Securing a folding wooden joint?

[Isaac Kurtz]

So long story short, I am brainstorming a new project that will have several folding wooden joints using butt/drop leaf hinges; but they'll need to support a good amount of weight in total (<200Lbs). 

I'm worried about the stability of the joints using just the hinges; I was thinking of using a Square U Bolt inserted through the boards longitudinally to further support them, but wanted to ask if anyone knew of an easier way?

*Basic diagram below:

[Matthew Barrett]

The placement of the u-bolts as shown in the diagram will not help you. 

Are you familiar with stresses in a beam? The top surface, under the downward force, will be in compression and the bottom surface will be in tension. Along the center of the beam, in the beams neutral axis the stress falls to zero. 

Assuming this is a square or rectangular beam your bolt falls in the neutral axis and will not carry any load. The hinges carry a tensile load and the boards butting up against each other transfer the compression load. 

Move your u-bolt holes to the side experiencing the downward force. 

What is this going to be carrying? How long are your spans? What wood are you using?

-Matthew

[Rud Merriam]

Use a u-channel across the joint.

- 73 -
Rud Merriam K5RUD
Mystic Lake Software

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