My cuz and i built cages for our slashes by hand with some metal stick stock and just mig welded them together, de-burred with a dremel, and crackle can them when your done. I know guys like to gas weld for this application more but I just don't out of personal preference. I don't remember the gauge that we used but it was pretty light weight when it was done so the difference in handling was barely noticeable. They weren't super pretty but they functioned perfectly and they were under the body so we were happy with them. Each truck cost us about 4 dollars to cage out. Be warned it takes patience as you wanna measure every thing a ton before you pull that trigger, expect a ton of trying to hold everything up and make sure it all fits with out rubbing or being in the way of hardware. Took us half a day to do two trucks so not crazy long but not quick either but for our first try we were happy.