Note: From my experience cast iron barbell weights (which would go on this steel bar) are poured from the crappiest dregs of the smelting process and include high concentrations of sand and slag. This will tear carbide inserts to pieces and make plenty of sparks doing so. Best avoided. Cheers Rob
Yes. It's not wonderful stuff and generally has a high carbon content. You really should use low hydrogen rods when stick welding it. There's a video kicking around on YT showing some approximately 50 mm rebar made in Pakistan (I think) that snaps like a carrot when a guy banged it on the ground. Unreal. Obviously poor steel and not annealed. No wonder buildings fall down over there. Cheers Rob
@@Xynudu Yes been doing a bit of welding this week, making up some frames. 8mm rod, cutting with the cut off saw on some parts, and the rest with an old Eclipse bolt cutter I got as a rusty seized part in a car boot sale. Cleaned, oiled and painted, and it cuts the rod nicely. Cut off parts for butt welding, and the bolt cut ones so there is a point to shove them into the ground. 40 6m lengths of rolled rod took 2 days to cut and weld, and made a jig to hold them in place as well from some scrap steel angle and stainless plate.
It's interesting that Rebar in Oz has to meet certain tension, deflection, load bearing etc specifications, but anything goes as far as composition (as I understand it) is concerned. Cheers Rob
Be careful Rob, it’s a slippery slope to hoarding my friend. I have a lot of metal “stored for future use” and my wife was encouraging me, nagging to you and I, to get rid of some. I said “sure, which pieces”? and of course she replied with “whatever you’re not using”. She walked right into it because I replied with “I don’t know what I’ll need tomorrow” End of the discussion. When I was still working at the bus company the workshop would throw out the worn out “S” cams from the rear brakes and they had a shaft of about 40 x 300mm attached to the “S” so most truck repair shops would have them too. If you have somewhere that repairs earthmoving equipment then they will have bucket loads of track pins to get rid of when they refurbish tracks. Of course this stuff needs annealing as do those weight lifting bars. Cheers mate, Stu.
Hi Stu. You want to see my Bro-Inlaw's collection. LOL. He's a farmer and they can't help themselves when it comes to free, cheap or never throw anything out. The trouble is they won't spend a few dollars to get their cheap/free/broken items going again. Regarding the barbell' I was wondering what the steel will be like as they are generally flexible to some degree. I'm expecting high tensile, maybe high carbon, so annealing may be necessary. Then again as this is a cheap home use set it could be plain Jane stuff. I may have a look today if I get time. Cheers Rob
Spent years reviving an old Premo lathe, thought about buying a new one, till I did see that the were good for 3 years. Mine is 70+, till strong. But now, gotta get something to use it on. Going scrounging----. Thanks for this video.
Nice score Rob 👍👍 Funny how things work out. My mate, who supplies me with my free aluminium offcuts, called round yesterday with another sack full 👍 Still have a load left from his last delivery! You can't beat free metal 🙂 Cheers, Alan.
The local Cardinia council no longer does bi annual hard rubbish pick ups. You get to book an individual pick up. VERY annoying. How am I going to refurbish my wheel barrow ? Where is the hard up fellow going to get a free bicycle for the kids ? A lot of hand wringing about recycling while the bun headed wankers are destroying the very thing they supposedly 'believe' in. Keep up the good work. May the scrounging long continue. Tom, in Melbourne.
Hi Tom. Same thing here, but people still put out stuff regardless and it all gets taken eventually. The day before garbage day or after the weekend is best as that's when most stuff gets turfed. He He. Some streets are better than others. My street has several houses that put out a steady stream of useful bits and pieces. Makes you wonder where it all comes from. Even cooking ware is useful for sorting trays and metal casting molds. Cheers Rob
Fakebook marketplace and Gumtree work, just look for your area, and free to collect. Or place an ad or two there to see what people want to get rid of. After all, if you can get enough to cover the fuel to there and the scrap yard, whatever you want is free, and copper makes it worth it.
It is always good when you find some steel or someone gives it to you. One of the guys at the woodturners club imports machinery for his job. The creates have about 10 pieces of 10mm thick x 65mm wide by about 400mm long counter weights in them for shipping. They normally get thrown out until he asked me if I wanted them. I have use a few of them on different projects already (e.g. the bases for my bandsaw and planer restorations).
