Captain,
Just some facts for calculations and consideration
- A pc of hot rolled CQ .187" x 20" x 32" weighs 34#
- the actual mill cost of a prime product would be about .35 per pound
- ...so, figure about .60/lb cost at your fab shop; this calcs to about $20 material cost without any profit to the fab shop.
- I don't have a quick handle on the pipe cost, but it's gotta be at least $5 cost at your fab shop
So, say $25 material cost at your fab shop; then add their profit on material, plus the labor and cost of welding. I say $45 each is a real fair price for a good product. Now, granted, this might all be constructed from mill seconds, but even then I don't see the avg material cost being much less than $15. The price of steel has shot up thru the roof in the last 3 years, and it's just started taking another huge hike.
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If you're a guy like me that relies on others to fabricate the metal and do the welding, your option sounds like a green light. I would make sure that the fab shop is going to supply a corrosion free product that can be easily cleaned, prep'd, and painted. If they tell you it might have some rust on it, that would tell me 2 things: not prime, and tuff to prepare for paint or epoxy.
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(edit); oh yeah, and another thing....
Steel has a grain, much like lumber. The grain is continuous and parallel to the rolling direction. In other words, if the steel coil (the form it comes off the rolling mill) is 300 feet long, rolled up in a coil....the grain is 300 feet long, running continuously. (for clarity, a 20' long 2 x 4 has a grain that is 20' long). The grain direction is pretty important during any forming. Whenever possible, metallurgists will develop parts with bends by placing the bend
across the grain . Like wood, placing a bend parallel to the grain will increase the likelihood of a weakened form and sometimes actually snap it open. This is often mitigated by increasing the forming radius. Also, and now I'm getting anal-technical from a spring steel background, grinding off the sharp corner burr (that is created by the shear) at the area of the form will help it to pull through without fracturing.
