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Hi all,

I have a chair whose tubular leg has snapped (please see photo) - it was a clean snap as I think there was an existing join during manufacture. I want to repair it but do not have the equipment or ability to weld it so was planning to insert a rod inside the two bits of tubes and use an epoxy resin to glue them in place. Due to the curvature of the tubes, I do not think I would get more than 20mm into each tube (if that) and was planning to use a mild steel rod. Do you think this will be strong enough to take the weight of a person? As you can see from the photos, the forces acting upon it will not be directly downwards.

Would a wooden rod also do the trick as it'll be a lot easier to cut this to length.

Thanks

Darius

doomed to failure in my opinion
may work if its properly welded
if you insert a rod its surface area will probably be less than 60% off the tube surface area so need to be twice as rigid to have any chance off working

I think it will be a case of try what you can do, and see what happens.
To get a precise answer will require more information such as what materials have you, what are the exact dimensions of everything, what tools do you have etc etc, hence my first comment, try it and see.

If you are using a steel rod it should be possible to heat it up to bend it to the curve of the tubes. That way it'll go much farther into them. Then use a resin to take up any space and hold the whole thing rigid.

It looks to me as if it's a mild steel inner tube, with a thin outer of stainless or similar.
I've seen that before somewhere.
It looks as if the inner has been butt welded originally from the heat marks seen inside.
If you do decide to try the epoxy route, and nobody can say for sure what if anything will work, then make sure everything, inside the tube, and the insert rod, is thoroughly roughed up with coarse abrasive to "key" it, and degreased with alcohol or similar.

Wooden dowel (broom handle cut down) hammered in nice and tight might work.

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I repaired a broken mower handle in a similar way. I had found some steel tube that was a perfect fit and I pop riveted it in place to secure the join. It worked fine but the carburettor then started playing up so I junked it as I had ran out of patience.

The only thing I would say is that your broken leg will take a lot of pressure from downward forces and an insert will need to be pretty tight fit and a fair length to spread the load. I suspect it will join my mower at the recycling centre.

DWD

dewaltdisney wrote:I repaired a broken mower handle in a similar way. I had found some steel tube that was a perfect fit and I pop riveted it in place to secure the join. It worked fine but the carburettor then started playing up so I junked it as I had ran out of patience.

Wish I had a fiver for every time I've done something similar.

dewaltdisney wrote: The only thing I would say is that your broken leg will take a lot of pressure from downward forces and an insert will need to be pretty tight fit and a fair length to spread the load. I suspect it will join my mower at the recycling centre.
DWD

Despite my earlier post, I reckon you're right. If it was me, I might have a look around for another seat base that'd suit if the chair itself was something I liked.