Putting things in places they ought not to be (250R Hybrid Motor build)

[El Camexican]

Nothing like having 60 feet of tig weld into a pipe! Reminds me of tigging in a Model A roof panel, or some of the custom Boss Hoss tanks we built back at the rod shop...

Ever look inside a rocket thruster? I swear there is at least a mile of flawless TIG weld in each thruster. It's nuts! Whoever welds those could likely weld up a complete 2 stroke pipe on his coffee break!

[86T3]

Robots dont take coffee breaks, camex

[El Camexican]

Robots dont take coffee breaks, camex

Haha I'm pretty sure no robots worked on the ones I saw in the Smithsonian.

[Billy Golightly]

Tracking finally updated - Just left NJ yesterday, so they made it across the pond atleast!

[Billy Golightly]

It made it!!!!!!

The customs slip says "Sheet metal puzzle - 90 pcs" Thanks Hagen!

[Louis Mielke]

Thats a nice looking pipe right there!

[Thorpe]

Thats a nice looking pipe right there!

Some assembly required....

[oscarmayer]

hahahya billy, you got yourself into a pretty big pickle!

[Billy Golightly]

Oh I'll get it - don't you guys worry. Just going to take a bit of time

[El Camexican]

Is there a picture on the box you can copy?

[Billy Golightly]

One major hurdle out of the way - all the sections have been rolled and welded on edge. I still need to do some finish forming (the last edges will always be flat on stuff that is slip rolled since there is a space inbetween the center of each roll) this has to be sort of hand formed over a mandrel (a piece of pipe or round stock for me probably). A little bit of a learning curve getting these things rolled and putting my little harborfreight slip roll unit to use and actually making it form like it should.

A frustrating component in the beginning was how the sections wanted to twist basically left and right as they were being rolled where the ends would not match up. Finally, I realized, if I rolled them against one far edge of the machine, it would sort of act like a guide as they went around and help keep them straight. Thats not a fool proof method, and the wider the section is, the worse it is (this may be partly due to the brilliant chi-com quality of the roller adjusters and alignment on this particular unit also). Basically, no matter how much you try and make them perfect, you still have to just grab them with your hands and twist/form them into submission and proper alignment.

When it came to welding them, I basically put each section back in the slip roll, rotated to the seam on top. I then was able to take my left hand and kind of squeeze them together and make sure the edges were properly aligned and do a fusion tack weld with my tig welder to get them stuck together. I could then come back by and do a weld the rest of the way across the seam. Occasionally on very troublesome ones I would put a pair of vice grips on one edge and then tack the opposite while holding it together and that helped me out. The very final piece that tapers down to the stinger tube section was a royal to do because it was such a short piece, an abrupt taper, and its angle cut ends but I finally got it and it doesnt look half bad.

So, still left to do is;

#1: finish forming the edges and seams to round out.
#2: Hit with belt sander to ensure all edges and sides are good and flat for perfect fitment.
#3: Start stacking and working my way around the frame and chassis..

I think I might try and do a little video tutorial with the stainless sections sometime - its an interesting process, a lot of variables, for sure. I would like to start working on snaking around this weekend. I have an issue with the water cooler on my welder and I'm almost out of Argon so I'm not sure I'll be able to get to it, but definitely gonna try.


In the interim here is my old man, holding up his bounty from yesterdays efforts with me. (Not pictured is another "stringer" of sections that makes up the total amount)

[Billy Golightly]

I just realized this project will be A YEAR OLD soon....


dear lord, where does the time go

[Billy Golightly]

Pipe has been slow going. I ran into some issues with my welder and had to replace some hoses on it, and then been tied up the last several weekends with other things. Old man and I worked on it some on Sunday, and got this done. I think my argon controller is fixing to go out on it also...

I have serious concerns how I'm going to fit all of this in there, at the largest point the pipe is 6inches around. I might need to extend out the kick starter shaft, or something. This is till one of the smallest sections and areas, here.

Some spring hangers I bent up out of 1/8in welding rod.

And a little bit earlier, first coming off of the slip joint on the exhaust flange.

[ONEBAD350X]

superb welding and fab skills man! looks awesome!

[tecaterob]

Looking good!!!