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Old 05-08-2019, 08:55 PM   #81
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Are you going to square cut the frame at the scribe marks?

Spoke too soon, carry on.

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Old 05-08-2019, 08:59 PM   #82
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Year: 1954
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frame cutting tools and stuff

The c clamps i use are from home despot. They appear to be forged. made in china. They were $15 for 8" and $5 for 4" . I would not buy cast c clamps. some of metal i used for straightedges. and harbour frieght creeper.

there are no usa made c clamps in any of the stores in Topeka that I could find. All made in china. Creepers off the tool trucks are $75 and made in china.
The home depot brand c clamps "Husky" are better quality than the "Irwin" brand. They ground on the hard anvil side much better than the other brand. The creeper was only $20 at Harbour frieght.
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Old 05-08-2019, 09:11 PM   #83
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the plasma cutter I used

I used this to cut with. Cost new, I was told, was about $2400.00 This is about the size of two boxes of kleenex. I ran this on 220v but can be run at lower power settings on 110v You need compressed air source too. very quiet and easier than cutting torch, faster than grinder/cutting wheel by far. All the actual cutting took a total time of 30 minutes..... two and half days of thinkin and scribing. 30 minutes to cut...
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Old 05-08-2019, 09:23 PM   #84
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no turning back at this point....

I think the easy part is done. Grind, measure, fit, and repeat until I have the frame straight. Then welding.
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Old 05-09-2019, 04:09 AM   #85
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this will be great !

Looking forward to more pics !
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Old 05-09-2019, 09:18 PM   #86
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Looking great!! Good work! What are your plans for welding? Will you be welding it yourself? What joint preparation do you plan and what process and electrodes do you plan to use.? Keep up the great work and pictures!
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Old 05-10-2019, 01:58 AM   #87
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welding the cut frame

This frame is welded at the assembly line. The cab mounts are welded. The color and pattern of the sparks when grinding, and the size of punched holes in the frame all indicate a material that is probably mild steel. Not any sort of High carbon steel. So with that in mind, I will weld with a mig welder, probably 0.040 or 0.035 wire with co2 argon mix as a shield gas. The frame is around .350 inches thick.... might end up with multiple passes but the sections I removed will become weld test parts. I expect to ugroove or v groove the weld line on one side to ensure full penetration. I expect to skip weld. I will practice starts and stops on the test parts, so that I can work out over head, and vertical weld settings. at this point I have concerns about changing the cross section of the frame if I add overlay "re enforcements" If I do, it is likely only on the vertical sides and then it will only be about 0.100 sheet welded over the primary weld seam. The wire will likely be er70s since the frame appears to be mild steel. I find no literature indicating the frame is any thing special as far as material goes.
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Old 05-10-2019, 07:53 AM   #88
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Quote:
Originally Posted by magnakansas View Post
This frame is welded at the assembly line. The cab mounts are welded. The color and pattern of the sparks when grinding, and the size of punched holes in the frame all indicate a material that is probably mild steel. Not any sort of High carbon steel. So with that in mind, I will weld with a mig welder, probably 0.040 or 0.035 wire with co2 argon mix as a shield gas. The frame is around .350 inches thick.... might end up with multiple passes but the sections I removed will become weld test parts. I expect to ugroove or v groove the weld line on one side to ensure full penetration. I expect to skip weld. I will practice starts and stops on the test parts, so that I can work out over head, and vertical weld settings. at this point I have concerns about changing the cross section of the frame if I add overlay "re enforcements" If I do, it is likely only on the vertical sides and then it will only be about 0.100 sheet welded over the primary weld seam. The wire will likely be er70s since the frame appears to be mild steel. I find no literature indicating the frame is any thing special as far as material goes.
Sounds like you have it well thought out and planned! I wondered if you would add any reinforcement plates. My dad and other old timers always called that "fish plating" and wouldn't weld any vertical welds on the reinforcement plates. Starts/stops are critical especially with MIG welding. Utilizing your practice plates will help you build confidence and get it right! A good 220v machine and .035" with the right joint preparation like you mentioned will be more than adequate. I don't think you would need larger electrode unless you plan to weld on alot of thicker material in the future. Do you plan to "skip weld" to control heat distortion? Or do you plan to leave as skip welds? Sorry for all the questions but this really interests me as I've been in heavy metal fabrication for the last 18 years.
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Old 05-10-2019, 08:52 AM   #89
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welding technique

