One of the most challenging welding jobs so far for me has been the two large washers on the torque tube - see sheet #18 in the classic plans.
I followed hints on other builder's sites, using 3/4" tubing as spacers, but I had severe warpage in between the supporting spacers.
This is what I ended up doing:
Cut (using the tube cutter, which allows for very precise length cuts) 8 or 9 pieces of tubing, and arrange them around the main torque tube, fasten with a duct clamp:
Then with the clamp still fastened, went around and finish welded the joint:
Came out much better. Live and learn! Cutting the spacers to the exact length was the challenging part really.
Control torque tube - welding tip
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orchardair
- Posts: 215
- Joined: Thu Apr 08, 2010 4:56 pm
Control torque tube - welding tip
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Hatz Classic plans# 136
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Nick
- Posts: 188
- Joined: Wed Mar 24, 2010 7:51 pm
Re: Control torque tube - welding tip
That's a great tip. Wish I saw it before I welded mine 
I used a piece of 3/4" hardwood with a hole drilled in it for the tube, then the washers clamped either side. The wood burns a bit, gets split to come off, but I still had warping and it took a while to get it perfectly straight. This would have worked better.
Nick
I used a piece of 3/4" hardwood with a hole drilled in it for the tube, then the washers clamped either side. The wood burns a bit, gets split to come off, but I still had warping and it took a while to get it perfectly straight. This would have worked better.Nick