New to fabrication and need some general help.

[TEK]

Originally Posted by LKeithR

Yeah, it's a big area--where are you?

Coping tubing and pipe is not particularly difficult, just a little time consuming, especially as the job gets more complicated.

-no real magic to it; it just gets easier as your experience increases and you're better able to visualize how parts fit together. How you design something makes a big difference as well--making your joints in "easy" locations makes fitting simpler.

You haven't shown a scale so we don't know how big that thing is but placing bends too close together always makes things more difficult. And long, sweeping bends need to be rolled rather than bent and blending them with a regular bend can be tricky.

Through the years we've used torches, plasma cutters, hole saws, rotobroaches, files and grinders for coping and fitting tube joints--most often a combination of tools. Simple joints can sometimes be done with a single pass of a holesaw or rotobroach but most often there's some hand fitting involved to get everything right. In a race care application you want tight fitting joints so your welds are strong and good looking...

(Did a little selective editing Keith, no offense intended )

I pretty much agree with what Keith is saying here. It's not magic, you personally just don't know how to go about it, no shame in that, we all start somewhere.
Just guessing, as to scale; you said racecar, that looks like a cockpit to me, maybe a sprint car?..rock truck?...no matter...you need room for a pilot along with seat room and footy controls and whatever room that uses up.
I'm guessing 8' long, overall?..oh, wait, somewhere in western Canada eh, so 2.48 metres, or 243.84 cm....

You could, if you knew how and had the tooling, as Jen pointed out, do it yourself. You can go either way, roll first, then cope, or cope first and then roll. If I had to be precise I would figure on wasting a couple of pieces because you will goof, you will throw one clean outta sight. If you know the EXACT length of tubing, including the bend, whether measured ceterline or inside or outside of the radius, you need to add some to account for the cope, typically 8 to 10mm per end. Those compound bevel mitered mofo's are gonna be a little bit different

You can, probably should, make a cardboard template of the pieces and use that to check measurements and to get quotes from a shop, if your looking to have it done...

Good luck on your build. Stay in touch here as there is a lifetime or 2 worth of experience here and most guys and gals here are happy to help.

Except for that gnap guy---watch out for him...:


Ok, just saw your second post--looks interesting.

[camdigger]

Originally Posted by needsomehelp

Wow thanks guys for all of the quick replies

I am located in Calgary.....

....ut.

Grizz is likely your best bet from Cowtown.... I am 1 1/2 hours NE in what you might know as the Pine lake area. I will be in Cowtown on the weekend of the 21 at YYC Maker Faire with the machine in my avatar and some other goodies. Drop by for a chat. The Maker Faire may have other exhibitors that would have ideas on other aspects of your project too.....

[platypus20]

I help build a couple of 7 sec drag cars, all of the tube bending, metal stretching/shrinking, planishing, English wheel and notch equipment, was bought from Harbor Freight.

[RancherBill]

Hi, and welcome to SFT.

I just have a question. What's your prototype budget and what might be the budget for production items?

[Cavalry]

Originally Posted by needsomehelp

...and the other one said it was too complicated and they would have to farm a lot of it out.

Thats kind of scary right there. I'm just a home-gamer now and I have a tubing bender that would do that job. I dont see anything in the least bit complicated in your design.

[needsomehelp]

The budget is whatever it takes to work with someone reputable. We can figure out quantity based on pricing.

Here's an example of a similar product. This is a small company that probably produces these 40-60 at a time.

http://www.rseat.net/n1-racing-cockp...lack/#upgrades

This thing, with all of the upgrades including buttkicker adapter, keyboard and mouse tray, speaker attachment, tablet/buttonbox attachment, shifter/handbrake mount and a stand that holds 3 46 inch TVs, 330lbs total material, is just under $4,000CAD retail price, shipped to my house.

I know a prototype will cost more than a production model, and I know it costs more to get things produced here VS overseas, but the price has to be comparable to that within reason.

We still have a TV stand to add too.

[needsomehelp]

The power of the almighty google!

I finally found a place that can do the bending and welding in house along with the rest. I think they can do everything but the powder coating, which i don't really need for the prototype anyway.

[Cavalry]

Originally Posted by needsomehelp

Here's an example of a similar product. This is a small company that probably produces these 40-60 at a time.

http://www.rseat.net/n1-racing-cockp...lack/#upgrades


I know a prototype will cost more than a production model, and I know it costs more to get things produced here VS overseas, but the price has to be comparable to that within reason.

.

I dont know what the cost of the racing seat is but If they can sell those for $4K I am in the wrong line of work. I see $150 in steel including sending out to have the brackets cut, Maybe 20 hours labor if I didnt have to make tabs, $500 maybe for all the monitor,keyboard mounts??

[needsomehelp]

Originally Posted by Cavalry

I dont know what the cost of the racing seat is but If they can sell those for $4K I am in the wrong line of work. I see $150 in steel including sending out to have the brackets cut, Maybe 20 hours labor if I didnt have to make tabs, $500 maybe for all the monitor,keyboard mounts??

Well that's 4K including shipping and it's retail pricing. And that's with all of the upgrades and TV stand.

The fabricator has to make it and sells it to the company for a profit. The company has a distributor and sells it to them for a profit. The distributor sells the product to the public and makes some profit. There's shipping costs, packaging, powder coating, as well as many other costs that all add up.

Anyway, I know the version I've produced has some angles and bends, it has a dash and center console. But it doesn't have nearly as many individual parts.

Anyway if there's anyone here that's interested in the project, or knows someone who might be, please let me know. I'm willing to work with anyone across Canada, as long as shipping doesn't get in the way of price.

[JBFab]

needsomehelp, I sent you a private message, but thought I would share part of it here.

One of the great things about living in a state littered with manufacturers is that a "specialist " is only a stones throw away. I work with a number of sheet and plate shops that are great at cutting and forming plate. They all do fantastic work and at a price lower than I can do it without their specialized and very expensive equipment. I can name 3 vendors off the top of my head that will do anything you want with tubing in the same fashion. The same goes for powder coating.

My niche if you will, is coordinating those suppliers, fixturing, welding, and perhaps most important figuring out the most efficient way to make the product while meeting the customers expectations.

I have worked for an "all under one roof" shop, and they are out there, but I have to believe that there are many out there doing it the way I do. It just makes sense to employ the strengths of those around you.