N-Fab Prerunner light bar failure

not so much a review, as a "what to look out for" until a redesign.
(N-fab is working with my buddy, so this is not an N-Fab flame)


i have a buddy that has had the N-Fab prerunner light bar fail on him as he was driving.

the failure is that it broke off at the supports that hold the bars up.

if the wires to the lights had not held it, it would have gone under the truck.... on the highway.

the weak point is the logo cut into the supports ...that is where it broke.





most recent pic i have of his truck (without light bar)

 

Put a sock monkey sticker on it an send it down the road. He is lucky it didn't fly off and hit other cars and be forced to go thru ins.

 

wow. maybe leave their logo off or use thicker steel for the support brackets. my nfab light bar does not have the logos on it and it has held up fine for about 3 years now.

 

might be a dumb question, but why would you cut out a logo in the support anyways? isnt it supposed to support it? relocate the logo, to a non supporting part of the light bar. Good thing it didnt come all the way off.

 

but still, i dont get why you would make cuts into a support bar. just doesnt make sence imo, ive done some construction, but not metal fab...we generally didnt make cuts in anything that supports. Why cant they move it? Or etch it in? Etching wouldnt comprimise the integrity would it?

 

How about makin the logo a sticker instead? Can't imagine why they'd have that hole and the logo cutout there. Why not just the logo cutout? That would have been even stronger than having just the hole there.

 

Notice it didn't break at the hole, but the logo. Having those sharp corners is poor engineering. The hole is typically added to reduce weight but in this instance it doesn't save much. Probably a marketing decision.

de-ci-sion-mak-er (di-sizhn-makr)n. One that makes decisions, especially one in a position of authority or power.

 

Ben is right, mathematically stress is infinite at a perfect point in a cutout, if I'm remembering my edumacation correctidly

 

I won't pretend to know the math, but it makes sense. On old aircraft sheetmetal, if a crack develops, you drill a small hole (circle) at the advancing tip of the crack to stop it from progressing until it can be properly repaired.

 

Yeah, that's why if you look at the claw on the back of a hammer, at the point where the cutout in the "v" ends, they drill a little circle. Otherwise the cutout would crack....

 

i have to go home and look at my hammer now lol ive never paid attention

 

"corner relief" is what everyone is describing here.
goes for sheet metal corner cuts and any extreme angle cutouts.

 

That's it. Derp.