On Apr 17, 10:43*am, Bruce L. Bergman
wrote:
On Thu, 17 Apr 2008 05:35:18 -0700 (PDT), stryped





wrote:
On Apr 17, 7:12*am, Ignoramus29232 ignoramus29...@NOSPAM.
29232.invalid wrote:
On 2008-04-17, Jim Wilkins wrote:

I have never had anything really come apart that I have
welded, ...

I have, intentionally, to see how good the weld was. The welding shop
at the local high school has a 50 ton press for testing weld samples
to destruction. I didn't weld my front end loader's frame until I
could make a butt joint with 7018 that could be bend over double. At
home you can use a hydraulic jack to stretch a test structure out of
shape. Just don't get hit by flying pieces.

Jim Wilkins

The poor man's version of destructive testing, involves a vise and a
hammer to bend the pieces.

Also, to the OP, if you add some sides to your trailer, they can
increase its strength considerably, without adding too much weight.

i

I never thought of that. Even the simple angle iron sides?

* Yes if there's a tension membrane there to provide shear strength.
Heavy gauge sheetmetal or 3/4 CDX Plywood (treated and painted),
fastened every three to six inches along the perimeter.

* Or build the sidewall frames out of angle iron and place angle iron
cross bracing to turn the trailer sides into a big triangular truss.
Have the truss rods start at the top at the center upright of the
trailer sloping down to the tongue and tail, so they are under tension
when the trailer is heavily loaded. *The center upright should be
roughly over the axle(s) to send the force down.

* Oh, and another way to gusset a tubing structure neatly at a 90 or
acute angle (trailer A to chassis) is to cut a "Cheese Wedge" out of
the same size tubing with the outer wall intact. *Then weld it inside
the corner after welding and finish grinding the main joint.

* Paint the 'inside' areas of frame and gusset with red primer before
closing it up, try to keep the rust from starting. *Can be sloppy or
runny, nobody will /ever/ see it. * * *You hope. *;-)

* * *-- Bruce --- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

You lost me a little bit. DO you have an example?

Should you really grind a weld after you are finished?

By cheesewedge are you just talkign about using tubing instead of a
solid plate gusset?