I'm after some mild steel round bar offcuts to make 7/16 threaded bosses for my harness mounts.
I see lots of "bright steel" bits and bobs advertised on eBay, but I've not been able to find a succinct definition of what bright
steel is. I've seen some references to it being unsuitable for welding due to sulphor content etc, and there seems to be several different
standards, EN3, EN1A etc.
Can someone more knowledgable fill me in? Is it any good for my purposes?
Ta,
A
Bright means the bar is cold finished rather than hot finished bar which is black due to oxide scale. Most of the low carbon bars are usually weldable. Lost touch a little with the UK designations so no doubt someone will be along to guide you more precisely.
Yep here you go; scroll down to steels>
<Folkstone Techdata>
As Alan says... Bright Bar is rolled cold after pickling to get rid of the Oxide (Rust and Inclusions). The resultant finish is a Bright (Shiny)
finish. This type of (usually round) bar is slightly harder on the surface due to the process in which it was manufactured.
HTH - Steve
Bright bar also tends to crack easily when bent... needs to be heated to at least orange to avoid this.
If you want to be able to turn it, thread it and then weld it into the harness bar, then I'd go for a bit of EN1a.
Mild, clean cutting (the 'a' denotes a smidge of lead to help the surface finish), and easily strong enough.
I used inch section, drilled out and threaded 7/16UNF as per standard seatbelt equipment.
Then cut holes into the rollcage and fitted them as per blue book regs.
Ed.
Thanks for the useful replies.
So bright steel is just mild steel processed in a certain way rather than a specific grade, correct?
I read on a welding forum (clicky) that the "freecutting" stuff
like EN1a is prone to cracking and thus difficult to weld.
Perhaps some EN3 would be a better choice for my harness mounts - it's spec looks... um.. milder that EN1a.
Out of interest, what grade is your standard ERW box section?
or weld a 9/16 nut onto your bar?
quote:
Originally posted by 02GF74
or weld a 9/16 nut onto your bar?