What is the differnce in pipe and round tube

I was at fab shop the other day debating on some additional work. The guy asked if I wanted pipe (i.e. Schedule 40) or round tube.

What is the technical difference?

Does it really matter what material you use to make a cage out of for trail jeep?

 

i wish i had the ole jeep i had a while back. my buddy owned it and had built a "We thought" rock solid sched 40 pipe cage. he rolled it a full 720 sideways and that thing split open like a tuna can. the seams are what let go. i will atleast use hrew but prefer dom. always try to keep your seems to the inside of your bends. migging the joints is good. tigging is better. thats all i know..

 

Scott I'm pretty sure there was a lengthy thread about this on here not tooooo long ago. Might be able to search and find it...

 

Of course most of that debate is over using schedule 40 black water pipe. There are different grades of pipe available just not as easy to find.

There is no arguing that a DOM cage will be stronger than HREW which is stronger than common pipe. However I think the big naysayers have seen one two many cobbled together ill designed attempts at cages by people that use pipe and hencforth think that all pipe cages must be bad. I do believe a properly designed and built pipe cage would do the job just fine for a recreational wheeler, but a DOM cage would be stronger and lighter.

I've used a lot of schedule 40 for bumpers and stuff and it works just fine. I don't know if I would trust my skills to build a full cage out of it yet.

Kevo

 

Try to explain to your crushed skull or broken neck how much money you saved by building a roll cage out of water pipe.

 

Posi you hit the nail on the head
2 grand into the motor
1500 buck winch
sweet arse rims with 35's
pipe cage that you think is safe for your kids and wife to ride in = dumb

 

I like to use pipe sized steel tube.

notice i did not say pipe, just pipe sized.

Get the stregth of steel tube, less cost than DOM and the proper size to bend in a cheap harbor freight pipe bender.

nice compromise and you need not worry about pipe split...........

Not sure why my supplier has it but I won't complain

 

As above - not worth the risk of using pipe. Think about why all the(at least the ones I know) racing sanctioning bodies require DOM.

 

Just to throw another wrench in here, like pipe, DOM tubing comes in different materials with different structural ratings.

 

Bear in mind that pipe is a transfer medium, i.e. it's designed to carry liquids, etc. from place to place. It's not designed as a structural medium like most tube is. The question you have to ask yourself is it worth your life or your loved one's lives to go cheap on something as critical as a safety cage? Would you skimp on brakes or steering the same way? The decision is yours. Nickmil

 

I presume that DOM is drawn over mandrel and HREW is hot rolled electric welded. Is HREW intended as a structural material?

 

Yes. Different application and not quite the quality of DOM.

I use it simply because the steel in Pipe is just not a very good quality and not designed to handle compression or shear loads.

As stated before pipe is for transfer of material.

still not sure why my supplier has HREW tubing in pipe sizes. I think they ordered it so they could use it in their pipe benders and save cost on mandrel bending machines.

I love the stuff.

If I were into competition.......well then I guess I would look into DOM.

 

I am in the business of selling both. I have sold a ton of pipe to offroaders who were building cages and have watched several rollovers where the pipe held up just fine. The DOM is stronger and lighter than pipe and would be the way I would prefer to go when building a cage. However, for the money, if you are not going to be in any end over end rolls, you would be fine with pipe. The main differences with it is that with DOM, you measure by the O.D. of the tube and most everyone uses .120 wall. Most people that buy pipe for cages either get 1-1/4", which is 1.66 O.D. with a .140 wall if its sch40 and 1-1/2" is 1.9 O.D. with .145 wall. You could argue the point of strength and safety all day long and even go higher than DOM tubing to get Chromolly and higher grades. Myself, I would use DOM strictly because it is easier to bend and the guy I know with the high dollar bender doesn't have mandrells for pipe.

 

I think my next cage is going to be 2" solid roundstock titanium.R)

 

That may have the PVC roll bar with padding on it beat