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So I was at Home Depot getting some keys made when I saw the "black pipe"...Price was cheap, cheap, cheap.

Does anyone know the difference between tubing verus pipe....structually?

Tubing is meassured from the outside wall to wall diagonally, pipe is meassured the size of the hole. (correct?)

Is "black pipe" strong enough to be used for trailing arms and pan rod? The trough is to cut the outside treaded ends off and tap out the inside for use with heim joints. IS black pipe structrally up to the task? It looked like mild steel and could be welded if needed...

If I used 1/2 inch or 3/4 inch black pipe, What size heim would I use?

_________________
I'll keep an eye out for you!

To err is human...
I am more human than most.

That black pipe you see at lowes, home depot etc is very, very soft stuff. I know because we use it in our mold mandrels at work. It can be bent by hand (in longer 2-3 foot lengths) if you have something to brace it against. Not the kind of thing I would want in my build. Just my .02.

I think you would be better off getting real tubing from Mcmaster-carr or metals-depot or someone like that. They are not much more than the Home Depot price for the black iron pipe.

http://www.mcmaster.com/

http://www.metalsdepot.com/products/hrs ... 20&aident=

That the info I was looking for.....You guys are great.

Time to re-evaluate and order some corect stuff....


I guess the problem comes down to...."wanting to make progress" verus "knowing where and how to make the progress"

_________________
I'll keep an eye out for you!

To err is human...
I am more human than most.

IMO, we all should be using seamless (DOM) tubing for the control arms, both front and back. I take issue even with the 16g seamless called out in the book as being too weak. Not based on anything technical, but it just seems too flimsy to me and I know the circle track guys use specialally swedged tubing for location links and whatnot.

-Steve

If the black pipe at HD is cheap enough, it could be very useful for mocking up pieces. It'll save screwing up expensive (good quality) tube later on. I'm thinking of using that approach for the front A arms.

fwiw i have ordered alot of stuff from metalsdepot and they do pretty good. their shipping calculations are screwy sometimes (in my favor). i ordered a bunch of 8' lens of 1" round and 3/4" round once and only paid $5.80 for shipping.

dale

I don't believe there is such a thing as a DOM square tube.
I have a book on Indy cars that shows the frame from Andy Granatelli's NOVI indy car. Ferguson 4 wheel dive system, front engine 575 lb engine with 740 HP @ 8,200 RPM. The frame is made of square tubing and looks a lot like a single seat Locost.