What you have is a 3/4 inch steel pipe elbow. It should have 3/4 cast into it. If it was cast iron the flanges around where the pipe screws in would be a lot thicker and would actually touch each other.
first crack at it, going for that btr style
- Thread starter zolson88
- Start date
So, what is the steel pipe normally used for? Is this a standard hardware store item? I'm familiar with cast iron pipe fittings, but it sounds like this is a different critter. Would this be strong enough to support a 225 pound circus bear?
SB
The pipe he is referring to is probably 3/4" i.d. black steel pipe. It is plenty thick and pretty strong, the only issues is it is typically softer steel than the tubing you'd buy from a metal place and the wall thickness will vary more than tubing. I've used it plenty of times for little projects and it would probably be fine for sleeves in a bike frame, it actually welds really smooth compared to regular 1018 mild steel but I wouldn't suggest it for a whole frame as its not that much cheaper than comparable sized mild steel tubing and the tubing would be uniform in strength.
So what do you think about using it in this application, especially for a 225 pound circus bear? I like that bear and don't want to see him hurt his ample butt.
SB
The application he is using it for (as sleeves in a bike frame) I think is fine, the bike frame material is probably thinner than any part of the pipe so it should hold. I wouldn't use pipe in place of real tubing on a whole frame, especially in a motored application (china-girl maybe). For example I am using .120 walled tubing on my bike, size and thickness wise it is very similar to the pipe, however the tubing I'm using is rated at 80,000 psi tensile strength, where the pipe is around 30,000 psi, the pipe isn't really meant to be structural it is meant to hold a certain amount of pressure from the inside therefor the wall thickness isn't very uniform like tubing that is made to a higher specification.
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I wouldn't worry about the fitting failing but I would worry about the pipe cracking at the threads. It might not support a load on the end of the pipe acting as a lever on the weakest point being the threads. Remember material was removed from the thickness of the pipe when it was threaded.
