Web source for 1.5/.0625 thick Steel tubing, $17/6 feet, good deal?

[tomas]

I don't have a lot of experience buying steel tubing.

I found this online source (onlinemetals, link below) that will take orders for small quantities.

They're selling 1.5 inch mild steel square tubing (.0625 inch (1/16)) 6 foot pieces for $17 (US). They also have other sizes as well.

Is that a good price? What should I expect to pay for this basic StreetFox building block.

http://www.onlinemetals.com/merchant.cfm?pid=10322&step=4&showunits=inches&id=845&top_cat=0

Thanks,

-Tomas

[rickairmed]

Tomas there are probably several local steel suppliers in your area check the yellow pages and call around locally . I buy steel in 20' lengths and tke my chop saw to the steel supplier and cut them down to 10' to fit in the back of my van. I would bet the welding supply you showed us the other day will know wo has the deals on steel in your area.


Rick

[tomas]

Good advice as usual, thanks Rick.
I do plan to check out local sources before buying anything.
I was just trying to get a ball-park figure for how much it will cost.

Harbor Freight has yet to send me the welder, it's been seven days since I ordered it! Even Dell is faster..

t.

Tomas there are probably several local steel suppliers in your area check the yellow pages and call around locally . I buy steel in 20' lengths and tke my chop saw to the steel supplier and cut them down to 10' to fit in the back of my van. I would bet the welding supply you showed us the other day will know wo has the deals on steel in your area.


Rick

[rickairmed]

LOL Tomas HF isnt quick with shipping ( from what I have heard ) . I have one up the roqd from me so I just go to the store and get what I want . I bet you would get a better deal at a local steel supplier . I will ave to admit I havent had to buy steel in a long while so I am not sure what prices are right now . Last time I went to the supplier I picked up around 400' of steel and that was last year.


Rick

[locolarry]

Tomas,
I looked in the yellow pages under "Fabricators" and called several local "Fab Shops" near me....I found one that would order 20 ft lengths for me and sell it to me 1/2 of what steel company wanted to charge me... "Let your fingers do the walking" Call for prices...tell them what you're going to build...they'll be helpful..:sunny:
Larry
Let's see..
20 ft 1.5 16 guage mild steel square tubing and 12 foot .75 square tubing in 16 guage plus tax and 20ft joint cut into two pieces was $31.00 the first time I bought. I then bought 3 pc's 20ft 1.5x 16 G and 2 20ft .75 x 16 G tax in was right at $100.00. last purchase was end of October

[tomas]

That's exactly what I did.
I found a local place, Deerfield Valley Re-Fab.

They can order 24 feet of .0650 1.5 square tubing for $40.
That should be enough for 2 maybe 3 StreetFoxes..

I asked for .0625, they said that's too thin to be useful and their suppliers don't carry it. They called .0650 16 gauge.

For what's it's worth, for folks in Western Massachuseets, here's the link:
http://www.dvrf.net/refab.html
North Street South Deerfield, MA 01373 Telephone: (413) 665-7059

My helmet came today! I think the welder will be here tomorrow.

Before proceeding with any more ordering I need to see if I can join two pieces of metal together first. I already have a pile of scrap steel in the garage ready to go...

t.

Tomas,
I looked in the yellow pages under "Fabricators" and called several local "Fab Shops" near me....I found one that would order 20 ft lengths for me and sell it to me 1/2 of what steel company wanted to charge me... "Let your fingers do the walking" Call for prices...tell them what you're going to build...they'll be helpful..:sunny:
Larry
Let's see..
20 ft 1.5 16 guage mild steel square tubing and 12 foot .75 square tubing in 16 guage plus tax and 20ft joint cut into two pieces was $31.00 the first time I bought. I then bought 3 pc's 20ft 1.5x 16 G and 2 20ft .75 x 16 G tax in was right at $100.00. last purchase was end of October

[rickairmed]

Tomas there are a few tests for you to use to see how your welding is doing on scraap the first is the BFH test that one you put the welded part into a vise and beat on it wit a big 5 pound hammer ( BFH ) and see if your welds break . The other good test for a new welder is to weld to pieces together then cut them across the weld to see ow you did with penetration.


Rick

[tomas]

Sounds like a good plan. A vise is definitely on my list.
I will post pics of the test welds when I can. Hopefully the welder will arrive tomorrow, perhaps I'll have a chance to get the old feet wet this weekend.

t.

Tomas there are a few tests for you to use to see how your welding is doing on scraap the first is the BFH test that one you put the welded part into a vise and beat on it wit a big 5 pound hammer ( BFH ) and see if your welds break . The other good test for a new welder is to weld to pieces together then cut them across the weld to see ow you did with penetration.


Rick

[trikeman]

It sounds like that fab shop needs to get another supplier (assuming they really can't get 16ga from them). I am in Atlanta, which is of course a large metro area, but I have no trouble at all driving over to this place and buying all the 16 ga 1.5" sq tubing I want.

http://www.imsgasteel.com/si16.asp?time=1213

I haven't bought any steel since the prices came down, but the last time I bought some earlier this year it was about $1 per pound.

[rickairmed]

Tomas did you get your welder yet ?


Rick

[tomas]

Tomas did you get your welder yet ?
Rick

Thanks for asking. Slowly making progress. It did come in! But the reel spool holder was broken. :mad: HF was nice about it and is sending out a new one... I'm thinking I just might drive down a bit to the local HF and buy one directly. These shipping times are really killing me.

