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Best place to purchase Mild Steel
randombloke - 9/4/12 at 02:48 PM

Hello everyone

I want to get peoples opinion on the best places to purchase mild steel box section?

jacko - 9/4/12 at 03:14 PM

I would say look in your yellow pages for the nearest steel stockist + have a ring round
Jacko

Simon - 9/4/12 at 03:14 PM

I got mine from IS&G but have also bought quite a lot of steel from Parkers - not sure if either of these outfits are near enough to you.

Have a look on yell.com or google if above no good

ATB

Simon

mark chandler - 9/4/12 at 03:49 PM

IS&G for me as well. always try and argue price down with whoever

iank - 9/4/12 at 04:00 PM

If you fancy a go at mail order for convenience...
http://www.metals4u.co.uk/detail.asp?cat_id=49&prd_id=2382

But always order in full (6m) lengths wherever you go as cutting charges are always ridiculous. Cut it up yourself in the car park with a hacksaw to get it on the roof rack if you must.

Brian R - 9/4/12 at 05:44 PM

Both Parkers and Brundles deliver to your area.

http://www.parkersteel.co.uk/

http://www.fhbrundle.co.uk/groups/30__Steel_Sections

Slimy38 - 9/4/12 at 06:12 PM

quote:
Originally posted by iank
If you fancy a go at mail order for convenience...
http://www.metals4u.co.uk/detail.asp?cat_id=49&prd_id=2382

But always order in full (6m) lengths wherever you go as cutting charges are always ridiculous. Cut it up yourself in the car park with a hacksaw to get it on the roof rack if you must.


wow, 3 metres for £12 and 6 metres for £16!!! I see what you mean about ordering them in full lengths! Although you'd have thought the delivery charges for 3 metres would be less?

Is that a good price, 6 metres for £16? Assuming you buy enough to get free delivery?

randombloke - 9/4/12 at 06:32 PM

Thanks for the quick response everyone, I will check out your suggestions.

One questions on the steel itself, I have bought 25mm x 25mm x 2mm box section in the past that had a 4 or 5mm radius on the corner curves but I have seen a lot of build diaries on here where the box section corners are much squarer, more like 1 or 2mm radius. Is this just down to manufacture, smaller wall thickness or any other reason? The reason I ask is aesthetically I think it looks better, I'm just about to start building my chassis and would prefer to use the squarer type.

Regards,
Philip

SteveMX5 - 9/4/12 at 08:56 PM

You want 25mm erw this has the nice sharp corners. I have used 1.6mm wall thickness which is plenty strong enough but 2mm wall is possibly easier to weld and may be stronger but obviously weighs more. I brought all of my steel from Barratt steel, they have an online quotation system. I think I paid £120 ish for all my box section.

iank - 9/4/12 at 10:54 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Slimy38
quote:
Originally posted by iank
If you fancy a go at mail order for convenience...
http://www.metals4u.co.uk/detail.asp?cat_id=49&prd_id=2382

But always order in full (6m) lengths wherever you go as cutting charges are always ridiculous. Cut it up yourself in the car park with a hacksaw to get it on the roof rack if you must.


wow, 3 metres for £12 and 6 metres for £16!!! I see what you mean about ordering them in full lengths! Although you'd have thought the delivery charges for 3 metres would be less?

Is that a good price, 6 metres for £16? Assuming you buy enough to get free delivery?


It's not a terrible price, but the prices go up and down all the time so a decent stockholder will generally be able to beat it - if they can be bothered to deal with a private sale.

Just noticed that Barratt have a depot 5miles away from my house that I didn't know about, will have to get a quote from them when the time comes to start building again.

nickharding - 9/4/12 at 11:16 PM

How much would you recommend ordering if your doing the "book" chassis including the amendments?

About to make an order shortly for my new build.

Cheers.

iank - 10/4/12 at 09:01 AM

quote:
Originally posted by nickharding
How much would you recommend ordering if your doing the "book" chassis including the amendments?

About to make an order shortly for my new build.

Cheers.


If book means the live axle escort based Ron Champion version then use the corrected McSorley plans here
http://www.sevenesque.com/plans/

There is a BOM file in excel which has an optimised cut-list. It's in inches and assumes 10ft lengths which is presumably a US standard length.
It says 11 lengths and a total of 1210 inches required. So a touch over 30m. I'd be buying 6-7 6m lengths as I'd be bound to screw up one or two bits
Remember all the bits of 3/4" and round tube when you make an order.

If it's haynes then it's a bit bigger, there must be cut lists somewhere on the haynes forum, or ashg will know.

nickharding - 10/4/12 at 09:59 AM

Hi mate,

Its the Haynes roadster chassis.

Be nice to order it all in one go!

Will drop AshG a message now.

Cheers!

thefreak - 10/4/12 at 02:35 PM

I just go down to the local fabricators and pick it up from them.
Last lot was 1000x1000x1.6mm aluminium sheet and a couple of 1.5m lengths of 40x25mm box. Total price... £10 cash

Simon - 11/4/12 at 09:07 PM

Fwiw, I didn't bother with 3/4" for the trans tunnel, did the whole lot from 1". I think the weight penalty is insignificant.

ATB

Simon

randombloke - 12/4/12 at 08:08 AM

Hello Everyone, thanks for your comments on this post.

I decided to by my steel from Barratt Steel as they offered a really good price. The only problem they didn't have seamless tube so I will need to find this from another supplier.

Thanks,
Philip

nick205 - 12/4/12 at 08:28 AM

Spotted these guys the other day local to me in Winchester. No experience of them, but might be worth a try.

http://www.bmsteel.co.uk/winchester

Slimy38 - 13/4/12 at 05:06 PM

I had this in mind when you first posted, but it's taken me until now to find it!!

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/metal-suppliers.htm