Cost of fabrication materials?

[blair dives]

I was thinking about stepping it up a little and learn to weld, pipe bend, etc.

How much does metal go for? 1/4" sheets, 3/16" sheets, etc as well as tubing? And where do you get it??

[fabcam]

I was thinking about stepping it up a little and learn to weld, pipe bend, etc.

How much does metal go for? 1/4" sheets, 3/16" sheets, etc as well as tubing? And where do you get it??

Your location?
Quantities?
Material type (CRS, HRPO, HRS, DOM, EREW)?

[blair dives]

Your location?
Quantities?
Material type (CRS, HRPO, HRS, DOM, EREW)?

West Chester, PA

No idea what any of those acronyms stand for... any idea where I can do some research to learn about metal and tubing types, etc?

Lets say I wanted to make an underbody skid plate, 1/4" steel... what would I use and how much would it be per square foot?

If I wanted to make a cage, how many feet is an average cage, and what type of tubeing would I use, and how much per foot?

Just looking for ballpark so I can get an idea.

[SHERPA]

internet is your freind.......... you outta do some homework there before
asking here. pirate is great for knowledge, it's also a place to seriously
get bashed for asking newbie questions.......

find a local steel place near you and go check them out....... ask for any

steel dimension booklets that give specs on plate, tube, angle, etc.....

you can find weights, dims, and tensile strengths in those as well.

--and since you sound pretty new at this, I strongly suggest you enroll in

a community college metal shop class to learn the basics.......... hopefully

before you start welding on a street-driven vehicle.

--Sherpa

[blair dives]

internet is your freind.......... you outta do some homework there before
asking here. pirate is great for knowledge, it's also a place to seriously
get bashed for asking newbie questions.......

I asked on some nooooob forums and people pretend they know what they're talking about. :shaking: It's worth getting bashed if I can get some serious answer too, thanks for the heads up tho.

find a local steel place near you and go check them out....... ask for any

steel dimension booklets that give specs on plate, tube, angle, etc.....

you can find weights, dims, and tensile strengths in those as well.

--and since you sound pretty new at this, I strongly suggest you enroll in

a community college metal shop class to learn the basics.......... hopefully

before you start welding on a street-driven vehicle.

--Sherpa

The plan is to take a bunch of shop classes. I don't plan on welding anything major on a stret vehicle, besides non-load bearing skids, etc to start. Gotta start somewhere. I'll look for a steel supplier near me, thanks.

[PTSchram]

Steel is a primary metal and sold as a commodity. Prices can and often do change daily, if not more often. Kinda difficult for anyone to say much of anything about it except that steel is hella expensive right now.

R&D is very expensive!

[rock mafia]

Check the local scrapyard, and see if the sell to the public. The one near me does, and has saved me alot of $$$$.

[PAToyota]

Granted, even without shipping figured in these people are on the high end of the scale for prices: http://www.metalsdepot.com/

But it will start to give you an idea of cost.

[blair dives]

Granted, even without shipping figured in these people are on the high end of the scale for prices: http://www.metalsdepot.com/

But it will start to give you an idea of cost.

Thanks!

Check the local scrapyard, and see if the sell to the public. The one near me does, and has saved me alot of $$$$.

What's the difference between a scrapyard and a junkyard? (yikes, here comes the flaming)

[Rockit]

Scrapyard sells endcuts, blems and misc hunks of metals. Look up "metal" in your local phone book. Call them up and ask if they sell small quantities.

You can also just roll over to Home Depot and buy some sch 40 black pipe and start cutting/welding. Fitting a good joint is the same whether it's poop pipe or chro-mo.

Junkyard has junk.

T
What's the difference between a scrapyard and a junkyard? (yikes, here comes the flaming)

[Shefron]

Thanks!



What's the difference between a scrapyard and a junkyard? (yikes, here comes the flaming)

Junkyard is for cars and such but scrapyard takes just metals. That should cover the basic.



1/4" would be to thick for a skid. I would suggest 3/16 with maybe a brace on the back to make it stronger. Something like angle iron for a brace.

[Chris]

I was going to say that a scrapyard is where you take your trash metal and get cash for it. OUt here on the west coast most stell yards have a remanant pile or in the case of one of the steel yards I go to, more remnant and scrap than regular stuff! Seem like I rarely buy full pieces unless I am doing a big project, everything else is out of the remnant pile.

[blair dives]

Awesome, good to know. Thanks for the tips!

So I don't get ripped off, what would be reasonable prices for scrapyard metal... I know this is a VERY general question, so I'll take any answers like... what you paid for your last pieces of scraps and what sizes they were. Ballpark.

[Haggar]

Again, steel fluctuates..

At my local yard, its usually $0.40-$0.70 a pound for stuff on the short-length racks. There's a bin or real small stuff (under a foot, usually) thats free.

