Newbie wanting a fast (drift if necessary) build >:)

[Joe-405]

That's doable with a Chinese 150cc engine and a light used chassis from a racing kart actually I think. I think it could be done for well under $1000. If you tried hard enough. You would have to have somebody fab and weld some engine mounts tho.

 

[itsid]

Its still dangerous bro...I pointed you. Learn from a professional. Hope you know the basics and theory of welding. My hands shivered like **** when I first tried to weld....risky to try from a few youtube videos bro...ask someone. You use Tig welding right, that aint soo easy. Sorry if i said something wrong bro....

The Hyneman once said it's like hotglueing.. just hotter.
So yeah.. I'd say with the proper wwelding gear it's as dangerous as riding a bike.
(I've seen 6yo do it)

Soo you dont recommend a manual transmission brother?? Has anyone tried a KTM engine in a project???

What? now you're not even reading the replies?
a motorcycle engine comes with a manual transmission;
yes ALL OF THEM.. a scooter is not a motorcycle...
they nowadays come with a cvt more often than not.

A seperate gearbox... nearly impossible to find and extraordinary expensive to make.

it's neither hp nor torque of a industrial engine that's making it difficult.
(almost all motorcycles are more powerfull and do come with a six speed gearbox)
The parts are there.. just the case to fit them in isn't readily available.

OLD motorbikes sometimes have seperate gearboxes.. which is nice..
but finding such thing is difficult, and even more expensive (rare vintage parts in good condition...collector values and such)

Opposed to that a more recent engine with internal gearboxes are a plenty.
not too cheap sometimes, true... but MUCH cheaper than a vintage part.
and then.. much smaller, more powerfull as well.. and way easier to repair and maintain.

Mower tranmissions are indeed too weak most of the time..
but it's not the HP or Torque.. in fact it's the lack of precision and the high rpms that cause them to fail;
especially if you try to shift at speed since they're not synchronised either
with a manual clutch it should be half as bad though.

'sid

 

[bob58o]

Ok. Actually it means the same in Both of those places!
Try Texas and California in your next analogy. and I would not use the Winking smilie in smilie in posts about "Tranny's".

You have to be thinking about THIS right?

 

[chancer]

Yeah that, and I was also thinking of Dearborn Mi. but that is more along the lines of Goats.

 

[Kartorbust]

In the States MIG welders are relatively cheap to buy. One can easily teach them selves to weld with one in less than a day. I was self taught for the first 15 years I had a mig. Even then I still have not had a weld fail on me to this day. GM finally sent me to school and I was even able to teach the engineer running the class a thing or 2. You just need lots of experience and a good welding supplier willing to talk to you about different welding rod and gasses.


Denny

As someone who had gone to welding school, I HIGHLY do not recommend buying a cheap welder for building a go kart frame that may see above 30mph. It'll also take much more than an afternoon, to understand what the heck you're doing by watching a welder. Sure watching YouTube videos is great to get the technique down, but by no means does it mean you can safely make a strong go kart frame.

If you're wanting to go 50+mph on a go kart, spend the money on a good gas tungsten arc welder (Tig) or a mig welder. Now get your minds out of the gutter. Buying a higher end welder means you'll get better penetration of the metal for a stronger weld. You get more amperage for it. For a go kart going 50mph, you'd want a welder that works on 220/240 volts. Most houses in the US are setup for that and it requires a special outlet.

If you want to go fast, a transmission will be needed. Look at shifter karts, those come with a motorcycle/dirt bike engine and transmission...usually a Honda CR125. They use a hand clutch behind the steering wheel instead of a 3rd pedal on the floor.

You'll also have to consider hydraulic brakes on the front and rear. I'm not all the that familiar with what's available engine wise outside of the US and Canada. But I'd stick with simple for a go kart... centrifugal clutch or torque converter and an industrial engine.

Then you could get away with a cheaper welder. But to do the fast go kart, for a brand new welder I'd spend no less than $2500 or so on it and buy a name brand...like Miller, Lincoln, ESAB, possibly Hobart (hobby end of Miller Electric).

I know personally, I have close to 400 hours of welding from college, 200 hours from working and 150 hours from doing it in high school and at home and I know for a fact that I would not be comfortable making a frame to withstand high speeds, unless I had quality equipment to do it.

