Thread: Noob question about steel supplies

I watch the youtube videos on lathe machining and the presenter inevitably says something like,"grab a piece of round bar, or hex rod, or flat bar...".

It looks like all of these people have a ready supply of handy steel lying around.

I'm just at the beginning of my lathe learning, an in absence of having a cupboard full of spare steel or aluminium, where do I go to purchase (or scrounge) turning stock? I live on the Central Coast NSW.
Metal By The Metre in Gosford doesn't appear to stock it. BJ Howes in Lisarow appear to have round bar, not sure about aluminium.

Are there any places that might be able to provide scrap steel off cuts?
At this stage I don't think I'm ready to by metres of various size rods etc.
Sorry if this is a naive question. Any input is greatly appreciated.

Cheers, Vic

BJ Howes up my way does aluminium. I've bought flat bar off them up to 10mm. can't be sure about specifric sizes though.

Many engineering workshops get a deal on their steel and engineering supplies. Oftentimes there will be a scrap bin or drops pile in the workshop or out the back. Worst case is they sell it with a bit of a markup which can be the same, maybe cheaper than the metal retailer.
This might be an opportunity tel let them know that you are a backyarder, keen to learn, six pack under the arm on a friday arvo and a smile on the face kind of thing... you might be surprised how far that will get you.

The local tip if it recycles is often a good source of used metallic engineering materials and usually at an affordable price.

There will be other members who live out in the sticks who can advise of of alternate places to pick up some stock.

Grahame

Hi Vic and WELCOME to a TOP FORUM.

Sorry if this is a naive question. Any input is greatly appreciated.

Don't be sorry for asking ANY questions, we ALL started in a similar place.
Finding suitable metal for turning is always a problem, unless it's purchased from a metal supply place, it's dubious as to what it is, as some metals turn better than others. If it's just practice metal that your after, you could try your local scrap metal merchant, sometimes your local machining turning place might have offcuts that you can buy from also.
Ideally you would need to know what metals are for what purpose, so found this on Google for you, it's daunting to know what to use, so this guide should be a big help to you.
https://www.coxmanufacturing.com/mac...aterials-guide
This link has a lot more information that could be printed off to help you, it contains various charts in regards to speeds and cutting tool shapes.
https://www.google.com/search?q=char...Kk02m7ctLC2v5z
I hope this helps you on this fantastic learning journey.
Kryn

Awww, you guys are great. Thanks so much for your help, I'll follow up your suggestions. Much appreciated.

Over time if you're a Bower bird like me you'll accumulate so many off cuts that when the time comes for a clean up you'll wonder why the hell you kept that bit of rubbish. The answer of course is "it might come in handy one day".

I always buy more than a job requires so that way I build stock gradually so when the time comes I've usually got that small piece of material on hand. As previously posted, most engineering shops will have a scrap bin you might get access to if you explain your situation.

Here is nearnexus -one of our members- AKA Xynadu on Utube explaining to us in 2017 how cheap you can pick up steel for home engineering.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_89hJUSa2U

Is a trip to the scrappy's yard in your future?

Grahame

Originally Posted by Grahame Collins

Is a trip to the scrappy's yard in your future?

WARNING: This can become addictive. DAMHIKT, much to my Partners disgust!!!!!

Snapey, my wife refected that "this bit will come in handy one day" , is a statement she has heard from me many times over the years. I have drawers of screws, bolts, washers, bits of angle iron, plastic, timber, brackets.......
I have to be careful on hard rubbish days not to bring too much handy stuff home, and to keep my eyes on the road when I drive past the piles of treasure.

I guess I'll have to create some shelf space for more now that I'll be on the hunt for turning stock.

Grahame, thanks for the lnk. Very encouraging video.What an astounding memory you must have. I always thought that scrapyards bought scrap, and didn't imagine they would bother selling it. A visit is definitely on the horizon, as is a look at a local machinist's workshop.

KBs, DAMHIKT??

Dont Ask Me How I Know This (DAMHIKT)

Im gunna throw what might be a controversial and confusing option out there. Why not just buy stock as you require it? There's some very good reasons to do that:

- Youre going to know exactly what it is youre working with. That way, if you need information to help you figure out how to cut it, you can access it quickly and easily. Mystery metal from the scrapper could be high carbon steel, leaded steel, tool steel or plain ole mild. All will look exactly the same on the outside, all will require greatly different approaches to get them to machine well.

- It wont be covered in shi. Scrap, at best, will be just a little rusty. At worst, youll get crap thats got concrete or other hugely abrasive materials around it.

- Itll be in a known condition, ie, you might come across stuff thats been hardened. Is it through hardened? Is it nitrided? Is it carburised? Who knows?!?! Until you start digging to china through the bar, you wont know. Some might counter this by suggesting you can anneal the stock. This is true, but home annealing options are either going to risk warping the stock or are going to be so expensive, you would have been far better off just buying fresh stock to start with.

- Itll be unfatigued. I got a bunch of second hand steel donated to me at work, which initially seemed like such a nice thing. It had evidentally been under serious load for a good while, it was full of little cracks running along the length of the rod. What appeared to be good stock was all rubbish. Thread cutting was a nightmare, every time the tool found a crack, it would interrupt the cut and upset the chip formation.

- Itll be the length you need for the job youre doing. Ok, if youre just playing and making chips to learn something, thats fine, buy a length and start hacking away, but if youre doing a project, hoarding all the offcuts can turn into a serious problem. The next time you do a job, Ooo, Ive got some 1050 here ready to go, but its not long enough, bugger, ill go and find another bit. That bit will have leftovers too and next thing you know, youve got an immense pile of scrap thats so big that when you do need still, half the time you dont bother going through it to find a piece thatll work. And if you want any chance of a scrap pile to work, you need to have it all labeled.

