looking for sources of mild steel rods for axles

Try the hardware store, 3 ft lengths are a common stocked item.

If your h'ware store (you're in US, right?) is anything like ours in Oz, the "steel" they sell is OK for fence pickets & the like, but lousy to machine. Rough, black surface, & tears badly in the lathe.

Yes, but he wants them for axles, not for machine stock.

GWE

Tool steel is ground to diameter and isn't hard. You can saw it with a hacksaw. It is ready for working with.

Martin Martin Eastburn @ home at Lions' Lair with our computer lionslair at consolidated dot net NRA LOH & Endowment Member NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder

pogo wrote:

Perhaps the OP will tell us if it is to be machined...

Does OP mean Original Poster ? If so that would be me, and the answer is no. Just for direct use as axles with no more machining than that of cutting to length and perhaps drilling a hole for a screw or tension pin.

You didn't spec the diam, but at 3" long would 1/4" do? Enco 240-2244

1018 alloy 1/4" x 6': $2.17. Or 3/16" drill rod x 3': $1.09. As far as "cut to length", I can't help. Bob

I'd suggest for axles yu might want to use something a bit stronger than mild steel. Drill rod is great, but there are other alloys available that are stonger than mild. Try your local "metal supermarket" or equivalent. You definitely want CRS if you are in the US or Canada. Can't remember what the Britts and other colonials call it - but it is "brite".

*** Free account sponsored by SecureIX.com *** *** Encrypt your Internet usage with a free VPN account from ***

Don't know about other places, but at the local hardware stores here, the "drill rod" is drawn mild steel shafting. You can tell by the lack of the ground finish. But it would be exactly what you need for your axles or pivots, since you say you aren't machining them. Machines like bubble gum, bandsaw cuts it like cheese, though. I'm assuming that you're using these for something that isn't too critical, toy-making perhaps.

Stan

I wouldn't call that drill rod by any means. It is junk metal that is good for odds and ends. Zinc coated.

I call drill rod in 3 classes : 1. Heat treat oil cool. 2. Air cool 3. real center less ground high grade. I have some of all. The center less I have - was from the company that makes drill blanks for Latrobe(sp) for drills and mills.

Martin Martin Eastburn @ home at Lions' Lair with our computer lionslair at consolidated dot net NRA LOH & Endowment Member NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder

snipped-for-privacy@prolynx.com wrote:

Any steel is quite sufficient for axles to be used with plastic wheels.

OK, but plastic wheels were not, to my knowlege, specified. It's entirely possible, however, that I missed it.

I have often used "fixture pipe" for light axles. Find an old table lamp and pull it apart - the tube up the center that holds it all together, and that the cord runs up, is pretty strong - and if it's the right length you can use the"fixture nuts" to hold the wheel on.

*** Free account sponsored by SecureIX.com *** *** Encrypt your Internet usage with a free VPN account from ***

Not specified in this thread, but he must have noticed some of my other posts and deduced that. He's correct !

Anyway, thanks for the info ! JCD

According to pogo :

It was obvious in the photos to which you posted links.

Enjoy, DoN.