Gauging the steel

Today's lesson involves plate or sheet metal, thicknesses and getting something you can use that does not require special tools or machinery.


I went to The Steel Yard this morning knowing that they sold plate metal, which I'm told is what I'm looking for, in scraps as well as full sheets. A phone call last week was answered by a helpful sales person who told me that 1/8" thickness steel plate, which is what is specified in the plans, would be 10 gauge and it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to bend and shape with only a vice and a hammer. He said 11 gauge would probably work and was not that much thinner.

Armed with this information, I scoured The Steel Yard, with Lance's (an employee, not the famous cyclist) help. When he showed me 11 gauge and even 12 gauge, it was obvious that they would require more metal bending power than my two hands, a ball-peen hammer and a vice could muster. I settled on 14 gauge, which luckily came in a 13" x 31" scrap. Total cost, not counting the fuel to get out there: $5.25.

As I daydreamed about cutting and bending this still substantial piece of metal, I wondered what the risks might be. Would the wheels be constantly out of alignment because the metal was so thin it deformed? Did it really matter?


The alternative if this piece of scrap proves unworkable is to have The Steel Yard cut and bend the pieces I need. Or, to find someone with the tools necessary to help fabricate these pieces. Any generous bike builders or metal workers out there willing to work for beer?