Roll Cage

If you can weld id go for making one
Some 2" steel gas pipe and a £100 pipe bender and your there

Absolutely nothing against DIY, but it's worth considering if a roll cage really is something you should be attempting to fabricate yourself if you have no previous experience... One of the first issues you might have is having access to the right tools... honestly I would not waste your time or money trying to bend tube with a plumbers type hydraulic pipe kinker... (ram in the middle with two rollers)... they ripple or flatten the tube and you with effectively be building the tube work you will die in if you have a nasty roll...

To produce a good quality cage that will save you life, as well as understanding roll cage design and where all the stresses are and will go, you really need to be using a rotary draw bender... RDB-325 BAILEIGH

We have invested a huge amount of time capital and experience in to tube bending machinery which is why they cost what they cost unfortunately....

RB

I agree with Rob. The point of a cage, ultimately, is to save you life!
While it's perfectly possible to do yourself, and you can do it with a plumbing type 'tube kinker' if you know how to use it and select the right tube - there is also a danger that the bends will not be sufficiently strong and it will fail when you need it most!

Same goes for the welding - if it's not first class, I wouldn't risk it!

Would you risk making your own seat belts? It's potentially very similar!

Where in the Country do you live? If it's a five hour drive to Ray's - there are several options further north.
There is Malcolm Whitbred in Lampeter, Wales:
www.whitbread-offroad.co.uk/contact.php
And Dan Evans (Protection & Performance) in Lancashire:
www.ppcages.com/news.php

Although both focus on Land Rover cages - they are both highly skilled and can make a cage for anything!
Whitbred in particular is very good value. These, ORA or Rhino Rays are definitely worth a look before you consider making your own!

I've made a few cages - but to be honest, every time I've wished I just bought one! Not because I can't do it but just because of the time it takes as it's not something I do every day.

This is in no way to try to drum up business for anyone, it's just that I've seen some really nasty accidents where peoples lives have undoubtedly been saved by a cage.
This video was shot by me (a long time ago) - of my friends Chris & Jerry

After witnessing this - I got a cage pronto!

Si

X-Eng Simon wrote: I agree with Rob. The point of a cage, ultimately, is to save you life!
While it's perfectly possible to do yourself, and you can do it with a plumbing type 'tube kinker' if you know how to use it and select the right tube - there is also a danger that the bends will not be sufficiently strong and it will fail when you need it most!

Same goes for the welding - if it's not first class, I wouldn't risk it!

Would you risk making your own seat belts? It's potentially very similar!

Where in the Country do you live? If it's a five hour drive to Ray's - there are several options further north.
There is Malcolm Whitbred in Lampeter, Wales:
www.whitbread-offroad.co.uk/contact.php
And Dan Evans (Protection & Performance) in Lancashire:
www.ppcages.com/news.php

Although both focus on Land Rover cages - they are both highly skilled and can make a cage for anything!
Whitbred in particular is very good value. These, ORA or Rhino Rays are definitely worth a look before you consider making your own!

I've made a few cages - but to be honest, every time I've wished I just bought one! Not because I can't do it but just because of the time it takes as it's not something I do every day.

This is in no way to try to drum up business for anyone, it's just that I've seen some really nasty accidents where peoples lives have undoubtedly been saved by a cage.
This video was shot by me (a long time ago) - of my friends Chris & Jerry

After witnessing this - I got a cage pronto!

Si

I completely agree Si.
And your video also shows why these external cages without diagonal tubing give a kind of false sense of safety. It wouldn't have made a difference in this case.

A cage is, as you point out, to ultimately save life. Not to save bodywork on the car.

But I guess the external cage looks more bad-ass

Thankfully Chris & Jerry were fine save for a few cuts & bruises. Remarkably, Jerry was able to drive the truck home once it had been re-modeled with a sledge hammer.

The advantage of an external cage is it helps protect the bodywork. The down side is, if your bodywork does get damaged, it's harder to replace it.

With my current truck, I have an MSA Specification internal cage to protect me plus a non MSA external cage to protect the bodywork. The two are not connected together - figuring that the external cage will take some of the energy out of a roll / crash, reducing the load on the internal.

If I were going for one or the other, an external with a cross brace makes the most sense.

Si

I think that I would always go for an internal cage as ultimately it is there to save your life. With an internal cage you get better protection if you happen to roll over rocks, tree stumps etc as the bodywork will help spread the point load from these dangers on to the cage, rather than just push the panel into the car.
As Si says have an external cage as well if you must, but you are adding a lot of weight to what is a light car which is one of the reasons its so good off road.