Ok folks. I am gearing up to build an exo-skeleton for my Samurai tin top. A lot of you have seen it. Any thoughts on material to use? Pipe vs. Tubing ect. ect. I hopefully will be able to bend and weld everything myself, provided I can build an adequate bender! This will be a long process and it is still in the early stages. I would love your feed back! Thanks!
I wouldn't use pipe for an exo.
you can buy a good bender for around$125, id do it out of 3\16 round tubing
definitely use tubing. and you can't use a pipe bender on tubing. search the net there is probably somebody out there that offers a prebent exo cage for a zuk
Everybody has an opinion, so heres mine. I've always liked using square or rectangular tubing, you dont have to bend it, cut and weld it to the angle you want. It makes it easy to attach lights and such, since youre working with flat surfaces.
YAZOOFIREMARSHAL Wrote:Everybody has an opinion, so heres mine. I've always liked using square or rectangular tubing, you dont have to bend it, cut and weld it to the angle you want. It makes it easy to attach lights and such, since youre working with flat surfaces.
something like that is what I had in mind. I have all the tools to cut and weld said tubing...I think. I don't really want to buy a pre-made cage. It takes the fun out of it. I would like to see one however, to get ideas on what she should look like!
You can just MIG weld tubing right? And does anyone know weight capacity and the such for tubing? Does anyone have an exo here?
you can get a tubing bender from harbor f. for about $80. they work pretty good. yes you can mig weld tube. the load capacity is depending on the type of tube. for an exo i would use HREW or DOM. the HREW is the cheapest and very strong, the DOM is more expensive and even stronger. How much do you value your life?
redneck23ms Wrote:definitely use tubing. and you can't use a pipe bender on tubing. search the net there is probably somebody out there that offers a prebent exo cage for a zuk
well, tube bender i meant
Noontime Wrote:something like that is what I had in mind. I have all the tools to cut and weld said tubing...I think. I don't really want to buy a pre-made cage. It takes the fun out of it. I would like to see one however, to get ideas on what she should look like!
I have built headache racks for log trucks out of 2x4 and 4x4 square tubing, both work well, I prefer the 2x4 for the way it looks. Have seen 1500 lb logs dropped on these racks with little or no damage. Just have to be sure you have good welds.