Shifter kart material questions

[thisismyusername]

Alright so I have decided on building a shifter/drag kart frame and using a 2 stroke engine. I'm looking for some input on this build!

So i'm purchasing a bit better welder, before I had the old harbor freight 90 amp, but i'm going to be using the lincoln weldpak 140hd.

I've decided to use 1 1/4" steel tubing for this build, but I am unsure of what gauge thickness to choose. I don't want something too thin, as ill be mounting my engine to this, which will require some thicker steel to mount. But I also don't want this thing to weigh 5000 pounds

I also would like to be able to use the harbor freight pipe bender, to save myself some money instead of getting an actual tube bender. I've seen many channels like RatherBwelding use the harbor freight pipe bender and its working for them.

I've also seen Vasily Custom Builds (Building a similar kart right now) and he is using schedule 40 pipe. Thoughts?

If anyone has some input as to what gauge tubing I should use it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[thisismyusername]

You know on second glance i take back what i said. It looks like the people i see using the tube bender are actually using threaded tube.
I did not expect that

 

[thisismyusername]

Alright so has anyone used this home depot pipe?

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Southla...PIPHorizontal2_rr-_-202310232-_-100540481-_-N

I looked up 3/4 schedule 40 steel pipe, and this came up at home depot and it is relatively cheap so i'm considering using it, or at least going to the store to check it out.

 

[Flyinhillbilly]

If you use schedule 40 it’ll be bad heavy. There are lots of better options and geometry is your friend. If you design it right you can make it out of paper machet and be fine.

 

[Tpdingo]

If you use schedule 40 it’ll be bad heavy. There are lots of better options and geometry is your friend. If you design it right you can make it out of paper machet and be fine.

Well that is what predator 212 rods are made of, right?

 

[thisismyusername]

If you use schedule 40 it’ll be bad heavy. There are lots of better options and geometry is your friend. If you design it right you can make it out of paper machet and be fine.

I've found that I can buy 3/4" schedule 40 pipe near me for just around a dollar per foot. I'll be able to use the harbor freight pipe bender and the wall thickness on this pipe is right around 12 gauge, so the weight is right around 1 pound per foot. Clearly it isn't going to be light, but isn't that right around the same weight per pound as the steel tubing? These tube benders are crazy expensive so i'm kind of taking tubing out of my options and going to try to use pipe.

 

[Kaptain Krunch]

Most people use tube. pipe has a relatively poor strength-weight ratio. gotta pay to play.