I have heard the term "fish plate" also. I think that comes from the plate being diamond shaped, longer left to right than up and down. Kind of fish shaped. Yes I am intending to weld a little here, then a little over there, then under there, then on to that side..... walk away, have a cup of coffee and a donut... come back do some more. I have the joints, before grooving out, butted. my thought is if the joint is butted, the weld cant distort too much from the weld shrinking. up and down shrinkage more acceptable than changes in the length. I am attempting to keep length tolerance to less than 0.040 ( 1mm ) I cut the frame proud and ground down to fit. Part of what I wanted to do is grind off the oxidized metal on the surface so that in the weld zone there was only bare steel. I will have to get a flap wheel and take off paint around the weld zone today. I think my fit up is done but will re evaluate this morning after having to sleep on it. I dont weld every day so I have to run some weld bead to get the settings on me and the machine as good as I can. I might have to move the frame indoors to get out of the wind....
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Old 05-10-2019, 09:18 AM   #90
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Butted is good. Don't be afraid to prep one side with a v groove leaving a land/flat or root face. Then set your material and weld a pass or two on that side, then grind at the seam on the opposite side back into where your weld penetrated to. This gets you 100% penetration. If it was thick material, we would normally do this and back gouge with air arc ( air carbon arc gouging). In your case a grinder will do fine and by only grinding a groove on one side it allows you to butt up to a square edge verses a point if you grind both sides of the material. In my opinion it makes your setup easier.

Good call on the wind. You definitely don't want the wind blowing your shielding gas away causing porosity.

Another note on heat input: if you weld all of the weld on one side of a plate and none on the backside, as that weld cools it shrinks and causes your plate to pull. If you weld some on one side, then apply the same amount of weld on the opposite side (same heat input) it evens out the distortion. We use this technique to weld out structures without stopping and waiting to cool but we are still able to control heat distortion.

I may be telling you things you already know and I apologize if I am, but I am enjoying the conversation. One of these days I need to get over Topeka and check out your progress! I'm only an hour or less from Topeka in Wamego area.
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Old 05-10-2019, 07:12 PM   #91
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revised weld prep

So, I v grooved on both side of the frame, so the weld was not just on the outside of the frame. I did not see the idea about leaving one side of the joint flat for a "shelf" bummer sounds like a good idea. The up hill welding, and the over head is going to test my skills the most. short arc and dont put my body under the weld so I dont drip hot steel on me. sanded off paint from next to the weld zone... I dont think it is clean enough, so I will put on a new flap wheel and hit it again, too much paint in places in the weldzone. Looks like powder coat more than paint, melted onto/into the sandpaper of the flap wheel.

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Old 07-21-2020, 09:08 PM   #92
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Engine: cummins 12 valve
Rated Cap: 20? five rows of 4?
updates....

well now, so much has been done and so much has not been done..

I found a custom five row radiator in California. Fellow has a 1955 ford f350 that was being modified to run a cummins 5.9 12 valve like mine. In addition to five row core, the upper hose connection is now 2" or 2 1/4" as is the bottom. also a 1" tube as been added to the upper tank for a heater return hose. I am able to buy this for $300. I figure I would have to pay $500 for this same work.

Turbocharger decision has been made... ATS aurora 3000 turbo charger. This is an item I purchased used. This is a very simple simple turbo with no waste gate. Pretty much expect this run out of breath at 3,000 rpm, but up to around 360 hp at around 2,500 rpm to 2,700 rpm. There is a chance that later, after I collect some data, a different turbocharger will be used for the long term. Since the engine is very custom, the best turbocharger is likely to be very custom. However I like the dynamometer test results and customer reviews I have access to.
The data I will be collecting for the first year, maybe less. will be, intake pressures, exhaust pressures, exhaust temps before the turbocharger, exhaust temps after the turbo charger, air intake temperatures, after turbo air temperatures, after intercooler air temperatures, ambient air temperatures, road speed, engine rpm, throttle position. It will take me quite a bit of work to get the data aquisition system up and running.

I am working on building the pedals/ clutch and brake pedal assemblies. The original was mounted under the floor and the new stuff will be firewall mounted.

My steel toilet has been found and I go to get that later this week. It is like a prison toilet/sink combination kind of thing. as it stands I will may use only the toilet, but I dont know yet.

I have a telescoping/ tilt steering column. I was going to use one from a big rig.... but I found one that is new old stock made by Douglas Auto Tech. Used in school busses, and motorhomes and medium duty trucks.

Please, Please, Please I got to have this thing driving by thanksgiving......

william
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