Fabricating steel stand - which steel do I buy?

[The Grizz]

Sorry Mindy I hadn't replied yet, I am on my first holiday in 9 yrs in South Africa for 14 days.

You can get away with 1" tube with a minimum of a 1/8" wall thickness. If you are putting any kind of covering on the stand it will help to support it from any movement. If you are concerned about it 1 1/2" x .100 wall tube is the best choice, keeps the stand light but still has more then enough support.

[Myka]

Originally Posted by spit.fire

Mines 36x18 but I could extend it pretty easily

True enough, too bad you're there and I'm here.

Originally Posted by kamloops_reefer

yes steel shops don't typically work weekends

1-1/2" x 1/8" wall is just the minimum I'd go - just looks nice IMO

anything less is like using a 2x2 piece of wood - sure it will hold.... but doesn't look like it would

It'll be covered, I don't care it will look like. I kind of like the "that won't work" look anyway. HA!

Originally Posted by The Grizz

Sorry Mindy I hadn't replied yet, I am on my first holiday in 9 yrs in South Africa for 14 days.

You can get away with 1" tube with a minimum of a 1/8" wall thickness. If you are putting any kind of covering on the stand it will help to support it from any movement. If you are concerned about it 1 1/2" x .100 wall tube is the best choice, keeps the stand light but still has more then enough support.

Awesome Greg!!! Have enough fun for me too! Oh, and take pics so you can share them with us!

The covering will be attached with magnets, so it will provide no support. I guess I should have mentioned that.

From everyone's input, I think I'll go with the 1" and get one size up from the 1/8" thickness (whatever that is). Maybe I will put some 45 degree braces in most of the corners too just for poops and giggles. Now I just need to rent a steel chop saw (whatever that's called).

[TimT]

If you have a mitre saw just get a 10" cut off blade.

[spit.fire]

Mines 36x18 but I could extend it pretty easily

[Myka]

Ha!

[Myka]

Of course it turns out "the next size up" isn't a common size. So I'm going with 1" with 1.125 thickness. I'll use some bracing. Hopefully it will be ok.

[WarDog]

1/8th thickness will be fine. Just tell your hubby not to weld the corners as hot. He'll know what that means.

[Myka]

Originally Posted by WarDog

1/8th thickness will be fine. Just tell your hubby not to weld the corners as hot. He'll know what that means.

I think this might be turning into a "me" job. You know, "Let me show you how to do it, honey." In the meantime, I'll show him how to cook dinner. Ya...right.

[Myka]

Originally Posted by TimT

If you have a mitre saw just get a 10" cut off blade.

These blades are CHEAP, like $8-10 each. They do have a drawback though (unless I'm doing something wrong lol), in that you can't make cut after cut after cut since the blade heats up and then it won't cut - it just stops cutting. I could only make 2-3 cuts through the 1" 0.125 thickness steel and then had to let the blade cool for a bit. I thought it was a crappy blade, so I went and bought another one, and same thing.

Originally Posted by Myka

I think this might be turning into a "me" job. You know, "Let me show you how to do it, honey." In the meantime, I'll show him how to cook dinner. Ya...right.

Lucky for me, hubby is doing it all. We thought he was done last night, but then we realized that we forgot about the bar we were going to put along the bottom to help support the sump. So, one more piece this morning, and then I can clean it up and paint it.