Beams?

southernpoofter said:
has anyone else ever used the lateral beam couplers- they look like a12in lenghth of steel with a 1/2dc welded to each end set at a 45dg angle that attach to 2x tube thus turning them into a beam-i havent used them for over 25yesrs but came acctoss them in gens yard ladt week....nearly bought some just for the sentimental use lolo
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am sure garry adams posted a few picture of these in use but can not find it lol
 
aom said:
Yes, I think that's right.



It's Generations beams we have and I have all the calcs for them that I sent to our designer, all the beams we have from there are not that design but I have found just 1 set of 6m beams which does have that design but they never came from there. The guy we use has his own feelings about them and was warning me of his concerns, I don't know if he is right or wrong but if you are going to pay these guys a fair chunk of change to design jobs for you, you may as well pay attention to what he is telling you.

I suppose there is an atmosphere of fear in our trade at the moment, I was talking to someone else about a similar issue and when I could produce stats and paper work to back up what I was saying he then brought the whole testing procedure into question. FFS, what the feck are we meant to do?
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Morning AOM
You used to see this style of weld a lot on Steel Ladder Beams.
Welds capacity is measured in tons per inch or its metric equivalent.
Many years ago when I first watched ladder beams being made by SGB’s old fabricator (Les Davie) he worked from a design which had a saddle cut to the verticals, this cut name describes the shape of the tube end which sat onto the horizontal member just like a saddle. This was then welded with a fillet weld with a length of approx. 6 inches which meant the weld was substantial.
Of course the weld would be spread over a larger area of the beam thus the metal you are welding to accepts a better distribution of the forces to be imposed.
The spade end connection to which you refer I believe gives a different condition in so far as the weld is all in close proximity on the horizontal tube thus less spread of the applied forces.
This may well be multiplied as the base materials now being used is a softer alloy and will tear easier.

In an earlier thread I mentioned that I had had a catastrophic failure in some aluminum beams I had purchased from a company in the UK.
When fully loaded he beams would have been close to their design capacity but the beams never reached fully loaded prior to their failure.
The failure was in the welds between the diagonals and the horizontal members. At first the thought was the welds had sheared under load but close visual inspection pointed to substandard manufacture. When reported to the Manufacturer they of course blamed all and sundry for the failure but did not consider their own culpability.
Always remember these people hold your life in their hands when you go to work, they have procedures to follow with regards inspecting and testing of products. This system was either ignored or failed dramatically and the best this company could do was pass the blame without looking at the product.
I employed TWO independent testers and both reported poor manufacture and substandard welding. The Manufacturer eventually sent his own INDEPENDENT testers to check my stock and they failed 66% of the beams as not fit for use on visual inspection alone.
From beam failure to replacement took exactly 12 months of non-stop arguing and chasing of what I had believed to be an reputable UK company who proved to be anything but honorable. These people are still selling beams into the scaffolding market place and as far as I am aware have made no attempt to recall or redress the beams that are currently in use.
There are a couple of moral here
1) if you are not sure don’t use it!
2) Be careful where you get your beams! (the supplier may not be the manufacturer)
3) Always listen to your Engineer, you don’t pay him to be wrong.
Regards
Alan
 
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Kinda what I thought Alan but still nice to have it confirmed, thanks.
 
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