Hello from Denver Colorado!

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Hello from Denver Colorado!

Postby colorado_rob » Fri Jan 12, 2018 2:20 pm

Fairly long-term lurker here, I've finally made the plunge and started a build... still figuring out how to post on here, etc, but here's a shot at posting a pic of my finished platform.

After much MUCH deliberation, I decided to build it from scratch and out of 6061 aluminum channel. I'm very pleased at the result, appears very solid, and I believe fairly light for the quality of the axle and wheels.

I'm a retired aerospace injunear, with a strong background in structures, so I'm confident of the design.

Thanks SO MUCH to many on here who inspired me to start this thing, and I'll properly than the member who's design I used to base my design on when I start my build thread.

IMG_20180111_112351463_HDR.jpg
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Re: Hello from Denver Colorado!

Postby tony.latham » Fri Jan 12, 2018 6:44 pm

Interesting deviation from "the norm." :thumbsup:

Could you snap a pic or two of your joinery? (Can you tell I'm a wood guy?) I'm curious what fasteners you used: stainless? Did you use some sort of bonding on your gussets or just bolts?

:thumbsup:

Thanks,

Tony
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Re: Hello from Denver Colorado!

Postby Cliffmeister2000 » Sat Jan 13, 2018 9:26 am

Nice! Looking forward to watching this all come together! :D
God Bless

Cliff

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Re: Hello from Denver Colorado!

Postby colorado_rob » Mon Jan 15, 2018 9:18 pm

tony.latham wrote:Interesting deviation from "the norm." :thumbsup:

Could you snap a pic or two of your joinery? (Can you tell I'm a wood guy?) I'm curious what fasteners you used: stainless? Did you use some sort of bonding on your gussets or just bolts?

:thumbsup:

Thanks,

Tony
Sorry for the delay, we've been up in the mountains out of coverage for a few days, I'll post more pics very soon, and good question about that bonding! Still TBD, actually, I keep waffling. I haven't torqued and thread locked everything yet, so not too late. Bolts are all grade 5 steel or grade 8 in a couple of very critical spots. I did a lot of research on galvanic corrosion and I'll share these thoughts on my build thread.
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Re: Hello from Denver Colorado!

Postby tony.latham » Mon Jan 15, 2018 9:57 pm

colorado_rob wrote:
tony.latham wrote:Interesting deviation from "the norm." :thumbsup:

Could you snap a pic or two of your joinery? (Can you tell I'm a wood guy?) I'm curious what fasteners you used: stainless? Did you use some sort of bonding on your gussets or just bolts?

:thumbsup:

Thanks,

Tony
Sorry for the delay, we've been up in the mountains out of coverage for a few days, I'll post more pics very soon, and good question about that bonding! Still TBD, actually, I keep waffling. I haven't torqued and thread locked everything yet, so not too late. Bolts are all grade 5 steel or grade 8 in a couple of very critical spots. I did a lot of research on galvanic corrosion and I'll share these thoughts on my build thread.[/quote

:thinking: :thumbsup:

T
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Re: Hello from Denver Colorado!

Postby colorado_rob » Tue Jan 16, 2018 8:58 am

Tony: Here's a shot (the bottom pic) at the underside of a "test" joint for the front corners, the actual is identical. I "coped" the joint by carefully removing the flange up to the web on the cross piece (on the right), leaving the main longitudinal pieces whole. These front joints also get a second cross member at the full trailer width (60"), as seen in the top pic, showing the final actual complete joint. My wording is probably confusing, but hopefully the final complete front corner joint picture is clear.

Notice the bevel on the 45-degree gusset (top pic), this allows the gusset to snug up against the web of the channels. Without this bevel, the fillet on the inside of the channel would interfere. This allows the holes in the gusset to be further from its edges, and the holes in the channel to be closer to the web, for greater strength.

I had a ton of fun cutting all of this aluminum; I bought a new $20 aluminum-cutting table saw blade, and it went through this stuff like butter, making precise cuts. It was like working with a fine hardwood. I was very careful, wearing a mask, excellent safety glasses, made sure it wouldn't bind/kick back, etc. Aluminum chips and drill-spirals get all over the place, and one has to be very careful to not track this stuff into the house... wife would not appreciate that.

I'll start my build thread today, so all further details will be provided there, as this is just an "introduce ourselves" thread.
Attachments
IMG_20171230_152330395A.jpg
Completed Front Corner Joint
IMG_20171230_152330395A.jpg (152.56 KiB) Viewed 2071 times
IMG_20171230_095858849A.jpg
"test" joint
IMG_20171230_095858849A.jpg (120.32 KiB) Viewed 2071 times
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Re: Hello from Denver Colorado!

