Custom/DIY Truck Camper Tie Downs
Looking to avoid the $600 price tag on the torklift frame mounting system. Anyone have a good solution? TC Lance 845 2800# Dry No Slide Out GMC 2500HD SRW
Forum Discussion
jimh425 wrote:Bert the Welder wrote:
"Very mild steel" That's a type of steel I'm not familiar with. Must be special to American't Home Depot's?
As it happens, I've hand bent steel flat bar from HD, side by side with "regular" mild steel and there was no difference.
And if you want to call something structural and of safety relevance to other travelers "a typical DIY project" then that says everything one needs to know about your thinking right there.
It’s unclear why you think the steel at HD is just the same as everywhere else. I’m sure you know that the amount of carbon in steel makes it much harder. You should also know that not all steel is from the same place and formed with the same methods.
I and friends have been very unimpressed by steel and aluminum we’ve bought at HD. On the other hand, the steel at typical steel supplies and aluminum seems to be much stronger. No, I didn’t put it on a machine to test the hardness. It was good enough for us to avoid it after unexplained failures.
I said “not” a typical DIY project.
Everywhere else?
As I said, The HD steel I got matched up to the supplier steel. So then it be down to HD's supplier. American HD= American steel. Canadian HD= Canadian steel. Perhaps.
You may have "felt" the steel to be inferior. I don't know what your steel handling and forming experience is. I can only base what I found on 20,000 plus hour of hand bending steel alone, and that's cold hand bent, not with machines or torches or forges. All manner of shape and thickness of bar and rod stock, both hot and cold rolled and various dimensions and profiles of tubing and pipe. I consider my hands pretty sensitive to variations in the recipe and therefore properties of mild steel. So yes, I'm quite familiar with how "mild steel" behaves.
It's quite possible that your supplier is giving you a steel that is indeed higher carbon and they just refer to it as "Mild steel" for the punters.
I've had suppliers try this. As soon as I hoist a hand full of 20 foot lengths on my shoulder, the waggle ain't right. Back it goes with a polite note.
