Welding Tubes

[jdmkid]

So im going to soon start making a chassis for my soon to be go kart (in a shifter kart design). i work on cars so i can mig weld sheet metal fairly good. ive welded a bit on thicker metal in metal shop for a trailer we're making. my question was that would my mig welds be sturdy and strong on the chassis im making? and if i could get some tips or tutorials on how to mig weld pipes, it would help. thanks

 

[souperman000]

to weld pipes you need to fish mouth one of them. That is to carve out the end of one pipe to it fits roundly onto the other

If you didnt already know that of course. Not sure about the stength of MIG, wait for someone else on that

 

[exenos]

As long as the MIG is over 100 amp it should be fine for most light and heavy wall tubing. And as far as the differences between welding sheet and pipe the only differences are the need to notch/fish mouth the ends of the tube and needing enough room to get a good bead around the entire pipe. I'm sure you already know about the need to tack everything so it doesn't warp.

 

[OzFab]

MIG welding sheet metal is hard because you have to stitch weld to avoid burning through. Heavier guage metal is harder to burn through so continuous welds are easily achieved.

The major difference is that with thin sheet you have to watch not to burn through; with heavy guage you need to make sure you have enough penetration (which I'm sure you already know). A bit of practice & you should be fine

 

[jdmkid]

K thats good, thanks! im having a friend who welds as a profession come over and help me out a bit to make sure im doing a good job.

 

[Jake.B]

Yep., just round out the end of the pipe, tack first then do a full weld. Get a nice good bead all the way around.

 

[DS13]

my question was that would my mig welds be sturdy and strong on the chassis im making? and if i could get some tips or tutorials on how to mig weld pipes, it would help. thanks

mig welds would deffinately be study enough... as said fishmouthing the ends of your pipes is a nessecary.... im doing the same as you and im in school still the best metal for a custom frame that i could find, and this is what im using, is 1" OD 1/8" WT round welded tubing.... it isnt expensive and it fairly lightweight. My shop teacher reccomended putting as many gussits (i think that how ya spell em) as u can.. your welding buddy should know what they are if not message me and ill send u a pic of them

 

[jdmkid]

Yeah i know what gussets are lol. i work on cars as a hobby and my friends shop does work on track/race setup cars. so any car getting a roll cage gets gussets made. and im going to be using DOM tubing. going to see how thick tomorrow.