pcmhacking.net

Looks good, a man of many talents.

gotta be yoda, can't afford it otherwise

well today has seen another long term investment in the shed tools

want to make my own roll cage for the gemini, but to do that i needed to get something a bit better than the old A frame pipe benders as they kink the pipe pretty bad and make it weak in the bend and hense useless for my needs.

SOOO i did some research and it appears that there is one option that is reasonably affordable ($1440) and professional bend quality so i went for it!

started out with 45kg of steel pieces
after making a stand for it this is what i have as an end result
ran out of mig wire before i could finish the stand base plate welding but there was enough to get her going as you can see i tested a bit of exhaust pipe i had spare, works pretty well but slightly kinked the inside of the bend in a few spots, this is because of how thin the pipe is, its below the minimum wall thickness specified for that die size...
if you want to see it working have a look at this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_P1MBhBjiqI

so i bought the 1 3/4 inch die, and you can get dies pretty much for all imperial and metric options ... mind you a die set is $550 each so yeah wont be getting alot in a hurry unless i win the lotto!

hopefully get some roll cage pipe sometime next week ready for next weekend.

anyways bring on the roll cage i say!!

wow nice piece of kit. I knew you have been waiting for a pipe bender but I didnt appreciate exactly what it was until now!

you and i both man .... i didn't expect it to be so industrial and as big as it is! its amazing the size box they fit it in for posting!!

roll cage test template #1

ok so i got a heap of old exhaust pipe out that just happened to be 1 3/4 inch .... some of it already had bends in it but i had just enough straight bits to make the b pillar parts with the bends in them and then used some other bits and pieces to mock up the rest of it as i plan to do it.

so firstly i made the main hoop side bits and then just shoved them into a short piece of slightly larger pipe (the top section) and tack welded them all in place.
i would have liked to have it further forward but it would have put the hoop above my head and thats just not going to work as my head nearly touches the hood lining with a helmet on as it is so its now just behind the seat - according to andra specs i can have that part up to 6 inch behind my head so its in a good spot where it is (about 3-4 inchs from my head)
for these points on the finished product they will go all the way to the floor and also there will be steel plates put in around this area for a stronger place for the pipe to attach to.
next is the side intrusion bar, i have just used some steel rod to show where it will go, im going to use the minimum diameter pipe here of about 1 1/4 x 1.9mm thick just so they don't take up as much room around my arm and leg/foot area.
i also need to confirm if there is a minimum height for these as i don't want to put it in that low only to find out it needs to be higher up at the rear etc.

next bit after that will be the taxi bar, this is going to serve two purposes, as i wanted to have an upper back support for the seat so this will achieve that and also add some more strength to the roll bar.
the back stays will be going something like this
im tossing up weather to put a horizontal bar between the two back stays for the harness to wrap around or weather to just screw it to the parcel tray, im leaning towards the extra bar option because it will also add more strength to the whole deal.
and last but not least, i have a nice little hole saw that will allow me to notch the pipes for that proper join!
so i guess i pretty much know how its all going to go now, so now i just need to get the proper materials and get to it ... problem is at the moment im finding it hard to get the size pipe i need from my local shop they have ERW pipe (andra requirement) but in 1 3/4 inch its only like 1.8mm thick wall and i need minimum of 2.6mm wall, so thats ongoing at the moment, i'll get there one way or the other, might just take a bit longer to track down somewhere that has it.

stay tuned!

well this is tonights effort
very very happy with the results of the bends, as you can see no imperfections at all really!!

got a few prep jobs to do before i go and weld the main hoop in but shes ready to go when the time comes

also had a 130mm off cut and another slightly longer bit so i notched the 130mm piece and welded it to the other piece .... i'm all over the notching now, so it should be all good!!

now the only problem is all day at work im going to be wishing i was at home playing!

Oh that is so cool!

/needs a bender like that!

yeah i agree i already have plans for approx 1 inch size set of dies, and a motorbike engine powered buggy i reckon hehehe

Something like this Holden 202 ,but with your talent and tools much better no doubt.
I built it when i was about 18 from old junk i had lying around .Its got a xt 500 5 speed motorbike engine and no brakes ,just accel , clutch and gearlever .To stop it i just click it back to 1st and do a compression lockup.
One of these days im going to resurrect it ,with a new frame(ive cracked it about 5 times) and of coarse a delco ecm.