Fab Question (Attn Welders)

L

LittleKip

Sleep??
So a buddy of mine is a welder and will be showing me the basics pretty soon here, but I need to find a few things out.
He's also interested in helping me make some of the more difficult pieces.

For Gas tanks and rear ends; what gauge steel should be used? Should I even use steel? What type of welding do you suggest for Fab projects?

Also I had another question; I've seen it on a few threads, where you fab up a wire "basket" to go over the headlight, do you just buy some wire "mesh" or do you make it yourself and weld/solder it together?

I'm really new to all this but have a ton of Ideas and not really sure how to get to the end goal on all of them, thanks for the help.

-Kip
 
TIG welding!

You can do a lot of stuff with MIG some can do a lot with an Arc, Hell I know people who are really good with a torch. But the best for all is TIG! Others are limited in one way or another, TIG can do it all, and when you get good with it, it is very pretty!
 
LittleKip said:
Also I had another question; I've seen it on a few threads, where you fab up a wire "basket" to go over the headlight, do you just buy some wire "mesh" or do you make it yourself and weld/solder it together?
Click to expand...

I really like that look as well. I am not totally sure how they do it either, but you can buy lots of different types of wire mesh from McMaster-Carr.

http://www.mcmaster.com/#wire-cloth/=669aa8
 
LittleKip said:
I guess my followup question to the Mesh is; if I were to put it together myself, would solder hold?
Click to expand...

What kind of solder? That shit with the pink or blue bubble gum smelling flux on it would most likely work fine, but anything else, well I don't think so! Don't heat it on the glass either, that will surely crack it!
 
Somebody just did this to their headlight - can't remember who though. But I'm pretty sure they brazed the wire together
 
Yeah! Brazing should work fine, hell a good torch and some old wire coat hangers and I can stick together a bunch of shit!
 
Thanks for the tips. I have a torch, I may practice brazing, it's been a while since I've tried it. I have an Idea for the wire "basket" but it is not a pattern that I can find anywhere, So I'm gonna need to put it together myself.

About the welding though, If I'm welding up a tank, what gauge steel should I use?

My friend and I are going to start a Steampunk bike and will be doing ALOT of fabing ourselves...
I'm glad I found a place where everyone is so helpful.
 
I suggest you find a night school course,,bring in your projects...if your stumped, your instructor will help you. If you have a proper set of torchs,,,stick it together...worse that can happen,,,,,,,,it falls apart ::)
 
Big R said:
Somebody just did this to their headlight - can't remember who though. But I'm pretty sure they brazed the wire together
Click to expand...

It's project Panty Dropper by Mr. Umbrella
 
You can buy the wire mesh cages. They were used alot on vintage race cars. You are years away from even attempting to weld up any sort of fuel tank. Many well experienced welder/fabricators aren't even able to make fuel tanks.
 
I didn't assume I could just do it first try. My friend has years of experience however, and is interested in getting into motorcycles. There is no way to learn without trying, so thanks for the vote of confidence, but even if we eff it up we're still giving it a shot.
 
LittleKip said:
I didn't assume I could just do it first try. My friend has years of experience however, and is interested in getting into motorcycles. There is no way to learn without trying, so thanks for the vote of confidence, but even if we eff it up we're still giving it a shot.
Click to expand...

You can do ittttt!
 
LittleKip said:
Thanks for the tips. I have a torch, I may practice brazing, it's been a while since I've tried it. I have an Idea for the wire "basket" but it is not a pattern that I can find anywhere, So I'm gonna need to put it together myself.

About the welding though, If I'm welding up a tank, what gauge steel should I use?

My friend and I are going to start a Steampunk bike and will be doing ALOT of fabing ourselves...
I'm glad I found a place where everyone is so helpful.
Click to expand...

For steel tanks, you can go with 18g for the top and 16g for the tunnel and bottom.

As far as welding a tank together, you can use either TIG, MIG or Gas. I use gas because it is what I have, and is the most versatile for sheet metal/aluminum.

Of course the type of tanks you are interested in building will determine the kinds of tools you'll need.
Are you interested in tanks with compound curves? Or tanks with just flat panels?
 
I'm thinking I'll start with flat panels, but ideally I want to work up to curves. I'll need some more tools for that though. Or just have alot of hammer marks...

THanks for the advice! :D
 
As far as a lot of tools need for curved panels, not really.

You need a few hammers, a hollow stump and some dollies. All these things you can build yourself, or puchase inexpensively.

If you really want to pursue the craft of metalshaping, then go to these websites:
1. www.metalmeet.org
2. www.allmetalshaping.com

There is a lot of good info there, and most any question(s) you have will be answered.
 
Welding is an art form. Practice,practice,practice,Stick or wire. As for thickness try to match the other pieces. As for the hedlamp mesh its easier just to buy them. As for solder, silver solder is very strong. And it to takes practice. If i am planning on welding, i'l often fire up MadMax and just weld anything near the size of similar parts. There are great how to's on the web..Good luck
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

DTT Light or Dark

  • DTT Light
    • www.jadusmotorcycleparts.com
    www.lostapostle.ca/
    www.sparckmoto.com

    Spread the Love

    Back
    Top Bottom