Material Choice

[Vikram]

Hi guys,
the following question might make some you laugh but I am a novice. Do you use steel or aluminium for the frame?

 

[Mato]

The most popular is definitely Steel.

 

[landuse]

Steel. 1" x 1" square tubing at 1.8mm wall thickness. That should be fine for you

 

[OzFab]

Most people use steel because it's cheaper & easier to work with than aluminium (any standard welder can weld steel but needs a special welder to work with aluminium).

If you can use &/or have a TIG welder & can afford ali, there's no reason why you can't use it

 

[ck123]

I used 1 1/4" conduit from home depot. Its about $11 for a 10' length. Its nice and light =, plenty strong enough too.

 

[adeso]

If you want to go lightweight look into chrome molly tubing. It is a lot stronger so you can go with thinner stuff. Easy to weld, most drag cars use this and TIG weld it

 

[OzFab]

If you want to go lightweight look into chrome molly tubing. It is a lot stronger so you can go with thinner stuff. Easy to weld, most drag cars use this and TIG weld it

...which would then make it harder to weld if you don't have a TIG welder, something not many of us have...

 

[adeso]

You can MIG, TIG is just what people like to use. I think with MIG there might be preheating but I'm not sure I haven't looked into MIG welding the chromemoly.

 

[Bluethunder3320]

be careful using conduit tubing. it has galvanizing which makes very toxic smoke when you weld on it. people have died from this. personally i would not even try grinding it off to weld. spend another 10 bucks and get some good steel. and stay healthy

 

[Doc Sprocket]

I have built many things out of galvanized EMT. Use forced ventilation- better yet, work outside. Keep your head out of the weld fumes, and you'll be fine.

The other hurdle with galvanized anything is that paint does not like to adhere to it. Extra surface preparation and a specialty primer are needed.