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Know anything about Metal Structures/Scaffolding?
This has nothing to do with signs but i’m desperate for some knowledgeable input on a problem I have!! 😥
I need to build a ‘cube’ from Scaffolding type poles. (4 x 2metre uprights for the corners and 16′ poles, 4 top and 4 bottom to finish it off) Hope that makes sense (?)
I have located the cast metal 3 way corner joints which are secured to the poles with grub screws…………BUT…………traditional scaffolding is too heavy and aluminium scaffolding may, I am told, fracture if the fittings are used.
Similar structures are made from Box tubing but that would require me to outsource fabrication of the corners and I need to do all this in house, hence the use of fittings.
SO..(at last 🙄 )..I need some general advice about the relative strengths of box section over round tubing assuming they are of a similar thickness. Is Box section stronger?? Being steel as opposed to Aluminium would that make it stronger?
Any help appreciated….. (hot) ……Thanks
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3 Replies
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Thanks Chunkielad,
Scaffolding supplies are the people I had found to supply the fittings and it is they who have said that ali tube would fracture.
I’ve dug a bit of a hole for myself on this one. The use is as a demountable Boxing Ring, the uprights will have rope tensioners on and the ropes will hold it all together. There is a ring on the market that looks pretty flimsy, inch and a half box section, no bracing, slides together and is held very rigid by the tension of the ropes. I felt that ali scaffolding would be much stronger, easier to manufacture and have potential orders for 2 or 3 of these already 😳
I’ll try and post a pic of the type of thing I need to achieve, no bracing, quite simple…..and lightweight!
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Martin
If you use the corner sections as you have stated remove the grub screws insert your ali tube and mark where the hole is on the ali tube. Remove tube and drill hole slightly bigger than a standard bolt that will fit into the hole on the corner. (this will stop the tube fracturing when it is clamped up and distorting out of shape making it hard to locate in the bracket) The tensioned ropes will actually hold the poles into all of the joints and the bolts going into the joints and through the wall of the tube is just a safety precaution (rember to drill holes parallel on tube sections) As to steel over ali, you can get away with a thinner wall with steel but it will bend and crack just as ali will if miss treated.What diameter tube are you thinking of using will determin the wall thickness and the overall stength. I believe you can by those joints in various sizes 38mm – 50mm – 70mm i would say you would need 50mm wall thickness 3mm. What is the tension on the corner ropes, the lower ropes would not be as much as a problem as the one that is nearer the middle of the 2mtr length. Are these units for in door or outdoor use, could you mount a guide rope system to the center of the upright on each corner etc.
Hope this gives you food for thought lok forward to the evential conclusion.
Kev
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Thanks kev, the plot thickens on this one! Now I have a major manufacture of a clamp fitting who is going to confirm suitability of ali scaffolding for this project. The suggestion is that an indent drilled into the tube, rather than a complete hole through may be enough to alleviate any threat of splitting.
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