[blair dives]

At my local yard, its usually $0.40-$0.70 a pound for stuff on the short-length racks. There's a bin or real small stuff (under a foot, usually) thats free.

Thanks. I just want to be prepared to walk away if they ask for 5$ a pound, ya know? haha.

[nissancrawler]

I just bought a bunch of steel yesterday. It was $.42/pound for the "scrap", the sheet of 1/8" expanded metal (not the stamped stuff, the heavy welded stuff) was $35 for a 4x4 sheet.:(

Almost all of the metal at this place is new, but it's outdoor storage, so it has rust. It's still worth it to me to wire wheel/sandblast it for the price.

[adampfisters]

I agree about the remanant pile. Almost everything that you do will be found in this area and you buy it by the pound. I just got done paying 80 cents a pound out here in CA. If you are doing big items like an exo or something, then hit the full sticks but it sounds to me like you are more on the learning phase so the remanant pile is your best friend.

[Crash5291]

Here, last i heard they wanted to charge a regular off the street cusotmer $0.92/lb for new steel. in 24'+ lengths

I just get mine though work, although we use one or two orders a week. we get a decent price though better then .92 thats for sure :D

[g jay bee]

Take an intro welding class at your local community college first, then take a fabrication class. You'll pick up on metals and alloys, metallurgy, heat-treatment effects, processing, acronyms, tricks, trade-related info, brands, methods, etc..
Take notes.

[sceep]

1/4" would be to thick for a skid.


:confused:

thats about all we use for skids....

works great.


:laughing:

[blair dives]

Take an intro welding class at your local community college first, then take a fabrication class. You'll pick up on metals and alloys, metallurgy, heat-treatment effects, processing, acronyms, tricks, trade-related info, brands, methods, etc..
Take notes.

That's the plan, looking for one now. Looks like they come in stages, intro, then more advanced courses on just arc, mig, etc. Looks like they range +/- 50$ in the 300$ range.

Anyone know of any colleges in the Chester County, PA area?

[CJBoxer]

Take a stick welding class even though chances are you will buy a mig machine rather than a stick welder. A instructor could teach you how to use a mig welder in a couple hours where as stick welding takes lots of practice. Teaches you joint prep and setup and how to control and manipulate the puddle and learning how to weld with a steady hand while your hand is 12" above the surface moving forward and down as you use the rod. You learn how to do all that you will be welding like a pro using a mig welder.

[Al Kaholick]

When you call or go to a supplier to ask about prices on stuff, always ask how much for a full stick or sheet, you might pay $50 for 10 ft and $65 for a full stick (around 20')

Also ask about drops and scrap, we have a place here that sells remnants by the pound and it is about half the price of buying it otherwise.

[odin544]

http://pirate4x4.com/tech/billavista/Books/index.html
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[YotaRunner]

And when you start getting into the bigger stuff. Shop around (many miles away) I get all my tube from a place that's a 2 hour drive round trip. I call um up they load it and on mondays they drop it at the door step for $20 extra, any size load!!! With the extra $20, I still get a better deal (%38cheaper) then the place here in town... I'm all about supporting the locals and such, but that's retarded.... I still get all the little and "Need Now" stuff here.

For the small stuff! Scrap bins and the OS&D Box (over/short/damaged) are your ticket!

--May be small town politics but get to know the guys at one shop, and try to only go there, after some time they just give you stuff if it's not worth the hassle... If you got a bunch of little shit that you need and they have several cuts to make a they don't bitch about it..... bring a 6pack!!!

I've gotten 2 extra feet of 1/4"plate, because they didn't want to cut and sit on a 2' scrap...

[dimichele]

Sheet metal and flatbar is plentiful at my local scrapyard (Ohio) .25/lb. Tubing is hard to come by though.

[BumpyDodge]

For steel sheet
length" x width" x thickness" x 0.2836 = lbs
Example: a 4ft x 4ft sheet of 1/4" steel weighs about 164 lbs.

0.2836 has no units, it's just a conversion factor.

Last month scrap steel sheet was going for around $0.22/lb. New A36 (hot rolled mild steel) was around $0.68/lb.

If you want to make a full underbody skidplate out of 1/4" steel sheet, I suggest you start doing some math and calculating weight. 1/4" will not only be heavier than necesary, it will be expensive for a part that just needs to bash into things ocassionally.

I've seen a few skidplates made from UHMW plastic sheet bolted over angle steel frameworks lately. It's a lot easier to work with, lighter (even at double the thickness) , and slides over stuff almost as well as steel. It also never rusts, so it saves you the cost of paint.

UHMW is the stuff they make kitchen cutting boards from. It's pretty hard to break a 1/2" thick piece of it.