LocostUSA.com

I called around and the best quote (only so far) I got was for:

1" square tubing- 24 feet length of it for $24 19. (17 gauge, 16 out of stock)
3/4" tubing- 24 feet length for $16.85 (16 gauge)

I've got some other calls in to other vendors for quotes but the sales staff seem to prefer to "call you back with a quote" and I haven't heard from them yet.

How does the price I was given above compare to what you folks are getting?

It's been a while since I checked. But I think we're about a $1 canadian per pound for steel.

It sounds a bit steep from what I've seen, but it's been about a year since I've purchased steel tube. Many places I've tried in the past just didn't care about my order, as it's not "on-going" business for them, and it's small by comparison to their regular customers. Best thing I did was find a semi-local place which caters to people like me. The price is a little higher per foot than the large places, but they're happy to help load up the steel with me and bend over backwards to get me what I need.

Also, keep in mind that steel prices have more than doubled in many areas over the past few years. Popular concensus is that it's because of all the scrap steel being sent to China. Those price hikes also hit the plywood industry and others. Last I heard, the worst was over and the prices were starting to come down. Luckily, the guy I work with is a welder and works for a good size fabrication shop. I have been able to buy at their cost for the last year or so, thanks to kissing a$$ with the owner and not over-doing my welcome!

I was buying some aluminum for the shop here at work, and got it from online metals. Even with shipping it was a better price than I could get for a small order locally.

While on their site I looked into tube for a locost, and price even with shipping was not badly out-of-line.

I actually just called the local place around here last week for price quotes. Here's what I got:

1 x 1 16ga
.59/ft - 24' lengths

3/4 x 3/4 16ga
.46/ft - 20' lengths

3/4 OD 16ga round
.40/ft - 20' lengths

1/8 plate steel
2.76 sq/ft

Oh yeah, I forgot to add, they have free in-town delivery.

--JOsh

by me it's expensive, I can get it for 2.30/ft for 16g 1" square. But I usually get my plate and sheet steel fairly cheep, I take the scraps of what the local supplier has, usually in fairly large sheets, but I bout around $300 worth of sheet steel last time, only cost me $40.

I just got a second quote from West Virginia Steel. 1" x1" 16 gauge. They want $40 for 50 feet of it.

Who are you buying yours from online Shootist?

i actually just checked how much a chassis worth (about 110ft) would be yesterday. $171 for 110 feet of 1.5" square 1/8" wall.

I thought I would bring this thread back from the dead and ask a follow up question.

How much 1x1 16 guage did you guys need to build your chassis?

I've gone through about 170 ft so far with mine, but I oversized all my 3/4" diagonals to 1" with anticipation of higher power output than a book chassis in my finished car. I also built a differential cage for my IRS and made seat frames from 1x1, so that added some as well.

I bought 100ft to start with and used that up pretty quickly, but got MOST of the basic chassis done. Then picked up another 80ft. I have about 10ft left over along with some scrap from bad cuts and mistakes.

For the basic McSorley +442, you can safely anticipate using about 120ft of 1x1 box, given a couple mistakes, which everyone will make a few of during their build.

Also, FWIW, I paid about $1.20 a foot for my 1x1 box.

Wow that would be quite a tank. 16 Gauge is 0.065" thick...The 1/8" is about 11 gauge..

FWIW, I just ordered 120' of 1x1(it's actually 15awg, as the 16awg is special order only)for $106.75 delivered to my house....should be here tomorrow!

I paid:
$0.71 ft for 1" Square 16 ga. Tube
$0.58 ft for 3/4" Square 16 ga. Tube
$1.40 ft for 1" Round Tube 0.95" wall for the A-Arms
$4.25 sq/ft for 1/8" Plate.

Delivered to my driveway.

Friday I sold the metal tube from my son's rusty old trampoline, 128 lbs for $6.18 at the local scap yard.

I picked up a stick (20') of 1" x 1" x 14 guage last night for $10.24.

Speaking of costs, does anyone else think its funny that admisssion to a Locost car show is $70.00?

Lenny

They probably figure that since you built a Locost, you'd have all kinds of money left over to spend on things like car show entry fees.