Been trying to think of a way to mount my headlights. They're twin photons from russbost. I was doing a few experiments and I reckon they could
be mounted on a M8 threaded rod that is clamped to the chassis by three jubilee clips. Sticking out through the nosecone on either side. Tried it
with an offcut of box section held in the vice and it seemed to work. Bit worried about it rotating under vibration. Screwfix do cheap threaded bar,
A2, A4, bzp, or mild steel. Which is going to be best for this application?
I have no welding facilities.
[Edited on 24/6/13 by Irony]
A2 will be fine or A4 as they are both stainless steel. bZP and mild steel are essentially the same.
quote:
Originally posted by Irony
Been trying to think of a way to mount my headlights. They're twin photons from russbost. I was doing a few experiments and I reckon they could be mounted on a M8 threaded rod that is clamped to the chassis by three jubilee clips. Sticking out through the nosecone on either side. Tried it with an offcut of box section held in the vice and it seemed to work. Bit worried about it rotating under vibration. Screwfix do cheap threaded bar, A2, A4, bzp, or mild steel. Which is going to be best for this application?
I have no welding facilities.
Silly question, if you're using threaded bar why aren't you using nuts instead of jubilee clips?
If I had a picture it would help. On the bottom of the photons the are to metal eyes designed for M8 rod. If I thread a long 300mm m8 rod through the eyes (and bolt up) and into the nosecone the threaded bar could be clamped to the top chassis rail. I tried it with three jubilee clips per side clamping the rod to the top front chassis rail. It seemed to work okay.
where is the face palm emoticon when you need it
quote:
Originally posted by Irony
If I had a picture it would help. On the bottom of the photons the are to metal eyes designed for M8 rod. If I thread a long 300mm m8 rod through the eyes (and bolt up) and into the nosecone the threaded bar could be clamped to the top chassis rail. I tried it with three jubilee clips per side clamping the rod to the top front chassis rail. It seemed to work okay.
You need a proper light bar made from box section and either welded or bolted to the chassis. The threaded stud idea WILL fail by rotating and/or
bending/snapping. Using M8 rod like that will also leave your lights shaking and vibrating all over the place...hopeless for night driving.
Once you have a rigid fixing bar in place, the lights sound like they need a U bracket to to attach them. If you make a U bracket with a single bolt
hole in the base, you will then have up/down and side to side adjustment to set the beam angles correctly too.
Most of the kit makers sell suitable light bars for this, MK certainly do one that would work for you.
Hope that makes sense and helps.
[Edited on 24/6/13 by nick205]
To answer your original question .... It depends on the grade, 12.9 mild steel will be the strongest whether its plated or not, although what you get
from Screwfix is unlikely to be more than 8.8. That will still be stronger than Stainless which is less ductile and will work harden under vibration
and eventually fracture. The only difference between A2 and A4 is the addition of Molybdenum to assist anaerobic corrosion resistance. Structurally
they are identical.
As per previous comments, I still wouldn't use studding in the way described.
quote:
Originally posted by plentywahalla
To answer your original question .... It depends on the grade, 12.9 mild steel will be the strongest whether its plated or not, although what you get from Screwfix is unlikely to be more than 8.8. That will still be stronger than Stainless which is less ductile and will work harden under vibration and eventually fracture. The only difference between A2 and A4 is the addition of Molybdenum to assist anaerobic corrosion resistance. Structurally they are identical.
As per previous comments, I still wouldn't use studding in the way described.
hmm, thanks for the replies. I was worried about the solution. I will have to have a rethink then.
I sounds to me like you'll need to fab up some kind of mounting, but if you can post up some pics we'd be able to give you some better
suggestions....
quote:
Originally posted by phelpsa
Stiffness wise they're all as good as the same.
quote:
Originally posted by Irony
Screwfix do cheap threaded bar, A2, A4, bzp, or mild steel. Which is going to be best for this application?
quote:
Originally posted by plentywahalla
only difference between A2 and A4 is the addition of Molybdenum to assist anaerobic corrosion resistance. Structurally they are identical.
quote:
Originally posted by plentywahalla
I was answering his ultimate question. As stated stiffneess is not an issue as they will all flap about to the same extent. In his application mild steel would be the best material as it is less prone to fracture.
Okay so M8 rod is not meaty enough and might rotate. Has anyone come up with a good solution to mount these twin photons?
quote:
Originally posted by mcerd1
thats assuming they are of the same property class.... (ie. 50, 70, 80 from EN ISO 3506)
for commonly avalible stuff most A2 bolts are actually A2-70 and alot of A4 bolts are A4-80
these are the cold worked ones, the 80 having similar ultimate strength to an 8.8 and the 70 a little less
quote:
Agreed mild steel 8.8 is exactly the same as A2-80 or A4-80 in tensile strength (i.e. 800 Newtons per sq mm). but the reason that no yield strength is quoted for stainless is because it is so unpredictable.
That's why stainless steel bolts are rarely used in critical load bearing applications such a vehicle components.
[Edited on 24/6/13 by plentywahalla]
The Black Flash - 25/6/13 at 04:24 PMHmmm. I've used them (though without the mount supplied by Russ), but it required lots of fabrication.
You need to think about adjustability in both horizontal and vertical planes, or you'll never get them aligned (I tried!).
Is there any sort of mounting bracket on the car to start with? Any pics of the front end? And what do you have to work with on the light bracket?
SteveWallace - 25/6/13 at 06:19 PMThis is how I made mine. Obviously this picture is just the template and I actually made them out of mild steel! I cannot weld either, so I just cut the bits and took them to a local small business that makes garden gates etc and he welded both sides for a fiver.
carboard headlight mount
The triangular bit bolts to the chassis triangulation and the lights mount on the square bit, which is folded to meet IVA radius.
I was thinking that you could use your threaded bar where I used steel tube and dispense with the square bit as you have a different sort of lights. There must be someone local to you that can weld them up for beer money.
