Making a Rear Axle for the Buggy

Carl, that is awesome dude . You are really hooking the new builders up w/ some great knowledge. It is an excellent gift to the community

Quote:

Originally posted by BeamerBob Quote: Originally posted by popeyethewelder Quote: Originally posted by BeamerBob One thing I didn't get from the video in fast mode was how you were careful to get the axle plates on straight and true to each other. It looked like you just tacked the first one on there and then lined up the second to it. I know I missed something. Yeah sorry I will add that to the video, I use a piece of angle, sit that on the tube and draw a straight edge along the tube, across the marks for the centers of the plates. Tack one plate on along that line then clamp a straight edge to that. I then position the other plate and clamp it to the straight edge. Both plates remain perfectly inline then. If I have missed anything please tell me. The angle is a great idea. Great way to make sure you have a straight line on a round object. How do you make sure the plate is perpendicular to the axle? Is that something you can do by "eye" or do you jig that in some way?

You can use a pipe/center square,




you just move the rule so that it sits on the tube, the edge of the rule will then be the center line of the upright plate.


but it is very easy to see by eye, there is quite an easy way to make one of these, I have many tools, that I have made, including the tap wrench in the video I made too.....perhaps thats another batch of videos

Quote:

Originally posted by acampbell Popeye is it practical to clamp the axle to the bench to keep it straight until it cools after the weld, or are the bending forces just too great? Great video series by the way. Thanks.

It may help just a small amount, even if you tacked two axles back to back, then welded the plates on opposite sides, when you released one of the tacks holding the axles together, the axle tubes will spring apart with some force, in reality there is no way to stop the axle bending....even just when tacking the plates on the axle will bend....

Another way to straighten the axle tube is to put heat in the opposite side, but that is a practiced art form to get right....if you do try that way, make sure you have a bucket full of wet rags.....as soon as the axle has been pulled back straight, immediately cover it with the wet rags, to take the heat out.....its the heat that expands the steel, then as it cools down, it contracts, but will contract more....and keep contracting until the steel is cold.

I would not recommend doing this on stainless though, or if you have no experience in using heat to straighten steel

There are alternatives to fixing the axle to the side rails, by using clamps, you can either make these yourself, like the SuperBug 2...with hinges


seen better HERE

or the Ivanpah


or even use plastic clamps like the ones uses on the Tornado Buggies


or like Sand Yeti on his buggies

Quote:

Originally posted by acampbell Popeye is it practical to clamp the axle to the bench to keep it straight until it cools after the weld, or are the bending forces just too great? Great video series by the way. Thanks.

sorry to hijack your post Carl, But you can PREBEND in the opposite direction a few degrees before welding , we call it backbreaking or negative camber. In the case of your axle,I would put a 1/8"to 1/4"(do a mock up first to get the right amount) thick piece of flatbar under where you are going to weld. Then clamp each end down,thereby bowing the axle.When welded and unclamped, if ya did it right ,it will be straight.

Quote:

Originally posted by WELDNGOD Quote: Originally posted by acampbell Popeye is it practical to clamp the axle to the bench to keep it straight until it cools after the weld, or are the bending forces just too great? Great video series by the way. Thanks. sorry to hijack your post Carl, But you can PREBEND in the opposite direction a few degrees before welding , we call it backbreaking or negative camber. In the case of your axle,I would put a 1/8"to 1/4"(do a mock up first to get the right amount) thick piece of flatbar under where you are going to weld. Then clamp each end down,thereby bowing the axle.When welded and unclamped, if ya did it right ,it will be straight.

No hijack at all WG, thank you and please chip in as and when you want my friend, I forget to add things sometimes and you always offer sound advice, Yes of course you can go down the method you have advised, my problem with that method is space, you can see I am turning and flipping the axle all during the welding process, if you have enough space to clamp down over a 1/4" bar and leave it there until all the welding has been complete and cooled down, this is certainly another method to try.

Quote:

Originally posted by acampbell Popeye is it practical to clamp the axle to the bench to keep it straight until it cools after the weld, or are the bending forces just too great?

One of the things we did when working in the Nuclear Power Plant industry, was to preheat the area before welding to eliminate any movement at all, before, during, and afterwords. In a small shop it would be a little hard to run a rose bud and heat it up to 400 degrees and hold it there till it was done being welded.
You can help to reduce the pull of the weld by welding small sections at a time and allow it to cool between welds, or skip weld the plates to reduce heat build up. Or as you do just bend it back.
Not trying to be one up on anyone who is willing to do it themselves but it is the QC part of my welding training that enjoys the fact that you are welding and making it happen, Great work guys, keep it up

Quote:

Originally posted by WELDNGOD You forgot about the fact that most buggies are stainless. BK, if ya heat stainless that hot and weld on it, carbide percipitate will occur (sugar),esspecially on thin material. But in theory you WILL reduce weld induced stress, just one of the many reasons we control interpass temps. We don't want nobody doin it wrong and hurtin themselves.

Sorry, I was thinking of inkanell and nickle. stainless is a softer metal. only need somewhere about 250 degrees. mild steal needs 250 to 500 degrees depending on thickness. with stainless it was more the color of the steal that determined the point of which the welding was done.
this thread is bringing back to many memories of years of welding in the field. I am remembering why I got out of it
Tig welding will do a better job with less clean up and at a lower temp than mig or stick.
But the point is, making your own bug is much better than buying one, even if there are dog turds hanging off the welds, they grind off.

yup,grinders were made by and for NON-WELDERS ... ridin a buggy that YOU built is an awesome feelin:wee:..As long as you are not wonderin ,when it is gonna fall apart....then ,not so awesome..