Hey All,

Has anyone come across or heard of any aluminum bugs?

I have some 2" aluminum tube with good bends that I could make a nice stout bug with, without being too light or too heavy. I know weight isn't a factor until you get too light or too heavy. I'd like any info on possible weaknesses and or shortcomings of aluminum.

Thanx, Screwy

what about it.

Sorry I hit enter to quickly. My bad!!!

aluminum cant handle the vibration due to how ridged it is. thats why most bugs are built of stainless. because steel is flexible and if its stainless it has less chances of rusting out. if you want lite i would go chromoly. i have never built a buggy but i do have experience with race car frames, but i would see what others have to say about it. hope that helps.

Bam! No worries

And soon

PKD para- storm buggy is built in Alum.

Tang from E-bay {the knock-off king} has chrome plated alum. rockvilles buggys:evil:

what's the apex made of.?

Great guys...

Love the fast responses and great info. I think I might go for it, just for #@%$#!s and giggles. But still be ready to buy a good buggy if one comes across my path for a deal.

Hey strictlycarved, what kinda race car frames did you play with in the past? I used to pit for a Nascar team for the So West Tour and Wild West Shootout, great fun...

And thanx Weldngod you've inspired me to go forward with my build, I'll post a new thread as I get close to starting the project. I'll call it :puzzled: "Aluminum Bug Build Start 2 Finish"

Kyte Slinger, is that chopper bug (your avatar) for real... that thing is freaS-P-A-M-L-I-N-K-n "BAD A$$"

Thanx again, any more comments greatly appreciated, Screwy

Quote:

Originally posted by USA_Eli_A what's the apex made of.?

Apex??? Who me???:puzzled:

Yup! plus the forks has another 44 inch slip joint were I can extend it out but that puts me in the fetal position riding..





blue LED strobe lights that run along the side rails
and red and yellow button strobes I toss in the fake exhaust pipes, phat boy rims w/ smoothies and articulating tandem rear end, old eye lid beach cruiser head light and fake diamond kite tank..... I have a alum. tear drop mirror but I haven't put that on yet so the old round one still on there

I need to drop the foot pegs down 1 inch to ride comfortably



I haven't worked on it in a while but I want to do another paint job on the tank with a fake speedometer and tach. red lined and extend the exhaust out the back and upwards to provide back support/sissy bar with fish tail exhaust tips
and see if chip can tool me out a nice leather seat and saddle bags

hopefully Eli save me some G rims:wink2:

When working with ally it's "strength by design"I have subjected my buggy to all kinds of abuse, except jumping. No problems so far ,just keep it rinsed off and keep it painted. Oh and very important NO STEEL! do not use steel hardware or parts. It creates a battery, sort of, and destroys the ally. always use stainless steel.

This rig is "ROCS-P-A-M-L-I-N-K-N" I'd love to get a couple of pics in full size to put up on my desk top for a wallpaper... I'll send u a u2u with my email if you'd be willing to share some of these photos with me. They are beautiful shots with the background and clarity is awesome.
I love custom getups like this, I make quite a few custom projects myself. Such a great feeling to accomplish a cool project that no one else has.
Great Job
Screwy

Quote:

Originally posted by KYTE SLINGER Yup! plus the forks has another 44 inch slip joint were I can extend it out but that puts me in the fetal position riding.. blue LED strobe lights that run along the side rails and red and yellow button strobes I toss in the fake exhaust pipes, phat boy rims w/ smoothies and articulating tandem rear end, old eye lid beach cruiser head light and fake diamond kite tank..... I have a alum. tear drop mirror but I haven't put that on yet so the old round one still on there I need to drop the foot pegs down 1 inch to ride comfortably I haven't worked on it in a while but I want to do another paint job on the tank with a fake speedometer and tach. red lined and extend the exhaust out the back and upwards to provide back support/sissy bar with fish tail exhaust tips and see if chip can tool me out a nice leather seat and saddle bags hopefully Eli save me some G rims:wink2:

Great info,
I'll keep that in mind, I might make the forks out of stainless... unsure yet...
Thanx, Screwy

Anyone know where to get seats or how to make'em?:puzzled:

Quote:

Originally posted by WELDNGOD When working with ally it's "strength by design"I have subjected my buggy to all kinds of abuse, except jumping. No problems so far ,just keep it rinsed off and keep it painted. Oh and very important NO STEEL! do not use steel hardware or parts. It creates a battery, sort of, and destroys the ally. always use stainless steel. Remember a pound of ally is 2 1/2 times stronger than a pound of steel

i used to do custom baja bugs and trophy trucks. just good old desert racing. just to clear things up i didn't say dont build an aluminum buggy but just that stainless is the way to go. also what welder will you use to build your aluminum frame a tig or a modified mig?

