Help me build an aluminium racing toboggan....

[netherfield]

Following your moniker 'Scorpyon'

[maser_spyder]

netherfield said:

Following your moniker 'Scorpyon'

Ooh, nice, that sounds pretty good.

Any more for any more? Or should I put this out to the 'Lounge' lot too?....

[Streetrod]

maser_spyder said:

BoRED S2upid said:

That looks fantastic, what an effort. Gutted if you got to a practice slope and a kid on a plastic sledge flies past you, still yours will look ace. I hope you will be kitted out top to toe in Oakley designer snowboarding gear.

Spyder ski gear!

I might even get a race suit.

Spyder!!! Over priced rubbish

What you will need is one of these as worn by all the top F1 pit crews and also available as a snowboard helmet.

White for the Stormtropper look:





That is my arm by the way and not my neck as some people thought




Or Black if you fancy that whole Darth Vader vibe:






Great project by the way, keep it up...

Edited by Streetrod on Monday 22 November 19:36

[eliot]

I notice that many of your welds have black smoke around them. Presumably you have either touched the welding rod onto the tungsten or touched the tungsten onto the job. If this happens, you should stop and clean up the weld area and the regrind the tungsten and start again.
If you simply carry on, you will notice all that black crap still floats around your weld pool and doesn't go away.

Also are you using the correct tungstens for ally - typically its red for steel and white for ally.

[maser_spyder]

eliot said:

I notice that many of your welds have black smoke around them. Presumably you have either touched the welding rod onto the tungsten or touched the tungsten onto the job. If this happens, you should stop and clean up the weld area and the regrind the tungsten and start again.
If you simply carry on, you will notice all that black crap still floats around your weld pool and doesn't go away.

Also are you using the correct tungstens for ally - typically its red for steel and white for ally.

Hey, yes, it's where I've mistakenly touched the weld with the tip.

It's the hardest part about aluminium welding actually, too far away and you get a 'blowtorch' effect with far too much heat, just right (1-3mm away) and you get perfect control over the weld puddle, but a tiny shake and the tip can touch the weld, which gives you the black stuff (and frightens the bejesus out of you).

Practice and practice would help, but it's good enough for what I'm doing with it.

You should have seen the earlier ones....

[maser_spyder]

Streetrod said:

maser_spyder said:

BoRED S2upid said:

That looks fantastic, what an effort. Gutted if you got to a practice slope and a kid on a plastic sledge flies past you, still yours will look ace. I hope you will be kitted out top to toe in Oakley designer snowboarding gear.

Spyder ski gear!

I might even get a race suit.

Spyder!!! Over priced rubbish

What you will need is one of these as worn by all the top F1 pit crews and also available as a snowboard helmet.

White for the Stormtropper look:





That is my arm by the way and not my neck as some people thought




Or Black if you fancy that whole Darth Vader vibe:






Great project by the way, keep it up...

Edited by Streetrod on Monday 22 November 19:36

D'ya know what, I've only just treated myself this year to some new gear.

I bought a new jacket recently (well, I thought it was recently, but it was actually seven years ago), but have bought another new one for this season.

Last year, I complained to my mate that my trousers weren't waterproof any more. Perfectly warm enough, just not waterproof, which is a problem tobogganing because you get covered in snow!

Not a problem skiing, because I seldom fall over.

Anyway, he asked me how long I had owned them, I thought about it..... Well, it was either sixteen or seventeen years, I'm not 100% sure. Time for some new ones!

So this year, I'm the Spyder kid.

Not sure about your helmets though, maybe a bit overkill! I've never actually worn a helmet for skiing (or tobogganing), it's my 28th skiing year this coming season, and I've never once needed one. The only damage I ever did was in the board park in Tignes, where I over-shot a landing a fractured three of my vertebrae (and a helmet would have made bugger all difference).

I am thinking about it for this year though, I might have been pushing my luck all these years!

[Streetrod]

Hey I can understand your reluctance to ware a helmet; I have been boarding for 20 years now and did not wear one of the first 10 of those. But it only took one fall caused by a collision when someone skied into me for me to change my mind and I have worn one every since.

