How rusty?

[wombar]

Hi All,

Just wanted to pick the collective brain.

I bought some steel from a fabricator last week which was pretty well covered in surface rust as it had been stored outside. It cleaned up fine with a flap disc, but to be honest it's a pain as it basically doubled the length of prep time needed. Not to mention the amount of rubbish its thrown around that seems to have coated everything in my garage.

Had I not needed something quickly for the weekend I would have waited to be honest. So I've got a few questions.

1) Is there anything quicker/easier than flap discs for taking off surface rust?

2) What is a "normal" amount of rust? I'm going to place an order over the next week or two and want a bench mark to work against.

3) Am I right in saying that I should be ordering bright steel to avoid this in the future?

Thanks in advance....

 

[Welderpaul]

Difficult to judge from a description. Any photographs?

 

[wombar]

Will try and grab some photos tomorrow, but it's basically all brown

A bit of time with a flap disc sorted it, but it's just more prep time/noise that I (and my neighbours) could do without. I bought some off cuts that were just a bit black off ebay and they were really quick and easy to prep.

Before I place an order for a reasonable amount of stuff, I just wanted to check what you guys considered to be normal.

 

[astro_al]

Normal is zero rust, but you need to degrease it.

Bright steel is a different material. Don't order that just because you don't want rusty mild steel. You have the right to expect non rusty mild steel!

Al

 

[wombar]

Blimey, there's some quick replies tonight

So what is the difference between bright steel and mild steel? I'm pretty new to all this and still learning.

Presumably it's not unreasonable to tell the person who takes my order that I expect it to be pretty much rust free.

I wasn't too worried about the stuff I got last week as I'm just making bits and bobs for the garden/garage. However, I'm planning to make some furniture for the living room and don't want to be spending more time removing rust than I do anything else.

 

[Welderpaul]

Heavy section - beams, channel etc quite often comes rusty - par for the course for that size of gear. As long as it is not pitted its ok.

Smaller stuff, flats, angle, tube etc, i wouldnt expect anything more than a minor bit of rust staining on it at worst. Had a few suppliers try it on sending rusty rubbish - chucking a few bad lengths in here and there. Reject the lot, they don't do it again.

Just tell them not to send you any rubbish next time, or it will go back at their cost.

 

[GeorgiePorgie]

A bit of time with a flap disc sorted it, but it's just more prep time/noise that I (and my neighbours) could do without.

Don't they have stock inside? my suppliers metal is all inside,no rust but still needs a swift clean for welding.

I found that surface rust can be taken off with a palm sander and metal oxide sanding pads quite easier than a flappy then I smear it with thin film of oil until its use.

 

[wombar]

Thanks for the replies guys, this is all good to know. Sounds like I should have just waited and got them to order it in. My fault really as I'd been running round like a maniac all week and only had a couple hours on Friday afternoon to sort it.

So, what's different about bright steel? Just curious as I've found it tough to find an answer.

 

[GrahamGKD]

Not sure of a definition but, for example, bright flat bar is shiny and more precise with square edges whereas the stuff we tend to use for welding is less precise and covered in black mill scale. I expect someone will be along with a proper definition in due course.

Hopefully you didn't get that rusty metal from one of the places I recommended?

 

[hussy]

im sure bright steel is made differently to the kinda grey/black rolled steel, most places use bright for thin sheet and the rest i think gets rolled which gives the marks?

my supplier only ever has slight stain marks if we ever get anything rusty it goes back, costs involved in cleaning etc add to the job price...

you can get things called fibre discs that are kinda a plastic abrasive compound, cleans rust/paint off but doesnt thin the metal (useful on thin sheet like car bodywork)

 

[GrahamGKD]

you can get things called fibre discs that are kinda a plastic abrasive compound, cleans rust/paint off but doesnt thin the metal (useful on thin sheet like car bodywork)

Like this kind of thing? Only thing I found is that they don't last long if you use them near edges. A twisted wire brush in the angle grinder works OK as long as you aren’t too fussy about a bit of scoring on the surface.