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Thread: Maybe should have put this in metalworking but...

  1. #16
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
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    Detroit, MI
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    Hey, if you can get the material cheap enough, you might as well give it a shot with a few and see how it goes. It sounds like you have a plan that is less complicated than I had in mind. By any chance, do you have access to a power hammer?

  2. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by Ryan Baker View Post
    Hey, if you can get the material cheap enough, you might as well give it a shot with a few and see how it goes. It sounds like you have a plan that is less complicated than I had in mind. By any chance, do you have access to a power hammer?
    Wouldn't that be nice! I've thought the same thing but Ill be relegated to a hammer and anvil.

    Ill give a few samples a go and see what I come up with.

  3. #18
    I think you will find that it is a lot cheaper to buy pulls than making them and having them look real good like plated ones. Your time would be way more than $4 each. I find them at garage sales and flea markets and the Habitat Restore by us has a good selection for about $2 each.
    If you were to buy brass or SS, your part cost might be $2-4 each! I just bought some 5/8 round brass tube and it was$1.25 per inch!

    Jim

  4. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Jakosh View Post
    I think you will find that it is a lot cheaper to buy pulls than making them and having them look real good like plated ones. Your time would be way more than $4 each. I find them at garage sales and flea markets and the Habitat Restore by us has a good selection for about $2 each.
    If you were to buy brass or SS, your part cost might be $2-4 each! I just bought some 5/8 round brass tube and it was$1.25 per inch!

    Jim
    Jim, For sure buying material right is a key and the design has to be simple. I think I posted some numbers earlier in the thread but for instance I just did some simple bail/straps where my material costs were less than $0.30 each for a 7" length in aluminium. Stainless would be reasonably cheap. Even at a place like online metals you can get very good numbers even with modest quantities.

    No idea on the details of your tubing but for instance, 5/8 od brass seamless tubing there, in a middle of the road wall thickness, is about $0.36/inch. Of course something odd/thick wall, and so on no idea. But for simple profiles, and buying in quantity, the material cost becomes trivial (which is often true in manufacturing anything). The labor is where it falls apart.

    I'm still playing around with some brushed/polished aluminum and stainless options and seeing what I come up with . The material cost is not even on the radar but working out making them very fast is.

    Thanks.
    Last edited by Mark Bolton; 12-25-2014 at 6:18 AM.

  5. #20
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
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    Southwestern CT
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    Mild Steel drilled with carefully countersunk screws (stainless or bronze) looks very craftsman style (Greene & Greene). The image is just illustrative, but shows how nicely several material types can combine. I would think thicker flat stock (tumbled) with drilled bronze standoffs could be functional, attractive and unique.
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  6. #21
    Join Date
    Jan 2012
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    mid-coast Maine and deep space
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    Maybe consider bar stock. Bar stock is available in all kinds of metals (and composites) and require no more than a few holes through the face and some copper or wood or other tubing for screw standoffs.

    Heres is one source - http://www.mcmaster.com/#bar-stock/=x1ykv0 This is there ALUMINUM selection with many profiles. They have other metals. McMaster-Carr is a good company to deal with too - very fast delivery and competitive pricing with a huge selection of product.
    "... for when we become in heart completely poor, we at once are the treasurers & disbursers of enormous riches."
    WQJudge

  7. #22
    Quote Originally Posted by Bill Adamsen View Post
    Mild Steel drilled with carefully countersunk screws (stainless or bronze) looks very craftsman style (Greene & Greene). The image is just illustrative, but shows how nicely several material types can combine. I would think thicker flat stock (tumbled) with drilled bronze standoffs could be functional, attractive and unique.
    Depending on exposure, should one be concerned about galvanic corrosion since steel and bronze are distant on the galvanic table? Brass is a bit closer and copper even closer, but soft. Just curious.

  8. #23
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Location
    Marietta GA
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    Buy some 1 in copper tubing from HD. Then cut one side of the tubing and open wide. Take a small ball pein hammer and make small dents in the material. Then take a hack saw or tin snips and shape a handle as you like it. Spray wit lacquer to save sheen after buffing to suit. Curve the tips of the handle down towards the mounting surface and drill a small hole. Use brass screws for contrast to the copper. Be creative. Cheap, easy to work and will last forever. Just an idea from high school metal shop.

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