See pics below. There's a max/min switch and a wire speed knob. I be open to what these should be set to for practice welds. I have some scraps ready to go.

In the meantime I'm having fun with the angle grinder. I never used one before. I've been cuttin' up some scraps and using the flapper to strip off some paint. (see pics below).

I also found a much better steel supplier not too far away. They have it all in stock and will sell 12 foot lengths. A 12 foot 1.5 .0625 square tube goes for $17.50 currently.

( If anyone in Western Massachusetts is interested, here's the link:
http://www.sullivanmetals.com/ )

My 'new' re-conditioned flux welder:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3050/3112644594_4c7545af43.jpg

Broken reel holder, new one on the way:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3081/3111811455_dea4a3b9dc.jpg

Phun with grinder, cutting and flapping:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3062/3112645420_9f2d5700b6.jpg


t.

[rickairmed]

Tomas heres an online calculator from Miller which should help get you close on machine setup.


http://www.millerwelds.com/resources/calculators/mig_flux_amperage_calculator.php



Rick


P.S. I started on the BabyFox tonight for the 2 year old grandson I am taking pics and will get some loaded up here soon.

[rickairmed]

Tomas the basic settings for your welder are on page 18 in the manual that came with it if it didnt come with a manual you can download one from harbor freights site . These settings will get you in the general area to weld and you cn tweak them to suit you ( turn up or down the wire feed speed knob.I will add if you want to know for sure what your wire feed speed is you can pull the trigger out in the open and count off 6 seconds then measure how much wire is sticking out of the tip and multiply by 10 to get your actual wire feed speed. The stickout might be 13.4 inches when multiplied thatas 134 inches per minute. I will lso recomend being carefull with that welder one thing I didnt notice till I looked in the manual is that the gun is always hot sooooooo if you touch the tip or the wire to something you have already grounded with the ground clamp it will arc nd could flash you . The best thing to do if you get flashed by he way is to put potato slices over your eyes and lay down till the gritty hot feeling goes away . This feeling will not be immediate but will come on later in the day . I wouldnt worry to much about getting flashed if you have an auto dark hood just make sure the hood is on and down before you pick up the mig gun :D.


Rick

[tomas]

Yes, good advice all around. I have the auto-darkening hood and will proceed with caution.

t.

Tomas the basic settings for your welder are on page 18 in the manual that came with it if it didnt come with a manual you can download one from harbor freights site . These settings will get you in Rick

[tomas]

I'd love to see the pics when you post them!


P.S. I started on the BabyFox tonight for the 2 year old grandson I am taking pics and will get some loaded up here soon.

[rickairmed]

Tomas I will most likely start a thread on a welding forum I belong to and post links here to that thread and updates . I can post pics directly there and dont have to mess with photobucket or anything like that :D.


Rick

[TheKid]

I have the same basic welder, and set the switch to Max, and the speed around 5. I find that when the switch is set to Min, there's not enough penetration. Sometimes the speed needs to be varied, depending on my reflexes on a given day, and also because as oxidtion formes on the wire, the speed gets slower. I tried RR's method of clamping a small piece of scotch brite pad to the wire with a clothespin, which helped a lot, but didn't eliminate oxidation completely. Now the liner is contaminated, and has to be replaced. I think the whole assembly costs about 20 or 30 bucks. When I get the new liner, I'll remove the spool and bring the welder inside when I don't use it for long periods. It's a good idea to store the spools in a can with plenty of dessicate to keep the moisture off the wire.

[tomas]

Thank you. I appreciate the heads up.

So the wire runs past the Scotch-Brite while the welder is operating ?
Were do you attach the clothes pin?

Thanks again!

t.

I have the same basic welder, and set the switch to Max, and the speed around 5. I find that when the switch is set to Min, ...

[TheKid]

I put mine in a spot just before the wire goes into the tensioner.

[rickairmed]

Hey Tomas you glue any metal together yet :D.


Rick

[tomas]

Aargh, still waiting on the replacement reel holder from HF.
I think they're sending it by donkey. I considered crazy-gluing it, but I don't think that will work.

t.

Hey Tomas you glue any metal together yet :D.


Rick

[Andrew Schlosser]

Aargh, still waiting on the replacement reel holder from HF.
I think they're sending it by donkey. I considered crazy-gluing it, but I don't think that will work.

t.

I bought my welder yesterday. I was considering a HF unit, but just couldn't bring myself to it. The store and staff were a mess (like most of my HF shopping experiences), I always see people bringing back powered tools to HF, welding doesn't seem like something to skimp on...

So instead, I bought a Hobart. Indeed, it was more expensive, $300 vs $110, but I feel good about the quality of the machine, and it was made in the US.

Thanks for posting your prices Tomas. I'm doing the same sanity checks you are.

[rickairmed]

AJS you got a nice welder the Hobart is a good machine . When you are ready to upgrade to a 220 volt unit you shouldnt have much troubel selling the Hobart .


Rick

[trikeman]

I think you will enjoy your Hobart Andrew. I know I do my Handler 140. It was indeed a little bit more, but I never worry too much about whether its the welder or me when a weld comes out bad - its usually me.

[tomas]

See the new thread in the welding forum:

http://forum.atomiczombie.com/showthread.php?p=16337#post16337

t.