Design for welds- your help please!

[henpageawkins]

Hi, I'm a design student, currently finishing a design for a new spade. I am hopeing to use stainless steel as the material for the spade with the blade, shaft and handle and separate components to be welded together.

I was wondering if there are any tips/musts as for the design of the connecting sections. ie length one piece needs to fit into the other or angles of welds or what is needed to make the weld as string as possible to reduce the risk of failure.

Any tips/suggestions would be great as I'm a welding novice and need to make sure this thing can be made in principle.

Many Thanks

 

[patreusch]

you could make the connection one of three ways a spike that goes into the wood, a piece of metal with a hole that a bolt goes in or two pieces of metal that clamp together

 

[TechnicAl]

They are normally pressed out in one piece. The problem with welding is the appearance and the distortion, especially stainless.

Designing a new spade? is it a lot different from a conventional spade?