Ol'fogasaurus black buggy

[Ol'fogasaurus]

After getting some more tubing I stopped by HF and looked for the tool Dusty advised. I was finally directed to it and they only had two left. The $57.xxx was a sale price and they did not have one on display (it looks exactly like the pix but it is stored in the box backwards) so I took a chance and bought it anyway.

I will go out later today and check things out better than I did when I got home.

Pix to follow as a just-in-case someone is interested.

Lee

[Ol'fogasaurus]

In the tools section FWIW I added something on the HF pipe/tool notcher that was talked about by myself and Dusty.

Lee

[Tom in PA]

Good info, thanks for sharing.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Good info, thanks for sharing.

Thanks Tom. I tried to mount it on the platen of the drill press but it won't fit. The hole size in the slots is incorrect for and the arc is wrong to match the mounts in the platen on my drill press (and it is one of their drill presses). I could make stand for it but I am running out of room already . It goes back tomorrow.

Lee

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Been thinking on how to bend some of the smaller dia. tube for the cage when I got an idea so I tried it to see if it would work

IMG_2311 copy.jpg

I had figured out pretty much how much the strait piece had to be but not the bend so, using some of the joins I had made I put one on the end of the shortened 1" pipe then found a short piece of scrap 0.875/7/8 dia. pipe probably less than 6" long. I then put as series of cuts on the band saw (the thickness of the blade would be fairly thin) that are a bit more 2/3rds the way through the tube. The spacing was guesstimate of roughly a half and inch with one being less than that. I then put a pipe in one end and grabbed a needle nosed plyers and bent the tube to the point where all the ends of the cuts joined. Guess what...

IMG_2312 copy.jpg

... the fit with the drop and angle are almost perfect. Another old 1" clamp and a 4' section of pipe and I got what you see.

I then moved it to the center location and the bend will be almost the same. I will have to tack the seams in place then check things out. With the side and center pieces in place I can bolt the seats in then do the personal fit check. I still have to put the front lower beam in place as that is where the steering will hook up to so that is another discovery to be made.

Whoof... luck sometimes comes when you don't expect it.

Lee

[ninelives17]

Very creative

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Very creative

Thanks!

Got so surprised then excited that it worked I forgot to mention that since I was using the more inexpensive seamed tubing in my mockup, the seam should be in the cut area; I put it at the bottom of the bend. Seamed/welded areas do not like to stretch or compress well so when bending the seamed area(s) are not going to cooperate that well.

Lee

I also forgot to mention that I think when bending a tube the seam would be 90° to the bend but I was leaving myself an out.

Lee

[Ol'fogasaurus]

I did get out in the garage today and made the last two of the top pieces of the cage.

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The cutting of the tube worked out great and it turned out that all three pieces use the same angle and pretty much the same length. The center bar is a bit shorter as I started out with a 3' piece of tube and with the bend it needs about an inch or a shade more to fit perfect. The two clamping pieces are short which also makes a difference.

Lee

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Got looking at steering mounting on the cage and up front yesterday and during the evening. It seems that I got sold the wrong swivel style universal years ago: apparently there are two sizes and two spline counts and diameters off the steering box and I got the wrong one (bad advice from the person I got it from). The steering wheel adapter is the same problem only this time the mount is too large in dia. to work with the stock stuff; same person selling. It's looking like this is going to be another &%$@*** adventure. Once I get the mounting figured out I am thinking about using a spherical rod end of some sort by the steering wheel for it's support. Not sure if I will need to take care of any steering angle problems but that is part of the next courses to look at.

I thought I had bought enough tube for the cage but I am one tube short that is the cross-tube for mounting the steering. Add to that I am going to have to make some more mounts adjustable mounts for it and a mockup mount for the steering shaft. It will be open ended allowing to slide and rotate to fix the proper angle for me when I am sitting in the seat. I still will have a quick disconnect in-case it will be in the when when egress to and from the buggy is needed. I have to finish the new hole cutting tool for tube before I can go any farther.

I don't remember if I said that I did slip into the buggy seat with the cage in place. I don't dare to grab onto the cage for leverage so it is a good test of both the cage fitting me and my ability to bend and squat (so to speak). I'll have to con the wife into measuring the distance from head to cage again as thing have been moved and other things added; tight but doable especially where it is sitting in the garage. Getting old and stiff isn't the most fun thing to have to go through.

Lee

[Devastator]

We were sitting around the campfire at the dunes one time, and a younger guy, (just out of high school in fact), asked the "builders" in our group, what cutting tool was the most useful in our arsenal. Plasma torch was the most popular until he got around to asking me. "Band saw, hands down". I have soooo many tools for cutting metal, (more than most of the other builders put together), and the band saw is the one that sees the most use. Adding a platen to a horizontal band saw to use it vertically is great!

[Ol'fogasaurus]

We were sitting around the campfire at the dunes one time, and a younger guy, (just out of high school in fact), asked the "builders" in our group, what cutting tool was the most useful in our arsenal. Plasma torch was the most popular until he got around to asking me. "Band saw, hands down". I have soooo many tools for cutting metal, (more than most of the other builders put together), and the band saw is the one that sees the most use. Adding a platen to a horizontal band saw to use it vertically is great!

I agree, the horizontal/vertical (mine is an older one from the mid 90's that came with a platen) bandsaw is something you use but don't think about.

For what it is worth: To make one shouldn't be hard (I've even got some flat stock I bought to make a larger one). Check the limits on the back of the horizontal arm to see what the off-set has to be there. Before you bore then CSK the holes on the platen check the angle of the CSK. Depending on how thick you will make the platen dimpling should be used as the lower head of the saw is CSK and you want it to fit in properly. Mine was a 90° dimple and CSK but the 90° is hard to come by here but the 82 CSK isn't as it is more standard for some reason. There are two other fastener sizes: the 100° CSK and the 120° CSK and both have reason's for their use but as the angle gets larger the size of the head also gets larger.

There also was a an angle strap to support the open side of the platen.

If anyone wants I can take pix of both sides of my platen (I dam(n)aged it the other day (by accident) so I will have to reweld the cut but I'm not too embarrassed to show it.

This is the newer version of mine as sold by Grizzly : https://www.grizzly.com/products/Grizzl ... dsaw/G0622

I did make a newer stronger mount which you can find in the tools section of STF.

I have done some other searches but so far this is the only one with the platen.

Lee

[Tom in PA]

My bandsaw is horizontal only and has a ton of miles on it. My cordless hand held bandsaw has rapidly become my second favorite cutting tool for metal. It makes quick work of routine cuts that don't need to be as accurate without the need for cords, etc. Just grab it and cut. It gets used for lots more than just metal as well.

Tom

[Devastator]

I'm finding more and more uses for my cordless hand held band saw as well, Tom. There are stands and platen kits available for most of them as well, making them even more useful. I'm not sure why band saws aren't as popular as other cut-off saws, but they should be IMHO. Maybe they need a better publicist?

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Some of the newer ones have ta headstock now that can rotate so you can cut at angles. I am not sure what limitations are but they do look like a good upgrade.

An example: https://www.grizzly.com/products/Shop-F ... dsaw/M1013

Grizzly isn't the only ones who sell stuff like this.

Lee

[Tom in PA]

Lee, That is actually the saw I have. I have the old grizzly version but other than the color it looks identical. I didn't pay that much for it though, got it when Grizzly was in PA and had their annual tent sale where they sold all of the returns from the previous year, closeouts, etc. It's not perfect but has served me well for years.