steel plate, WTF

[brian89gp]

Decided to look for some mild steel plate so I can make some turbo flanges. All the local places I called said that they were out and didn't know when they would get more, so I checked ebay when there used to be literally thousands of auctions. Guess what, there are NONE.

So then I decided to search for pre cut turbo flanges, where the results used to be 3-4 pages they are now less then one and the prices are nearly double. I hunt around for online raw metal resalers and hardly any of them have steel plate, and when they do its usually 304 stainless in very few sizes. Now get this, some of the places that actually have steel are selling aluminum plate of various grades for CHEAPER then the steel of similar size.

WTF is going on?

[RacerX11]

That sounds kinda wierd. Did you try www.metalexpress.net ? This is what I use, and they appear to have mild steel in stock. I'm not sure whatcould be going on.

Marty

[jmgtp]

Prolly something to do with US tariffs on Jap steel and new regulations imposed on Chinese steel.

[bszopi]

jmgtp hit it right on the head. Junk steel is now being allowed to be sold outside of the US and other countries are paying top dollar for it (IIRC). Therefore, it is becoming more expensive for US companies to produce steel products. We have been discussing this in class lately. Why? Because metal studs (used in the majority of commercial buildings) have almost tripled in price in the last 6 months and there is a huge lag time to get them now.

[firechiken]

What are you looking for, size wise? I have access to all sorts of stuff like that.

[brian89gp]

3/8x7x12" mild steel plate (roughly)
1 3/8" mild steel pipe (for wastegate plumbing)

Possibly some 1 3/8" bends, 45 or 90*

Even on that link, 6061 aluminum is just barely more expensive then steel. This sucks.

[bszopi]

This pretty much explains it....

http://www.detnews.com/2004/business/0404/11/c01-119056.htm

[firechiken]

The plate I can do. The only pipe I can get my hands on is black pipe, which is really a heavy gauge, like what is used for water or natural gas lines, and 1 3/8 is an odd size for that. Your local muffler shop should be able to help you with that. If you want the plate, send me an e-mail with your address, and I can send it out on Monday.

[RebelGT]

the tarif on steel just went up.

[GPXSS]

if you wanted 1/4" i can grab some from School.

[ikessky]

The price on steel goes up every day. We (the place where I work) buy steel roofs, door, etc. so that we can make an enclosure around the industrial diesel engines that we build/sell. My suppliers will only hold a quote on metal parts for no more than a week. Some will only guarantee the price for that day.