Aluminum Welding

I'm also toying with the idea of making a fiberglass crate that fits nicely in the truck, so if anyone knows where I might find a huge block of sculptable foam and sheets of fiberglass and resin, let me know. Preferably a chain of stores I could go to on Monday Ive always wanted to work on a fibgerglass project!

Mike, you can get blocks of foam insulation form the big box stores. Laminate them together. You could also make the sides, top and bottom out of plywood and just use the foam for doing the rounded corners and edges. YOu'll have to make sure you have some kind of ribs for structural strength, otherwise you'll have to have quite a few laminates for thickness. Any autobody supply house will have the fiberglass materials. The big box stores have kits, but you would probably need to many for that project. When I was in my gearhead days, I made a number of fiberglass fenders/parts for custom car building. It's really messy, smelly, somewhat toxic, but so, so cool to look at a finished product that YOU did. Boat sale/supply/repair houses will also have large fiberglass kits.
Those places should be all over Fla.

Big Box stores? What are they?

And yes seeing something you made is an awesome feeling, I've built a couple drag cars n everytime I fabricate even the stupidest lil bracket or an entire fuel cell mount I stand back n think "woowwwwww so purdy" :lol: :lol:

Big box stores = chain stores= Lowels, Home Depot, etc.
No drag cars here, but chopped tops, frenched headlights, rounded hood corners. Typical 50s style customs.

Bob Scott said:

Big box stores = chain stores= Lowels, Home Depot, etc.
No drag cars here, but chopped tops, frenched headlights, rounded hood corners. Typical 50s style customs.

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I know a guy who does stuff like that, he does amazing work, Prodigy Customs. Shit gets expensive though, my "current" drag car project has been on hold since right around the time I got Cujo 20 months ago LOL. I'll get it finished one year, I sold my old one already to buy my truck so no racing for me anymore, I've gotten to really like driving a truck though!

I'll see if I can find the supplies on Monday... I wonder if Cujo would mind being a mold for a fiberglass GSD for practice... hmmm :lol:

Better use a reeeeely good release agent if you use Cujo. :lol: :lol:
My 55 bowtie has been setting in the garage for about five yrs now. :wink:

I've got a neat idea in mind for a semi fiberglass semi aluminum crate, but like I said, I can't weld aluminum... I'm wondering if a very light thin-wall steel wouldn't be too heavy, I'd have it powdercoated for protection... hmmm. The fiberglassing would be super easy too on the design I'm thinking. I'll go to the metal place and see how heavy the metal portion is gonna be! lol.

I'm old school on the thin-wall steel welding. Acetelene, a #2 tip, and hammer welding, but I think it may be to heavy unless you can build a breakdown unit with quick releas pins. Just another thought here.

Mike, you can mig aluminum, it doesn't have to be tig. If you know anyone with a mig set-up all you'll have to do is buy the spool. Anybody can run a mig, it's why they use it in body shops, you don't need a whole lot of experience

Mike Schoonbrood said:

I can weld steel but not aluminum, n I can fabricate pretty well... I was thinking of putting together my own aluminum crate n bolting it together, then taking it to a welder n having them weld it up for me. It doesn't have to be the prettiest thing but I have a design in my head that I'd like to use n have a cheap aluminum supplier who sells usable drops, so don't wanna spend $1000+ to have someone fabricate it for me if I can make it myself for $200.

Does anyone have any idea what someone would charge to weld something up with a TIG welder? I know some shops I've dealt with in the past who could do it, but they are high-end race car fabricators who aren't exactly cheap lol.

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Mike, in all seriousness, call some high-end bicycle stores. They probably are building frames out in the back, or can refer you to somebody. They'll do TIG welding on titanium, too...now THAT's a crate!

LOL! Titanium? That's one of those "Damn dog better not get out" things. :lol:
Good idea though.... :-k

Sarah Hall said:

LOL! Titanium? That's one of those "Damn dog better not get out" things. :lol:
Good idea though.... :-k

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It will cost you a few thousand bucks, but hey, think of the bragging rights.

The more I think about this, bike shops would be great at doing this kind of thing. Strong welds on lightweight, strong framing is kind of their specialty. They take that stuff pretty seriously, a custom bike shop lives and dies by the quality of welding work.

I just thought of something: Any custom chopper place will probably do welding. I knew a guy that owned a shop in Oviedo that would weld stuff for me on my ElCamino. I'd also try any welding/steel company. I know there's on on E. Colonial (HWY50), Mike.