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Tips and hints for the beginning builder....

Chassis building basics 101

 

So you want to learn how to scratch build your own chassis?? Here are some tricks and tips that may help you in your building efforts..

 They work for me J

You need a few things to get started and one of the most important is a good Chassis jig The jig will help you keep your axles square to each other, and that is one of the most important parts in getting your new chassis to run properly

This is the one that I use

jig.jpg

The jig is designed by Dave England and is based on the old Russkit Adjust-0-Jig

I have had a number of these jig made up and am offering them for sale to help new builders get started.. The plate you see on the left is a jig plate that I have made up so that I have a nice flat surface to set the chassis parts on and it also sets my ground clearance too... The plate is made out of 1/16 thick aluminum. The notch you see in the upper right corner of the plate is cut out to allow a Spur gear to be fitted to the axle and not sit on the jig plate for building anglewinder and sidewinder chassis..

Along with the jig and jig plate you will need some jig wheels These are also for sale and they allow you to set the axle height for the chassis without having to use the wheels and tires you are going to run on the car. The jig wheels allow you to work on the chassis without worrying about something happening to your real tires.. Like burning them with a soldering iron or torch.

Tools & Odds and ends

Some of the other things you will need :

1) Dremel tool and cut off disks (dont forget to ware safety glasses )

2) Some solder 60/40, for brass to brass soldering, and some Silver solder for the brass to Piano wire or steel soldering.. And some paste flux and acid flux for the silver solder

3) common hand tools Pliers, hammer, center punch, tweezers, forceps ( great for picking up hot pieces of brass) tin snips, vice grip pliers

4) a good assortment of brass. Most of my brass is 1/16 thick sheet ranging form ¼ wide to 2 wide you will also need brass tubing for make your axle tubs with either 1/8 ID or 3/32 ID depending on the axle size you are using..

I also have a good selection of different size brass rod and assorted brass tubing on hand too.

5) A nice tub cutter

6) Assorted files some jewelers files are great to have as well as some big files

7)Some alligator clamp and C-clamps ( I use the C-clamps for holding sections of brass I am cutting to the top of the workbench

8) bench vice

9) Drill and GOOD drill bits, a drill press is handy too if you have one

10) Small steel ruler and dial calipers

11) Square (small one)

These are just some of the tools you will want to have handy..

To mark the layout lines on my chassis I have a assortment of brass sheet and rods

spacingaids.jpg

And square tubing.. These help me scribe my cut out lines onto my chassis and know that they are spaced right on both sides of the chassis.. Just makes laying out the cut out lines quick and trouble free

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