Aluminum grinder pedestal

[charleskmoore2]

With my small garage, benchtop space is at a premium. I made this pedestal one afternoon to get my grinder off the bench. 1/4 plate and 3" pipe, tigged.

[Bert]

Nice job! Was that scrap you had lying around???

[charleskmoore2]

Got the materials on eBay fairly cheap. You can find some goods deals every now and then. I made it out of aluminum just cause I could and I wanted to polish it and have something different.

[Fishy Jim]

Bert, AL is cheaper than steel in some cases. Sure, it's 3x the price, but only 1/3 the weight. Volumetrically speaking - price per volume should be roughly identical (market factors influence this). You need thicker AL to handle the same job as steel - but often times the stuff we make is way overbuilt to begin with. Steel should be cheaper to use because you technically need less of it.

Using one of my suppliers online catalogs:

1x1x12" of 6061 AL is $8.82
1x1x12" A36 HR steel is $9.40
1x1x12" CR 1018 is $11.27

These prices include a $5 cut charge per.

[Bert]

Bert, AL is cheaper than steel in some cases. Sure, it's 3x the price, but only 1/3 the weight. Volumetrically speaking - price per volume should be roughly identical (market factors influence this). You need thicker AL to handle the same job as steel - but often times the stuff we make is way overbuilt to begin with. Steel should be cheaper to use because you technically need less of it.

Using one of my suppliers online catalogs:

1x1x12" of 6061 AL is $8.82
1x1x12" A36 HR steel is $9.40
1x1x12" CR 1018 is $11.27

These prices include a $5 cut charge per.

yeah Jim, but don't forget...they would KILL me on the shipping!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Fishy Jim]

Bert, the comparisons should translate to your local suppliers. It's cheaper to ship AL as more of it (volume) can be loaded onto a ship for the same weight. Ever notice how a semi is at max load capacity long before the volume of area they have to use is consumed when hauling steel?

[Bert]

Jim,
I think our aluminum flat stock comes in 12' lengths...find out what it cost you for 1/4"
x 2" wide and I'll see what it'll cost me...ok?

[Fishy Jim]

http://www.discountsteel.com/

They're higher than most in the area, but they have a lot of drops due to the fab shop and cut to size service. I rarely have to consider paying full price on anything due to the volume of drops available.

[FusionKing]

Jim I certainly see you point and stainless ALWAYS blows me away for what you get vs what you pay
But man I work with aluminum almost exclusively....and when I need to use MILD steel for a project it floors me how much cheaper I can build things than with aluminum
Thats why I bought a new mig machine...all you guys fooling around with ferrous stuff was making me feel left out

[Fishy Jim]

FK, do you actually build to an engineered design, or is it seat of the pants material spec?

Like I said earlier, you need far less volume of steel to accomplish the same strength. So in common practice (build to design strength rather than volume), it is cheaper to use steel than AL. But, if volume is the only comparison (such as a heavy jig made of a solid chunk), AL is cheaper. You need more AL by volume than you do steel to achieve a specific load capacity. At the same strength, the AL will be much lighter than the steel (and will have cost you more).