I'm not trying to discourage you, but I'm doing this out of my own self conscience.

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[Denny]

As someone who had gone to welding school, I HIGHLY do not recommend buying a cheap welder for building a go kart frame that may see above 30mph. It'll also take much more than an afternoon, to understand what the heck you're doing by watching a welder. Sure watching YouTube videos is great to get the technique down, but by no means does it mean you can safely make a strong go kart frame.

If you're wanting to go 50+mph on a go kart, spend the money on a good gas tungsten arc welder (Tig) or a mig welder. Now get your minds out of the gutter. Buying a higher end welder means you'll get better penetration of the metal for a stronger weld. You get more amperage for it. For a go kart going 50mph, you'd want a welder that works on 220/240 volts. Most houses in the US are setup for that and it requires a special outlet.

If you want to go fast, a transmission will be needed. Look at shifter karts, those come with a motorcycle/dirt bike engine and transmission...usually a Honda CR125. They use a hand clutch behind the steering wheel instead of a 3rd pedal on the floor.

You'll also have to consider hydraulic brakes on the front and rear. I'm not all the that familiar with what's available engine wise outside of the US and Canada. But I'd stick with simple for a go kart... centrifugal clutch or torque converter and an industrial engine.

Then you could get away with a cheaper welder. But to do the fast go kart, for a brand new welder I'd spend no less than $2500 or so on it and buy a name brand...like Miller, Lincoln, ESAB, possibly Hobart (hobby end of Miller Electric).

I know personally, I have close to 400 hours of welding from college, 200 hours from working and 150 hours from doing it in high school and at home and I know for a fact that I would not be comfortable making a frame to withstand high speeds, unless I had quality equipment to do it.

I'm not trying to discourage you, but I'm doing this out of my own self conscience.

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Kartorbust, With all due respect if after welding for over 400 hours you do not trust you're welding maybe you need to find another profession. I'll agree there is more to it than many of the unwashed masses know about like, materials, mixing, gasses, etc. etc. Learning the proper technique is not that hard. Having a good steel and welding suppliers willing to talk goes a long way. I do agree having better equipment is a plus but not necessary.


Denny

 

[Kartorbust]

I'm not specialized in welding Chrome Moly tubing with tig. It's out of my comfort zone. Only thing kind of exotic I did was 22ga stainless steel and it could not be allowed to warp. I'm not saying I can't do it, I'm saying that I won't do it for the sake of my own safety. I only have a 115 volt setup and I'd prefer to have a 240 volt instead so I can have better range of heat control. Plus I'd like to get a band saw to prevent HAZ problems, like material cracking and fatigue.

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[Poboy kartman]

Well...this IS DIY.....BUT!!!!! I can't possibly attach any semblance of logic to spending $2500 for a welder to weld up a friggin gokart frame....I don't care how fast or slow....HAVING it welded is much cheaper.

I'm in the cheap welder, newbie class...but it really isn't that hard to figure out whether what you're doing is going to hold or not...pretty or not...

My biggest problem is I usually can't see what I'm doing, ...so I'm welding by "feel". With cheap welders and thin metal that's kinda what you have to do. You can't dail in the amperage. I've found with heavier materials...I can actually watch what I'm doing and lay beads.

But...it's totally doable with a cheap HF welder and not too many hours of practice.

 

[Kartorbust]

You running a fixed shade hood or auto darken? Maybe drop to a lower tint or bring in work lights to help you out. I've had to do both before so I could see what I'm doing as well as change out the plastic protection lenses. That alone can make a HUGE difference between seeing and not seeing where you are welding.

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[Poboy kartman]

HF auto darkening...haven't played around with any of what I got much.

 

[bob58o]

Wait, I'm supposed to keep my eyes open. LOL
It is scary trusting your eyes with the auto darken feature on the HF mask. Will It darken? Will my eyes bleed? I usually go look at the sun to test it first. LOL

I usually work in my dark garage with darkest tint. I probably could use some lights to help as I have trouble seeing the pool most of the time.

 

[Kartorbust]

I've had arc burned eyes before a d it's not the most pleasant feeling in the world. Even the "sun" burn from not wearing a leather or at least fire retardant jacket isn't fun either. They even recommend not wearing contact lenses while doing using shielding gas as it can cause issues.

A cheater lens in your hood can help see the weld better, if your eye sight isn't great.