Postby tony.latham » Sat Jan 20, 2018 11:26 pm

Stunning workmanship. I'll have to follow your build.

:beer:

Tony
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Re: Hello from Denver Colorado!

Postby BobMarieLitt » Thu Jan 25, 2018 12:51 pm

colorado_rob wrote:Tony: Here's a shot (the bottom pic) at the underside of a "test" joint for the front corners, the actual is identical. I "coped" the joint by carefully removing the flange up to the web on the cross piece (on the right), leaving the main longitudinal pieces whole. These front joints also get a second cross member at the full trailer width (60"), as seen in the top pic, showing the final actual complete joint. My wording is probably confusing, but hopefully the final complete front corner joint picture is clear.

Notice the bevel on the 45-degree gusset (top pic), this allows the gusset to snug up against the web of the channels. Without this bevel, the fillet on the inside of the channel would interfere. This allows the holes in the gusset to be further from its edges, and the holes in the channel to be closer to the web, for greater strength.

I had a ton of fun cutting all of this aluminum; I bought a new $20 aluminum-cutting table saw blade, and it went through this stuff like butter, making precise cuts. It was like working with a fine hardwood. I was very careful, wearing a mask, excellent safety glasses, made sure it wouldn't bind/kick back, etc. Aluminum chips and drill-spirals get all over the place, and one has to be very careful to not track this stuff into the house... wife would not appreciate that.

I'll start my build thread today, so all further details will be provided there, as this is just an "introduce ourselves" thread.


Looks good! Hope those bolts are stainless steel! Regular bolts and aluminum react in time. You likely knew that. Good luck on your build. Good job of cutting the aluminum!


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Re: Hello from Denver Colorado!

Postby colorado_rob » Fri Jan 26, 2018 1:30 pm

BobMarieLitt wrote:
Looks good! Hope those bolts are stainless steel! Regular bolts and aluminum react in time. You likely knew that. Good luck on your build. Good job of cutting the aluminum!
I did a lot of research on this galvanic corrosion subject, and the bottom line is that I wound up using regular-steel bolts. Almost all of them are grade 5, but I used grade 8 on the axle and the tongue attachments. No real difference in potential corrosion, but at least they are stronger.

Here was my total thought process in choosing steel bolts:

First of all, Stainless is actually further than steel from aluminum on the Galvanic chart, meaning SS is more cathodic than regular steel and theoretically the aluminum should corrode more, not less, when in contact with the SS. I realize there is a lot of anecdotal talk out there, even on here, about how SS bolts work better with aluminum, but I went with the science on this one.

Since the bolts are steel and the base metal is aluminum, this is way better than the opposite for this corrosion. I found numerous charts that rated galvanic corrosion on a scale of 1-4, one being OK, 4 being really bad. I found one chart showing steel bolts in aluminum base being a "1", another couple it being a "2". Mixed message her, though even "2" isn't that bad.

SS bolts are a lot more expensive.

I'm taking numerous precautions using the steel bolts. First, I coated all my washers with multiple coats of paint, providing a small layer of resistance between the steel washers and the aluminum frame. The bolts themselves generally don't even touch the aluminum as all the holes are larger than the bolt diameter. Of course, there will be some thread contact with the aluminum in the holes when the bolt is off center, and there was no easy way to control this.

After the trailer floor is complete (basically now, almost), I will flip the whole thing over and very thoroughly undercoat the trailer, covering all bolts/nuts/washers with multiple layers of product, so as to keep all the bolts/nuts/washers dry. Of course, there will be some leakage in the long run. Galvanic corrosion does not occur if everything is kept dry. We also live in the dry west, which should help slightly in the long run.

The front of the a-frame tongue is bolted together with two pieces of triangular plate using these same bolts (see pic on my first post below). I am not coating these upper bolts as I want them to be my "indicators" of any galvanic corrosion issues. These bolts are in plain view, so this will alert me to issues in the actual frame. I am thoroughly coating the lower bolts, as they are harder to see and would get the worst of the road spray. I'll keep my eye on those as well.

Overall, it was a tough call choosing these fasteners, and even choosing aluminum for the frame, but I'm happy with my choices.
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Re: Hello from Denver Colorado!

Postby tony.latham » Fri Jan 26, 2018 11:25 pm

:thumbsup:

T
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Re: Hello from Denver Colorado!

Postby Magambi » Tue Feb 06, 2018 3:57 pm

Rob,
With you being an aircraft engineer and all, this is a stunning opportunity to up the ante on teardrop design for a flying model. Ooh, an auto-gyro teardrop -- now that would be something! Just the thing for reaching those remote camping spots. :lol: JK I'm also looking forward to seeing your build progression.

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