Would these stand welds make you uncomfortable?

[tig1]

Originally Posted By: tig1
The welds are poor by any welders standard. Notice the undercut at the edge of the bead. This reduces the thickness of the base material by the amount of the undercut. Exchange them if you can.


Now your talkin.

 

[Gabe]

Originally Posted By: Sawdusted
Originally Posted By: bigt61
Originally Posted By: ZeeOSix
I take it these welds are on the top end/neck area of the stands? If so, then the loads into the stand where these welds are is basically pure compression. The weld doesn't look like it would be supporting much side load at all.

Exactly, no shear load to speak of, all compression. Those welds are fine IMO.


+2


No! Those welds are not under just compression.

 

[expat]

Originally Posted By: Gabe
Originally Posted By: Sawdusted
Originally Posted By: bigt61
Originally Posted By: ZeeOSix
I take it these welds are on the top end/neck area of the stands? If so, then the loads into the stand where these welds are is basically pure compression. The weld doesn't look like it would be supporting much side load at all.

Exactly, no shear load to speak of, all compression. Those welds are fine IMO.


+2


No! Those welds are not under just compression.


So on a ratchet stand like this the load is in the ratchet pin, right?

Assuming the stand is used on a flat surface, and there are no side thrusts etc.

Where is the weld NOT in compression?

We don't see the whole of the Axel stand, but from similar stands that I have seen, I would bet that the weld area of that stand is NOT the weakest point.

It would be interesting to put such a stand in a Press and just see what gives, and at what pressure.

 

[tig1]

Originally Posted By: Gabe
Originally Posted By: Sawdusted
Originally Posted By: bigt61
Originally Posted By: ZeeOSix
I take it these welds are on the top end/neck area of the stands? If so, then the loads into the stand where these welds are is basically pure compression. The weld doesn't look like it would be supporting much side load at all.

Exactly, no shear load to speak of, all compression. Those welds are fine IMO.


+2


I agree. If you jack only one side of the vehicle up, then there is some side pressure involved. Besides, as I said, these welds have undercut the base metal. The depth of the undercut decreases the thickness of the metal that is welded. Any welding student knows this. An undercut is just one reason why welds like these should be rejected as they would be in industry.

No! Those welds are not under just compression.

 

[rationull]

Originally Posted By: expat

We don't see the whole of the Axel stand, but from similar stands that I have seen, I would bet that the weld area of that stand is NOT the weakest point.

It would be interesting to put such a stand in a Press and just see what gives, and at what pressure.


That's actually an interesting point, and I hadn't thought about it from that perspective.

 

[expat]

The actual load is taken by the ratchet pin, the pin is located close to, and reasonably positioned** to direct the load to the base.

Supporting the vehicle from one side WILL tend to put an (even more) uneven load on the stand. but I'm thinking that any 'extreme' angular thrust (over 25 degrees??) would likely topple the stand, before anything other than a compressive force was transferred to the weld in question.

It could be that the compressive force of the Pin, could deform the undercut metal between the base of the pin and the welded area.
But I cannot imagine this resulting in a catastrophic failure!
and I would guess it would only occur well beyond the rated limit of the stand.
(These stands are typically rated at 3 tons FOR THE PAIR)

** The Pin being off-set puts an uneven load on the stand base.
Other stand designs use a loose pin through central holes in the supporting column. this places the load centrally on ALL FOUR LEGS of the stand. base