Frame Materials?

[new2me]

So yesterday I was shopping for 1 1/4" square tubing so I could start my kart frame. 1 supplier has 11awg that was going to cost me $77 for 30ft. :eek: Then I went to the local Home Depot and they had 1" 1/16th thick for $13 a 6ft section. (seemed a bit weak) None of the scrap yards had anything but 2" which seems a little overkill for a 5-8hp kart.

Well after the long day of searching my lil brother calls me up and asked if I could use his house antenna for the project. I asked him to see if a magnet will stick to it and it did. This tower has 3 or 4 50ft poles which would be more than enough. I am going to his house today to help him take it down & see what exactly id be working with.

What do you guys think about using this?

[robertdjung]

Well, it will be galvanized at least, and that is toxic. (doable, just more a pain).

Seems expensive for the steel.. Is that regular rolled steel? Hmm. Maybe it's been a while since i've bought.

[new2me]

I wasn't even thinking about it being galvanized, that's no good! Is that just a coating that could be sanded off where I need to weld or is it actually in the metal?

I know the steel prices have gone up quite a bit in the past few years, just didn't think it was this much either. I saw someone used gas pipe from Home Depot and am considering that as an alternative. My problem will be the whole bending and notching, unless I can use a hole saw to notch.

[2or3wheels]

I always thought that it was sprayed or dipped, but i could be wrong. Might as well try to sand it off and see if its a caoting. If it is then you could use it if not you could still use it just toxic. For free its worth a try.

[robertdjung]

I'm pretty sure it's just dipped. I've welded on it, I just do it with a fan behind me (gasless) and hold my breath, then leave the area when the weld is done. But I've never really done more than a handful of welds at a time like that. Might get really old welding a whole frame.

I used gas pipe for my first mini chopper. Worked out OK. A little heavy.