DIY Aluminum Fuel Tank Fail - Mistakes Were Made!
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- Опубликовано: 7 сен 2024
- DIY Aluminum fuel tank for my mini-jet boat turns out to be a complete disaster.
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Is this project worth saving or should I start over. Let me know here in the comments.
Not being an expert in fuel tanks or welding, how should i know :D
I’d buy a custom spun aluminum tank. Let the pros do your flammable stuff. Plus they have insurance should something go wrong. Can’t sue yourself when your boat catches on fire.
My vote would be to fix what you have because you will find your mistakes. If you decide to grind your welds, wear a respirator so you don't breathe the dust and most importantly use a grinding wheel compatible with aluminum that won't explode. Aluminum has a high thermal expansion rate. When it's embedded in a grinding wheel and expands it can cause cracking at the worst possible time during full RPM.
i would to see it when you get to it!
As an aluminum fabricator who has built hundreds of tanks. Tabs or brackets welded to a fuel tank are a no no. They will eventually crack and leak fuel. That's why fuel tanks in cars and trucks as well as race cars are always strapped in. Even in boats the tanks are set into foam and strapped down. Just FYI for your next tank. Love the channel.
Thanks for the info, and thanks for watching!
Aluminum can be cut with wood cutting blades on the tablesaw or whatever I used to build aluminum furniture for navy ships and regular blades will work. a miter saw works perfectly for aluminum channel and angle ECT.
Thanks for watching!
Man, I’ve been following this and your other projects for the past 4 years. Yup, two years went by on this mini jet boat project. Amazing. Anyway, on ANY of your projects you NEVER fail to fess up to ANY of the mistakes you make. That right there it’s you in my Badass column of honest and good builders/makers. We Makers all have fails, but most of us don’t have worldwide viewers to fess up to.
THANK YOU !
Enjoy the boat , with the safer stock tank, and better weather out there in Tenn. Take care.
Thanks a bunch!
Hello My Friends
Don't give up on your aluminum tank. I recently made one for a UTV I was given. The same problem reared its ugly head. It took about half a day to chase down all the small leaks. Grind, re weld, air test, grind re weld...Now it's fine. 😊 Your tank is beautiful, fix the leaks.
Jack
Can’t wait to see more of this build!!
Remember what "they" say... "we learn more from our failures than our successes."
There's no substitute for trying even if it leads to failure.
Ouch! A lot of time and $$ invested. I would srcap that tank as a hard lessoned learned and use that knowledge to make another tank. You've got the skills and I know the next will be top notch!!!
Thanks for "taking one for the team"... It's all good. Gear Heads will understand Cheers from So.Ca.USA 3rd House On the Left.
IMO, definitely worth saving. It looks really good! Grind it and reweld. I like your approach of regrouping for a while.
You said you couldn't get long straight cuts in your shop. You should try using woodworking tools (table saw, circular saw, etc) to cut aluminum. It works great. Use a circular saw, cut your tank up and use it to practice tig welding.
Yeah, I was going to say that too! Woodworking blades are cheap, you could buy a separate blade and use your table saw even. You might even be able to buy one of the evo blades meant for their skill saws and chuck that up in your table saw or use a track saw. Even your router could true up an edge real nice.
Yeah, sheets of aluminum are easy to cut with skill saw or table saw. Just use a dedicated blade. Edges look factory cut.
Thanks, but my table saw is on it's last leg. I've cut aluminum with the Evolution skill saw, but it had rough edges. Maybe a new table saw and blade would do the trick? Thanks for watching!
Shear cuts are often very dirty. The shear can embed other metals and oil into the cut. You should probably file them smooth and scrub them with acetone. I use a ferrous or aluminum cutting blade on a cordless circular saw with a guide for long straight cuts on aluminum
I never thought of this but you have a good point. I'll keep this in mind for future cuts.
With welding fuel tanks I weld the inside of the tank and the outside. Your welds look like they are cold next tank your should set the machine to 180 amps at 200 hz it will weld smoother for you and more pin point for the material. Try to stay away from the spool gun on the fuel tank. Otherwise it was a great first attempt everyone starts somewhere love your content long time subscriber waiting for the next project. It's repairable cut the top off and weld the inside of the tank.
Thanks for the info!
