Quick Fab Elbows Make Corners Easy

Quick Fab Elbows Make Corners Easy FARM SHOP Miscellaneous 30-4-39 Putting right angles on steel and aluminum square tubing is a whole lot easier with cast steel and aluminum elbows from Quick Fab Products. The ready-made corners give you a strong joint without losing any structural strength. Just cut the square tubing to the length you want, set a matching elbow in place, and butt weld it tight. "Jerry Miller is the fellow who came up with it," says Eric Jeffreys, Miller's partner in Quick Fab Products. "He owned a machine shop for years and did a lot of work with tubing." Miller's goal was to avoid the problems that occur with mitering tubes to get a square or near square corner. Quick Fab Products now offers 10 steel elbows from 3/4 by 3/4 by 0.093-in. to 4 by 4 by 0.375-in. Aluminum elbows are available in 1 by 1 by 0.125-in., 1 1/2 by 1 1/2 by 0.125-in. and 2 by 2 by 0.125-in. Other sizes of both steel and aluminum can be made to order from 1/2 by 1/2 by 0.063-in. to 4 by 4 by 0.375-in. Prices vary by quantity and by size, ranging from a few dollars for a small elbow to nearly $50 (Canadian) for the 4 by 4-in. elbow. A 2 by 2 by 0.250-in. elbow has a suggested retail price of $9 (Canadian). "Our elbows are 90 percent cast steel and aluminum tube," explains Jeffries. "They haven't been heated to bend so there is no stretching or wrinkling and deforming of the inner curve. They have a full wall thickness throughout and are fully weldable." Miller says there are no tricks to using the elbows. Elbows with a wall thickness of 1/8-in. or more are made with a weld bevel, so they don't have to be ground down before welding. "Just figure the length to cut the tubing to give a specific size to whatever you are building," he explains. "A quick rule of thumb is that the inside radius of all the elbows is always 3/4 of the nominal dimension of the tubing. A 4 by 4 elbow has an inside radius of 3 in." Currently Quick Fab has a limited number of dealers in Canada, but is seeking more dealers in Canada and the United States, according to Jeffries. Elbows can be ordered by phone for delivery from the company or from a dealer listed on the company website. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Quick Fab Products Ltd., 460 Hollywood Court, Kelowna, B.C., Canada V1X 7J1 (ph 250 868-3523; fax 250 862-3528; email@quickfab.ca; www.quickfab.ca).

To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.