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Originally Posted by Henry_Mareck
Pros i can see (at least for our team):
welding at home- we do not have aluminum welding capibilities in our shop, and not having to ship our chassis off for everything would be nice
Overall cost is lower
shock factor. "yeahhh, our chassis is steel."
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Henry:
I think that you might want to broaden your manufacturing thoughts a little. It sounds like you would like to use welding as the method to hold your frame together, and since you don't have the capabilities to weld aluminum, you are considering using steel.
What I would propose is considering other methods of fastening your frame together. For a number of years on team 461, we used extruded aluminum from 80-20 and made our own brackets to hold the frame together. I was even known to advocate extruded aluminum over welded aluminum frames from time to time, albeit now I think that the weight savings and rigidity from welding aluminum is a greater advantage than the assembly ease and general flexibility of a extruded aluminum frame.
I would definitely advocate exploring extruded aluminum frame as an alternative to a welded steel one. Since steel has a density almost 3 times greater than aluminum and your mild steels are only roughly 25% stronger, it's pretty hard to make an engineering case for using a steel frame. If a standard Aluminum frame would weigh say 7 or 8 pounds, I'd image the extra 14 or 16 pounds you'd need for an identical steel one would be stealing those precious pounds that always seem to run out all too quickly.
[Edit]: At the same time, while extrusion is relatively cheap, the t-nuts and other 'add-ons' can quickly add up (T-nuts run about $0.40 each). Steel is definitely your cheapest route.
[Edit #2]: Also, the kit frame I would imagine would be another alternative. Whatever complaints or concerns you could possibly have (and I'd imagine most concerns are quite design dependent) would defintely be something that could be resolved through re-enforcement, and would ultimately still have to weigh less than a steel frame.
Good luck this season!
Matt