Okay, I'm just a dumb ol' structural-type engineer so I don't know much. So's my officemate. Her husband, though, he's way smarter cuz he's a boy an' stuff.
So the smart boy wants to make a table for the yard. Top is some kind of assemblage of plywood and marble, total weight 100 lbs (or so he say). Thing is six feet long, two feet across. Just two supports, not four. For supports he wants to use some pipe he can get for cheap. Which happens to be 1/16" wall thickness. But hey, no problem, he can fill it with concrete, he says. I says, says I, how deep is he going to bury this pipe so the table doesn't tip over (either under its own weight or when some 300-lb. guy sits on the edge)? No, he's not gonna bury it, no, he's gonna weld it ("it" being the 1/16" thick tube) to a base plate and weigh the plate down with limestone.
Uh huh. Am I nuts in thinking that a 1/16" TIG weld down there is going to be close to useless? He insists it's just fine and won't take no for an answer unless his wife shows him calculations to the contrary; I told her that it's ridiculous and she shouldn't waste her time. (And that's not even considering corrosion as the water pools in the hole in his limestone right around his weld.)
Hg
As long as the load remains perfectly verticle al is good, but as you wondered about when L A parks his/hers butt on it, all bets are off. And even if a Fly weight sits on it the base will need to wider than the top.
As for the non PWHTed welds at the bottom they will need some serious paint applications.
If this table is assembled and kept in a locked vault so nothing disturbs its balance or level, it'll be fine. As you mentioned, corrosion will be a problem quickly unless the 1/16" metal is covered in a good, thick coating.
There are times and places to save money, I doubt the amount of money saved here will make up for your friend's time listening to her husband make excuses as to why the table broke. You could both remain silent however, ensuring a long and gratifying future of telling him "I told you so".
Just my two cents.
Sit back and watch the follies unfold. cue Benny Hill music.........
You can always tell a "welder", but you can't tell him much.
Best regards - Al
You can tell a software guy with a TIG welder in his garage even less.
My officemate now loves you guys. We're laughing here in our little corner of cubeland.
Hg
If there is anything I enjoy, it is giving someone something to laugh about.
Best regards - Al
Just keep the camera rolling. How much does America's Funniest Videos pay?
if the table is 2 feet wide and the pipes are centered than at most you'll have a 1 foot moment arm when force is applied to the outside edge. If the weld is reinforced say to an 1/8th of an inch (and he knows how to weld properly) I don't see the weld size being a problem . More at stake than pipe wall thickness is the diameter of the pipe as this will determine the overall welded length that supports the load Also certain areas of the fillet weld would be subjected to torosion around the long axis and more likely to fail. The table very well could work for nominal loads, probably not gonna survive the meat head standing on it but it would survive a hot dog and associated bun. Might work that much easier if 4 gussets are placed on per leg.
4 legs seems much easier to me though, material is cheaper than failure
also sounds like the table is gonna be ugly and there's no solution for that accept more alcohol
"Meat Head" LMAO!!! I thought I was the only one that ever called anybody that any more!
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