OK, every time I see a new DIY platform by you guys I keep thinking about this, and I want some feedback, am I crazy or what?
Many DIY sticks and platforms are using square tubular aluminum with 1/8 inch walls. If one wanted to join two pieces of such tubing without welding, the traditional way is to sandwich and bolt one on top of another. Then you are left with something twice as tall as the original at the joint. This is the way my old Windwalker was built, with angle tubes and lots of screws...
But, is there a way to join two tubular sections with some sort of insert? I am thinking about an L-shaped 90 degree, bracket of aluminum, steel, or some sort of lamination that fits perfectly as a plug into the aluminum tubing. So, if you cut your tubes at a 45 degree angle, put a section of L-shaped plug in the end of each part, you could create a 90 degree angle with the tubing without stacking them or using heavy grade 8 hardware. Think of this as kind of like the internal version of plumbers joints in PVC or galvanized pipes.
When I first though of this, I was thinking about some 1/4 inch aluminum plate that I have and sandwiching one layer of it between some plywood to get the same thickness as the inside of the tube, but this is probably not as strong as the original 1/8 in. tubing, which is 1/4 in. laterally/horizontally/top and bottom plus the vertical 1" sides of the tube. So, I could stack up to 4 L-shaped plates, and then trim and sand to a dimension that fits and add other material if necessary (like to a 2 or 3 stack) to get a tight fit.
Does this make sense to anyone else? Has anyone else tried it? How much aluminum (how thick) would it take to make a strong joint? Is there anything like this readily available already? Is this the kind of thing that a machinist could turn out at a reasonable price? Is there another material that would be better suited to this?
Thanks.
Hugh
Many DIY sticks and platforms are using square tubular aluminum with 1/8 inch walls. If one wanted to join two pieces of such tubing without welding, the traditional way is to sandwich and bolt one on top of another. Then you are left with something twice as tall as the original at the joint. This is the way my old Windwalker was built, with angle tubes and lots of screws...
But, is there a way to join two tubular sections with some sort of insert? I am thinking about an L-shaped 90 degree, bracket of aluminum, steel, or some sort of lamination that fits perfectly as a plug into the aluminum tubing. So, if you cut your tubes at a 45 degree angle, put a section of L-shaped plug in the end of each part, you could create a 90 degree angle with the tubing without stacking them or using heavy grade 8 hardware. Think of this as kind of like the internal version of plumbers joints in PVC or galvanized pipes.
When I first though of this, I was thinking about some 1/4 inch aluminum plate that I have and sandwiching one layer of it between some plywood to get the same thickness as the inside of the tube, but this is probably not as strong as the original 1/8 in. tubing, which is 1/4 in. laterally/horizontally/top and bottom plus the vertical 1" sides of the tube. So, I could stack up to 4 L-shaped plates, and then trim and sand to a dimension that fits and add other material if necessary (like to a 2 or 3 stack) to get a tight fit.
Does this make sense to anyone else? Has anyone else tried it? How much aluminum (how thick) would it take to make a strong joint? Is there anything like this readily available already? Is this the kind of thing that a machinist could turn out at a reasonable price? Is there another material that would be better suited to this?
Thanks.
Hugh
