pipe pipe and more pipe

[mattyk]

question for manky or anyone else who knows....were abouts do you get the erw pipe used for your reliant trike build and how much???im currently in portsmouth but will be moving to lincoln soon (not to bothered bout the house just the new garage,dont tell anyone tho lol) and how much is it goin to cost and wat size did you use ..ahhhh my brains workin overtime so many ideas not enough time ..i must try to sleep !!!!

[tbone]

MR M uses 1" nominal bore pipe for most of the frame and 1 1/2" for his top rail,
its available at any pipeline centre for about £2.00 a foot tho its usually sold in 6mtr lengths.
Do a google search for pipeline centres and you`ll locate one near you. I counted at least 6 in portsmouth

[tbone]

http://www.mankymonkeymotors.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=3983.msg45660#msg45660
check out the thread above. you got a plumb centre near you in Nevil Shute Rd, Portsmouth - 023 92664499.

[mattyk]

cheers tbone 2 quid a foot cant get much better than that i shall start investigating inta pipeline in lincoln would i just ask for 1" erw pipe ??

[tbone]

yep. Then they say " medium or heavy?"

Thats about £2 a foot! Official price on the website is £7.91 a mtr as of just now. so more like £2.50 a foot

plumb centre again
Sunningdale Trading Est, Dixon Cl, Lincoln, LN6 7XD‎ - 01522 526125

[Manky Monkey]

Hiya Matty.
Yup, Mr T's spot on. My local Pipeline Centre in Basingstoke, Hants is getting quite used to guys coming in asking for ERW for trikes now! I should get commission. Medium weight is roughly 3 1/2 mm. I personally go for heavy weight, which is about 4 mill. It bends nicely in basic hydraulic benders without kinking & welds nicely too. Always lots of discussion on forums as to whether you should use something as cheap n cheerful as ERW for framing, or whether it should be chrome molly or whatever. All I can say is, touch wood, I've never had a tube fail on me yet & providing your frame design's sensibly triangulated & braced, it'll be as strong as you'll ever need.
I bought 60 feet for Taz's trike frame, but if you're careful you could probably get away with 40. It came in 20 foot lengths, (what's that in new fangled metricacity?), so I cut it in half into 10 foot lengths in their carpark with a hacksaw to get it in my car! At that price though, you can afford to experimant a bit or make the odd mistake. 

[mattyk]

i think the odd mistake is probably the idea lol... i saw you were using a clarke pipe bender is that the one you were using with the 4mm erw as im probably going to invest in that exsact one (seems to have been tried n tested) and cheers mr t for finding that phone number for me thats only down the road (in lincoln terms)

[mattyk]

and this may sound like a silly question but is that 1" inner bore ???4mm inner wall thickness

[tbone]

and this may sound like a silly question but is that 1" inner bore ???4mm inner wall thickness

yep thats the stuff....1" bore 4mm wall (heavy)

[Manky Monkey]

Yeah, technically it's pipe, not tube. Pipe is measured on it's internal size, (bore). Tube is measured on the external size. ERW has a seam running down it's length on the inside. I've tried bending it with the seam in all sorts of positions & it bends just as well. "Nominal" size means it's a rough estimate & it could vary from batch to batch, but in practice, if you buy all your material at the same time it should be the same. It used to come in black with a stripe painted around it, blue I think. It was pretty rough old stuff. But now it comes in red oxide & the quality seems much better.
Yes, a Clarkes bender will do the job nicely. Less than a hundred quid from MachineMart.

[mattyk]

fantabydosey cheers mm and mr t very helpful as ever !!!!! anyways iv got ta go and do a million tip runs but at least i get to smash an old bed up ( the fun things in life eh?)god why cant we click are fingers and everything gets moved for us  >: >:(cheers again!!!!