![]() I wouldn't deprive you of the satisfaction of designing it yourself. 6061-T6 is a commercial-grade alloy that is not all that special. 4130 presents the additional possibility of welding on fittings instead of drilling.īensen used 6061-T6 extrusions because they are easy to build with and pretty widely available at low cost. That's how much you otherwise lose when you drill. ![]() By using proper clamp-on fittings instead of through holes, you can restore some 40% of the mast's bending strength. The biggest weakener of masts, aluminum or steel, is drilling holes in them. Tervamaki (later Magni) has used steel masts since the late 60's. It will break even at a very low load level if enough millions of cycles are imposed on it. Aluminum has no definite endurance limit. Steel has better fatigue qualities than aluminum alloys, in that there is a load level (called the endurance limit) below which the material will take an unlimited number of cycles and not break. Round tubing probably would be a better choice, since it's considerably cheaper and eliminates the corner-cracking question. ![]() ![]() Aircraft-grade 4130 square is made by squishing 4130 drawn (seamless) round, so obviously the absence of cracking in the corners is important. There's nothing categorically wrong with using 4130 square tubing.
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