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---------- Post added at 07:41 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:37 AM ----------

Shades 10-12 are mostly used for what we would do on a frame. Tig may need a lighter shade like an 8 or 9. http://m.lincolnelectric.com/en-us/...ions/Pages/helmets-eye-protection-detail.aspx

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[ezcome-ezgo]

I got great penetration welding a 1/4" steel sleeve to solid 1" steel axle stock using my 90 amp welder. The trick is heat.

 

[Bwdeaton]

I got flash burn in high school and it was one of the stupider things I've ever done. Was wearing a white shirt and use a mask with broken headband which kept slipping and between the reflection off the shirt and the mask going loose I had a pretty crappy couple of days. I welded a lot in high school with a old Lincoln tombstone arc welder and have some pretty good results


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[Poboy kartman]

I weld by feel and use sense of smell to detect problems....

I will say....I won't ever do overhead welding without gloves again...but...I don't usually use any protective equipment except a helmet.

 

[mckutzy]

Actually the smell thing is a "good" thing.... If your clothes or the thing your welding on(a wooden structure) is burning or on fire...... then if you can... you usually look to see whats going on...... Or run hysterically flailing your arms about like a silly person.... cause your shop coat is on fire or sparks went down your pants(more likely it burnt a hole in your pants).....
Mostly I set the machine by sound... then adjust from there...

 

[OzFab]

Yes, they have SISTER....just check around the site....and drop the DAAMMED BRO crap...SIS.... IT'S AGGRAVATING!

Not to mention all the useless info you've been spreading...

Damien, NO ONE CARES HOW MANY DEGREES OR HOW MUCH TRAINING YOU HAVE, I have lots of training too but, this forum is about sharing advice on the SIMPLE & EASY way to do things that work...

We thrive on the KISS principle (look it up), I strongly suggest you do the same...

Now,

 

[landuse]

Actually the smell thing is a "good" thing.... If your clothes or the thing your welding on(a wooden structure) is burning or on fire...... then if you can... you usually look to see whats going on...... Or run hysterically flailing your arms about like a silly person.... cause your shop coat is on fire or sparks went down your pants(more likely it burnt a hole in your pants).....
Mostly I set the machine by sound... then adjust from there...

Sense of smell is good. This is what happened to my overalls when grinding. Sparks against my chest cause the material to catch fire. I only noticed when i smelled it.

 

[Kartorbust]

I don't have the pants anymore, but back in high school I was plasma torching some 1/8" steel for a project and my right leg was under the metal. Well after I'm done cutting, the bottom of my leg felt warm and I was talking to a guy in class. Well then he's like, Dude your pants are on fire! I look down and sure enough, the bottom of my pant leg is on fire and he started beating his baseball cap on it to put it out. It ended up burning a 3-4" cut up my pants.

Only ended up with a slight burn on my skin and nothing else. Had the inside of my leg resting against the cold metal of my desks the rest of the day, with ice packs to keep the pain down. It was great.

I knew a few years ago, ESAB had leather welding pants for sale, but haven't found them since then online or anywhere. The few times I've started my pants on fire by welding, would probably cover the cost of a pair of those welder pants for sure, maybe 2 pairs.

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160713/6c236ed538d5e2d17b4b252a943edc5a.jpg

This was a hole I made in college while stick welding pipe for a test. It's about a 2"x2" perfect square. One thing for sure, do not wear pants that have small holes or anything like that while welding or grinding, they'll easily catch fire.

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[Jfive]

Well...this IS DIY.....BUT!!!!! I can't possibly attach any semblance of logic to spending $2500 for a welder to weld up a friggin gokart frame....I don't care how fast or slow....HAVING it welded is much cheaper.

I'm in the cheap welder, newbie class...but it really isn't that hard to figure out whether what you're doing is going to hold or not...pretty or not...

My biggest problem is I usually can't see what I'm doing, ...so I'm welding by "feel". With cheap welders and thin metal that's kinda what you have to do. You can't dail in the amperage. I've found with heavier materials...I can actually watch what I'm doing and lay beads.

But...it's totally doable with a cheap HF welder and not too many hours of practice.

Non auto darkening options that will help is a shade 10 gold or blue lenses. Depending on person one is better. Both are better than a regular black one. I use a gold one. It reflects the welding glare back at the work making it easier to see.