@@MakingStuff anytime enjoy watching your video of your projects weld metal online sells 1/8 aluminum coupons or if you cut them yourself practice outside corners... Keep up the great content. It's true you can use a table saw to cut the top off of that fuel tank. Re-welded on the inside and can make a new top the tank will be fine.
Smart decision to halt a project that's mechanically unsound and potentially dangerous. And brave to show it on the channel. Don't worry - we've all been there. It's good to know when to stop, regroup, redeign and redeploy.
Thanks!
I'll definitely be trying the hole drilled in the hole saw path trick. Will let you know. Also it is a pleasure to see a RUclipsr show their failure/learning experience out in public like the rest of us experience on occasion with our projects.
Thanks!
You can retry. Use a straight edge then a standard circular saw to cut your lines straight. Carbide blades to well with aluminum, if you get a finer(more teeth) carbide tooth blade, the finish will be better.
Fix it.
Welding aluminum is easy. Welding aluminum correctly takes time to learn all the little details. Fixing this tank is an opportunity to discover where you may have gone wrong.
Thanks. Fixing it seems to be winner the argument right now.
Always listen to Mrs. Making Stuff!
Thanks for the video. We've all been there when a project doesn't go smoothly.
Thanks for watching!
Dang it man, so sorry for your troubles there. Thanks for your honesty though
Thanks for the video
Thanks for watching!
Well, at least you learned some.. and you have a decent pattern now. you will get it man!
Thanks!
*I'm not a skilled welder, but my first observation is those welds look absolutely terrible lol!* That sucks though. The crazy thing about aluminum welding is, even really good and aesthetic welds have a sense of ugliness to them, but they also tend to be incredibly symmetrical bead ripples.
*Like all of us, it's something that happens no matter how well we normally and consistently do.* You'll nail it the next time.
Thanks!
If youre using mig dont bother about the acetone, wirebrush will work just fine
Plus the wire brush isn't flamable :)
But make sure it's a stainless steel brush, regular steel leaves iron oxide embedded in the aluminium.
From what I understand welding aluminum is quite hard. It sucks, but save it for the winter and you can practice with it. Just out of curiosity, how much was that chunky boy plate of aluminum you used for the pump mount?! Thick 6061 near me costs a fortune 😢
The chunky plate was left over from the 5x10 CNC project from 4 years ago. I think I paid $90 for 3 of those pieces, but not sure.
Anyone try that hole saw trick before?
Yep that trick has been around for a long time with wood working.
I used that trick 40 years ago when I was wood working. Now I use it with metal.
It also helps break the chips
Yeah, I did, LOL.
Love the channel. Would stainless be any more cooperative to weld? Take care...
You have to back purge stainless. Other than that, I don't know if it would be any easier.
Well, as someone who has rage quit more than a few projects i can tell you that im never happy about it. That said i know waterproof welding is a big hurdle (not to mention with aluminum). Theres a reason ship welders are the best around. All that coupled with the safety concerns of gasoline, its probably better to scrap this attempt. But i wouldn't count it a total loss. You should butcher the tank and use it as practice scrap to dial in the waterproof welding.
Thanks for watching!
Long straight cuts….gee, if only you had a cnc plasma table 😉
The original dimension was too big for the CNC plasma. Plus, the CNC plasma makes rough cuts on aluminum. Thanks for watching!
I built my exhaust elbows hoses out of aluminum for my boat I had to go over a lot of my welds again with a tig torch
Thanks for watching!
2:36 It is no longer Argon. It is now just Gon.
Unless its from a pirate, then its still aaaaarrrrrrgon.
Well, It happens. But thats how we learn how to weld. I like welding SS Stainless Steel more than Carbon steel and Aluminum.
I really like welding aluminum now that the boat is compete. I guess I got a lot of practice, lol. Thanks for watching!
Lol at the caption - are you a Modern Vintage Gamer channel fan by chance?
Sorry, but no. Thanks for watching!
@@MakingStuff "Mistakes were made" is on almost every video he releases - it must boost engagement. Thanks for posting!
@@pete3897 Ha, ha. I'll check it out. Thanks for letting me know.
Cant you put a fuel bag in it like a car gastank?
Not sure.
If your Tig welding skill are not top level really not a good idea to be trying to fabricate a fuel tank!!!🙈🙈🙈Also I see you didn’t purge the tank with argon this for sure is half your problem.
Purging the tank is only necessary with stainless. Thanks for watching!
You never said what your mistake was on the seam welds...