Tuned Pipe Building

[Jim Allen]

Pictured are some of the tools used to build tuned pipes. The exact size of patterns for each tapered section are created with a computer program. The material used is .018" thick low carbon steel. The stinger section, center section & the head pipe section are machined. Tapered sections are spot welded with a Miller Spot Welder so that they do not move during silver soldering. This is a 5 section gas pipe with a .406" ID X 6.5" long stinger. It has a larger volume than the previous tuned pipe with slight changes to the angles & lengths of the diffuser & baffle sections. Dynamometer & on lake testing to come this summer.

Jim Allen

 

[Terry Keeley]

Incredible work as always Jim, please keep the photos coming!

ps: much easier than hogging out sections from round stock I bet...

 

[brad nichols]

Did you build your roller or can it be purchased from someone? Great looking job!!

Brad

 

[shoboat]

Brad,

Most sheet metal fabrication shop have rollers just like that or bigger.

We used to roll up some really thick metal for welded exhaust duct fittings.

The layout is not that hard with a calculator, pen, and paper. We did all kinds

of fittings in my sheet metal apprenticeship. We had to draw them out first and then

go to the shop and weld them up. Our instructor made sure all our welding seams

could hold water. Those projects were a lot of fun back in the day. Today I think

Scott Bouchie makes the best billet pipes on the market for the money.

Great Post Jim,

Mark Sholund

 

[Jim Allen]

Incredible work as always Jim, please keep the photos coming!

ps: much easier than hogging out sections from round stock I bet...

Terry,

You're correct . The original pipes were machined from solid bar material with typical wall thicknesses of .020". A great deal of time with a taper attachment & much wasted material. Rolling saves time & material, but the sections must be spot welded for high temperature silver soldering. Spot welding is done only at the ends of each section.

Brad,

The Model PR12W Precision roller can be purchased from several places. Be aware that the smallest diameter it can roll is 1.000" & it is not intended for tapered sections. However, tapered sections are easily done by maneuvering the tapered piece of material as it is being rolled. Both the bottom & back rollers are adjustable for this purpose. There are tapered tuned pipe rolling devices available from a company outside the USA, but these devices were cost prohibitive for my purposes.

Jim Allen

 

[Jim Allen]

I machine the complete stinger end of the pipe before parting it off. This includes the 6.5" length plus the tapered section that matches the taper on the baffle section of the pipe. These two parts are silvered soldered first. A 8.000" long X .4062" OD drill allows the through hole to be drilled from one side. The wall thickness of the entire stinger section is .063". I drill the .4062" through hole first, machine the inside 13* 32' taper, support the end with a live center & then machine the outside 13* 32' taper.

JA