get identical bends to accurate angles without plenty of experience & a decent bender with the correct formers. The CDS tube is too expensive to make many mistakes!

I looked into making my own cage years ago & when you count up the costs of the proper tube, a good welder, a good bender, a tube notcher plus many, many hours cutting, bending, fitting, grinding, welding, swearing, cutting it off coz the angle was wrong, grinding again, welding again, etc it all gets quite expensive!

When I added everything up it made the £600 for a safety devices cage seem to be a bargain!

 

[Rrobson]

I’ve got two cars potentially (really should pick between then!) and one is £1000 for the spec I want, the other doesn’t have an off the shelf kit at all. I’ve already been down the bespoke route and ruled that out. Quality is a real issue. Having looked closely at some “approved” cage builds I’ve been left very underwhelmed by the fit an finish. Which is upsetting considering the price. Seems anyone can pick up a welder and stick metal together these days...
I am skilled enough to fabricate and install a cage, just need some material

 

[Turbo]

I am involved in motorsport & I've worked at scrutineering on rallies and the quality of cages does vary quite a lot.

The worst ones I saw was on works Citroen WRC's, the cage design was great but the welding was terrible! It had been tigged with what looked like a series of overlapping tacks with craters all over the place!

On the other hand the Fiesta WRC's were all beautifully mig welded, not as pretty as the TIG but the welds looked a lot stronger!

Out of all the clubmen spec cages the best bolt in ones are the Safety Devices ones and the best weld in ones are the Custom Cages ones, the design & finish is as good as a works spec cage.

If it's not for MSA competition you could use seamless gas pipe. It's a bit heavier than CDS but a lot cheaper, it's what most of the 4x4 guys use for off roading competition.

 

[Rrobson]

If it's not for MSA competition you could use seamless gas pipe. It's a bit heavier than CDS but a lot cheaper, it's what most of the 4x4 guys use for off roading competition.

Thanks, I’ve seen that mentioned quite a few time actually, however the “heavy” tube is nearly 50% thicker, so it’s more difficult to bend, adjust, and of course sacrifice some weight. However it would be much easier to weld.

I’m actually helping a friend weld in a custom cages cage into a 3 series compact, however it must be for a different generation because it’s needed lots of adjustments. He got it mega cheap though, cheaper than the material was worth!