The Cross Tub End Plates

This week I rough cut and drilled the cross tube end plates, tack welded them in place and trimmed the cross tub to match. The more I use my saw-z-all the more I like it! The mounting holes for the steering knuckle are tilted from vertical to set the caster of the steering to 12 degrees. Later the end plated will be trimmed to an oval shape around the small holes, but for now I decided to leave them untrimmed so that I can use the edge as a reference point for aligning tube tube to vertical when I weld it to the main tube.

Here is a pic with the rod ends that make up part of the steering knuckle stuck in to see how it looks.

Cutting the Notch in the Main Frame Tube for the Cross Tube

Today I cut the half circle notch in the bottom of the main frame tube. This notch is what the cross tube fits into. The challenge was cutting the notch square . I used the set up below and it worked quite well. Since the tube was too big to bolt down to the table on the drill press, I attached it to a 2'x2' piece of MDF which happens to have my vise attached to it. I clamped the piece of MDF to the table of the drill press upside down and then clamped another piece of wood in the jaws of the vise. I could then get the tube square to the drill by moving where the vise was clamped on the supporting piece of wood. Clear as mud? A picture really says a thousand words.

After I cut the notch, I clamped the two pieces together to see how they fit. Later I will clamp it all square and weld them together.