Crowd control barriers - easy to repair?

Chop · Post by **Chop** » Thu Jul 02, 2020 8:23 am

Good morning all,

as a result of the Covid19 restrictions in place we are looking to hire or buy a number of crowd control barriers like the ones below

: crowd control barrier.jpg (13.58 KiB) Viewed 3261 times

as we don't know how long the restrictions are going to be in place I'm trying to work out if the long term costs will be cheaper to buy them vs hiring.

They are prone to breaking on the welds and I want to know how easy is the metal to weld? Can I use an Arc welder (stick type) to make repairs?

Thanks in advance

dewaltdisney · Post by **dewaltdisney** » Thu Jul 02, 2020 10:26 am

What about those plastic ones,you can get them for about £23 each? I think you have to watch welding galvanised metal as dangerous zinc fumes come off welding it.

DWD

Bob225 · Post by **Bob225** » Thu Jul 02, 2020 10:32 am

They are steel and usually hot dipped galv although you can get them painted

you can pick them up used cheap enough

eg.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/p/535175716?iid=303132102306

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ZND-SmartWel ... SwsFZeLFNw

Chop · Post by **Chop** » Thu Jul 02, 2020 10:34 am

Cheers Walt - good point about the plastic ones. That's comparable price wise to the metal type I was looking at.

That was my concern about the welding, I wasn't sure if the galvanise would be an issue.

Cheers Walt, food for thought.

woody8086 · Post by **woody8086** » Thu Jul 02, 2020 11:42 am

With regards to welding galvanised stuff, that is if you still want to use metal.

It is easy to grind away the area to be welded, then repaint up with a quality product and there will be no fumes.

Always make sure you have adequate personal protection when welding, sparks bloody hurt

Bob225 · Post by **Bob225** » Thu Jul 02, 2020 3:32 pm

yep grind back, weld up and paint it with some cold galv

Hitch · Post by **Hitch** » Sun Jul 05, 2020 8:01 pm

Trouble is with them the tube is so thin, the weld usually rips out.

Repaired a fair few over the years. If it was any more than a couple of broken bars it would go in the bin.

A mig welder will be the easiest method by far.
A stick welder theorecticlly will do it, but I think it would be hard work on the thin tube.

Jut hit a tiny bit of galv off, do a few tacks to hold the bars back on, quick brush and squirt of cold galv.
If you start grinding loads, you'll end up with it even thinner.
And if you grind the galv off, you also should wear a mask....

I always just wore a mask and weded through the galv as its very thin. Not like the integrity of the weld is that important.