SMKYTXN's Build

Yeah TXRX is a little lacking on items for working with tubing. The only thing i found there was a old disassemble tube bender at the bottom of a scrap pile.

Harbor Freight for the win. lol

 

Well both parts are on their way so I guess I get to be the guinea pig here. The radius of the side of the cab and the roof are pretty large so it shouldn't take too many passes to make the pieces I need. The bed rails will have the same radius as the side of the main hoop. I'll roll one piece and cut all of the rails and the hoop sides from one continuous piece. That's my best bet at getting everything to line up.

I will probably end up using pre bent tube for the main hoop corners. They'll be sleeved and braced so I'm not worried about not having a continuous tube.

 

Random question. Tx/Rx is a standard abreviation for transmitter/reciever. that place start out as a radio/electronics lab?

i want to say that the HF roller has notches (for measuring) in the center wheel height guide. if it doesn't, i'd recoment making some. either with some paint, or an engraver of some sort. it'll make repeatable bends a hell of a lot easier. you'll find that the hardest part however, will be getting two consecutive bends in the same plane, just like with the bender i have. so good call on the pre-bents.

 

I believe so.

 

The main "lab" has a ton of old electronics gadgets and the president is definitely geared towards the sparky stuff.

My next trick will be finding 2"x0.120 wall mandrel bends. The site that I found earlier doesn't list mild steel in that size. I've contacted them to see if they have it available, but not listed.

If that doesn't pan out there is a fab shop north of the office that will do custom bends. I may have them crank out a few 45's, 90's, and 180's for me.

 

If you're having a fab/machine shop do it, they may be able to make the bends on a single length in the same plane. cant hurt to ask if they have the capability. even if they don't have a cnc bender, some of the more precise benders can achieve acurate single plane bends when the operator take the time to set everything up

 

So cray in here.

 

Btw Colin does your truck ever get tired of doing the same right turn?

 

it's a left turn silly cali boy

still going strong after doing that turn for 4 years straight

 

I don't see how they can go from a rolled section, through a 45, back to a rolled section of a different radius and back down again. But it doesn't hurt to ask.

 

i'll all depend on the proximity of the bends and the capability of their machine/s

 

Made some progress on the model. There's still a lot left to piece together, but it's getting closer.

 

That's going to look so bad ass when it's built.

 

I may have asked this before, but what's the plan for bracing the cab hoop? both vertically and horizontally.

 

We'll see if I can pull it off.

Definitely need an x-brace from the corners down to the stringers on either side of the box and a horizontal tying the bedsides together. I haven't decided if I'll put a vertical down the middle yet though.

 

Tube bed is going to be saweet!

 

i think a straight vertical brace would be a little much for what your truck will initially see with the flatbed.

when i said horizontal bracing, i menat front to back, not side to side. poor wording on my part.

like this:

 

Let me know if you need extra help when you start the build.

 

More like this Colin.

I'll definitely do that Phill. Thanks

 

very nice