# Lightweight steel tube/box section



## dickm (28 Feb 2013)

Need some 25mm square section steel tube, but with a 1.5mm wall thickness. Seems impossible to find up here, as all the steel held locally is for building oil rigs or big agricultural machines  . According to the incredibly helpful Tata steel guy in Fochabers, the stuff is called ERW (electric resistance welded) tube, but he doesn't know of a stockist. 
Only need a couple of metres of the stuff.
Any suggestions?

(It's to make a copy of an Alaskan Mill to convert some of the larch lying in our garden. So weight is important given that the Stihl 048 weighs a tonne anyway)


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## Hitch (28 Feb 2013)

Yes, ERW is what you want if you want thinner wall stuff....
You can usually get box in 2mm up fairly easily compared to this thin 1.5 walled stuff.

One of the online suppliers may be a good bet for this.


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## Tinbasher (28 Feb 2013)

Just used these guys for some aluminium tube. Ordered Tuesday, delivered Thursday!

http://www.metals4u.co.uk/Mild-Steel-Bo ... oducts.asp


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## jasonB (1 Mar 2013)

This ebay shop is quite good, does the 1.5 wall in various lengths

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/B-E-J-Engineer ... 34.c0.m322


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## Boatfixer (1 Mar 2013)

Is it a 2m length you need? I may have some short bits in my offcuts pile...


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## Spindle (1 Mar 2013)

Hi Dick

I bought loads of ERW a few years ago for a kit car chassis, (another story), got it from Fyvie smiddy but that's closed now. Have you tried the smiddy on the Methlick / Fyvie road?
I also got material from MacDuff shipbuilders and a fabricators in the Pitmedden area, (can't for the life of me remember it's name). In short, I think if you just drive up and ask on the off chance you will be surprised at what is available.

I have some 25mm x 2mm ERW if that's any good.

Regards Mick

Edited - Found it  next door to Burns coach operators just outside of Tarves going south on the B999 on the right - they were building buggies so had a fair selection of materials and tooling.


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## twothumbs (1 Mar 2013)

Sounds like you need 'Speedframe' made by 'Dexion', so if there was a stockist up North they may have some. Been arond for many years. It is a bit thin for a good weld. Used by the furniture and shopfitting trades. You could try a shopfitter or someone who does built-in furniture. Comes in 3.0 m lengths. Alternatively, a scrappie who has old office desks and shelving that you could strip down. Best wishes.


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## colinc (1 Mar 2013)

I hate to suggest this because you will pay through the nose for it, but our local B & Q Depot sells it.

Colin


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## dickm (2 Mar 2013)

Spindle":1uzx503m said:


> Hi Dick
> 
> I bought loads of ERW a few years ago for a kit car chassis, (another story), got it from Fyvie smiddy but that's closed now. Have you tried the smiddy on the Methlick / Fyvie road?
> I also got material from MacDuff shipbuilders and a fabricators in the Pitmedden area, (can't for the life of me remember it's name). In short, I think if you just drive up and ask on the off chance you will be surprised at what is available.
> ...



You're a star! Will start trying those on Monday. The smiddy/engineeer between Methlick and Fyvie is inaccessible (or has been) as the road is closed and it's a 10 mile detour round through Fyvie itself. The guy next door to Burns is Pete Murray Engineering - hadn't thought of him as most of the stuff he makes is excavator buckets and the like, BIG stuff. And he was "less than entirely helpful" when my daughter tried to buy his semi-derelict croft the other side of Tarves. Still, that was probably for the best, so I'll try him too.
I'm probably being too fussy looking for the thinner ERW stuff, but any weight saving seems like a good idea.


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## dickm (2 Mar 2013)

colinc":h5uuyyc3 said:


> I hate to suggest this because you will pay through the nose for it, but our local B & Q Depot sells it.


