Homemade panniers

http://www.durafix.co.uk/

Anybody used this stuff? Any good? Was the weld strong enough afterwards? I can see from YouTube that the material itself is strong, ie: can drill it, tap it, etc, but it's essentially soldering and doesn't get the base material up to a high enough temperature to fuse the two pieces to be joined, so will the weld break away from the base material under stress?

Bump

[yorkie_chris]

It's a zinc/ally brazing rod. There are some good guides on web, and probably cheaper source for same thing.
As for breaking away, yes it will but it depends how much stress. I have used similar once before and it tapped OK but the job came back for a helicoil in it shortly after. Make of that what you will.

I would NOT use this on any stressed area.

Originally Posted by yorkie_chris

It's a zinc/ally brazing rod. There are some good guides on web, and probably cheaper source for same thing.
As for breaking away, yes it will but it depends how much stress. I have used similar once before and it tapped OK but the job came back for a helicoil in it shortly after. Make of that what you will.

I would NOT use this on any stressed area.

Cool, thanks YC. Would you call pannier frames a sufficiently stressed assembly to warrant dismissing this stuff?

[yorkie_chris]

Yes because they are subject to fatigue stress every time you let your missus pack and there is 300weight of crap bouncing around every time you hit a bump.
BUT it depends entirely on which joint in what sort of structure.

I reckon something from stainless tube would be better, or even mild steel powdercoated. You could do reasonable job with a £50 buzzbox welder if you went for mild.

Originally Posted by yorkie_chris

Yes because they are subject to fatigue stress every time you let your missus pack and there is 300weight of crap bouncing around every time you hit a bump.
BUT it depends entirely on which joint in what sort of structure.

I reckon something from stainless tube would be better, or even mild steel powdercoated. You could do reasonable job with a £50 buzzbox welder if you went for mild.

Thanks mate.

[yorkie_chris]

To elaborate a bit, in compression it will be fine. It is in tensile I would not trust it so much, if you have to then try and make it a large area, 2 plates sweated together with it would be ok, but 2 tubes joined with the stuff would be weak.

Usual tenets of working with ally apply, make sure it is clean and not full of oil. Cast ally tends to soak up loads of oil.
Also my experience of it is limited.

Think I'll stick with steel, seems to be what most pannier frames are made from. I was wondering if I could get away with aluminium or an alloy, to save weight and reduce stress on the rear shock and rear subframe. I'll be making something like this frame for my XT because they are ridiculous money to buy (£293 from metal mule, cheaper one at £160, but I wouldn't even spend that on something I can fabricate from 20 quids worth of materials off ebay). I'll just cut/bend all my bits to shape/length then get a local fabricator to weld them up for me.

[yorkie_chris]

Pair of ammo cans and some bits of angle iron, be right

Originally Posted by yorkie_chris

Pair of ammo cans and some bits of angle iron, be right

Ha, ha, on your bike that set up'd look right at home.

I'm thinking of using these for the panniers themselves, would look kind of **** on the SV, but I reckon on an Enduro bike like the XT they'll look right at home.

http://www.whybuynew.co.uk/Black-Eur...0-Records.html