As for your new gear I get confused by the verity available now so I tend to stick to Burton or Quicksilver now as the quality is always very good

[eliot]

maser_spyder said:

but a tiny shake and the tip can touch the weld, which gives you the black stuff (and frightens the bejesus out of you).

Indeed. You can help but be amazed when you see "pro" welding. Ultra steady hand!

[filski666]

bit late (probably) but this website will create you a paper template for cutting round tube so you can join it together properly (if you don't have a dedicated notching machine) and will give you less gap to fill with weld.

http://www.metalgeek.com/static/cope.pcgi

example from its use:

http://www.metalgeek.com/archives/2004/04/06/00002...

Edited by filski666 on Tuesday 23 November 11:32

[911motorsport]

filski666 said:

bit late (probably) but this website will create you a paper template for cutting round tube so you can join it together properly (if you don't have a dedicated notching machine) and will give you less gap to fill with weld.

http://www.metalgeek.com/static/cope.pcgi

example from its use:

http://www.metalgeek.com/archives/2004/04/06/00002...

Edited by filski666 on Tuesday 23 November 11:32

Wow! Very handy to know. Thanks

[eliot]

filski666 said:

bit late (probably) but this website will create you a paper template for cutting round tube so you can join it together properly (if you don't have a dedicated notching machine) and will give you less gap to fill with weld.

http://www.metalgeek.com/static/cope.pcgi

example from its use:

http://www.metalgeek.com/archives/2004/04/06/00002...

Edited by filski666 on Tuesday 23 November 11:32

Thats a great find!
I used this software:
http://www.pulserate.com/
for making merge collectors for my turbo exhaust manifolds.

[911motorsport]

good one!

[maser_spyder]

filski666 said:

bit late (probably) but this website will create you a paper template for cutting round tube so you can join it together properly (if you don't have a dedicated notching machine) and will give you less gap to fill with weld.

http://www.metalgeek.com/static/cope.pcgi

example from its use:

http://www.metalgeek.com/archives/2004/04/06/00002...

Edited by filski666 on Tuesday 23 November 11:32

What a brilliant site, cheers.

I did mine by measurement and then grinding the centre out a little where it was a pipe-to-pipe connection, and there were also 'double' angles on the pipes too, which didn't help!

Still, I did have a couple where I had to fill out a little to make the weld good. Interesting to know how it would be done 'professionally'.

Thanks!

[WarrenG]

maser_spyder said:

rhinochopig said:

maser_spyder said:

RacingPete said:

Dear maser_spyder_santa,

I have seen your new designs on the Internet and would like to make offer a proposal for purchasing one of your highly custom M_SMk3 sleds. Please, by return, inform me of the said purchase price of vehicle...

Well, you're not bouncing on my knee I'm afraid.

Seriously though, what would you charge for a home made toboggan?

Depends on who's doing the welding

Harumph.

£10? Works out at about 1/6 of the cost of the materials I've ruined.

+1 Seriously want want want.

are we up to a ton yet?

[maser_spyder]

Well put a red nose on me and call me Rudolph, I've got my timings exactly right!

Just about to finish the seat on the first one, and not far off finishing the second, work starts (and should end) on the third/fourth this weekend, and we're due for a rather serious 'cold snap'!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11827592

I wasn't planning on getting any use out of this until Austria next year, but I might be up at Cleeve Hill this weekend!

[illmonkey]

Update?

[flattotheboards]

Nic this is absolutely brilliant! Best of luck with it!

[maser_spyder]

My mate is ten minutes away, we'll be attacking this weekend...

Nothing much happened this week, just a little bit of work on the seat plug, and the front hinge on the Mk2 model.

Watch this space though, Mk3 and 4 should be done imminently...

[madbadger]

So did it work? Is the OP lying impaled on a hill somewhere?

[maser_spyder]

Update to come later tonight....

There are now four (ish) tobogoffs, with a fifth pair of runners (the hardest bit to make) ready to go!