Shopsmith Forums

Greetings woodworkers,

Anybody had any luck finding tubes locally that would work well as 510 connecting tubes? Looking for a custom size. Thanks!

Best,
Tom

If you are near any oilfield activity, u might find a fab shop to help. The "pump rods" or "polished rod" ( have few different names) on pumpjacks are polished smooth (hence the name$ and come in different sizes. Just something that popped into my head.

And they would weigh more than alloy. That seems a good thing in my feeble mind.

You can try Online Metals they have lots of tubing and it is pretty affordable. I have ordered from them before. The 1.5" SS tubing in 8 ft. length is about $115. I didn't check the aluminum tubing but it is usually less expensive than the stainless just not sure it would be as strong.

wannabewoodworker wrote:You can try Online Metals they have lots of tubing and it is pretty affordable. I have ordered from them before. The 1.5" SS tubing in 8 ft. length is about $115. I didn't check the aluminum tubing but it is usually less expensive than the stainless just not sure it would be as strong.

Michael,
A piece of aluminum with the same geometry will have roughly one third the stiffness of stainless steel.

Troy

I figured as much I am not a metallurgist..........

horologist wrote:Michael,
A piece of aluminum with the same geometry will have roughly one third the stiffness of stainless steel.

Troy

And how much of the weight?:D

JPG40504 wrote:And how much of the weight?:D

OK I've memorized the density of aluminum but had to do a quick check on stainless steel. Once again about a third. So with 8foot stainless steel tubes a super duper lift assist might be helpful, along with cathedral ceilings.

Troy

You don't want pipe - you want to order 1" OD TUBE, with a 0.065 wall. An 8' length of welded SS tube will run around $34. You can also use plain old steel tube. Not as pretty, but about half the price of stainless. Don't use aluminum - the locking screws will gouge it.

michaeltoc wrote:You don't want pipe - you want to order 1" OD TUBE, with a 0.065 wall. An 8' length of welded SS tube will run around $34. You can also use plain old steel tube. Not as pretty, but about half the price of stainless. Don't use aluminum - the locking screws will gouge it.

I use EMT for this. EMT is not quit 1" OD but it is close enough to work. I did this at first as tubing used to hang my tables when not being used. One day I needed to install some floaters on the 2nd Mark V and did not have extension tubes. I learned then, of necessity, that the EMT works well.

PS Check here if you are not familiar with the term EMT.

dusty wrote:I use EMT for this. EMT is not quit 1" OD but it is close enough to work.

Oh, this may work out well. My wife works in the office for an electrical contractor