conduit

[dakotachop]

A friend of mine tells me this material is not strong enough and does not weld worth a poop.
Now, from what I can see,this material should work as long as your frame sections are not excessively long.Have noticed many on here have used this.Any suggestions on this would be appreciated.

[rickairmed]

Dakota alot of peaple here use it without failure including the Dude who wrote the books :D. I figure if its good enough for Rad Brad it should be ok for anybody else :D.

Rick

[trikeman]

There is nothing wrong with Electrical Metallic Tubing (EMT), which some people call conduit, even though conduit is actually thicker. Most EMT in the 1/2"-1" diamter range is about 16 ga steel, and steel is steel. It works fine. I don' have any trouble welding it, although you may want to remove the galvanizing with a flap wheel first.

[MoeMac]

Hi...

I am on a limited budget and here in Moncton, NB Canada conduit is in abundant supply and very inexpensive.

I have built about 4 bents with conduit and have not had any problems...

I also have conduit benders that I use as well.. And for the welding I really like it.. For me it welds great!

Hope this helps? :D

[dakotachop]

Thanks for the response guys,this material is very inexpensive here as well.Will be using it on my next project.Thanks again.

[trikeman]

As one further note, your friend would have been correct 10 or 20 years ago, but the way EMT is made has changed a lot since the old days. Here is a quote explaining the change:

Since 1 Jan 2000 EMT is no longer marked as such and is in fact basic
welded structural tubing. (Before, the alloy used in EMT had a fairly
high lead content to facilitate bending, but the lead not only
weakened the tubing, it was an environmental hazard. Modern-day EMT
uses a new ASTME alloy, slightly superior to SAE 1025 in both strength
and formability. Although the Big Foots still frown on making
airframes from the stuff, since the spec changed in 2000 there's no
engineering basis not to use it; it's just plain old fashioned mild
steel tubing.

Which is why I now say that "steel is steel" ( bit of over simplification, but good enough for bike building). Here is the full reference if you want it:

http://newsgroups.derkeiler.com/Archive/Sci/sci.engr.joining.welding/2005-08/msg00809.html

[Radical Brad]

Agreed. Take usual precautions regarding fumes, and EMT is just another steel tube.

I trusted it with my hide many times...

http://atomiczombie.com/gallery/bradgraham/skycycle.htm

http://atomiczombie.com/gallery/bradgraham/skywalker.htm

Brad

[dakotachop]

If you're willing to build tall bikes with it and ride them,then there is definitely no reason I shouldn't.Thanks a lot.

[theDude]

Agreed. Take usual precautions regarding fumes, and EMT is just another steel tube.

I trusted it with my hide many times...

http://atomiczombie.com/gallery/bradgraham/skycycle.htm

http://atomiczombie.com/gallery/bradgraham/skywalker.htm

Brad

Those make me smile every time I see them :punk:

[scootdaddy]

Dakota I have personally used conduit ( EMT) to build ladders and go karts with motorcycle engines that would do 75+ mph with NO PROBLEMS at all
and I weigh over 300 lbs:scooter:

[fatfreddy]

GALVANIZED PIPE IS YOUR FRIEND BUT WILL TRY TO KILL YOU

HEY i'm new here and new to bike building.
But I spent ten years building street rods and custom cars before I became dissabled.
NOW a DAYS I just tinker in my garage and shop and studio to keep from going nuts with pain.
NOW LISTEN UP NEW FRIENDS WHEN IT COMES TO GALVANIZED PIPE.
On an earlier post to this topic of EMT, someone said you may want to use a flap wheel to GET RID OF THE GALVANIZING
WOW what an under statement. HERE ARE SOME GOOD RULES ABOUT WOREKING WITH GALVANIZED PIPE just passed down through years of working with men hwo make aliving with the stuff. IF you are going to grind and weld that stuff. FOLLOW THEM.

YOU want to keep all of that dust dust to an minimum.
DON"T use a flap wheel it makes too much dust.
USE a grinder and AIM The dust into a tin an empty TRASH CAN.
ALWAYS USE A GOOD DUST MASK.
WHEN WELDING USE A GOOD FUME MASK AND HAVE LOTS OF VENTILATION.
A fan at one end blowing air OUT of the room is BEST drawing fresh air past you from another source.
THE GALVANIZING IS POISON PERIOD and the smoke from welding it is the WORST STUFF. It gets into yur lungs and you will hack it up in the middle of the night,but never all of it.IT is pure crap crap crap.
Then it is sadfe and very easy to weld.
BUT Please it is not hard to take these precautions.DON"T NOT WELD GALVANIZING IN THE BASEMENT OF YOUR HOME.that is real bad move your project out doors..
I realise how much fun you are having.and i'm all for folks building this stuff.and working with easy materials BUT Please PLEASe some of you have no expierence with this sort of things. That's fine but use precautions...
I have lost great friends that were car builders. It usually happens just a year or so after they retire and usually from all the crap in thier lungs.. BEcause that CRAP allows INFECTIONS AND TB to get a foot hold and stay till it kills them. SO IT IS VERY WORTH IT TODAY TO PREVENT .
DON"T NOT LET YOUR KIDS BE AROUND THAT SMOKE they can very easily become CHRONICALY PROBLEMATIC with such things as bronchitis and lung problems..
SORRY TO RUINT the fun. but I had to tell you the truth about GALVANIZING.
NO harm no foul .

[KoolKat]

Thanks for the warnings, everyone needs to be aware of the health hazards. However, we have a rule on this forum about using too many ALL CAPS in posts. Although we understand the need to emphasize on occasion, please limit your use of ALL CAPS. It means shouting, and we don't do that here.

[fatfreddy]

KOOL KAT ...
Awe shucks! I got the administrator on my tail already, That always happens because I use caps and i'm not really yelling , just talking loud. but I hear you
thank you fatfreddy I just have to figure out how to use the bold feature when i want to get someones attention. O f course i must also be assuming that others have an attention span as short as mine.

[tadner]

I use muriatic acid (from HD, Lowe's or any hardware store) to remove the galvanized coating on EMT, bolts, washers, etc. I wear safety glasses and rubber gloves. A rag dipped in the acid will remove the galvanization in a few seconds. Neutralize the acid with clean water. The clean metal will rust within a few hours if not primed or coated with WD-40 or something similar.

Muriatic acid is caustic so be careful and use common sense.

[TheKid]

Muriatic fumes are also very bad. The acid should be used with a respirator.