I teach metalwork in a school and the vast majority of metalwork teachers I know hoard utter garbage and never end up using it. I remember starting at one school and found a bin full of 13 x 3mm mild steel rectangular bar, all the ends of bars and offcuts collected over 30 years of teaching. The logic was that year 7 use little bits all the time for their projects...but the reality is that they just dont. When you run a project, you dont want to spend an hour rooting through a rusty bin of 200mm long pieces of steel from 25 years ago. You grab a fresh bar, put it out on the bench and cut it up to do the job because it takes 3 minutes to do that and my time is worth more than the 3 cents of steel I might be able to use. At home, I want to do metalwork, not manage my own personal scrap heap. So now, I have a small collection of labeled stock on hand, all of it long enough that itll cover most projects and the capacity of my machines. If I need something specific, then I buy for that job only and I never get scrap stock, ever. I always buy new because its of more use to me.

Back in the 1980's I used to carrying a hacksaw and a few blades around in the car so if I saw an old metal bed frame at the side of the road I would cut out the angle iron. Thats when I learned how hard that steel is and eventually why it is not that easy to weld!

Over been through the grab everything, selective collection, ceasing collection, having a clean out and still having too much, cycle several times. These days I value shed space more than the value of stock so I tend to just buy stuff I'm going to use, but even then I find it difficult to just buy what I need and sometimes there are minimum length purchase issues so in variably end up with left overs.


For small mild steel jobs I usually find I can get what I need from the scrap bins of MS merchants. It's slightly better than buying from scrap dealers because for bigger pieces the merchants sometimes write what is is on the pieces. The place I go to also has some SS and Al.

Some specialty steel supplies like Bohler Uddeholm who have a large set of shelves with a reasonable collection of speciality short pieces for sale.

Originally Posted by scottyd

Dont Ask Me How I Know This (DAMHIKT)

Im gunna throw what might be a controversial and confusing option out there. Why not just buy stock as you require it? There's some very good reasons to do that:

- Youre going to know exactly what it is youre working with. That way, if you need information to help you figure out how to cut it, you can access it quickly and easily. Mystery metal from the scrapper could be high carbon steel, leaded steel, tool steel or plain ole mild. All will look exactly the same on the outside, all will require greatly different approaches to get them to machine well.

- It wont be covered in shi. Scrap, at best, will be just a little rusty. At worst, youll get crap thats got concrete or other hugely abrasive materials around it.

- Itll be in a known condition, ie, you might come across stuff thats been hardened. Is it through hardened? Is it nitrided? Is it carburised? Who knows?!?! Until you start digging to china through the bar, you wont know. Some might counter this by suggesting you can anneal the stock. This is true, but home annealing options are either going to risk warping the stock or are going to be so expensive, you would have been far better off just buying fresh stock to start with.

- Itll be unfatigued. I got a bunch of second hand steel donated to me at work, which initially seemed like such a nice thing. It had evidentally been under serious load for a good while, it was full of little cracks running along the length of the rod. What appeared to be good stock was all rubbish. Thread cutting was a nightmare, every time the tool found a crack, it would interrupt the cut and upset the chip formation.

- Itll be the length you need for the job youre doing. Ok, if youre just playing and making chips to learn something, thats fine, buy a length and start hacking away, but if youre doing a project, hoarding all the offcuts can turn into a serious problem. The next time you do a job, Ooo, Ive got some 1050 here ready to go, but its not long enough, bugger, ill go and find another bit. That bit will have leftovers too and next thing you know, youve got an immense pile of scrap thats so big that when you do need still, half the time you dont bother going through it to find a piece thatll work. And if you want any chance of a scrap pile to work, you need to have it all labeled.

I teach metalwork in a school and the vast majority of metalwork teachers I know hoard utter garbage and never end up using it. I remember starting at one school and found a bin full of 13 x 3mm mild steel rectangular bar, all the ends of bars and offcuts collected over 30 years of teaching. The logic was that year 7 use little bits all the time for their projects...but the reality is that they just dont. When you run a project, you dont want to spend an hour rooting through a rusty bin of 200mm long pieces of steel from 25 years ago. You grab a fresh bar, put it out on the bench and cut it up to do the job because it takes 3 minutes to do that and my time is worth more than the 3 cents of steel I might be able to use. At home, I want to do metalwork, not manage my own personal scrap heap. So now, I have a small collection of labeled stock on hand, all of it long enough that itll cover most projects and the capacity of my machines. If I need something specific, then I buy for that job only and I never get scrap stock, ever. I always buy new because its of more use to me.

Sage words..

Hi Guys,

I thought that we were supposed to be hobbyists, experimental engineers, not schools or businesses having to make a profit !

I buy very little new stock from merchants, preferring to visit scrap yards and engineering shops that have scrap bins and are mostly very happy to help you out with bits and pieces. Anyway on a pension you you have to be very careful what you spend your money on !

Interesting points of view, I figure I can undertake both approaches. Thanks for your wisdom guys.

Apart from the local Tip shop, Scrap metal yards, maybe some Engineering shops. I find eBay can be a good source for material as well. Here's a https://www.ebay.com.au/str/cncoffcutshop the CNC Offcut Shop sometimes has different types of offcuts of metals and plastics for auction. These could be offcuts of aluminium, mild steel, peek plastic etc. There is other Sellers on there as well, but they are generally selling at a higher price, because there aiming at the Hobby Machinist market they can still be a good source of material though.