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From my vintage elevator bell project, a quick warning about hidden rust
The mounting brackets on these things are often rusted from the inside out, so give them a good tap before trusting them.
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the_rowan7mo ago
Seems like a bit of an overreaction. How often does that actually cause a bracket to fail? Most of the time surface rust looks worse than it is. A good tap might not even tell you if the core metal is gone anyway.
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terrywilson7mo ago
Actually, I read about a bridge inspection where a rusty bracket looked fine but failed later. The report said surface rust can hide deep corrosion that weakens the metal over time. A simple tap won't always catch that, so proper checks are needed. It's why they take rust so seriously in safety checks.
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miller.simon7mo ago
I read about a similar case in Ohio where a rusty beam gave way after passing a tap test. It's scary how hidden corrosion can fool simple checks.
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elizabethmartinez7mo ago
My uncle had an old tractor where the seat bracket looked rusty but fine. Sat on it one day and the whole thing crumpled like tin foil.
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the_karen7mo ago
Seriously? How many brackets have you actually seen snap from a little rust? People get worked up over worst case scenarios that almost never happen. Yeah, maybe one in a thousand has hidden damage, but we're acting like every speck of brown is a crisis. Most of the time it's just ugly, not unsafe, and the tapping method is fine for catching real problems. Everyone's just too worried about getting sued.
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