There's not a big difference, but I find it helps on the really thin stuff if you doing old bodywork for example, you can wind the dynamics up a bit and get a bit less penetration/spatter but still with a wide flat bead.
Yeah i noticed that actually that was the one thing that annoyed me about the machine actually come to think about it, when i dropped down to 0.24" the adaptive (synergic) side of the machine doesn't have any presets for that so your on your own lol, however you can buy the cable liner and the rollers for the machine for that size...
The problem with MSA tagged chassis and cages is that the welding isn't part of the cert. They tag it based on tube thickness and placement, they can't test the welding in a non-destructive way but there is something certainly in drag racing msa rules about welders needing to be coded but I'd say 90% of chassis builders aren't and it's not enforced and the vast majority are working in 4130 moly.
Yeah its down to the rules, as long as you don't go inventing new tubes and putting them where you want technically the cage is MSA passable, its only when you start thinking about dropping the tube sizes thickness it needs to be tested, if you stay to what the blue book says (for those not into motorsport thats the rule book) then your ok.
some of the cages I've built that have been passed have had tubes no thicker then 0.9mm so does makes a huge difference to weight if you can get them that low but the cost of testing is retarded.
Also I'm no coded welder nor have i ever had a lesson in my life, I practice and learn from reading, watching and understanding, and practice practice practice, I find cutting and etching my welds from time to time really helps me know when I'm doing it right, as some times you can feel that was a nice weld but its can have some lack of fusion or not quite penetrate as much as you was hoping in the root, so its important to know what you need for each joint ect.
I would love to do proper courses and gain qualifications but as you say the expense isn't called for in what i do. Some of the cages I see are just shocking and they should have there welders taken off them.
He certainly got a strong cage! I used to comp safari Landrovers and rolled a couple at speed (!) and they were a simple tube cage and they didn't move.
We build all our stock car cages out of 40mm blue band pipe as we can bend it using a cheap hydraulic pipe bender. Been over a few times and took some hard hits and is more than strong enough. The problem is weight due to wall thickness but at £12 a length its perfect for our needs
I know I'm reviving a very old thread but it seems like a good place to ask a couple of quick questions.
On tubes like the ones that tie the front legs to the turrets on most multipoint cages, how on earth do you weld the backside of the tube? Can parts be left unwelded if it's reinforced/triangulated?