what welder do you need for steel or AL?

I assume that those warranties were for regular diamond framed bikes? If so then if those same companies made recumbents the warranty would be worse. A diamond frame is essentially engineering perfection with all forces running the length of the tubes where they are strongest unlike recumbents with forces perpendicular to the tubes.
 
I think so, but I don't recall it was in 2020. I don't know what the warranties and build materials for most popular trikes are, so I don't want to misrepresent anything, it was just the determining factor for me when deciding to stick with steel.
 
Catrike is a 5 year.... just based on what its used for I would say 6061 as thats common for bikes... Ya.. I forgot about what lugs are but I know common AL grades.

My ar uses 7075
 
Btw if you want to learn weld and fab AL this is the guy to watch...

www.youtube.com

Ron Covell

My channel is primarily about working with sheetmetal, sometimes using wood for jigs and fixtures. I often show techniques that are not widely known, and many of them require only simple tools. I also enjoy communicating with my viewers through the comments, and I'm happy to answer any questions...
www.youtube.com www.youtube.com

also the catrike factory vids are fun to watch... especially when you see the custom extruded pieces.

 
Couple points not yet mentioned ?

a) you can't learn to weld from a video ! no matter how many you watch
b) your domestic oven is not big enough to get a trike frame in , so you can't get the strength back you lost by welding the aluminium and changing it's molecular structure.
c) non of Brads plans were designed for aluminium OR brazing OR JB weld
d) going down a hill @25mph+ is not the time to discover any of the above is true :)

Paul
 
stormbird said:
Couple points not yet mentioned ?

a) you can't learn to weld from a video ! no matter how many you watch
b) your domestic oven is not big enough to get a trike frame in , so you can't get the strength back you lost by welding the aluminium and changing it's molecular structure.
c) non of Brads plans were designed for aluminium OR brazing OR JB weld
d) going down a hill @25mph+ is not the time to discover any of the above is true :)

Paul
Click to expand...
Well you can find services to do al heat treating And you under estimate my creativity. 7005 seems to be the go to for having a low heat treat temp and time. Also My minor is in 3d arts AKA ceramics. what we want is a larger glass kiln. They easily get to 1500f

Another option is to cast sand AL. I dont know why I didnt think of it early. You can also ceramic cast smaller parts using lost PLA. Like the brackets for the smaller front wheels on the tadpoles.
 
Last edited:
anyways... I am going to be learning welding from scratch again... I havent welded in a decade... and my frist build is going to be a crazy bike for burn... Here is my current welder... pun intended... welding is the thing I dont know enough about is this good enough to weld steel for bikes???

https://imgur.com/1iUeEVI
 
Popshot said:
I assume that those warranties were for regular diamond framed bikes? If so then if those same companies made recumbents the warranty would be worse. A diamond frame is essentially engineering perfection with all forces running the length of the tubes where they are strongest unlike recumbents with forces perpendicular to the tubes.
Click to expand...
As I wrote, fatigue life of metals is wildly different between each. But the easiest way to learn that is that all metals will break if overstressed, but a lot of metals will build up "fatigue" over time and will fail. That is why anything aluminium, even the exotic grades like 7075T735 or Scalmalloy has a designed "sure, it will keep at least this long" warranty.
But steel is a strange case can be made and worked so, that only catastrofic overstressing will cause fatigue.
One alloy I like to use, Hardox, is a work hardening alloy, and will get harder and get higher tensile strength by working/hiting it hard enough, but then brittleness will cause failure.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Click for DIY Plans!
Back
Top