Great auction score of 1/4" sheet steel!

[LanceR]

Hello fellow BBQ fans!

I haven't been around much for a while but I've been scrounging materials for a smoker or two. I have three 120 gallon propane tanks and a really thick walled 90 gallon tank off of a vehicle sitting in the edge of our woods along with a stout trailer a big industrial air compressor came off of awaiting projects.

I have been cringing at the price of the hot rolled 1/4" steel needed for fire boxes on the smokers and maybe a warming cabinet on a big patio smoker. My normal supplier has gone from $190 a 4x8" sheet of pickled and oiled steel two years ago to $360 now. Pickled and oiled steel has had the mill scale removed in a dilute acid bath and has a water based or oil coating to reduce rusting. It's my preferred steel for projects as it doesn't need as much prep or cleaning before welding or painting but in a pinch I'll take regular hot rolled steel.

Fortunately, good sized HVAC contractor about 45 minutes away retired and among other treasures at the dispersal auction I bought two full 4' x 8' (122x244cm) sheets of 1/4" (6mm) hot rolled steel and a 48"x62" (122x157cm) sheet for a total of a little over $300 USD.

The mill scale sure shows up on the edges in this close-up shot....

I'd have much preferred pickled and oiled steel so I wouldn't have to deal with the mill scale but for half or less of the current retail price I'm a happy camper. Fortunately I have dehumidified indoor shop space (my basement) where it can be stored without rusting until I can get to it and if I can get the 320 pound sheets from the trailer onto my stock cart with all my fingers and toes intact I should be OK handling it alone.

I'm sensing that my 9" Evolution metal cutting circular saw is in for a workout.......

Best regards to all,


Lance

 

[ofelles]

Your saw is not the only one in for a work out. Your back is also. Take care.

 

[LanceR]

Hopefully I'll be able to roll the cart out the back door to the edge of the concrete slab and tip a sheet at a time onto the lawn with some framing lumber under it to keep it off the ground while I cut. The biggest hazard will likely be the zillion sharp shards of steel the saw flings around at high velocity. A full face shield and my leather welding chaps and jacket are the uniform of the day for cutting thicker steel with the Evolution saw (thin sheet isn't too bad).

I cut some 1/2" A36 steel for welding table tops a while back and had to stop a few inches into 9 feet of cuts to put the leather chaps on so I learned that the hard way.

Best regards,


Lance

 

[thirdeye]

That is a good deal on the 1/4" plate. Keep us posted on the progress of the build.

 

[LanceR]

That is a good deal on the 1/4" plate. Keep us posted on the progress of the build.

Will do but there likely won't be a build until mid to late winter although I may cut the plate for the first firebox when I unload the steel to keep from handling it any more than I must. I have a few ongoing woodworking and cabinetmaking projects and a couple of restorations of old canoes to finish, too. And it looks likely I'll be on the road to help with a couple months of child care for a family member who might be spending a lot of time in a hospital.

Best Regards,


Lance

 

[kmmamm]

Congratulation! You did OK! $360.00/sheet for 4x8x1/4” A36? Holly cow...that is pretty steep! Last month I was quoted a bit over $300/sheet for 5 sheets of 5x10 x1/4” A36 & and took a pass. Ended up substituting with some surplus 5/16“ I had laying around.

 

[smokingunny]

That's a deal! 1/4" plate here is $450 per 4x8 sheet the last time I checked but that was almost a year ago so who knows what it is now.

 

[LanceR]

Prices seem to be all over the place at times and widely different between sources as suppliers react to the particular market forces that affect them. One thing I will say for my steel supplier is that they usually will deliver to a residential address two days a week for no charge even though I'm 90 road miles from them as they have other steady accounts in town. If all you place is small orders at lengthy intervals that may be different though.

Best regards,


Lance

 

[pc farmer]

We keep 1/8 and 1/4 full sheets here for the farm. I havent bought any for a few years. You think 1/4 is heavy, we had 5 1/2inch full sheets at one point. Sounds like you need a plasma cutter now.

 

[LanceR]

I want a plasma cutter but don't think I can justify what a new brand name plasma cutter costs and have grave reservations about the lesser brands. I'd love to have something like a Miller Spectrum 375 but haven't yet been able to choke down the $1500 cost.

If I'm a really good boy do you think the Welding Fairy will leave one under my pillow?

Best regards,


Lance

 

[kmmamm]

The odds off the good plasma cutter fairy coming through are directly proportIonal to the measure of personal value dominate feminine forces in your life perceive in “allowing” you own such a shiny new tool! Keep an eye on Craig’s list, lightly used cutters will surface occasionally. Seems it is one of those tools some people buy with great intentions that never quite materialize.

 

[LanceR]

Most of the used plasma cutters that pop up here either look like they got air dropped sans parachutes or the sellers think they should get close to high retail pricing for them. In some cases they must have bought them dumb as they fairly often pop up at over normal street prices.

For most of the industrial woodworking, metal working and welding machines I have owned I refurbished and sold 2-3 of them to pay for what I kept. And that promotes marital harmony. I don't think that will be an option for a plasma cutter so I sometime lurk around the usual online site hoping for a nice used one at a decent price.

Best regards to all,


Lance

 

[chopsaw]

I'm sensing that my 9" Evolution metal cutting circular saw is in for a workout.......

Spent my share of time cutting metal with an evolution saw . One of the reasons my ears are ringing .
Might be telling you something you already know , but they make different blades depending on what the thickness is . Get the blade spec'd to cut 1/2 " and keep an eye on the teeth .
We used a 12 " to cut structural I beams .

 

[LanceR]

Chopsaw, you sure have that right. Metal cutting saws can be real screamers.

