WELL, I got some good news, I have acess to my brake at school, but I need the roundness, and radii tools that I can use... BUT I don't have any steel, what gage should I use, what's the best way to cut it without a plasma cutter.. uhhhh HELP!!! Where is the best place to get cheap steel close to MD?
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Fabricaton Help
- Thread starter gcoleman
- Start date
Help Support IH Cub Cadet Tractor Forum:
Keep your eyes peeled at local auctions. Sometimes they will go for a good price. I've been to some farm auctions and they are pretty reasonable. I'm in North IL and don't even know where to begin looking. Ask around to see if anyone you know has any info too. That's how I got started in auctions, a friend told me I went and I'm hooked! Good luck!
Glen - Use the thickness that the cub already has. The dies ... you may have to fab up what you need. That'll be hard unless you have a milling machine and lathe but you might could use pipe for the most of it. You'll have to think it through and see what you can come up with. Remember - a hydraulic press under pressure is VERY DANGEROUS so be safe!
I cut 11ga. (just under 1/8") with a jig saw , band saw , air tool with cut off wheel (3" - 4"), metal cutting wheel in circular saw (like air cut off wheel but 7.25"). A torch on that thin of sheet will warp the pizz outta it ! I bought a metal cutting blade today that I'm going to try with the circular saw. It's some kind of carbide tipped blade but I don't see any tips. Oh and the BEST way to cut it would be a metal shear
I cut 11ga. (just under 1/8") with a jig saw , band saw , air tool with cut off wheel (3" - 4"), metal cutting wheel in circular saw (like air cut off wheel but 7.25"). A torch on that thin of sheet will warp the pizz outta it ! I bought a metal cutting blade today that I'm going to try with the circular saw. It's some kind of carbide tipped blade but I don't see any tips. Oh and the BEST way to cut it would be a metal shear
I've never used an electric nibbler , just the little hand squeeze ones. A good quality electric nibbler made to handle that gauge should do it and leave a smoth enough edge. You may have to buff the edges with a file afterwards. The guy in Kansas that I cast reproduction handles for uses a nibbler.
Back to you asking about locating the steel. Look in the yellow pages! Steel prices are through the roof with China buying everything.
Back to you asking about locating the steel. Look in the yellow pages! Steel prices are through the roof with China buying everything.
GLEN - I have an air-powered nibbler. Book says it's only good to about 18-20 ga. carbon steel only. So .040" to .048" maximum.
For Ken's recommendation of 11 ga I suggest the saber or JIG saw with a GOOD preferably LENOX fine tooth blade....something like 18-24 tooth. And still be prepared to FILE the edges smooth & burr free. We also have good luck smoothing edges with those 4-1/2" abrasive layered flap wheels. They do a real nice job blending welds.
For Ken's recommendation of 11 ga I suggest the saber or JIG saw with a GOOD preferably LENOX fine tooth blade....something like 18-24 tooth. And still be prepared to FILE the edges smooth & burr free. We also have good luck smoothing edges with those 4-1/2" abrasive layered flap wheels. They do a real nice job blending welds.
I got lucky and found a bunch of sheet metal, some realthick, in the trash about 2 years ago. My have always made fun of my trash picking but alot of this stuff I have will come in handy sooner or later especially with steel prices. I'll have to go and look at the pieces in the shed, we used some for a floor pan fix in a camaro. There's another way for you to find some, go trash pickin! Not all can appreciated this art tho, so becareful.
Glen,
I can't tell you where to look for sheet metal in Southern MD, but up here in Westminster I drop by Petry's Junkyard every few months to look for raw material. Check the junk yards down in your neck of the woods, you might get lucky!
If you are cutting fairly narrow sheet steel pieces up to 3 or 4 inches wide, or stuff like angle or channel, one of those 14 inch metal chop saws rock! Air tools with cutoff wheels work well, but you need a pretty beefy air compressor to drive them - you have to think not just PSI, but also CFM, and sadly my 21 gallon Harbor Freight special comes up wanting badly in that regard. A cheaper alternative is to get one of those Chinese made 4 1/2 inch electric angle grinders with a cutoff wheel. Get the good fiber reinforced Dewalt cutoff wheels, they are half as thick as the cheapies, cost 3 or 4 bucks each, but can slice through heavy sheet steel like butter.
I can't tell you where to look for sheet metal in Southern MD, but up here in Westminster I drop by Petry's Junkyard every few months to look for raw material. Check the junk yards down in your neck of the woods, you might get lucky!
If you are cutting fairly narrow sheet steel pieces up to 3 or 4 inches wide, or stuff like angle or channel, one of those 14 inch metal chop saws rock! Air tools with cutoff wheels work well, but you need a pretty beefy air compressor to drive them - you have to think not just PSI, but also CFM, and sadly my 21 gallon Harbor Freight special comes up wanting badly in that regard. A cheaper alternative is to get one of those Chinese made 4 1/2 inch electric angle grinders with a cutoff wheel. Get the good fiber reinforced Dewalt cutoff wheels, they are half as thick as the cheapies, cost 3 or 4 bucks each, but can slice through heavy sheet steel like butter.
Thanks, the nearest scrapyard is in brandywine, bout an hr from my house, I want to find out where my neighbor got his (red white and blue ford LTS9000 flatbed delivered it), seen em before, but I can't find em in the phone book... oh well.
kide
Well-known member
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- Gerry Ide
Earl - with the price of steel that scrap picken' pays off. I've been lucky - been around computer rooms most of the last 40 years - you'd be amazed at the useful steel scrap I've gotten - like about 50 sheets of 16 gauge (or metric equivalent) 28" x 48" that came off the sides of mainframe disk drives - when they bolted a line of them together, the sides got pitched. Lot's of 1/4 inch nickel plated steel bus bars (10 to a pack) about a foot by three inches wide.. I've rescued hundreds of feet of new heavy copper ground cables (in tough sheathing) in number 4 down through something like "triple 0" and it's the fine wire like welding cable.. I had most of the Field Engineers trained - they'd never throw anything away without checking with me first..
When I was in school I took home some scrap that they were going to toss in the trash. Not very big stuff, small odds and ends, but I've used them for various brackets and have ideas for incorporating a couple bigger pieces. I've picked up some table saw parts with a friend and have some very nice angled steel. Until the price of steel went up I didn't thing about doing that but now I keep space in the truck for anything that may be of use as 'parts'.
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