Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

Hi all

Wondering if any of the Brissy / Gold Coast boys can suggest a decent steel supplier. I've found pretty big discrepanies in pricing over the years, so definitely worth shopping around. My usual supplier (South East Steel at Molendinar) has shut up shop, which is a shame because he was regularly 20-30% cheaper than anywhere else (maybe that's why they went bust?)

I'm doing the ring around and getting quotes from several suppliers (those who are prepared to answer phones, anyway) but was wondering if anyone knows of a good supplier I could talk to, maybe speed up the process.

I won't be buying in commercial quantities, so no point looking at a wholesaler who expects to sell 20 tonnes of steel a year before giving any discounts.

cheers.

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/415806-steel-merchants-in-se-qld/
Share on other sites

Don't all answer at once :P

I've sent off 6 RFQ's (2 of the 8 suppliers I tried to contact have had their phone number cancelled, so I can only imagine they've moved on).

Have received 4 quotes so far, and there's definiltley variation in the pricing. The biggest variation was for 5mm plate where the dearest was 124% dearer (yes, more than double the price) than the cheapest. The other stuff (RHS, angle, flat) saw a variation of 16% to 53% between the cheapest and dearest.

So far there doesn't seem to be any one supplier that's cheapest in every area. Some are cheap on one product, and dear on another. They will all deliver for around $50, too (looking at about a tonne of steel).

Definitely an interesting exercise. Shows that depending on what you're after, it's worth shopping around.

I guess you would call it industrial, although it's at the small end of the scale (up to 25x50 RHS, flat, angle, SHS). Do you mean plain mild steel tubing, or more exotic stuff (CrMo, CDS etc)? I had a bit of a search for your thread on tubing but couldn't find it. Care to post a link?

yeah i ment exhaust and cooler tube suppliers only, doesn't mean we cant have a big thread for industrial, cage and also thin tube suppliers as it should help out others

Edited by Dan_J

For cage material at the moment

Race tech are far cheaper for bare minimum CDW tubing than anyone else.

For 4130, performance metals have the best German milled material I've welded for a while.

I found to buy everyday material like RHS etc it was way cheaper to buy constantly from a local light fabrication shop that was buying tonnes per week. Despite paying his slight mark up it is still cheaper than buying direct from wholesalers when your quantity is comparatively low.

I was going to get it all in raw lengths (looks like about 45 full lengths in assorted sizes atm). Will need to get the plate cut though. I'm ordering 3 sheets of 5mm plate (2400x1200) and need to cut them into 800mm x 1200mm lengths. Was considering water cutting, as that gives a nice clean cut. I have a plasma cutter which should give fairly good cuts. Failing that I can always resort to the good ol' 1mm cutting discs on the grinder.

All the RHS, angle, flat etc I'll just chop to length with my drop saw. It will be getting a good workout int he new year.

Out of interest, how much do you charge for laser cutting? As I said, cutting 3 full sheets into 3 pieces each (6 cuts in total)

I work in the Engineering/Operating side so I can't give you a quote.

But I can probably organise one for you with the sales guys.

If you're talking about getting 3 sheets essentially cut down the middle I think the Lasercutting component would be very small.

Obviously they would also be able to organise material for you if you needed.

5mm steel cuts beautifully if the material is good quality.

With tube we can cut anything up to and around 12 meters in length, true 3d beveling etc.

we cut alot of roll cage stuff already.

Let me know if you want to know anymore warps.

Thanks for the offer, but Risking's suggestion makes perfect sense. Hadn't even thought of a guillotine before. Will give that a try first. It'll make the sheets easier to manage at my end too (didn't fancy trying to manoeuvre 113kg sheets of steel without plate clamps or a decent crane / forklift)

Most of the stuff I'm making won't need anything fancier than right angle cuts, so no need for fancy bevels. Will keep it in mind for future projects though (already have a few more projects on thr drawing board)

The first project will be a steel rack so I can store and sort all this steel I'm buying.

No problems mate,

straight cuts are really a waste of what the machine can do to be honest, it's amazing the profiles the tube laser can cut.

On another note, if you're looking for steel, have you tried this place ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icIwKaci3MI

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • Good luck on the weekend mate
    • Must have been an absolute nightmare to drive when the power steer was out, the rack ratio/wheel size/caster is all set up for power assistance
    • Welcome to SAU, what are you looking at buying?
    • I checked the injectors again (1 and 2, since they’re easiest to access) to make sure they weren’t clogged. Even though the entire fuel system had been cleaned, I wanted to be certain. Everything looked clean, so I reinstalled and connected everything. When I started the car to confirm everything was okay, it immediately revved up high, so I shut it off straight away. I checked to see if I’d missed a vacuum hose or something, but everything was connected. On the second attempt, the car ran without the high idle, but I noticed a distinct “compressed air” sound coming from the engine bay. Tracing the sound, I pushed injector #6 forward slightly and the noise stopped — it turned out it wasn’t seated properly, despite the fuel rail being bolted down. While holding it in place, the car idled steadily without stalling and ran for over 5 minutes. At this point, I pulled all six injectors out just in case I hadn’t seated them correctly or dirt had gotten onto the O-rings. Unfortunately, I discovered that I had damaged 3 out of 6 injectors (the OEM 270cc ones) during installation. So yes, this was my fault. Since only the pintle caps were damaged, I’ve ordered a Fuel Injector Service Kit from NZEFI to refurbish them. In the meantime, I reinstalled my new injectors – the car now idles fine for over 15 minutes without stalling. I have not attempted to drive it so far. It’s not perfect yet, as it hesitates when the throttle is pressed, but it’s a big improvement. Unplugging the IACV with the new injectors idles at around 800rpm, even with the IACV screw tightened fully. But this is probably due to tune.
    • I wanted to try and preserve the front bumper as long as possible, they're not cheap and are made to order in Japan. Taking inspiration from my previous K11 Micra build where I made an undertray for the Impul bumper, I did the same for this BN Sports bumper but a little slimmed down.  This time round I only made a 'skid plate' (if that's the correct wording/term) for just the bumper surface area, the Micra version covered the gap like an undertray. Starting off with a sheet of mild steel approx. 0.9mm thick 4ft x 2ft in size. I traced around the bumper, cut it out and cleaned the edges. Luckily I was able to get two halves from one piece of metal In the video I installed it as is, but I've since then I've removed it to spray and add a rubber edging trim. The rubber trim is suitable for 1-2mm and it's a really nice tight fit. The bolts had to be loosened due to the plates being too tight against the bumper, the trim wouldn't push on I used some stainless M6 flat headed bolts for a flusher finish (rather than hex heads poking down), I believe this style fastener is used for furniture too incase you struggle to source some. The corner's are a little wider, but this may be an advantage incase I get close to bumping it  The front grill got some attention, finally getting round to repairing it. Upon removal one fixing pulled itself out of the plastic frame, one side is M8 that fixes inside of the frame, where as the other side is M5. Not knowing I could get replacements, I cut down an M8 bolt, threaded it inside the frame along with a decent amount of JB Weld.  The mesh was replaced to match the bumper. One hole on the bonnet/hood had to be drilled out to 8mm to accommodate the new stud, once the glue had set it could be refitted. I think the reason the grill was double meshed was to hide the horn/bonnet latch (which makes sense) but I much prefer it matching the bumper Bumper refitted and it's looking much better IMO The Youtube video can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVZP35io9MA
×
×
  • Create New...