Fabricating and Welding Aluminum Fuel Tank
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 22 เม.ย. 2023
- In This one, we Fabricate and Weld an Aluminum diamond plate Fuel tank that is custom built to fit inside the rack on a flatbed. There was definitely some challenges with this one, but I think the end product turned out well. We TIG weld all of the joints on this one, we use the plasma and the iron worker to cut all of the parts, along with numerous other hand tools. Hope you guys Enjoy! Thanks for Watching!
#weld #welding #welder #tig welding #Aluminum #customfabrication #fabrication #fabshop #shoplife #machining #fueltank #fuelcell #plasmacutter #ironworker #smallbusiness #freedom - วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
Great looking job man. I just wish you would’ve laid out and did all you pre drilling before you welded it up. That way you have absolutely no chance of any shavings getting in the tank. Great job tho
I would of drilled the vent and fill before welding the top on, while you had the tank out and the mounting holes drilled put a couple Rivnuts in the holes and tack them in to keep them from turning.
This is what I want to get into, I need to get better at my aluminum tig for sure. Nice tank it looks great
Yeah, you should. I actually really enjoy welding aluminum when its new material, and really hate it when its old contaminated material. Its definitely a good skill to have in your arsenal. I hope to get a newer machine in the future, but I think I'm capped out on my spending with the business for the year.
Looks great.😎👍
Thank you sir!
Nice, you can't even tell it's there.👌
Enjoyed the video!
Glad to hear it! Thanks for watching!
Good thing I wasn’t playing a drinking game for the word “baffles”.....I’d be dead!....🤣
I know it’s an older video at this point but for future builds I would consider rivenuts for the mounting threads on bed
That was actually recommended several times on this video, and it is a great recommendation. I have since bought a riv nut tool and have a whole drawer full of riv nuts. I appreciate the suggestion and thank you for watching!
What a nice shop , i dream of a shop like that man kept it up!
Thank you! I truly believe with hard work and dedication, you can accomplish whatever you want! Go get it! And thanks for watching!
Great idea on the upper holes on the baffles. I’ve seen where they have baffles also in middle, but what you have done is likely great.
With galvanic action, stainless steel bolts should have insulators like nylon tubes and washers or they corrode badly if the bolts contact aluminum.
Nice work.
Thanks!
Nice work man
Thanks brother!
Great videos, great craftsmanship
One suggestion is weld a couple inches before putting your baffle plates in / or mouse hole the corners so you can weld right through.
Diesel will pass through cracks and gaps that water won't
Thanks for your time
Thanks for the suggestion, and thanks for watching!
the diamond plate tip is money.
we put 10k psi thru porta power pulling fins of a yacht. the pump was not happy lol
No, I bet not.
Great vid! However, I think some 3D computer, aided design drawings could have made your life a whole lot easier by unfolding the tank box into measured sections that would have fit perfectly first time. But it’s also nice to see how to do it the old-fashioned way ;-)
The 3D CAD stuff is something I need to get into, just haven’t dabbled in that yet.
I hope that wasn't me calling you! Haha keep up the good work!
I think it actually was! Lol.
I am about to make a fuel tank for a Kubelwagen replica I am building. I have some questions: When you drill the hole for the filler neck you created saw dust that fell inside. How did you clean them up??
Another question: Did you find holes on around the welds you needed to reweld/repair?
Should I provide a vapor relief port on top for when pumping in fuel ??
Thank you.
Btw. I liked your video. I learned a lot. I am now a subscriber.
1. When I drilled the hole, I sucked out the shavings with a shop vacuum.
2. I did not have any holes/leaks in my welds. Material prep is very important.
3. Yes you need a 2nd hole of some kind for a breather.
Hope this helps, thanks for watching!
Cut one tie down tab off fit tank in with no snaking involved. Weld tab back on when tank is mounted.
💯%👌
Should have just made some aluminum blocks with a threaded hole to go inside that rail. Then the bolt goes in from the outside and no nut needed. That was a very shitty way to do it for the next guy that has to deal with that😂
You did a heck of a job working around all those fitment issues with the constraints you had to deal with. Curious on what you charged. I got one built locally (I’m in Ky) that was very similar to this and he charged me $1100.
Thanks. I would have to look it up because it was so long ago, but I wanna say it was $1200. Thanks for watching!
Cool build. Did you consider rivnuts (nutserts) in the rail and the bolts from the outside into the rivnuts for mounting it? I used them to mount steel armor plates to the sides of Jeeps. The nutsert is crimped into the sheet metal and then I use button head screws to mount the armor.
