Originally Posted by
JayneV
I appreciate all comments. I am here to learn and share my journey with other like minded people. Please keep any type of bickering out of this thread. There are always multiple solutions to any one problem and hearing different opinions is very interesting and informative. Healthy debate is good and I welcome it, all I ask is that you are all respectful.
StrawberryBoi, thanks for the tip about double checking bolt lengths before installation. It would be difficult to track down a poor connection due to a bottomed out bolt in a blind hole. I can see how it would be easy to pickup an incorrect length bolt out of a box of hundreds and not notice it’s the wrong size.
Mactec, I may have not mentioned it before, the current design with all those brackets is aluminium. I could build the same design out of steel with welded connections, eliminating most of the brackets. There are valid reasons for choosing either material. I actually have two copies of the model in CAD, one for an aluminium base and one for a steel base. For the steel base, I am planning to take Peter’s suggestion and use tabs and slots to locate and weld each part. I need to update the steel version of the model to include the tabs and slots then I’ll generate 2D drawings of the parts to send to laser cutters for quotes.
I don’t have a problem with using bolted connections. I work on large aircraft and the entire wing is held on by a handful of bolts and these bolts remain untouched after installation for the life of the aircraft unless there is an unusual circumstance that warrants their removal. Why do you say that threaded holes deeper than what is need for max strength if the joint is a fail? Surely the hole would need to be a little deeper than the max depth of the bolt to eliminate any possibility of the bottoming out. Could you clarify what you meant?
Jayne