Finished my son's kart

[Rick Stevens]

My son and I finished our first kart this weekend. We've had a lot of fun building this and are looking forward to the next one. I very much appreciate all of the knowledge and wisdom that is available here. It helped us out a lot. Horrible timing with the weather though, after about an hour of riding him and the kart were completely covered in mud. It was worth it, he was all smiles!

 

[EdgeTX]

RICK. I've got say. I thoroughly jealous of that mill. Great job of the kart. Is that 1 1/2' tube?

 

[landuse]

Nice!!!! It looks like a clean build

 

[pearl111]

Looks great nice and neat. Very good job.

 

[Rick Stevens]

RICK. I've got say. I thoroughly jealous of that mill. Great job of the kart. Is that 1 1/2' tube?

The larger diameter tubing is 1 1/4'' x .058 wall 4130. The smaller stuff is 1'' x .058 4130. Turned out heavier than I wanted (the bare frame is 84lbs) but momma insisted on the roll over structure. Thanks.

 

[anickode]

The larger diameter tubing is 1 1/4'' x .058 wall 4130. The smaller stuff is 1'' x .058 4130. Turned out heavier than I wanted (the bare frame is 84lbs) but momma insisted on the roll over structure. Thanks.

Smack a bigger engine on it!

 

[EdgeTX]

Rick, That's awesome! I'm blown away that it came in at 84lbs. Guess I didn't realize just how much lighter Chromoly is over regular DOM. I guess being near H-town you don't have as hard of a time getting the tube? I'm about 3 hours north and can't seem to get my metal guys to keep tube in stock. Racks and rack of poop pipe. LOL. Then they want about $15 a foot and a three stick minimum to order it. So if you have a good place I'd love a recommendation where to go. What bender do you have? I've got a JD2 model 32 and added the hydraulic ram. Most of my stuff it 1.5 or 1.75. These doors are 1.5 DOM.

 

[t1704]

Nice work, very clean!

 

[numscul]

nice job ! that beast looks awesome

 

[anickode]

Rick, That's awesome! I'm blown away that it came in at 84lbs. Guess I didn't realize just how much lighter Chromoly is over regular DOM. I guess being near H-town you don't have as hard of a time getting the tube? I'm about 3 hours north and can't seem to get my metal guys to keep tube in stock. Racks and rack of poop pipe. LOL. Then they want about $15 a foot and a three stick minimum to order it. So if you have a good place I'd love a recommendation where to go. What bender do you have? I've got a JD2 model 32 and added the hydraulic ram. Most of my stuff it 1.5 or 1.75. These doors are 1.5 DOM.

Chromoly in and of itself isn't any lighter, but it's so much stronger, you can use much thinner material without sacrificing strength. That's where the weight savings comes from.

 

[Rick Stevens]

Chromoly in and of itself isn't any lighter, but it's so much stronger, you can use much thinner material without sacrificing strength. That's where the weight savings comes from.

This. On the NHRA chassis we build the most common size tubing is 1 5/8'' x .083 wall 4130. It weighs 1.3lbs per foot. To get the same strength on dom you would have to use 120 wall which is right at 1lb per foot heavier.

---------- Post added at 06:34 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:28 PM ----------

Rick, That's awesome! I'm blown away that it came in at 84lbs. Guess I didn't realize just how much lighter Chromoly is over regular DOM. I guess being near H-town you don't have as hard of a time getting the tube? I'm about 3 hours north and can't seem to get my metal guys to keep tube in stock. Racks and rack of poop pipe. LOL. Then they want about $15 a foot and a three stick minimum to order it. So if you have a good place I'd love a recommendation where to go. What bender do you have? I've got a JD2 model 32 and added the hydraulic ram. Most of my stuff it 1.5 or 1.75. These doors are 1.5 DOM.

Just the frame itself weighs 84lbs. The completely assembled cart with fluids weighs 221. We get our tubing from Earl M Jorgenson in houston. They deliver it to the shop. Lately its been running 4.30 per foot for the bigger sizes. Might be worth a phone call to see if they would deliver it to you. They also have a distribution center somewhere around Dallas i believe. Or if your ever in the area give me a call, (832-309-2116) I keep most sizes on the rack.

I have a JD Squared model 4 bender, air over hydraulic

 

[EdgeTX]

Rick, thank you so much for the info. I looked them up this morning and they're well within my driving range. I'll send you a text here in just a bit with my number.

If you don't mind I have a couple more question about the kart. What did you weld the 4130 with? ER70s2/6 or another filler? Did you freehand that design or use something like BendTech? What notcher did you go with?

 

[Rick Stevens]

Rick, thank you so much for the info. I looked them up this morning and they're well within my driving range. I'll send you a text here in just a bit with my number.

If you don't mind I have a couple more question about the kart. What did you weld the 4130 with? ER70s2/6 or another filler? Did you freehand that design or use something like BendTech? What notcher did you go with?

We use er70s2 for filler rod. #6 cup with a gas lens and 3/32- 2% tungsten. Very low amps, 60 -70 range. The moly will have a paper thin mill scale that you can remove with a good scotch brite pad. You don't have to remove it, it will weld fine, but it sure does make the weld nicer on the top. Also on the thin wall stuff, a gas relief hole is a must.
I have a bend tech program but only use it occasionaly for main hoops. Me and computer programs don't get along very well, and I think you need a ****ing degree in CAD to use the thing! Everything else we lay out ourselves. Main hoops and cage sides are by far the biggest challenge to get right.
We notch the tubing with the vertical mill and a roughing end mill. There are some hole saw notchers on the market that also work very well.

 

[Canales]

So Rick, you designed that kart yourself? If so that is BAD A**! It really covers all you need in the sense of safety, styling, and size. That is exactly what I have been looking for to get my son. I have been look online to find a buggy that we can rebuild, but that is bad a**!

 

[Rick Stevens]

Thanks. The design of this one kind of developed as we went along, but it turned out pretty good. We had so much fun building this one, been thinking about building a slightly bigger one so i can ride with him.