Cage material, how bad is sched 40 pipe?

alfadriver wrote: So, can you make, say, a strut bar out of it? hmm..

I've done that.

and how would somebody bend nominal sized 'pipe' for a cage?

Hossfeld would do it

JD2 or Pro-Tool bender?

Has anyone ever tried the Harbor Freight pipe bender?

Are you using it for something like this?

Yep. Don't bother.

In reply to SVreX: LOL, didn't take long to get an answer for that one. Thanks!

seamless schedule 80? just kidding.

I work with pipe fittings and hoses all day long.

WilberM3 wrote: ...but is there ever a scenario where schedule 40 pipe would suffice? If the purpose is purely for structural rigidity and you aren't planning on having it save your life?

i use it all the time. i have never seen it fail. i agree with your buddy.

fasted58 wrote: and how would somebody bend nominal sized 'pipe' for a cage? Hossfeld would do it JD2 or Pro-Tool bender?

bend? they sell 45, 90, and straight couplers in the same aisle. you can even get tees for when you need to put another pipe in at a 90 degree angle.. no welding required, either- but you will need a pipe threading machine to make things easier.

jhaas wrote:

WilberM3 wrote: ...but is there ever a scenario where schedule 40 pipe would suffice? If the purpose is purely for structural rigidity and you aren't planning on having it save your life?

i use it all the time. i have never seen it fail. i agree with your buddy.

so here's the wildly differing opinions showing up here too, which also makes me curious as to the apparently different specs of available pipe. is there a certain specification that you use? how and where would you use it or for what applications might you go with tubing instead?

i keep eyeing the JD2 bender for future projects as i've heard its quite good for the money. i too have heard less than great things about the HF unit but have no experience with it.

In reply to JoeyM:

yea i wish i had pictures. doubt i'll see that again!

Wally wrote: I would use PVC, it's much lighter and gives a bit before it cracks.

When I took my written test (yes!) at SCCA Driver's School at Summit Point (Wash DC Region) in the late '70s, one of the questions was about using electrical conduit as roll bar/cage material...

Schedule 40 black pipe is not typically prone to cracking, and is generally not an inferior material. I have used it to build bumpers, strut bars, and a bunch of other structural parts. I have not used it to build a cage, nor would I. If I'm going to spend the time build a cage, I'm going to spend the money to buy the correct material, ERW, which really is essentially what sched 40 pipe is.

I have a high quality pipe bender, which is pretty much the one that the HF one is a copy of. I have used it for pipe, and some heavy wall hydraulic tube installations, but 90 degree bends are not usually ideal. 45's, no problem.

Tell us what you want to do with it.

Never had any sch 40 crack or split in the bender. I've built lots of handrails/gates/etc out of the stuff.

The only place I have ever used pipe in a cage was to make sleeves so the nerf bars and that kind of stuff could be removable on my buggy....

As a Wreck Racer, I can totally understand wanting to find a cheap solution for structural bracing. We used old sign posts to brace the frame rails on the challenge miata when we first bought it. However, you can find really nice cage material for cheap if you look around. We just picked up 110 ft of chromoly cage tubing, legal for all NASA and SCCA cages for cars <2500 lbs, plus another 22 ft of 1" chromoly tubing - total cost was $250. Had been sitting in a shop for a year and the customer who ordered it had gone with a mild steel cage instead.

I know it's a lot more expensive than free, but now we can build legit cages for any sanctioning body. Plus, this is enough material for 2 small cages.

novaderrik wrote:

fasted58 wrote: and how would somebody bend nominal sized 'pipe' for a cage? Hossfeld would do it JD2 or Pro-Tool bender?

bend? they sell 45, 90, and straight couplers in the same aisle. you can even get tees for when you need to put another pipe in at a 90 degree angle.. no welding required, either- but you will need a pipe threading machine to make things easier.

I know threading, I been a pipe fitter since '83. The point I was alluding to was bending pipe for a roll cage. I've bent black pipe for steam line expansion loops (heat/ bend or w/ Greenlee bender) but they were large radius no where near suitable for cage radius bends. JD2 and Pro-Tools benders need specific dies to bend black pipe, ex: 1-1/4" nominal pipe dia=1.66", 1-1/2"= 1.90" , 2"= 2.375". And I'm talking commercial black pipe here not nuclear sub material. Point is why buy specific dies (unless u have a boat load of that pipe) instead of using the more popular tube dies and bend DOM, ERW, CM. The only tube or pipe that overlaps is 1-5/8 tube (1.625") in 1-1/4" pipe dies (1.66") only thous. difference.

I think (or hope) the OP meant using ERW tubing instead of 'pipe' for roll cages, much confusion there but there is a huge difference. Black pipe is ERW but ERW tube is not pipe.... and ERW tube shouldn't cost much more than pipe new. ERW (or pipe) still needs to be bent w/ the seam on the inside of bend radius, which is ok in a single plane axis bend.