I'm penny scratching on building a press and I am wondering how much people paid for their I beams. I thought some people might have a good way to get them cheap.
Would it be a lot cheaper to use wood instead?
About how much should I pay for I beams?
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prospectsnow
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I agree with Alex. Talk to local factories, or friends who worked in them. I am actually building the entire ski press for under $100. I am using all scrap metal. It won't look nice, but its going to be real strong and work nice after I weld it all up. I even got most wood from where I work to eventually build the molds.
I'd plan on spending approx. .65 to .75 cents per pound US for new steel. Scrap steel, I believe, is fetching around .38 per pound.
A standard beam with the following dimensions - 10" depth mid-section, 5/16" thick web, with 5" flanges, 1/2" thick, weights approx 35lbs per foot.
A 2"x2"x 1/8" square tube weighs approx. 3lbs per foot, and a 2"x4"x1/4" rectangular tube weighs approx. 8lbs per foot.
My local steel supplier also charges additional fees for cutting.
A standard beam with the following dimensions - 10" depth mid-section, 5/16" thick web, with 5" flanges, 1/2" thick, weights approx 35lbs per foot.
A 2"x2"x 1/8" square tube weighs approx. 3lbs per foot, and a 2"x4"x1/4" rectangular tube weighs approx. 8lbs per foot.
My local steel supplier also charges additional fees for cutting.
Just my $0.02, but I think it could be much cheaper to buy 2" steel and build a press like mongo or benmtl and others on this forum that I can't think of right now off the top of my head. The press will be much lighter and might be easier to put together/move. I don't think the deflection on a 2" steel tube style press will be much different than an I beam press if it is built correctly. Checkout kingswoods press also. That is another example.
Can anyone else come up with disadvantages of making a 2" tube style press vs I beam style?
Free or really cheap steel of any kind is another story, but if you are paying I would look away from I beams.
Can anyone else come up with disadvantages of making a 2" tube style press vs I beam style?
Free or really cheap steel of any kind is another story, but if you are paying I would look away from I beams.
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MontuckyMadman
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If you want to press at 90 psi and above, I bet you are gonna need something beefier than 2" steel.
I don't really know but that's what the big boys use.
I saw an I beam press that was going to 70 PSI and it was permanently deflected badly and scarily.
Doughboy goes to 70psi I think but his press has a tone of 2" steel in it. Much more than the mongo style.
I don't really know but that's what the big boys use.
I saw an I beam press that was going to 70 PSI and it was permanently deflected badly and scarily.
Doughboy goes to 70psi I think but his press has a tone of 2" steel in it. Much more than the mongo style.
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bobbyrobie
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Mine is similar to Mongo's running 2" square tube. had it up to 90psi no problems, honestly u don't need to be pressing at such high pressures. i do believe a majority of the folks on here press in the 50-60psi range? The 2" square tube press is going to be alittle more tricky to build but its much lighter and less deflection than most beam setups.
More difficult to build (technically, though much lighter steel makes it easier to align everything, building an I-beam press without some sort of lifting device or a few big blokes is basically impossible), and you have to trust your welds a lot more. An I-beam you can make with grade 8 bolts (i.e. headmonkey). If you weld it like I have, the metal is a lot thicker than steel hollow section so you can use an arc welder which get's a lot more penetration in to the metal than a MIG. Basically means the welds are a hell of a lot stronger.shopvac wrote:Just my $0.02, but I think it could be much cheaper to buy 2" steel and build a press like mongo or benmtl and others on this forum that I can't think of right now off the top of my head. The press will be much lighter and might be easier to put together/move. I don't think the deflection on a 2" steel tube style press will be much different than an I beam press if it is built correctly. Checkout kingswoods press also. That is another example.
Can anyone else come up with disadvantages of making a 2" tube style press vs I beam style?
Free or really cheap steel of any kind is another story, but if you are paying I would look away from I beams.
I-beam presses generally have the disadvantage of not being centrally supported, like most hollow section presses are. Deflection increases with the 4th power of length, so basically all other factors being the same, double the length between vertical supports and you increase the deflection 16 times.
It also depends on the weight of I-beam. They come in sizes, for instance in a 310mm high (12") it comes in 32, 40, 46, 54 kg/m which is directly derived from the thickness of vertical part of the beam. Use a 32kg beam with 80psi and only supported on the ends and you'll probably end up deflecting it pretty bad.
In summary really:
I beam pros: easy to build, less to go wrong in build, more "big" builders use them, easier to load due to no central supports
I beam cons: very heavy, can deflect if not built right, expensive, hard to build in the sense that the beams are extremely heavy
Tube pros: lighter, cheaper, centrally supported
Tube cons: harder to build (technically), more can go wrong if you don't know what you're doing