Thread: Anyone have access to sheets of metal?

Most particularly sheets of steel, i need thick, but size isnt too important outside 1ft x 1ft (W x H) up to 3ft x 3ft. Really i cannot cut it, so a huge sheet would be meaningless.

Also any scraps / (small) chunks of iron, copper. I may just end up going with screw bolts though for consistency.

I need a series of steel plates thick enough to stop a liquid metal slug hitting it at thousands of m/s, so 4in + thick may work to slow it down, or lots of thin sheets that i can line up.


I've searched around the web and spoken with a few, but most I've found only sell in bulk or wants stupid high prices for cutting fresh.




Anyone have access to such material scraps and wiling to sell? Or know a good / promising place to check?





This may fall through though, as i need to find a safe place large and long enough to fire thats sanctioned by by LPD and accessible by EMT's and FD. May end up driving up to VA... Sigh, what a pain.

For thin sheets, I know hardware stores carry some. I got some nice steel from true value when I was constructed a custom chassis for a robot I built.

Here is a sheet of metal

How much are you looking for exactly? Do you have a way to move said material? Have you tried talking to a fabricator and asking them about their cut-offs or scraps? Scrap yards? Junk yards?

I used to work for this company and they used to have samples, you might be able to con em outta a piece.

Supreme Specialty Vehicles Armored Tactical Transport Vehicles

Originally Posted by Nuckle

For the thickness you are looking for I would contact a fab shop instead of steel supplier. The fab shop is going to have a scrap bin and may give or sell you what you are looking for at scrap value. I am in and out of steel suppliers all the time but never go to the end user.

Where / how would i find these fabrication shops? I dont suppose there is a section in the yellow pages (fuck, where is mine...)?

Originally Posted by Partyball

How much are you looking for exactly? Do you have a way to move said material? Have you tried talking to a fabricator and asking them about their cut-offs or scraps? Scrap yards? Junk yards?

Couple of sheets/blocks of the specified thickness. Dont think there's any scrap or junk yards any where remotely near me :<


no i take it back theres a scrap yard, called em, dude was super nice, he walked around the lot and couldnt find any steel that could fit my needs.

Originally Posted by deputyfestus

I used to work for this company and they used to have samples, you might be able to con em outta a piece.

Supreme Specialty Vehicles Armored Tactical Transport Vehicles

ooo that'd be delicious, hmm il see if i cant find any local fabrication shops, see if i cant get a local deal going. If all else fails, ill definitly call these guys up.

Originally Posted by Alundil

So you've begun construction of your battlebot.


All hail the wabbit overlord (might as well get used to it).

Hybrid RailGun on roids. I basically am super heating a special chunk of metal into molten metal, vibrating it, then the hurling it through the air at 2km/s+ turning it into a javelin. Though thats putting it modestly, hence my need for LPD, EMS, FD.

My only problem is stopping the projectile, hopefully the steel should provide enough resistance . It has to be thick enough though, too thin and it wont even affect the projectile. :<


Thanks guys!



On a side note... what i wouldnt do for one of dem fancy computer controlled metal cutters.... uggg could change the world with one of those... doubt it would be a change for the better though

Concrete is fairly cheap and easy to work with. Throw all kinds of hard garbage in it. Glass, metal, wire, etc. That is what they use to make some bank vault walls. Hard to find one tool to cut through all of that.

Also, builders sand or some sort of soil. Get a few dump truck loads of it and go to town on it.

Also, have to thought about gaping the material? Like 1" of steel to 1" of air then back to 1" of steel and stagger it like that? If I remember correctly, it took more force to penetrate the gaped material. Could obviously be wrong. It has been some time since I have played with such things.

You are talking about some crazy speeds. 6500 fps is a nasty speed. Especially with any sort of weight to it. How many grains or how much is the projectile going to weigh?