Adam Wardlow
New Member
- Messages
- 13
- Location
- Hampshire England
Hi,
I'm only an amateur welder: done chassis repair stuff and one or two other projects. I have a chassis repair job I could do with a couple of bits of advice on.
I need to fabricate a new chassis section in 38mm 14swg mild steel tube. The new sections will look like these in the attached picture.
I need to fabricate them in place, tack them together, and take them off the car to weld fully. I can't fully weld them up in situ as the fibreglass body is in the way. Then I shall lift them back into place to butt weld them to the old tubes. The joins are at the ends of the tubes covered in what looks life masking tape in the picture.
My first question is, are there any tips to prevent the tubes warping when I weld them off the car?
Secondly, I don't want to just butt weld them to the old tubes. I want to sleeve them, but because of the angles of the tubes I could not put the sleeves on the insides, unless I had some way of fitting them loosely in the new tubes before presenting it to the car and then locating them before welding. Thought about welding hooks on the insides of the sleeves, drilling holes in the new tubes and pulling the sleeves into position with some string or wire, which seems a faff. Alternatively, is it acceptable practice to put the sleeves on the outside? It won't look as tidy, but it won't be seen. Will it be as strong? Hope that makes sense.
I'm only an amateur welder: done chassis repair stuff and one or two other projects. I have a chassis repair job I could do with a couple of bits of advice on.
I need to fabricate a new chassis section in 38mm 14swg mild steel tube. The new sections will look like these in the attached picture.
I need to fabricate them in place, tack them together, and take them off the car to weld fully. I can't fully weld them up in situ as the fibreglass body is in the way. Then I shall lift them back into place to butt weld them to the old tubes. The joins are at the ends of the tubes covered in what looks life masking tape in the picture.
My first question is, are there any tips to prevent the tubes warping when I weld them off the car?
Secondly, I don't want to just butt weld them to the old tubes. I want to sleeve them, but because of the angles of the tubes I could not put the sleeves on the insides, unless I had some way of fitting them loosely in the new tubes before presenting it to the car and then locating them before welding. Thought about welding hooks on the insides of the sleeves, drilling holes in the new tubes and pulling the sleeves into position with some string or wire, which seems a faff. Alternatively, is it acceptable practice to put the sleeves on the outside? It won't look as tidy, but it won't be seen. Will it be as strong? Hope that makes sense.
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