Global Truss Coupler Clamp Loaded in Shear

[electronicsfreak]

Hi all!

Enthusiast Lighting Designer here with a question I'm hoping to have answered. I need to build a truss shape with a horizontal crossbeam spanning x2 totems that is fairly low to the ground, however, we don't have any corner blocks available. A few folks have suggested to just use x4 truss coupler clamps on the end of the stick on both ends, but before we do this, I wanted to ask,
(coupler clamp = these things)



Are you allowed to load these things in shear? (ring of the O-clamp facing up/down gripping the vertical stick) example shown in red the drawing below:




I was under the impression you could only use these things in tension/compression, but I could be wrong/wanted to ask. If we go with this, we'll end up with 8 total, 4 on each end, holding up this stick, lights and all on this horizontal piece, total weight of about 218lbs, all HW is F34 based.

Any thoughts input/etc? you input would be appreciated, thanks!

-EF

[conanski]

That is a good question and I don't know the answer, but my gut feeling is you have more than enough safety margin for a static load.

[electronicsfreak]

I reached out to Global Truss directly and they got back to me stating:



"The Coupler Clamp can be used in both Shear and Compression. "



So, I think I'm good here, and as you mentioned, with quite the margin of safety in my use case.


Thank-you for the input!


-EF