Aluminum frame for fire truck

[Burnit]

This is a frame I tacked together yesterday. It is for a fire truck, the kind that just stay at the airport. It is mostly 1.5" tube and angle. The customer came and inspected it this morning and gave me the ok to weld it up. After that it gets some panels and some tracks for roll up doors welded on as well. I will post more pics when I weld it up. Its square within 1/32", and dimensionally its within 1/16". This was another one of those prints with three place decimals, and like Engloid said I called the engineer and said WTF? And he told me not to worry about it.
+/- .005 ok guys sure, get right on that.

[Tractapac]

Looks really good and so too does your workshop. Yeah, three decimal places, you gotta wonder. Still, when it's .005 too big to fit it's shed, you'll hear about it!

I think these crazy specs are all about butt covering. Either that or because there's room for three decimal places in the cad package, they feel they have to fill them. Or just because they can!

[zapster]

+ - .005 on that?


...zap!

[kbnit]

Nice tight fitups, Burnit, you coulda held +/-.010 at least!!!

[duaneb55]

Originally Posted by Burnit

This is a frame I tacked together yesterday. It is for a fire truck, the kind that just stay at the airport. It is mostly 1.5" tube and angle. The customer came and inspected it this morning and gave me the ok to weld it up. After that it gets some panels and some tracks for roll up doors welded on as well. I will post more pics when I weld it up. Its square within 1/32", and dimensionally its within 1/16". This was another one of those prints with three place decimals, and like Engloid said I called the engineer and said WTF? And he told me not to worry about it.
+/- .005 ok guys sure, get right on that.

Nice work Burnit - is that for a 'Magnum'?

[DSW]

Originally Posted by Burnit

+/- .005 ok guys sure, get right on that.

Just tell them to whip out their 10' dial caliper and double check it.

How are you planning to weld it, Tig or mig?

[Nomand]

I don't think that that 3 digit precision was addressed to you. It usually required for 3D modelling like in SolidWorks and possible for CNC machine, which was cutting aluminum members. It just they were lazy enough not to produce separate set of drawings for welding. That is why the engineer told you not to worry about it...

[Burnit]

Duane- couldn't tell ya what its for. The answer I got was "A firetruck were gonna build"
This thing gets panels and doors, it covers the top half of the motor, a hydraulic pump and the muffler.

DSW- This one is gettin TIG welded. They requested that because its a prototype and the big wigs will see it. If I do another one (which we probably won't, we don't do production) I am gonna use our new MillerMatic 350P, pulsed MIG.
I am still playin with the 350P at lunch and after work, I absolutely love pulsed MIG, now I know why DavidR was so crazy about it. It really is the mutts nuts. Really.

[duaneb55]

Originally Posted by Burnit

Duane- couldn't tell ya what its for. The answer I got was "A firetruck were gonna build"
This thing gets panels and doors, it covers the top half of the motor, a hydraulic pump and the muffler.

DSW- This one is gettin TIG welded. They requested that because its a prototype and the big wigs will see it. If I do another one (which we probably won't, we don't do production) I am gonna use our new MillerMatic 350P, pulsed MIG.
I am still playin with the 350P at lunch and after work, I absolutely love pulsed MIG, now I know why DavidR was so crazy about it. It really is the mutts nuts. Really.

Interesting. The only ARFF (Aircraft Rescue Fire Fighting) related manufacturers I know of in 'cheeseland' are way up in Oshkosh and Marinette but being a prototype I'll have to keep my ears open for the skuddlebutt.

[exotherm]

Can I ask a novice fab question?

When you guys build pieces like this with multiple tight fit ups, do you mill the individual pieces to final size and to hold perfect square, or do you have another method?

Thanks.

[Burnit]

Oshkosh isn't far from here, and they are a big company. If you work for an independent machining or welding job shop anywhere in southeast Wisconsin you will at some point be, making parts for
Oshkosh truck, P&H mining equipment, Manitowoc cranes, Case/New Holland, Bucyrus/Erie the list goes on and on. If your adjustable wrench was made in the U.S.
Chances are the thumbwheel was rolled in Saukville, not far from here. Miller is in Appleton.
Snap-On is here somewhere,

[Burnit]

Originally Posted by exotherm

Can I ask a novice fab question?

When you guys build pieces like this with multiple tight fit ups, do you mill the individual pieces to final size and to hold perfect square, or do you have another method?

Thanks.

Everyone of those pieces was cut on a bandsaw, even the saddles and notches. The pieces that are just cut to length are just cut on the horizontal saw and its pretty much dead square, the saddles and notches I layout with a scribe, cut what I can on the saw and then get it closer with a dynafile (hand-held belt sander with narrow belts)

The pictures of the notch looks better on the internet, they didn't all look like that

If you lay out the more technical stuff on the part all you gotta do is remove the material up to that line, and your good.

[exotherm]

Thanks Burnit. That's a huge help.

[duaneb55]

Originally Posted by Burnit

Oshkosh isn't far from here, and they are a big company. If you work for an independent machining or welding job shop anywhere in southeast Wisconsin you will at some point be, making parts for
Oshkosh truck, P&H mining equipment, Manitowoc cranes, Case/New Holland, Bucyrus/Erie the list goes on and on. If your adjustable wrench was made in the U.S.
Chances are the thumbwheel was rolled in Saukville, not far from here. Miller is in Appleton.
Snap-On is here somewhere,

OK so it's not so "way up". I know the folks in Oshkosh and their subsidiary in Appleton - Pierce but thought they both did their own prototype work. It's possible not so though considering all the customer traffic they get - too hard to keep things 'under wraps'. Being a prototype I'm sure you're sworn to secrecy as to who the 'customer' is.

[Burnit]

Sworn to secrecy? Nope, I really have no idea

[duaneb55]

Originally Posted by Burnit

Sworn to secrecy? Nope, I really have no idea

Could be Oshkosh. We recentl built some special combination foam / dry chemical nozzles for a 'new' crash truck they're offering but the first completed unit delivers on Monday so it's way past prototype stage unless they're working on another version or different project all together. Just in case it's them I'll keep it zipped with those I work with there so as not to create any 'problems'.

[denrep]

Originally Posted by Burnit

Denrep your so crazy, Hey I saw a cow at the county fair this week that you could finish up that caddy with, forgot my camera though.

Do you suppose you could go back and cut just a little swatch of the hide out, so we can compare the match?

Funny you should bring up the Cad, I just picked up a few finer accessories for it, off of a wrecked fire truck; including the king of air horns! I'll update progress one of these days, I figured you were tired of reading about it.

I made a deal with a scrapper to save the aluminum tube and channel off of the same wrecked fire body, built just about like the one you're building. Sickening really, to see all the aluminum tread-plate and hardware get scrapped.

Very nice work on the body; hard to tell the size, but flightline trucks can be mammoths. Especially the Oshkosh variety.

I watched a truck pull where the best of the best pulled their hearts out. Afterward they hooked an Oshkosh to the sled. Seems like it was 12 cylinder Jimmy and automatic, planetary axles. In stock form it out pulled everything by far, shifted as it pulled the sled, looked like it could have pulled it right out of the fair grounds.

Thanks for the pics!

Good Luck

[elvergon]

Originally Posted by Burnit

Its square within 1/32", and dimensionally its within 1/16".

Wouw that´s tight!

What do you think will be the tolerances after you weld it?
Are you going through any special welding pattern?