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Roll Cage Discussion

A substantial amount more surface area, same thickness as tube ( generally speaking). What's not too like. I have used em a couple times I will use em more.

Only thing I don't like is 90° are not common on cages I build so I need to mod them often
 
I think I'm going to order a few - does the thickness look ok?

Good point about 90's not being common in a cage.
 
I know the tube gussets are widely used and they'd certainly make odd joints easier to brace (than a taco, etc) but they look like they'd create a stress point in an impact.
 
Your talking about the corner, the strongest part of the cage not an open span, stress risers would be no different than the boxed in tube gusset the huge difference will be the amount of heat applied during welding.. this is quite literally splitting hairs because these sort of gussets tube or plate tie the corners together making it much stronger in shear vs not having it at all. A bend is more of a stress riser than a tube that is gusseted. Bends are pre failures to the structure. Check out some trophy trucks, quite a few miter or laser cut the corners so there is no bends present for this exact reason. The go fast world is an excellent place to observe cage design because they often test it..
 
Or a stress riser from someone welding both sides of a 1/4 thick gusset to a cage built of 1/8 materials
 
Not to derail but I find it hilarious at times when it's suggested to weld 1/4 to anything less that 1/4... plating is one thing but seriously it's only as strong as the parent material.. wtf over
 
sreidmx said:
Not to derail but I find it hilarious at times when it's suggested to weld 1/4 to anything less that 1/4... plating is one thing but seriously it's only as strong as the parent material.. wtf over
Click to expand...

When building cages and asked to use 1/4" thick or in a couple cases some insane 1/2" thick some guy had custom cut. I used to refer the the module of elasticity. Why? because no one knows what it is and they don't wanna look dumb and so I rarely got arguments. And I got to do the gussets how I wanted.:D
 
I'm not knocking tube gussets just trying to wrap my head around all of this. Heck, I'll probably end up with tube gussets in there somewhere.

I sure wish one of you experienced benders would come vacation down on the gulf coast so you could spend some of your time with me. :D
 
blazinzuk said:
When building cages and asked to use 1/4" thick or in a couple cases some insane 1/2" thick some guy had custom cut. I used to refer the the module of elasticity. Why? because no one knows what it is and they don't wanna look dumb and so I rarely got arguments. And I got to do the gussets how I wanted.:D
Click to expand...

That's ridiculous....
youngs... Hooked.. man that's dry reading..

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young's_modulus
For those who want to melt your brain..

I still get suprised when I look at my buddies race truck, material that I would think may not survive has been on that for years, 60 thou 4130 plates dimpled and used in shear plates or filling something in.. or 3/4 tube used to gusset a mount or even used to make the mount itself. He told me that back in the day they would go to crazy lengths to save weight to the point where the truck would break and they'd go back the other direction until that part wouldn't break anymore. He builds 90% of everything from .090 and .060 plate and considered my 2x.120 for my beams practically bullet proof..
I know I still have a shitload to learn..
 
I have no clue what some of them even mean.. shoulda paid attention in math class.
 
Lol I have a light grasp on it.

@sreidmx it is very interesting when you look at an engineered truck. Some things you think oughtta be built aren't but when you wrap around the whole thing it can become really obvious. But sometimes not. I am starting to work on some of my math skillz to be able to do more engineering and less better do it out of 1/4"
 
I am with you on that totally because one just building it heavy doesnt always make it strong. Considering the use and what it's attached to is usually how I figure out what materials and how I construct something.. shear forces and what direction the forces travel. All drive the design too. -
 
Ok I will jump in here. I don't have any tech that hasn't already been discussed. I talked to Eric a lot during my design phase. I feel that my design is decent, but I did go with 1.75" HREW .120 wall. It was what I could source locally. My only complaint about my cage is I made it too small. It doesn't affect me, but my kids have grown, and adults have a difficult time getting in the back of my rig. Not a common issue, but it's there. I built it with the intention of narrowing my bedsides and probably still will, but I went too narrow and too short over the rear.

Mine is only currently over the rear cargo area. I had plans to finish the front, but now I am just going to fix my dislikes and re-do the whole thing. I may taylor the current design down to be a little more passenger friendly and sell it to somebody local that wants a little extra protection in a weekend warrior type rig. Next design will be very similar, still allowing me to narrow the rear, but a larger rear halo area.

My B and C pillar bars go to 3/16" plates sandwiching the floor and then bars to the frame underneath.

On to the pictures!























 
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