Trailer Wall Thickness

[rc0213]

We built a trailer. The system description says 1/2" thick walls. But, the raw material callout is 3/16". What's the best way to find out what thickness we actually used for the walls?

 

[MintJulep]

Measurement.

 

[rc0213]

That is the problem, with this trailer, the wall does not stick out anywhere, or is visible for easy measurement. And, we don't have a QC department that has measurement tools that could help me. I think I might have a way, by measuring certain parts to find the wall thickness.

 

[IRstuff]

raw material callout is 3/16"

Are you saying you have no scraps of the material anywhere in the plant?

TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!

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[MikeHalloran]

Ask the rest of 'we'.
Maybe someone was paying attention.
Maybe someone can figure out what 'we' bought.


Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[3DDave]

I worked on a trailer project that was 'build to print' but it was a foreign design and 'converted.' Since it was build to print there was no money budgeted for any engineering involvement. Engineering was specifically excluded. Instead it was left to manufacturing to choose the materials. All they recorded was the material specs, not the alloys, because that was the bold letters in the Ryerson catalog. Some specs covered hundreds of alloys. When a production contract was released I got the job of going over the drawing package because of customer driven changes. When I asked what alloys were used I was told all the purchasing docs had been thrown out after the prototype was done. My guess is there was no documentation or they were playing keep-away to cover up something they had done.

Frankly it felt like fraud. The contract was to build a trailer just like the test unit, but there was no way to confirm the condition of the test trailer.

There were a ton of ad hoc, unrecorded decisions made by those guys. My peak irritation was in meetings with the originating design team, the manufacturing guy had the nerve to blame them for not documenting the ad hoc changes. OTOH the originating design team tapped into the ABS system power by scraping the insulation and wrapping tap wires with electrical tape to power an accessory, so the incompetence was shared.

It's no longer my problem. The place went from engineers to MBAs.

 

[GregLocock]

By a process of deduction I'm guessing the walls are plywood or similar. Get a screw, measure the length, screw it in, measure how much is poking out on the inside.

Cheers

Greg Locock


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[truckandbus]

No existing holes for lights or electrical chases you could inspect? Any hinges or brackets you could pull off?

Measure the outside overall width and measure the interior width, take the difference and divide by 2?