en1a bright bar

[BrokenBiker]

need some 6mm square bar, need it to be soft and bendable, weldable and not affected by heat

will en1a be ok? I don't know what it translates to as in mild, high carbon, tensile etc

 

[awemawson]

EN1a is low carbon mild steel - ie less than 0.15% carbon. Steel needs to have a bit more carbon to harden by hot quenching, so EN8 for instance is a 0.4% carbon frequently used as a 'machine steel' for bits of machinery such as shafts etc

So in your application you certainly don't want it to harden by quenching or else the welds will harden.

EN1a is the 'usual' mild steel used for rsj's angles etc

EN3b has slightly more carbon (0.25%) and has in the past been used for the same applications

Either should be fine

 

[TechnicAl]

En 1a and 3a............are both free cutting (free machining) steels (I think)
Neither are suitable for welding (high Sulphur leads to Porosity and or cracking)

I should check that as I don't have my books with me (and my memory isn't what it was)

 

[awemawson]

EN3b is the mild steel recommended for welding but unless highly stressed either EN1a or EN3b should be fine

 

[TechnicAl]

En 1a is NOT suitable for welding

Don't take my word for it...........google it............google "welding En 1a".........just tried it to see if my memory was failing

 

[Rocketman]

Just buy regular bright drawn mild steel bar.

You don't want en1a it doesn't weld well.

 

[BrokenBiker]

cheers for all the info lads, very helpful

I should have been more specific with the welding, it is in no way structural, its is purely decorative and will be dressed back and sprayed.

only considering it because I can get it dirt cheap

 

[Paul.]

Bear in mind that bright bars don't bend well cold, depending on the type of bend you may need to heat it to prevent cracking, for cold bending hot rolled (black bar) would be better, but as far as I can see the smallest square available in black is 8x8

 

[hotrodder]

only considering it because I can get it dirt cheap

Anything that size should be dirt cheap for example

'Green' is the free machining en1a, blue is en3b. Probably already found something similar but if not then bookmark this... http://www.actonbrightsteel.co.uk/technical-guide/

 

[BrokenBiker]

Bear in mind that bright bars don't bend well cold, depending on the type of bend you may need to heat it to prevent cracking, for cold bending hot rolled (black bar) would be better, but as far as I can see the smallest square available in black is 8x8

8mm would do. Its mostly twisting I want to do but need to right angle bends at each end so will be heating it up foe that

 

[Maker]

Whilst were on the subject, could someone tell be what exactly bright steel is and how it differs from normal mild steel.

Anything that size should be dirt cheap for example
View attachment 46739

'Green' is the free machining en1a, blue is en3b. Probably already found something similar but if not then bookmark this... http://www.actonbrightsteel.co.uk/technical-guide/

Do you know what Parker steel is like customer service and price wise, that's where I'm looking for workbench ingredients.

 

[hotrodder]

'Bright' steel basically just means cold finished whereas 'black' is hot finished and so has mill scale on it. There's also 'pickled and oiled' which is hot rolled then descaled chemically and oiled. None of those terms mean anything when it comes to the flavour of the steel itself although cold finished stuff is typically more accurate dimensionally but not as ductile due to strain/work hardening

I haven't used Parker steel for ages, they're just the only ferrous stockholder i know of with online prices. From memory customer service is typical of most stockholders, they can often be beaten on price and/or are open to a bit of bartering i.e. many stockholders will kinda 'try it on' when asked for one length of this and two of that. Especially if you don't ask in 'their language' and give the game away that you're inexperienced or DIY. Tell them that so and so is cheaper (even if they aren't) and the price will often drop a bit instantly. Simply asking if that's their best price as i can buy the same for £xxx can be enough as long as you don't take the pee with your made up numbers...