I love my son. He's just turned 4 and wants a roll cage for his electric ride on toy. It's a peg perego john deer gator looking thing.
How the hell am I going to make a roll cage for him. Needs to be light, doesn't really have to be functional.
PVC pipe?
Electrical conduit?
Inspire me.
Making the joints and base plates is where I'm going to have a tough time I think.
Yeah, black pvc pipe. EMT conduit bends easy, but you need a bender. They have plates you could bolt to the body. Poke around Home Depot / Lowes for a bit.
My dad is a retired electrician. I'm pretty sure I'd seen a conduit bender in his garage at some point. So that wouldn't be a deal breaker, fyi.
Don't forget the 12V upgrade.
It's at 12v already, I'm going to up it to 18v this summer. 12v is stock. 18v is all the transmission will take apparently. 24 is too much. I think this will have to be the last summer for the thing before we go with a gas kart. He's a darn good little driver. However it'll be a couple of years before he is old enough for the local kart track.
We are going to disney in may, and I'm afraid he's going to find the gas karts at tomorrowland speedway a little on the tame side.
and for "welds" you can use epoxy!
Go with the PVC and buy the pipe flanges. They are also available for the metal conduit.
Not clear on how you will get an LSx engine on that thing, but we all know it needs one. Might have to settle for bike engine.
What about copper pipe? Same unions available as pvc, but smaller diameter pipe available. Not sure I can shoe horn in a LSx, but maybe a weed wacker motor.
sachilles wrote: What about copper pipe?
What about empty wallet? Priced copper lately?
sachilles wrote: It's at 12v already, I'm going to up it to 18v this summer. 12v is stock. 18v is all the transmission will take apparently. 24 is too much. I think this will have to be the last summer for the thing before we go with a gas kart. He's a darn good little driver. However it'll be a couple of years before he is old enough for the local kart track. We are going to disney in may, and I'm afraid he's going to find the gas karts at tomorrowland speedway a little on the tame side.
Amen! Both of my boys have followed this same path. My oldest is now 8, soon to turn 9. My younger one is 5. My 8 year old was bored with his 12V Hummer H2 by time he was 4, and he was a good driver. When he was 5, he got his first gas powered cart. It was one of those Chinese knock offs. Word of warning...stay away. Awesome when they run, but suck to fix when they don't. We sold that one pretty quick because it kept breaking. Since then, we've mostly just taken him to the local outdoor kiddie cart places, which he loves. My 5 year old is now bored with the 12V Hummer as well. So just a few weeks ago, I picked up an old Manco cart with a 5hp B&S engine. Needs the throttle cable and kill switch fixed, but I know they'll be fighting for seat time.
And I doubt they'll get bored on the WDW Speedway. It's slow, but it's still Disney. We're going in June, and I have no doubt we'll ride that thing multiple times.
Just get a 3/4" OD steel tube (the thin 0.065" wall ones) they sell at all the home renovation places and bend a hoop with the electrical conduit bender. 1/2" dies should work. Flatten the ends in a vise and drill as needed. Bolt it in place. Voilà. It will avoid you buying all that expensive plumbing stuff, and it will be lighter.
Or take the drivetrain, and put it into something more awesome (and more stable). Shameless plug.
You made that? Nice job!
A 4 year old? I'd go PVC, hurts less when they whack their heads against it. Plus, he can easily work with you to make it.
Thanks. I have a lot of fun making cars for my kids. That one I finished last year. 36V split between twin-motors driving the rear wheels. Even with the go-pedal stop adjusted at minimum, the tires spin when its wet.
The older son loves it.
So for the youngest son, I just finished this:
Sorry for the second shameless plug.
I vote for electrical conduit.
Heavy steel wire frame covered in foam pipe insulation and zip ties.
i'd use the a/c sized pvc piping and put the black foam insulation they use over it, and voila !
In reply to fanfoy:
Where is the build thread?
Ojala wrote: In reply to fanfoy: Where is the build thread?
No crap. I need to see how you did tht, looks awesome. Just the type of project I could get 75% completed and spend 150% of the planned budget only to lose interst in or have the kid out grow it.
Rusnak_322 wrote:Ojala wrote: In reply to fanfoy: Where is the build thread?No crap. I need to see how you did tht, looks awesome. Just the type of project I could get 75% completed and spend 150% of the planned budget only to lose interst in or have the kid out grow it.
Haha...you are more right then you know. The boat tail speedster is actually the second that I build. The first one is collecting dust in the top of the garage. It's electric powered and I got it to a point that it was functional. So I put my then 3 year old in it for a test drive, and it was just too fast for him. He would not have seen is next birthday (or I wouldn't) if I would have left him drive it a lot.
By the time he was old enough to drive something that fast, he was too big to fit in it. 
I'm terrible at taking pictures while I'm building, but I'll try to make a little built thread for each.
To the OP, I just wanted to add: I would avoid PVC piping if the toys see a lot of sunlight. Since PVC piping is usually buried in walls or in the ground, they don't put UV stabilizing compounds in. So after a bit of UV exposure, they tend to shatter. I use to work for one of the larger PVC piping manufacturer in North America, and I had a 24" diameter pipe, that had been left outside, explode in my face during a pressure test. Left quite an impression on me.
Pvc. The "Car" is plastic anyway. And I'd rather get whacked in the head with semi-flexible PVC than conduit. Wrap it in pipe isolation (just like on real cages 
) to protect against UV.
fanfoy wrote: Thanks. I have a lot of fun making cars for my kids. That one I finished last year. 36V split between twin-motors driving the rear wheels. Even with the go-pedal stop adjusted at minimum, the tires spin when its wet. The older son loves it. So for the youngest son, I just finished this:
Best Dad Ever, those are awesome.
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