My experience with metal cutting saws is that carelessly shock loading the teeth by starting a cut too aggressively or forcing the saw as opposed to letting it cut freely are both quick paths to buying blades a lot more often than necessary. At least the blades have come down in price over the 6 or so years I've had the saw. My "local" Lowes stocks them and with my retired military discount they are a little under $50 a pop. Not bad as they were hard to find an $80-90 when the saw was new.

I've always been careful with my hearing and got through 29 years in the infantry with good hearing. Even now, 15 years after retirement the VA gives me a full blown hearing test every year including the soundproof room bit as they have me slated as a high risk of hearing degradation due to my career field.

And I still wear plugs inside muffs for a lot of shop work.

Best regards to all,


Lance

 

[seenred]

I want a plasma cutter but don't think I can justify what a new brand name plasma cutter costs and have grave reservations about the lesser brands. I'd love to have something like a Miller Spectrum 375 but haven't yet been able to choke down the $1500 cost.

If I'm a really good boy do you think the Welding Fairy will leave one under my pillow?

Best regards,


Lance

I know what you mean about the cost of the name brand plasma cutters. I’d love to own a Hypertherm, but they’re way out of my price range! I understand your reservations about the “lesser” brands, but you might at least take a look at Primeweld plasma cutters. I’ve owned one for more 3 years - gave less than $400 for it - and it still works like a charm! If it quits tomorrow, I'll still feel like I got my money’s worth.

Red

 

[LanceR]

at least take a look at Primeweld plasma cutters.

Red

Thanks, seenred

I'll look into them.

The auction was an online auction and I had made an appointment to inspect the lots I was interested in a few days before the sale. When things closed I bought a good used pallet jack to replace my tired one, a 10' twin step Type 1AA step ladder and a few small things along with the steel.

I picked everything up Tuesday and moving the 320 plus pound sheets by myself was a treat. Fortunately I have a good bit of experience in rigging loads for movement and I'm a climbing instructor so I had the tackle, experience and ability to move them from the trailer (where I had them strapped upright to the E-track on the walls) out onto my stock cart without tipping them over. My old larger cargo trailer had barn doors and removable ramps which made loading or sliding things onto a cart or loading/unloading with a fork truck or pallet jack easy. This little rental trailer had a ramp which made getting the steel moved a real challenge as the cart sat several feet away and the steel was upright and unsupported for most of the move to the cart.

Rigging from a high purchase on the steel pipe side strut of the cart to a low purchase on the sheets using a really stout C-clamp would do the trick while lifting the front corner of the sheet and reducing it digging onto things. With one block hooked to the top of the pipe strut I set the rigging so I could pull the steel with one hand while standing at the rear end of the sheet while using another higher mounted clamp to keep the steel upright. That did the trick....albeit with a lot of huffing and puffing....

I suck at remembering to take "in progress" pictures so when I thought to snap a few pictures one of the full sheets was already on the cart. The second picture shows the old school manila rope rigged tackle with it's built in brake for "progress capture". The brake meant that each time the sheet hung up on something I could tension the rigging and lift the nose of the sheet from the front C-clamp so the natural stretch of the rope could slide the sheet past the obstruction.

You can see the rope that I was pulling on running to the rear of the sheet that's still in the trailer so I could pull from there while using another C-clamp there to keep the sheet upright. Once the leading end was on the cart and it couldn't fall over everything was easier and less stressful. Two mornings later my wrists and forearms remind me that I'm no where near as strong as I was even when I was 50 or 55 years old......

That tackle is hooked on the top of the steel pipe strut on the cart down to the lower edge of the sheet to help keep the front corner from digging into the trailer floor and every little obstruction. It had the added benefit of lifting the front edge to clear the end of the cart and right up onto it. Having only the rear corner of the sheet on the ground made it much easier to slide along.

The ramp was laid right through my double basement doors so I didn't have to muscle the loaded cart over the door sill. And the ramp acted as a full width wheel chock to keep the cart still while pulling.

The second full sheet on the cart. After these the partial 4x5' sheet was easy to just man-handle out onto the cart. Funny how messing around with the 320 pound sheets made the 200 pound sheet feel light....

and the pay-off....

Of all the tools and machinery I miss after downsizing from our farm shop to our "retirement" house the single thing I miss the most (after the 5,800 square feet of shop space) is the gantry crane. That would have made short work of this as I'd have taken an open trailer and just picked the sheets out.

When I get a chance, I'll cut the tank and get final measurements for the end plate of the tank and the firebox and start cutting.

Best regards to all,

 

[kmmamm]

Hey Lance, next time you are faced with dragging heavy sheets around on hard surfaces, consider laying a few sections of black pipe down and simply “roll“ the sheets over the pipe. Granted, black pipe on the floor will never replace the convenience and safety of a crane, fork truck, skid steer, or a even a good loader tractor.....but it works in a pinch.

 

[LanceR]

Hey Lance, next time you are faced with dragging heavy sheets around on hard surfaces, consider laying a few sections of black pipe down and simply “roll“ the sheets over the pipe.

I have a lot of pipe nipples on hand and gave that some thought but that wasn't going to work well here due to the slope of the ramp, needing to control the sheet to keep it from tipping and then raising it up onto the cart off pipe rollers. The rigging I used kept the leading corner above the cart until I chose to set it down after 1/2 to 2/3 of the sheet was over the cart.

The same auction had a few sets of "tank rollers" for moving heavy loads on concrete floors and I toyed with buying a set of little ones....with "little" being relative. Even a small set the size of a corded jigsaw case was 8-ton capacity.

I don't know what they were moving but the largest set was a 40-ton set for which each of the dollies likely weighed the better part of 80 pounds, maybe more.

Best regards to all,


Lance