I need to buy some metal to do some chassis repairs on my car, so need some thicker stuff (2.5-3mm?) but I only want a small amount, 2x A4 paper size...

Where could I buy some off cuts?
I've asked 3 metal yards, my mates body shop and a mechanic mate with No joy.

What sort of place do I need to go to buy some?
Or would b&q or euro parts or someone like that sell any?

Or anyone on here in South London that's got any?

 

Ebay is good

Or ask a sheet metal fabricators for 2x 30x30cm of desired thickness. If you ask for a specific size and a price theyre more likely to give you a price than if you ask for whatever scrap they have lying round probably, especially if they dont know you.

 

Scrap merchants always worth a look, gotten loads of steel in the past that way although there are a lot of fabrication companies around the same area its mad what they bin.

 

Tried metal supermarket??, I've used Leeds branch in past and spot on lads. Nearest to you is
http://metalsupermarkets.co.uk/park-royal/contact/?v=m

 

Thanks guys, never thought of eBay, there's plenty on there, I know it's an expensive way of buying it but it's definitely the easiest.

The supermarket place is too far away and a horrible place to get to.

I will give it a couple of days trying local places then resort to eBay.

 

up here i just found a steel stockholder, went in and buy what i need.
always have sheets cut to sizes, so just a case of picking what i want.
buying from a place is just as cheap as ebay etc. without the postage.

 

I've used ebay a couple of times before now which is ok if you don't have many alternatives, but I have recently heard of a supplier in my area that is apparently fairly priced so I'll gibe them a go sometime, there's also metals4u.co.uk

 

You shouldnt need anything more then 1mm for that type of work...2 mm absolute max.

Also, if it is a normal repair then I would try going to a breakers and cut the same bit out if you can as would save a lot of shaping and the steel would be the right thickness.

Cordless angle grinder is a good asset for this type of work and use a 1mm cutting disc. An air saw is useful on the car and a plasma cutter is a nice luxury.

 

Yesterday I asked a mate to ask the body shop he uses and he randomly had a 1/2 a sheet of new 3mm so he gave me that.
Another metal supplier I know sold me 1/2 a sheet of 0.9mm and had some 1.2mm scraps I could use for small brackets and another mate gave me a new patten wing the he bought to cut the arches out of.
So I now have plenty to work with.
I am cutting it up with a grinder with a 1mm disc.

The idea of cutting repair panels out of scrap/breakers would be lovely but it's a 25yr old Renault 5, so there's none to cut parts out of lol.

The reason I wanted 3mm is I'm using it for new strut tops so wanted to make sure it was heavy duty, especially as I'm cutting most of it away.

 

I cut the roof off two scrap cars for bits on mine, then when I told a mate who's a heating engineer he gave me some ducting. It's all 1 and 1.5mm so perfect and it was free. I'm talking 2 bits which are about 600mm x2000mm as well!

 

3mm what you doing the floor on, a tank?!!

 

Frost.co.uk

 

I made new strut tops but had some holes very close together and wanted to use something thick enough so the bit between the holes was still strong.

See here..



Randomly I asked a mate to ask his body shop people if they had any and he had 1/2 a sheet of 3mm so I picked it up last night lol.

 

Sorry for the random thread hijack but what thickness of metal would you need to fabricate something like a transmission tunnel? would 2mm be enough?

 

Body panels are 0.9mm, the 3mm I used is so much thicker and heavier I can't see the transmission tunnel being any more than 2mm.

 

Transmission tunnel probably won't be anymore than 1.2mm IIRC. I'm sure body panels are usually .8 and floors 1.2?

 

Cheers people!

 

Try local fabrication shops or general engineering sub contract places, most will be scrapping loads of stuff like that regularly. At our place we don't hang on to off cuts really they usually just get scrapped or if someone needs some odd bits all we ask for is a donation to the charity box.

 

3mm seems rather thick for panel repair or patching?

I work for a fabrication firm just outside south east london.

If you drop me a PM i have stockpiled a load of off cut material for bodywork purposes. around 1.2mm, although I can also get you 3mm mild if thats what you're after. can also get 1mm, 2mm & 5mm

 

Where in the south east mate?

 

I use 1 mm for tunnels ,bulkheads general repairs , anything for mounting ie rollcage plates top mount plates brackets etc 3 mm

Cheers Paul