:: View topic - Square Steel Tube

Just found this while on e-bay, 2x2x72 in steel tubing for under $20 a piece. Damn good price compared to what I can find elsewhere.

http://www.industrialmetalsales.com/Steel_Square_Tube.html

I found the tubing for my press at Morse Steel in bellingham. It is a big warehouse that caters more to the industrial customer. It cost be about $200 for enough steel to make an 8 foot long frame with extra reinforcement. I had them all cut to ten foot lengths from 20 foot lengths so they would fit in the back of my truck. I am sure most towns have some sort of industrial steel supply place like this.

I saw that online place too, but the local vendor was actually cheaper. Plus, steel is pretty darn heavy, and I can't imagine what shipping would cost on something like that.

your local junkyard may have a lot of useful metal as well.

I got a bunch of i-beams that happened to be 80" long from a junk pile at the D.O.T. Never found anyone to ask about it, so I just took them.

just curious, how did you lift the i-beams?

they're just about the limit that a single person would be able to carry. I'll get some pics today as I'm doing some measurements and final design creation. The dimensions are 81" long x 6" high x 4"wide and the metal is 1/4" thick.

if i use plexi topsheets should i sand the surface to bond w/the epoxy or can i leave as is?

I would sand it with 60 grit, flame treating would probably discolor it or melt it. Plexiglass (acrylic) probably isn't a good material for the topsheet. It'll chip, scratch and crack pretty easily.

-kelvin