Funnily enough, the Tata steel guy I was talking to the other day finally said in a rather embarrassed way "Not being funny, but have you tried B&Q?". 
Not sure which of us was more embarrassed, him as a representative of possibly the world's biggest steelmaker recommending them as competitors, or me for not thinking of them. To be fair to me, the nearest Bee and Poo is in the Silver City, and we try not to go there more than necessary. 
But if the other suggestions fail, it's probably a trip there rather than paying postage from the 'bay.


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## Spindle (2 Mar 2013)

Hi Dick

If you're looking to save weight you can get 25mm square ERW in 1.2mm wall thickness - don't think you would see any appreciable reduction in rigidity.

Regards Mick


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## Lons (2 Mar 2013)

Hi Dick

It's already been suggested but the stuff you want is Dexion type speedframe and as said it's also used for the legs and frame of office stryle desks often thrown away so look on gumtree, and freecycle etc.
If you google "speedframe" you'll find it and there wilkl almost definitely be a distributor around Aberdeen at least. Dexion is the market leader (we used to sell it) but it was imitated by a number of other companies and can be bought on line. I looked at the first listing selling std black square tube at £7.50 for 3 metres.

http://www.richardsonsuk.co.uk/product. ... tAodWGIAoA

I've just measured a section out of my scrap and the wall thickness looks about 1.25mm. Can't remember the Dexion specs as it's too long ago  

Bob


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## Tinbasher (2 Mar 2013)

Pee and Poo do sell a good (albeit extortionate) selection of metal sections these days.


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## dickm (3 Mar 2013)

Lons":1qctgris said:


> Hi Dick
> 
> It's already been suggested but the stuff you want is Dexion type speedframe and as said it's also used for the legs and frame of office stryle desks often thrown away so look on gumtree, and freecycle etc.
> If you google "speedframe" you'll find it and there wilkl almost definitely be a distributor around Aberdeen at least. Dexion is the market leader (we used to sell it) but it was imitated by a number of other companies and can be bought on line. I looked at the first listing selling std black square tube at £7.50 for 3 metres.
> ...


Thanks, Bob. According to t' web, there is a Dexion store in Aberdeen, but it looks like they only do bulk supplies. If I draw a blank with the local engineers etc., it may be worth asking the Dexion folk who buys there stuff round here. 
On a related note, it seems to be a lot more difficult now to get stuff from scrapyards - presumably it's mainly down to pollution control legislation. That was where it was useful when my daughter worked for SEPA; if she went in to a yard wearing her SEPA-badged Goretex, they were ever so helpful


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## Tinbasher (3 Mar 2013)

You're dead right with scrapyards it's impossible to get anything out these days. I used to use old water cylinders as a source of copper sheet but now they won't part with it.


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## Lons (3 Mar 2013)

Hi Dick

Metal of any kind is far too valuable now and even an old car which not so long ago you had to pay to have scrapped is now worth a couple of hundred quid or more to the scrappies.

Try all the shopfitters in your area as they will have offcuts of square tube. It's all pretty much the same as competitors pitched their product to be compatible with Dexion.
Shame you aren't near me as I probably have some. Best option if you can wait though is definitely look for a free office desk.

Bob


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## dickm (6 Mar 2013)

OK, just to finish the story and maybe help anyone with a similar need in the North East. Tried most of the local engineering works (apart from Pete Murray, as we didn't happen to be going by there) and drew complete blanks. Then bingo, a company in Oldmeldrum suggested the glaringly obvious "North East Steel Supplies" in Inverurie. Doh, but to be fair to me, they aren't in the phone book or obvious on the web. Rang them and the guy said they didn't stock stuff that light, but he would ask in case anyone else knew of a source. Thirty seconds later he was back on the line, admitting that they had exactly the right spec IN STOCK! I suspect he was thrown by me trying to be metric, as they sell the stuff as inch by 16g! They only sell in 6m lengths, but at under £12 per length, with free cutting into pieces that would fit in the Golf, I wasn't going to complain. 
Only downside was that their computerised metalcutting bandsaw took considerably longer to do two cuts than it would have taken me with the hacksaw I'd brought along specifically for that  
And if anyone wants some, there will probably be a lot spare!


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