1/4x2x3 angle or 1/8x2x3 TUBING

[bitternut]

I have asked this question before and had no luck getting an answer so I thought I would give it a try here. My question is which material would make the stronger trailer frame ( 1/4"x 2 x3 angle or 1/8"x 2 x 3 rectangular tubing ) ? Since both samples have the same amount of material the shape would be the only difference. Also is there any charts that give the relative strengths of different material shapes? Anybody got any opinions or links to share?

[Scott S]

I am not an engineer, but i would say that the tubing would distribute the loads and stresses more evenly and make for a stronger frame. I have 4 trailers and they all are made from Rectangular tubing.

[Planet X]

Originally posted by bitternut
I have asked this question before and had no luck getting an answer so I thought I would give it a try here. My question is which material would make the stronger trailer frame ( 1/4"x 2 x3 angle or 1/8"x 2 x 3 rectangular tubing ) ? Since both samples have the same amount of material the shape would be the only difference. Also is there any charts that give the relative strengths of different material shapes? Anybody got any opinions or links to share?

Take a sheet of paper stand it on its edge and place pressure on it....Now take a sheet of paper fold it down the middle to form an 'angle', do the same thing...
Now take a sheet of paper roll it into a tube, perform same experiment....

;)

ps. I would use the rectangle.

[enlpck]

I would use the tubing. Two reasons: the material is concentrated where the load is, at the outside (the angle loads so that the face in the bend plane is close to the neutral axis, and the out of plane face has little materiar far from the neutral axis) and angle tends to twist when loaded, which you don't want for a vehicle frame for a whole ton of reasons

[Franz]

Tubing is great, if you don't need to be concerned about corrosion, and you have the equipment to pierce and then weld the cross members.
A lot of backyard engineering can go into a trailer, and a lot of weight can get added in the process. The amount of material put into a trailer deck isn't nearly as important as how the material is used to strengthen the deck.
Look at a box road trailer, no frame from the kingpin back to the running gear, just the walls holding the entire weight of the trailer, and it works well right up to the minute the guy pulling the box uses a bridge for a canopener on the top.
A flatbed that can carry the same weignt has large frame rails to replace the wall strength, and most are built pre-arched so the trailer deck will be flat when loaded.

[fatcat]

hello there ladies and gents...fatcat here....hope ya don`t mind a newdie to your forum offering up some advice....check this site out and go to the free download section...sub. Structural sections calculator...http://www.tonyfoale.com/....have a great day!

[dob]

can't seem to get your link to work, anyone else having problems

[cutter]

He got a few too many characters in his link. Try this (http://www.tonyfoale.com/) . Or just type
http://www.tonyfoale.com/ into your browser.

[Main]

Maybe this will work.

Deleted URL. Yours works and mine didn't. Oh well, back to work.

[fatcat]

sorry about the trouble with the link, I should not have included "....have" with the url. Should have left a break between the two. Again Sorry.