aluminum tubing tear question

[raisins]

Hey,

I had a weird event I can now avoid that caused a 1/8" tear in the corner of a piece of aluminum tubing where a strap went through that tubing (the strap will go there again, but I won't let the platform become leveraged in the same way again). I removed the strap and touched up the edges of the tear with a file to remove any rough edge that would abrade the strap.

I won't subject that tubing to the kind of force that tore it, but it will be holding my body weight (if used again, the entire length of tube will but edge is where it would tear first).

Is aluminum tube like paper in that once is starts to tear then that is a significant weak spot in that area and tearing right there is made more likely? Is there anything else I should do besides what I did with the file already? I can remove material to get rid of the tear, but then I guess I'd have a U-shaped notch in that area.

Thanks

 

[kyler1945]

Pictures

 

[Weldabeast]

Use at ur own risk.... I would scrap whatever it is that u are talking about. Aluminum is weak

 

[raisins]

I just measured with a tape, and the tear is actually around 1/16". This is what happens when you run an OCB strap through the tubing on a Tree Suit platform and then put it on a wet, smooth tree that is less than 8" in diameter. When you step on it, the vertical posts slide around the tree and act as a pivot point putting a lot of force on that tubing. I could always go back to running the strap under the tubing and get away from the tear.

The first two pics are different angles of the tear. The last pic is of the side that bent but didn't tear. Wall thickness of tube is 1/16".

Thanks for your time looking at this.

 

[raisins]

Pictures

Posted right above, replying here so you'll get a notification. Thanks.

 

[gcr0003]

Shouldn’t have put the strap through there, that’s not where it was intended to be on the aluminum treesuit. Usually on shearing Metal you can drill a hole at the highest point in the tear and it will prolong the inevitable; however, I don’t recommend it in the location you are showing. I think if you put the strap back where it’s intended to be you will be fine. You really buggered that tubing up though.

 

[raisins]

Shouldn’t have put the strap through there, that’s not where it was intended to be on the aluminum treesuit. Usually on shearing Metal you can drill a hole at the highest point in the tear and it will prolong the inevitable; however, I don’t recommend it in the location you are showing. I think if you put the strap back where it’s intended to be you will be fine. You really buggered that tubing up though.

Yeah, it just works so much better there (as far as keeping it solid on the tree)......thanks for the input.

The only reason it sheared was that the platform levered on the tree from putting it on a small diameter tree and the legs slipped. I hunted it on larger trees like that with no issue. So, if I stick to larger trees then it won't see the same forces again. So, you're saying that once it starts shearing from a greater force that then a smaller force will shear it than otherwise would (like paper tearing easy at a place where it has a small tear)?

 

[Weldabeast]

Without having the vertical legs tied together u will see more and more of these type failures IMO.. even on a more normal diameter tree the vertical legs are constantly under stress like u discribe... small diameter stresses the outside of the weld and in a normal diameter stresses the inside weld

 

[Weldabeast]

Just remember that aluminum doesn't show u signs of fail like steel... The weld didn't fail so that makes me wonder about the heat affected zone causing base metal fatigue.... strap it on a tree at ground level and jump on that side and I think it will continue to tear the tube wall