Help with steel order

Hey Tom,

Assuming the floor will bear the weight you've mentioned, I can't imagine you couldn't get by with just plain old mild (low carbon) steel. Hot rolled will probably be a bit cheaper than cold rolled. The chief difference will be that cold rolled material is relatively square, flat, and parallel, and has almost sharp corners. It is generally a thou or two undersized from nominal. Hot rolled material will have randomly rounded corners and mill scale, and tends towards being oversized a bit. Edges may not be very square.

If you desire hot rolled, you'll look for either 1020 or 1022 steel, the last two digits representing the amount of carbon in hundredths.

Cold rolled is generally C-1018, same thing, .18% carbon.

Most supply houses are generally willing to make cuts for you to haul your material at no charge to you, so you may get them to cut full lengths in half to simplify handling. A 20' bar of 1" X 4" would be most difficult to handle otherwise (over 13 lbs/ft.).

Good luck!~

Harold

Tom, I think Harold answered your questions, but I had one myself. Is counting money and cleaning jewelry really that much entertainment?

RJ

Cold rolled will be the better choice, certainly. Depending on the distributor, it can be had in 12' or 20' lengths. I just had that come up last week, one said it came in 12' and the other said 20'. Go figure. Not knowing the design of the structure, I thought to suggest the possibility of heavy wall box tubing perhaps? Then another idea, maybe you could look into a couple pieces of railroad track. Certain to hold up to the load.

mj

Hot rolled astm 36 is the cheapest. Wouldn't channel iron (A36) do the job as it comes? Paul

Hey Tom,

I could well be mis-reading what I see, but Wow!! That's going to be a lot of weight, plus your "entertainment centre". Way above what any standard home floor will support. Is there some really good reason for all this?

You won't have to do much to "fasten them". Alignment may be a bit of fun though! If the floor will in fact support the unit as it is, then why such heavy material? If it won't support it now, then adding this much doesn't really seem like a good idea to me.

Take care. I'm mean REALLY take care!!

Brian Laws>I'd appreciate some help with a steel order I would like to make. I

Fixed wheels are nice, but wear and eccentricity may make it want to wander as it rolls back and forth. If a caster slips off a 1" high bar, you'll be in a world of hurt.

I suggest you replace the wheels with Iron V groove track wheels. These are designed to roll on an inverted piece of angle iron and eliminate any problems with alignment.

Paul K. Dickman

Yes. That grooved wheel on an inverted angle is an excelent idea. I have seen "old" NMR magnets (the iron ones) that used that method to move around with good results. Those puppies must have been about that weight. :-) ...lew...

I don't get nearly as much weight when I calculate it. 1 x 4 x 120 x