Mechanical vs Structural Tubing

[Bagman2524]

What is the difference between mechanical square tubing and structural square tubing? Both are A500 Grade B.

 

[metengr]

Are you sure about ASTM A 500 Standard Specification covering both structural and mechanical tubing? I was curious about your post so I decided to carefully review ASTM A 500 Standard Specification. Under Scope 1.1

1.1 This specification covers cold-formed welded and seamless carbon steel round, square, rectangular, or special shape structural tubing for welded, riveted, or bolted construction of bridges and buildings, and for general structural purposes.

There are several ASTM Standard Specifications that contain deliberate wording for mechanical tubing.

 

[Pressed]

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This may help,
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[URL unfurl="true"]http://www.sanborntube.com/htmdocs/news/index.php?id=1[/URL]

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but if they carry the same spec then it may just be a naming error?? Many people/companies use the terms structural and mechanical interchangably.

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[MikeHalloran]

I was looking for some mechanical tubing recently, and came across a variant usage of the word 'structural'.

Of course I forgot where I saw it, but it appears that some distributors offer tubing that would otherwise qualify to standard specifications as 'structural', because it is flawed in some way, e.g. the chemistry is off, or it would leak if used to hold fluid.

I.e., if tubing is offered at a substantial discount, without warranty or certs, as 'structural', you probably don't want to use it in an actual structure.






Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[Bagman2524]

I believe the problem is a naming error. Both materials are A500 Gr B and thus are structural tubing.