[TheForge] Re: engineering question

[Mike Spencer]

Walter opined:

> When you look at the forces as they flow trough the
> object, the square would show less stress.

And I would say just the opposite.  But that's guesswork.  I suspect I
guess that because the first thing I ever made using the technique was
1/2" sq. through 1/2" sq. and I found it was hard and frustrating
trying to avoid making too-thin or stress-cracked weak spots in the
eyes at the inside corners, e.g....

             ....here:
                  /
                 /
                /
      |      | /                   |    |
     /  _____ \                   /  /\  \
    /  |    |  \                 /  /  \  \
    |  |    |   |               |  <    >  |
    \  |____|  /                 \  \  /  /
     \        /                   \  \/  /
      |      |                     |    |


Or more like....here:
                 /
                /
      |      | /  
     -+ _____+-   
    |  |    |  |  
    |  |    |  |  
    |  |____|  |  
     -+      +-
      |      |    

where the '+' representiong the inside corner in the outer bar comes
really close to the corner of the eye.  The diamond opening reduces
the risk of that weakness because the eye is opened to a gentler angle
at the problem point.


In retrospect, 1/2" sq. may just have been too small a cross section
for the technique combined with my skill level at the time.

- Mike

-- 
Michael Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada       .~. 
                                                           /V\ 
mspencer at tallships.ca                                     /( )\
http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/                        ^^-^^

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