Well... I have access to both and I'm aming at the Tig a buddy owns and he's been want'n me to show him how to use it, I have limited experience with Tigs but I always did really well when I did use them.
My dad has a modded Mig but it makes bubble gum welds and doesn't penetrate enough for me. Can't quite figure out the right setup for it, we were using a torch to heat it from behind too :puzzled: we had the right gas also :puzzled: it was a lot thicker aluminum back then so I'm might visit him and take some scraps and try again...

Quote:

Originally posted by strictlycarved i used to do custom baja bugs and trophy trucks. just good old desert racing. just to clear things up i didn't say dont build an aluminum buggy but just that stainless is the way to go. also what welder will you use to build your aluminum frame a tig or a modified mig?

i would recommend the tig although the migs have gotten better recently.

Keep us posted with pics as your design moves along....always interesting to see the build

and dont worry, there are plenty of alluminium buggies out there

Use ac tig with argon gas.or use mig , it doesn't have to be modified . Just positive polarity,helium gas and a miller spoolgun w/ an XMT 350. 26 volts and about a 5 on wire speed . If you use argon it's24 volts and about a6 on wire speed . Or use what ever rig you got. I weld aluminum every day and I'm telling you it has to be clean before you weld it,No oxide showing!

dude that xmt is such a sick welder. ill agree with weldgod cleaning is so vital to the welding processes. and hope your build turns out great. and earlier posted only use stainless hardware raw steel on aluminum is no good. good luck with the build im sure it will turn out great especially with all the experience that seems to be on this forum some of the folks on here really know what their talking about. post pics of the build. soon i should start building mine.

I AM THE WELDNGOD! MASTER OF ALLOYS EVERYWHERE! U2U IF YOU NEED HELP. ( three ingredients of a welder: Scabs , Duct tape , and leather:smilegrin ) and the Dynasty 700 is king of aluminum!

Weldngod,
I wish you lived next door or close by, I'd make a 5gal batch of a good summer brew and smoke some Tri Tip and a few racks of ribs and have a welding party...
I'll be u2u'n ya for info I appreciate the offer!!!
I'll get my buddy's welder info and see if you are familiar with it, I know its a Miller with a Gen on it, its a newer model. Really nice.
To clean alloy use a stainless wire brush... correct? any tricks to share for cleaning. I know cleanliness is a deal breaker for alloy weld'n.
Thanx, Screwy

Haaaa,
I just looked up that Dynasty 700 that thing is 12 grand, I bet it makes alloy... Now I really wish you lived next door!!!
Screwy

I use a Dynasty at work. But the family welding service has 2 Miller Trailblazers and a Big diesel 40 Deluxe ,we got water coolers , hi-freq boxes, plasma cutters.We may get a water-jet cutting table.I will be a buggy part makin freak! You ought to see my grill,made out of 25 inch Dredge Pipe after it is worn too thin1/2".I can cook 8 pork butts easy. It only weighs about 5 or 6 hundred pounds.

I like them D-nasty 200's, I'm eyeball'n one of them... sounds like a nice smoker 'id like to see pics of that...
Screwy

the dynasty 200 is so nice. i just sold mine so i could go to school. you will defiantly not regret getting one. but make sure to get the water cooler with it. it sounds stupid now but trust me its way nice to have.

They are ok, we take 'em on the ships when we have just a little light welding to do.They have a low duty cycle, that means you can't go hard n heavy for long. But for you garage, that would be fine.

Good looS-P-A-M-L-I-N-K-n out...
Yeah... the H2O cooler extends the work time, correct?
Is that considered the duty cycle?
It'll mostly be for hobby use till I get good at these bug's.:singing:
Also like to make small sand rails...

Quote:

Originally posted by strictlycarved the dynasty 200 is so nice. i just sold mine so i could go to school. you will defiantly not regret getting one. but make sure to get the water cooler with it. it sounds stupid now but trust me its way nice to have.

No , the cooler only cools the torch so you don't burn it up. Duty cycle is the percentage of time you can weld in a 10 minute period. A 60% duty cycle means you can weld 6 minutes straight,then the machine needs 4 minutes of down time to cool. 100% means you can weld all day long without stopping and it won't hurt the machine. If it ain't 100% ,I don't need it. I'll burn it up.

The family welding service Hotworx inc. just bought this for me to power weld with! you can't weld as long as it can run ,on 1 tank of fuel. It can run over 24 hrs. on a tank.