Welding box section - checking the welds?

[ELL]

So I am thinking about welding some box section together to make 2 heavy duty trailer ramps. Probably 3mm thick box sectioon, 8ft long, 1ft wide ramps.
Is there a way for me to check my welds are safe once finished? I don't have any special equipment for that.

 

[Morrisman]

Without sounding condescending I’d like to know I can trust my welding in general before I’d build something like car ramps, which might be holding a car above me.
How much experience do you have in welding already? Do you basically know when you have done a good weld, or a bad one?

 

[8ob]

Do a few practice runs on some scrap box section and slice them up to examine them, could also etch them. Something like a ramp could be designed so all welds were under compression.

Bob

 

[ELL]

Without sounding condescending I’d like to know I can trust my welding in general before I’d build something like car ramps, which might be holding a car above me.
How much experience do you have in welding already? Do you basically know when you have done a good weld, or a bad one?

Sorry, should have said, I'm making trailer ramps.

 

[tom2207]

Not the best project to be learning on , but we all started somewhere ,,, why not get some off cuts the same as you intend to use , and anything else that comes to hand , and do a few weeks of practise first ,, after that you will be confident ,,, also is your welder up to the job to start with ?

 

[Bornfree]

Turn your welder up flat out and back it off until you've stopped burning through the metal. That should stop you welding cold.

 

[MetalMonkey]

Sorry, should have said, I'm making trailer ramps.

For yourself, or to sell?.

If it is for you, then you could cut some test welds as suggested, or just park something really heavy on it and see what happens.

If it is to manufacture and sell, then you may need to consider product liability, and implications that come with that including design and loading calculations, insurance, qualifications, quality control process etc.

 

[gaz1]

2" angle iron trailer ramps are fine to use but it depends on height and length needed

as long as you weld the angle and also the flat part of the angle together

 

[Barking Mat]

If you have any doubts about the strength of your welds, try destructive testing, a sledgehammer will suffice.

If it bends good, if it breaks, bad.

 

[Woody.v8]

So I am thinking about welding some box section together to make 2 heavy duty trailer ramps. Probably 3mm thick box sectioon, 8ft long, 1ft wide ramps.
Is there a way for me to check my welds are safe once finished? I don't have any special equipment for that.

What welder do you have? And what are you running up the ramps.
You could do a few practice joints and post the pictures up for a bit of constructive feedback.
Don't be scared of making things, after all we were all beginners once.

 

[brightspark]

If you have any doubts about the strength of your welds, try destructive testing, a sledgehammer will suffice.

If it bends good, if it breaks, bad.

thats how i learnt to weld and its never failed me yet, ive built 5 trailers in all. 2 of em 4 wheel car transporters and 3 two wheel box trailers, all of them have carried a ton weight in them even though a couple should have been half that

 

[tom2207]

thats how i learnt to weld and its never failed me yet, ive built 5 trailers in all. 2 of em 4 wheel car transporters and 3 two wheel box trailers, all of them have carried a ton weight in them even though a couple should have been half that

the trick with trailers isnt making them strong enough to do the job , its about making them light enough to use.

 

[BrokenBiker]

the trick with trailers isnt making them strong enough to do the job , its about making them light enough to use.

no....the trick is knowing what you are doing long before you try to make anything load bearing...trailers are light through design, and are as such strong for the same reason...

 

[BrokenBiker]

2" angle iron trailer ramps are fine to use but it depends on height and length needed

as long as you weld the angle and also the flat part of the angle together

the ramps i made for my twin axle and the ramps for my 7.5t beaver tail were all made this way, when i sold both the trailer and the truck i didnt include the ramps purely to avoid finger pointing when someone inevitably overloaded them and got hurt, think i ended up repurposing them into fence reinforcment at my grandmothers house

 

[brightspark]

its called having a set of drawings for home made trailers and going and looking at all the professionally built ones there not verry happy when you do it. measure and photograph them and vitualy get escorted of the premises

 

[BrokenBiker]

its called having a set of drawings for home made trailers and going and looking at all the professionally built ones there not verry happy when you do it. measure and photograph them and vitualy get escorted of the premises

i tried that once, went to our local Ifor dealer with a tape measure and a voice recorder, told them i was looking for a trailer to fit a few different things on and they let me measure them...well for about 10 mins they did anyway until they realised i was muttering the dimensions into the recorder and measuing things like track width, the thickness of the metal and the hole spacing in the deck

 

[chunkytfg]

Could always buy a cheap endoscope? I have one I got off amazon for not alot of money that just connects to my phone. has it;s own little light on it and is about 8 feet long so is good for poling into box section to check weld penetration.

 

[tom2207]

Could always buy a cheap endoscope? I have one I got off amazon for not alot of money that just connects to my phone. has it;s own little light on it and is about 8 feet long so is good for poling into box section to check weld penetration.

if you need to go that far to know if its well welded ,,,, get someone else to weld it.

 

[chunkytfg]

if you need to go that far to know if its well welded ,,,, get someone else to weld it.

Well yes but I was merely offering suggestions on how the OP can see inside to see the other side of the weld in an inexpensive manner.

 

[chrismac]

So I am thinking about welding some box section together to make 2 heavy duty trailer ramps. Probably 3mm thick box sectioon, 8ft long, 1ft wide ramps.
Is there a way for me to check my welds are safe once finished? I don't have any special equipment for that.

By time your ramps are 8 foot long, what trailer have you got, is it for transporting a car/van type vehicle,

As mentioned above somewhere, just make sure your hot enough, and fully weld every side, no missed edges, 6mm fillets should be fine as a ball park size of weld.

Are you using stick or MIG, are you confident in your ability to nail the welds with your chosen process? some pics of weld samples would be good as mentioned for some constructive opinion's,