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US steel suppliers

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LauraJ

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I just went on a bit of an epic search for 1/2" x .049" square tubing for my Charger project in the last few weeks, and figured I'd share some of my knowledge here. I didn't ultimately find any .049", it appears to be unobtainium. I decided on .065" wall as being close enough, and of course it's actually available, for a price. This is not going to be much use for those of you who've been building airplanes for years, but hopefully some new US-based builders like myself will find it handy.

This is a list of the steel suppliers I talked to, and how useful they seem to be for sourcing 4130 materials:
  • onlinemetals.com: Great for small orders. Somewhat expensive, and only sheet, solid bar, and round tube 4130 available as of this writing
  • Aircraft Spruce: Excellent selection of 4130 (including streamline tubing), good prices, but shipping kills the price advantage
  • Wicks Aircraft: Similar selection to Aircraft Spruce, roughly similar prices
  • Wag Aero: Similar to Wicks and Spruce, ballpark prices to the other aeronautical firms
  • Factory Steel: The most comprehensive selection I found; exorbitant prices for the .065" wall 1/2" square tubing I was seeking, but also the only company in the US that appears to have it
  • EMJ Metals: Good selection, but won't sell less than a full length (20') at a time, a bit spendier than Aircraft Spruce or Wicks; no .065" wall available
  • Arch City Steel: Good selection, didn't have the .065" I was looking for, though
  • Everett Steel: Seattle-area local steelyard, very little 4130 available
  • Metal Supermarkets: Lots of locations, only sheet, solid and round tube 4130
Email is a somewhat spotty way of communicating with most of these places. A phone call is usually better. The website may or may not show the actual stock; ACS is good about showing stock; Wicks lists the .049" wall but "hasn't seen it for years" (why still list it?); Online Metals is good about what's in stock, but not so much where it's in stock; Metal Supermarkets doesn't really list stock online, though they list what they generally carry; the rest are strictly direct-communication for quotes on inventory and prices, with no "web store" to speak of.

It is definitely worth shopping around for price, particularly if you need a large quantity of anything. Shipping is very expensive, and if you can survive with 4' or shorter lengths of material, you will save a lot on shipping cost. UPS has some kind of big jump in price over 4', and has an explicit oversize shipping surcharge over 8'. 20' lengths can only be delivered by truck freight, which is typically something like $200 and up. Anything you can pick up locally will get you a very noticeable savings over shipping it. Most or all of these firms will cut pieces to approximate length for you, though they may charge a per-cut fee for doing it.

Every city of any size will have at least one local steel yard, and it's worth cozying up to your local yard if you've got one. When they have something, it may cost a little bit more, but you can probably transport it yourself and save a whole lot on shipping cost. Selection of 4130 is likely to be pretty minimal, but they might be able to get it for you, even if they don't stock it, and still save a bit over shipping from Spruce or Wicks.

Many of these places also carry aluminum, though that wasn't what I was looking for.
 
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