That’s something I actually don’t have. I’m gonna have to invest In a set of those. Great suggestion. Thanks.👍🏻
@Freedom Fabrication They have a decent starting set for around 60$ at harbor freight. It comes with a few metric and sae threadserts. I got the cheap one and the good one from there. I got "refills" of them from Amazon and Granger.
@@jamespooler8809 I’ll have to go check them out. Thanks for the heads up!
Isn't it wise to put a rubber foil between the tank and the cardeck? So that the tank does not continuously rub against each other with its profile while driving.
Probably not a bad idea. I’ll have to make that suggestion to the customer. We weren’t too worried about it because after it’s bolted down and gets fuel in it, it is very solid. Definitely wouldn’t hurt thought. Thanks for the suggestion and thanks for watching!
some plus nuts in the headache rack for the mounting tabs? nice work btw
Are plus nuts the same as Riv nuts? If so, I do think that would work great. Thank you for watching!
@@Freedomfabrication777 more pullout strength.
Why can’t you bend it on the break? Bottom back top front then worry about the sides.
My brake isn’t big enough. Maybe some day! Thanks for watching!
What brand / style are your long sleeve shirts
Just regular cotton long sleeve T-shirts. Brand is “port & authority”
Question, tig as supposed to spoolgun?
When I build a fuel cell, I always like to use tig because then I am sure that I’m getting proper penetration, and my joints are sealed. I will use a spool gun, or a push-pull gun for structural jobs, but when it comes to something holding fluid, you can’t go wrong with tig because you can watch the joint fuse together and it is much less likely to leak. Thanks for watching!
shiny
What Aluminum do you use for the Diamond Plate Fuel Tanks? 5052H32 or 5052H34? 3003? 6061? What filler rod?
I use 6061 diamond plate when building fuel cells, and I use 4043 filler rod.
@@Freedomfabrication777 What thickness is it? I'm planning to build a fuel trailer to use for fueling my floatplane at the local airport float pond. They don't allow permanently mounted tanks...so I figured a trailer would do fine. Here in Alaska everything is ridiculously expensive to buy and deliver commercially made...so have Tig Welder and will make my own.
@@chazdvl I typically use 3/16” DP for fuel cells. Sounds like you have a project to do. Let me know if there’s anything else I can help with. Thanks for watching!
I guess you could of had a flush coupling on the bottom and used a nipple on the bottom and notched the coupling to get most all the gas out. just a thought
That’s true, myself and the owner discussed that, but we were concerned about not being able to get all the fuel out with the coupling sticking inside the tank. Didn’t think to notch the coupling though. Luckily the larger hole gave us just enough room to slide it in and out. Thanks for the suggestion and thanks for watching!
You do a fair amount of aluminum, maybe a push/pull gun in your future?
Absolutely. I will either end up getting a 350P or a millermatic 255 with a push pull gun. It’s on my never ending wish list.😉 Thanks for watching!
No breather tube?
The port that got welded in on the top left is where the breather cap will go. Thanks for watching!
Why couldn’t you just take the tabs off and then re-weld them later?
That was an option, but I was trying to save as much work as possible. Thanks for watching!
How do you get the metal shavings out when drilling your fuel inlets and outlets since you welded it up before drilling? How did you weld the inside of the fuel coupling and outlet ports to create a solid seal from inside after already welding the tank together? Where is the fuel vent that DOT requires? This is a video of how NOT to make a fuel tank.
As far as the metal shavings go, I did suck them out of the tank with a shop vac once I drilled the hole. As far as the coupling goes, I didn’t weld the inside, but I guess you knew the answer to that. I’ve welded hundreds of couplings on existing stainless and aluminum tanks, and never once did I cut the tank apart so that I could weld the inside coupling joint, and then re-weld the tank together. I also never once morphed my little genie ass inside the tank to weld it up and then morph back out. As far as the DOT approved vent cap goes, like I stated in the video, the customer was going to purchase one and install it, which he did. You’ll be glad to know that I have talked to the customer since installing the tank and they absolutely love it, even though it was fabricated and installed completely wrong.😎
Thanks for watching!
Oops, you didn’t cut out the fuel filler cap first. That will leave chips in the tank.
I wanted to make sure I put it in the perfect spot, so I drilled the hole after the tank was set in place, then I sucked the shavings out with a shop vac.
rivnot
I now have a really great set