weld jig tables

[ted johnson]

Well, Ron Cubel, his son-in-law, Darryl and I went to Home Depot yesterday and got the 3/4" ply and the 2X4's to build the weld jig tables for Pruit Ginsberg's and my new Photon rear engine karts. Darryl loaned me his beautiful DeWalt 12" miter saw on a Ridgid rollaround stand, so I got out there this morning and cut all the wood for the two tables. We have $40 and change in the wood including a very nice piece of A-C plywood. What's left now is a ton of glueing and screwing the pieces together. The tables will be fairly heavy, but will be stiff and flat. I'm not a woodworker, but good tools and careful measuring will produce two very decent tables. It's good to see progress. Pruit had the tubing bent over in Los Alamos, NM, and will bring it here for me to cut to final length, fishmouth and jig up. Ben Herr up in Chandler has graciously agreed to do the welding. There's nobody better with a TIG torch. I got in all the gold anodized aluminum pieces yesterday, and they look great. Maybe Fremont, God willing? Ted

[stan wauthier]

O.K. Ted,

We all know it's not true without pictures!

Seriously, We are looking forward to seeing another one of your projects.

[ted johnson]

Hey, Stan! I hope you and Joel are doing well and happy. I have the first table mostly done, but broke off to get the Nike ready for Riverside. I don't usually go, But Joe and Dean Kanocz kindly asked me along. Both of them are a lot of fun, and Pruit and Yolanda Ginsberg and Ron and Sue Cubel will be there. I'd have added a JPEG of the first table, but I couldn't attach it. I'll try again! Nope, it says "the attachment quota has been reached". Ted

[Rob Voska]

[Rob Voska]

Ted I just posted this without problems....... but it can't be oversize.

[ted johnson]

Hey, Rob. I firmly believe it's this old clunk of a computer, and has nothing to do with the REAR site. I tried a JPEG resized to 125 KB, and it still said "NO, NO, Big Boy!" to me.
Hope you are doing well! Ted

[Rob Voska]

Ted email me the picture & I'll see what I can do.

[ted johnson]

Thanks, Rob. I'll wait till we actually get a few photos instead of CAD JPEGS. Getting old Nike ready for the Riverside thing. Ted

[ted johnson]

Well, the first table base is all glued and screwed, and a number of the wood blocks are attached between which the various tubes are pushed to hold them in perfect alignment for Ben. There'll be lots of conduit clamps! I only have 3 C clamps big enough to span the 2X4's on edge plus the 3/4" ply decking, so the going is slow while glue sets. I'm using square drive No. 8 deck screws, and the crappy Chinese DeWalt driver tips really suck. They round over easily, though I'm predrilling and using beeswax. I also began the pylon that'll hold the steering hoop tubes in place. Ted

[ted johnson]

Got all tubes for both karts cut to length, butt weld ends chamfered for groove welds and drilled for plug welds. Dean Kanocz up in Mesa is going to mill the fishmouths in the ends of the main rails and front porch legs where they join the axles. I have Pruit's main rails, front and rear cross members and rear bumper trial fitted into the jig table. Everything fits and looks good. I can't finish jigging until I get the front axles in. Steering hoop jig tomorrow/Sunday. I hope to have the second table built and my tubes jigged in two to three weeks so I can go up to Ben Herr's in Chandler and get both frames welded. My back hurts and my feet are screaming, but we progress! Pix when the first kart gets hard-jigged. What the heck do I do with the tables when the frames are finished? Ron Cubel says "bonfire"! It's a big desert half a mile from my house! Ted