# Pivot Pipe



## OK Wheat farmer (Aug 30, 2011)

We'd like to put up a machine shed. It recently occured to me that we have three wrecked pivots laying around. That pipe is 6-5/8 diameter but not very heavy. Will it make a structure?


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## Richardin52 (Aug 14, 2011)

That depends on the size and how you plan to construct the building. Will the pipe be bent to form an arch? Will the pipe be used in short strait lengths? What span will the pipes be expected to cover with no supports? What gage pipe is it?


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## OK Wheat farmer (Aug 30, 2011)

Richardin52 said:


> That depends on the size and how you plan to construct the building. Will the pipe be bent to form an arch? Will the pipe be used in short strait lengths? What span will the pipes be expected to cover with no supports? What gage pipe is it?


Lol, lots of questions. I really don't know the answer to any except the pipe is 12 gauge. The idea just occured to me recently and no plans have been made as of yet.


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## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

I don't think you could bend it well to form an arch. Pivot pipe doesn't bend to well when they crash.


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## Mike120 (May 4, 2009)

12 gauge pipe is awful light. Vertically it will provide decent support but it will likely buckle with any lateral loads. Just off the top of my head, considering the winds you guys get in OK, I'm not sure you'd be able to get much equipment in with the amount of bracing you would need.


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## panhandle9400 (Jan 17, 2010)

I would not use pivot pipe for a equipment barn, it is too light and extra braces would have to placed to help support due to light pipe thickness. Around here they use alot of it to make corrals and pens, which it works great for that . Maybe if you were using it in like a car port type structure it would hold up, much of a building I dont think it will do you justice.


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## Richardin52 (Aug 14, 2011)

Here are a couple ideas

Construct your walls using the pipe for the uprights then attach (by welding or bolting) either steel or 2x lumber to top and bottom to form walls. Then Brace the walls in each corner using X braced hurricane ties (flat metal straps) attached to the walls running from the bottom plate to the top plate.

To see how long of rafters these pipes can be used for I would take a pipe, fill it with concrete (to give it more strength) let it cure for 30 days set it on some saw horses and then attach weight to the center of the span.

How much weight? 
Say you want to build a 30x 60 foot building. The building will have a 6 in 12 pitch which will give you a total rise of 7.5 feet to the peak. This means your total rafter length (less any overhang) will be 22 1/2 feet. Lets say you want to run your rafters 2 ft. on center.

So now you know each rafter will be 22 1/2 feet long. You also know that a 30x60 foot building contains 1800 sq. ft. and that 1/2 of the roof will hold 1/2 of the snow or 900 sq. ft. of snow. You also know if the rafters are 2 ft on center there will be 31 rafters on each side or the roof. so 900/ 31= 30 sq. ft. of snow. So each rafter will need to hold up 30 sq. ft. of snow.

Now I do not know where you live but I have a 70lb snow load in my area which means 70 lbs per square ft. or 70x30= 2,100 lbs. (each rafter will need to support 2,100 lbs.) Now most engineers build in a safety factors so I would ad at least 50% to that figure so 3,150 lbs.

So tie on 3,150 lbs to the center of the pipe that sets on the saw horses and see what happens.

Ways to make it stronger.

First if you do fill the pipe with concrete do it after they are in place and vibrate or use some other means to prevent voids in the concrete.

If you add bracing you can 1/2 the span distances so lets say you run a collar tie running from eave to eave then bring a brace down from the peak to support the middle of the collar tie, then bring a brace off that point to the mid span of the rafter. You have just cut in half the span of each rafter making them much much stronger. So the saw horses only have to be 11 feet apart now. (That is called a king post brace by the way)

There are many other types of braces you can use to shorten the span even further if you want. The trick is getting good solid connections from wall to rafters and from rafters to braces etc.

Hope this helps.


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