Author Topic: Welding Cage - cut holes in floor, or cut roof off vehicle?  (Read 12058 times)

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Offline SteveM

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Re: Welding Cage - cut holes in floor, or cut roof off vehicle?
« Reply #15 on: October 02, 2012, 03:05:05 PM »
Ahhh, yes.  I've been meaning to invest in some Clecos anyway.  This is the perfect reason.

Steve.
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Offline SteveM

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Re: Welding Cage - cut holes in floor, or cut roof off vehicle?
« Reply #16 on: October 02, 2012, 08:16:58 PM »
Ordered a kit of 25 Clecos and a pair of Cleco pliers.  Port-A-Band saw is on standby.  Cut locations have been "scoped" out on the pillars.  Mental leap has been made.  I'm hoping to make the cuts this weekend.

Pics to follow.

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Offline wheelrdealer

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Re: Welding Cage - cut holes in floor, or cut roof off vehicle?
« Reply #17 on: October 02, 2012, 08:35:49 PM »
When I was a kid and had more time than tools. I cut out glass templates from very thin plywood. When it was time to put the roof back on I laid the front and rear ply wood template in with six sheet metal screws. Leaving the propper air gap on the edge for the glass expansion. Tacked my roof and then welded most of it up. removed the wood to weld the inside channel. Not very high tech but it worked.

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Offline 55chevr

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Re: Welding Cage - cut holes in floor, or cut roof off vehicle?
« Reply #18 on: October 02, 2012, 10:07:07 PM »
If you "Z" cut the pillars you will have strong weld and wont need to plug it ...

Offline SteveM

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Re: Welding Cage - cut holes in floor, or cut roof off vehicle?
« Reply #19 on: October 03, 2012, 09:56:14 AM »
Z-cut.  Another good idea.  I can picture how to make the two horizontal cuts of the "Z", but I'm open to suggestions about how to make the middle (angled portion of the Z) cut through the entire pillar.

Steve.
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Offline Tman

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Re: Welding Cage - cut holes in floor, or cut roof off vehicle?
« Reply #20 on: October 03, 2012, 10:16:11 AM »
Thin cutoff wheel Steve. I prefer Metabos that Fastenal sells.

Offline SteveM

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Re: Welding Cage - cut holes in floor, or cut roof off vehicle?
« Reply #21 on: October 03, 2012, 10:28:03 AM »
I agree on the thin cutoff wheels.  I think I can get my hands on some that are 0.040" thick.  The B-pillar is just 2 layers, and is a fairly flat shape.  Those cuts should be straightforward.

The A-pillar might be a little tricky, still.  It's got a funny cross section, and is pretty thick.  I'm hoping that the center of the channel will have a usable shape, where I can fit some kind of tubular or sheet metal sleeve.

I hope to have the cuts made and pics taken by Sunday evening.  I'm planning to leave the truck's body on the rotisserie, but level it out and lower it down onto 4 jackstands, placed to minimize the bending stress on the whole vehicle.  I'm also going to lay out some lines on the pillars, and measure carefully between the lines (A to B pillars), in order to document the initial distance between the lines.  When it goes back together, all the dimensions had better be close to the initial ones, or I screwed up somewhere along the way.
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Offline maguromic

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Re: Welding Cage - cut holes in floor, or cut roof off vehicle?
« Reply #22 on: October 03, 2012, 10:56:33 AM »
Don't forget to brace it up before taking the roof off, it will have a tendency to twist otherwise. Tony
“If you haven’t seen the future, you are not going fast enough”

Offline SteveM

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Re: Welding Cage - cut holes in floor, or cut roof off vehicle?
« Reply #23 on: October 03, 2012, 11:04:03 AM »
The door openings are X braced, but based on what you are saying, I can probably find a couple of other spots to brace (passenger's side floorboar/kick panel junction to driver's side B pillar, just below the cut location,  and vice-versa the other direction).  Is that what you had in mind?
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Offline Tman

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Re: Welding Cage - cut holes in floor, or cut roof off vehicle?
« Reply #24 on: October 03, 2012, 11:16:31 AM »
Yes, that will work steve.

Offline RichFox

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Re: Welding Cage - cut holes in floor, or cut roof off vehicle?
« Reply #25 on: October 03, 2012, 12:00:50 PM »
Z-cut.  Another good idea.  I can picture how to make the two horizontal cuts of the "Z", but I'm open to suggestions about how to make the middle (angled portion of the Z) cut through the entire pillar.

Steve.
I think he means that you should cut it at a steep angle, rather than straight across, to give you more contact area for welding.

Offline SteveM

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Re: Welding Cage - cut holes in floor, or cut roof off vehicle?
« Reply #26 on: October 03, 2012, 03:14:03 PM »
Rich:
   That's certainly possible, but I have also seen sheet metal work where a zig-zag, or Z shaped cut was used when removing a section.  I'm learning some new stuff - that's good.

Steve.
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Offline 55chevr

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Re: Welding Cage - cut holes in floor, or cut roof off vehicle?
« Reply #27 on: October 03, 2012, 08:57:21 PM »
Cut horizontally half way thru from the front. Drop down a couple of inchs and make another horizontal cut half way thru from the back.  Then make a vertical cut connecting the first 2 cuts. Sort of a Z .... Gives a lot of welding surface.

Offline Tman

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Re: Welding Cage - cut holes in floor, or cut roof off vehicle?
« Reply #28 on: October 04, 2012, 12:02:00 AM »
Cut horizontally half way thru from the front. Drop down a couple of inchs and make another horizontal cut half way thru from the back.  Then make a vertical cut connecting the first 2 cuts. Sort of a Z .... Gives a lot of welding surface.

thats what I had in my head

Offline SteveM

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Re: Welding Cage - cut holes in floor, or cut roof off vehicle?
« Reply #29 on: October 04, 2012, 10:40:26 AM »
Cleco set was just delivered  :-D :-D  I'm planning to make a patch/template piece , held in place with the clecos before making the cuts.  Then, when it's time to go back together, I can re-establish the correct alignment and spacing with the same patch/template panels.

The B pillars will be pretty easy to cut with the "Z" type cut.  I don't think it's too practical to do the same thing on the A pillars, however.  Unless someone proposes a better idea (which they probably will), I'm thinking of doing a "V" shaped cut in the A pillars, which sill still provide additional weld surface,and should help with the alignment somewhat.

I still need to study the anti-twist bracing some more.  I realize that the bracing can't interfere with the location of any of the tubes for the actual roll cage, since the bracing will need to remain in place until the cage is at least tacked all the way around.

Thanks for the good ideas.


Steve.

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