I did find two places online that were pretty reasonable (compared to ebay/metals online stores/amazon).
inchofmetal.com wanted $14 for a 2x2x2 cube of cold rolled 1018 with $10 shipping.
mspmetals.com wanted $8 for the same thing with $16 shipping.
So $25 to get almost exactly what I needed.? Would be closer to $50 on ebay to get something larger I'd have to cut down.
And no gas/travel costs.
The only critical dimension is the height so I just have to finish the opposing ends and can leave the 2x2 bar sides as rolled.
On Tuesday, March 19th, 2024 at 10:25 PM, mike allen <animal@...> wrote:
Another thing if ya look at the mail order , find out where the
weight price changes Ya may be able to get more material for down
the road for the same amount of freight .
Like sports ya get one foul so foul hard .
animal
On 3/19/24 5:57 PM, chrisser via
groups.io wrote:
Nobody
locally. Nearest two cities are 60-90 minutes away in opposite
directions.
I'm
sure somebody there sells steel, but finding one that's open to
the public, will sell small quantities, and is open on Saturdays
is a pretty slim chance.
I do
know of a guy who welds and just hung a sign saying metal
sales. He's about 45 minutes away and I don't know if he's open
on Saturdays. I suspect he's selling more structural-type steel
but it might be worth seeing if he carries what I need or can
maybe get it.
We
live in the sticks. It's beautiful, but there's not much
industry.
On Tuesday, March 19th, 2024 at
8:48 PM, mike allen
<animal@...> wrote:
A36 is some tougher to machine than 1018 .DO you have any
steel sellers in yer area ?
animal
On 3/19/24 5:44 PM, chrisser via
groups.io wrote:
I tend to machine whatever I have on
hand or can scrounge.
I'd like to make a riser block to replace the compound
slide. I figure something like a 2x2x2 cube of steel would
be pretty close - I just got a 4-jaw chuck so I should be
able to machine it to size on the lathe.
But I have nothing like that lying around. Went on ebay and
didn't find much.
Started looking at the online metals places. Cube like that
is pretty reasonably priced although the shipping tends to
be high. If I'm going to fork out that cash to a specialty
place, I figure I should know what I'm getting.
One of the options is 1018 cold rolled. Seems like a good
choice.
A36 is a bit cheaper but just barely.
Some other sites list other steel alloys. Is 1018 reasonably
machineable? Is there something else I should be looking
for?
chrisser