heavy gauge tube advice

[Badger1bear]

Hi guys, I have been asked by a friend who is into forestry clearance if I could build him a winch bumper for his skid steer mulcher. He gave me a picture he found on tinter web and said he wants summit like this below. The advice that I am after is, where can I get heavy gauge tube and bends from here in the UK that will be up to the task ?

 

[WorkshopChris]

Might be worth a look,
http://pipesandfittingsuk.co.uk/index.html
haven't done any heavy pipe for years just had a look and my local pipe place is long gone.

 

[Badger1bear]

Might be worth a look,
http://pipesandfittingsuk.co.uk/index.html
haven't done any heavy pipe for years just had a look and my local pipe place is long gone.

What grade of Steel do you think would be strong enough for such a project Chris ?

 

[WorkshopChris]

Off the top of my head Sch160 pipe at 4" Approx 115mm Od is something like 13mm wall thickness.
I have no idea how you would go about working out loadings for a winch or similar if required for LOLER.
That was about the thickest we uses to use to feed long unsupported runs with lots of welded sockets.

 

[Richard.]

Carbon steel pipe or tube will be fine.
The strength will be determined by the wall thickness you use and the bracing/mounting points.
Regarding the wall thickness you should use depends on the load your winch can pull.
Quick question. As this is intended to be part of a winch that is intended to be put under load does it require some form of testing. If you were to make something that held a crane winch it would need testing under LOLER regs. Does the same apply here?

 

[Badger1bear]

Carbon steel pipe or tube will be fine.
The strength will be determined by the wall thickness you use and the bracing/mounting points.
Regarding the wall thickness you should use depends on the load your winch can pull.
Quick question. As this is intended to be part of a winch that is intended to be put under load does it require some form of testing. If you were to make something that held a crane winch it would need testing under LOLER regs. Does the same apply here?

Good question.... You see plenty of these pickup truck/Land Rover winch bumpers for sale on fleabay but I don't think I have seen them state they are tested x y z ? Loler regs, do they only apply to lifting ? after all anyone can bolt a winch to their car or 4x4 ? The website you gave the link to might be able to advise on wall thickness if I tell them the weight of the machine and what size of winch will be fitted

 

[WorkshopChris]

Just done a quick search this pdf will give you a rough idea on wall thicknesses.
http://www.pipefit.co.uk/pdf/pipe.pdf

 

[Richard.]

Good question.... You see plenty of these pickup truck/Land Rover winch bumpers for sale on fleabay but I don't think I have seen them state they are tested x y z ? Loler regs, do they only apply to lifting ? after all anyone can bolt a winch to their car or 4x4 ? The website you gave the link to might be able to advise on wall thickness if I tell them the weight of the machine and what size of winch will be fitted

I don't honestly know mate.
I guess it's like most things that if your making a winch mount to go onto your own vehicle its no big deal.
If it's going on a business vehicle I'd imagine it needs to be tested and rated to load. It's just a guess mind I'm no expert in this field. Perhaps the winch mount when bolted to the vehicle becomes part of that vehicles Chassis and there for exempt from the need to be tested/rated. Dunno tbh.

 

[2tpmafia]

Winches don't require loler test as it's not lifting gear. As long as it's only used for pulling it doesn't come into the loler regulations

 

[pedrobedro]

Does it have to be round ? I made a bumper for a machine out of 100mmx5mm wall RHS. Mitred corners are easier than bends and cheaper to do.

 

[Gareth0123]

You can purchase ready made or made to order weld-in bends from Tubela. ............ I haven't used this service of their's (I did buy my JD2 M3 bender from them) but a mate has purchased bent sections, and he has no qualms recommending them.

 

[WorkshopChris]

You can purchase ready made or made to order weld-in bends from Tubela. ............ I haven't used this service of their's (I did buy my JD2 M3 bender from them) but a mate has purchased bent sections, and he has no qualms recommending them.

Do you think tube would be strong enough? Tube is not something i have worked with.

 

[8ob]

We only use HD 63mm od water pipe for forestry guarding and mounting winch plates, it bends easily in a crossbow type tube bender and if needed weld elbows/bends are available from pipeline supplies http://www.pipeline-supplies.co.uk/products/ A winch will sit into a piece channel quite nicely for protection and give you an upstand for the fairlead.

This lot with the forestry mulcher and guarding weighs in at about 8.5 ton , never ripped the winch off yet

.

 

[Richard.]

Do you think tube would be strong enough? Tube is not something i have worked with.

Design and wall thickness determines the strength

 

[WorkshopChris]

Design and wall thickness determines the strength

Is tube normally wall thickness <3mm. I have never worked with tube apart from odd bits of conduit, done lots of pipe over the years.

 

[Richard.]

I thought you could get thicker walled tube than that. If that's the case then yes it's too light.

 

[Bill Edwards]

3mm wall would buckle the first time it was bumped into a solid tree, never mind hold a winch.

Pipe can be had with very thick wall which is extremely strong and could leave a very neat job.

As to calculating the requirements required and a supplier I cannot help.

 

[Badger1bear]

Ok guys all sorted on the winch bumper metal now, thank you for all the replies what I am looking for now is 10mm steel plate thats perforated/drilled etc. Basically they also want a brush guard to cover the rear door of the machine, they want it to be completely holed and it will stand slightly away from the machine door to still allow sufficient cooling of the engine. The machine is away at the moment on a job and will be back in a week or so so exact measurements are sketchy at the moment but I would hazard a pure guess of around 50" square, plate needs to be 10mm as per their request (at present, no doubt open to change) and the holes would need to be around 20mm. Can anyone offer any leads on where to look ? As a last resort (very time consuming) I could make a ply template and use my hyperthem 45xp to cut them out but that would take a little while.

 

[WorkshopChris]

Sound like a job for a laser cutter.