How much weight can vertical aluminum angle support?

[member 534986]

I have to build a new stand for our single compartment concrete laundry tub since two legs of original steel stand are corroded. I want to make the new stand out of angle aluminum to avoid corrosion and also because it's easier to cut and drill.

The laundry tub weighs about 135 lbs. I calculated the volume of the water in the tub when full to be 307 lbs. So the total weight will be about 442 lbs.

For reference, the legs of the original factory made stand are composed of steel angle bars that are 3/4" wide x 3/32" thick.

I want to use 1" wide x 1/8" think aluminum angle bars for the 4 legs and the horizontals on top of the legs to hold up the laundry tub. There will of course be diagonal supports on the stand to keep it from swaying and falling down. Plus the stand will be secured to the back wall and right side built-in cabinet to keep it from swaying.

So the challenge is to know whether four aluminum 1" wide x 1/8" thick x 17" high legs can support 442 lbs. To clarify, angle bars are "L" shaped in cross section, each side being 1" wide.

Thanks for any help,
HRG

 

[Bystander]

You have a X-sectional area of 1 sq. in. of Al; strength of Al is around 20,000 lb./sq. in. --- yeah, it oughta hold it.

 

[berkeman]

Thread closed temporarily for Moderation...

EDIT -- Thread re-opened.

 

[member 534986]

You have a X-sectional area of 1 sq. in. of Al; strength of Al is around 20,000 lb./sq. in. --- yeah, it oughta hold it.

Aside from the compressive strength of aluminum, was wondering about the buckling strength of 1" x 1/8" x 17" long aluminum angle. Anyone with data on that? I have not been able to find data on that by Googling.

Thanks,
HRG

 

[Bystander]

Plus diagonal bracing, good. How exposed are the front legs to lateral loading from mop buckets, lawn mowers, wheel barrows, auto bumpers, sacks of cement being dropped?

 

[member 534986]

Plus diagonal bracing, good. How exposed are the front legs to lateral loading from mop buckets, lawn mowers, wheel barrows, auto bumpers, sacks of cement being dropped?

Very minimal exposure to lateral loading accidents. The laundry tub is in a small long room with a long shoe rack on the opposite wall. One wall has the dryer, washing machine, laundry tub and a small built-in cabinet. The opposite wall has space for an opened door and and a long built-in shoe rack. (yes, my wife has a lot of shoes and slippers!) There is 3 feet of space between the the laundry tub and the shoe rack.

A diagonal brace will run from the top horizontal angle bar to the center of each leg. There will be a total of 8 diagonal braces, 2 for each leg.

Thanks,
HRG

 

[Bystander]

center of each leg

total of 8

Gets you out of the "buckling of unsupported slender columns" length to least dimension ratio trouble zone. And, you're setting it on 2x4s to avoid perforating the linoleum or fracturing the tile?

 

[member 534986]

Gets you out of the "buckling of unsupported slender columns" length to least dimension ratio trouble zone. And, you're setting it on 2x4s to avoid perforating the linoleum or fracturing the tile?

The floor is new self stick vinyl tile that I'm installing since the laundry tub is currently moved. Been wanting to replace the beat up laundry room floor tile for a long while now.

Thanks for your insight. I'll set the legs on small pieces of 3/32" thick scrap aluminum that I have available. Each piece will be about 1-1/2" square with rounded corners. Everything being aluminum should reduce any corrosion or different metal problems. The bolts and nuts will be stainless steel.

Any other design ideas are welcome. Thanks,
HRG