All good stuff Jon. There's a lot of crating that gets wasted when shipping machinery, glass, bedding etc. We've used a lot over the years. Companies are glad to get rid of it for free, plus it 's great for guys like you and me. Cheers Rob
Hi Rob, I'm always on the lookout for scrap metal, but rarely have any luck finding any. My son did give me some large diameter bolts, which machine ok. A lot of exercise weights are now plastic casings filled with concrete. I guess cheaper and easier to make than cast iron. Take care mate. Cheers Nobby
Hi Nobby. Interesting. I wasn't aware of that. I've looked at those plastic coated dog bone shaped hand weights and wondered what they were made of. There were actually a few at the site I got the barbell. Wrong shape for much use really. Cheers Rob
With your lathe, you make all sorts of shit. With my lathe I make all sorts of stuff shit. :) Hey, Rob, hope you are well mate. WE nearly bought a used XV based on your previous video, but at the time, a used forester was the best value, so we got that instead.
Ha Ha. Practice makes perfect Ben. Welcome to the Subaru club. The XV is my first try and so far it's been very good. The Forester is also good. I know a few owners and they like them. Unbeatable vehicles in the slippery stuff. Cheers Rob
@@Xynudu Oh, we are diehard subaru family. Ever since the 2004 outback, its been subarus all the way except for the camper towing Jackaroo diesel. (because Subaru doesn't make this class of 4x4).
Hi Phil. My experience using the weights has been totally negative. Maybe there are some better quality (more expensive) ones out there, but the few I tried machining were made from the shittiest cast iron dregs, slag and sand you could ever imagine. Totally destroyed any carbide tooling I put near it. Not recommended. The bar is yet to be machined, so I hope it is way better. Cheers Rob
Thanks Rob. I had just drawn up plans for a Leven style flip up tool rest for my Myford ML10. After looking through my metal stock I couldn't find anything to make the turret to clamp the rest, but this reminded me that I have a couple of old weight training bars knocking around.
@@Xynudu Ive got a couple of disk's half machined, and more that I just use as weights(?). I did manage to make a backing plate from one, but it wasn't at all pleasant. Today's job went surprisingly well.
I picked up a Samsung forklift awhile back, 2001 manufacture date, it has 3/8 UNC axle studs, the axle seal is 3.125" x 4.5", the brake pipes are a 7/16" spanner size, the master cylinder says 17mm but when measured is closer to 11/16", wheel nuts are 1", that's as far as I have got with it so far.
I'm not surprised. I see throw back Imperial threads/sizes still being used on some new goods from China. I doubt that the authorities police this subject as it would be too difficult. The amount of re-tooling required to go 100% Metric on imports would be astronomical and have major trade implications. Cheers Rob
Interesting as ever Rob, many thanks for posting. You are one of the top drawer TY workshop guys, not only putting out videos that are damn useful but also replying to many of the comments which so few bother with. Cheers!
He he. You are thinking my way. I have searched all over to get a cheap or free surface table. I brought a very cheap glass shelf. It toughened and will do the job for what I’m planning to do. I never walk past a decent piece of steel.
Surface floated glass is extremely flat. We've used it in the past to face aluminium two stroke crankcase halves after welding/repairing. Does a top job and can handle grinding paste. Cheers Rob
One man's trash is another man's treasure. Love that old saying. You can find lots of good things in our throw away society today. Thanks for the reminder.
Yeah you're sure right there. Been bloody nippy lately. I had thought about one of those small Chinese diesel heaters for the workshop, but they are noisy little jiggers. Would drive me nuts ;) Cheers Rob
Note: From my experience cast iron barbell weights (which would go on this steel bar) are poured from the crappiest dregs of the smelting process and include high concentrations of sand and slag. This will tear carbide inserts to pieces and make plenty of sparks doing so. Best avoided. Cheers Rob
Same for rebar, generally the poorest steel, and the hot rolling also means slag buried deep in it as well.
Yes. It's not wonderful stuff and generally has a high carbon content. You really should use low hydrogen rods when stick welding it. There's a video kicking around on YT showing some approximately 50 mm rebar made in Pakistan (I think) that snaps like a carrot when a guy banged it on the ground. Unreal. Obviously poor steel and not annealed. No wonder buildings fall down over there. Cheers Rob
@@Xynudu Yes been doing a bit of welding this week, making up some frames. 8mm rod, cutting with the cut off saw on some parts, and the rest with an old Eclipse bolt cutter I got as a rusty seized part in a car boot sale. Cleaned, oiled and painted, and it cuts the rod nicely. Cut off parts for butt welding, and the bolt cut ones so there is a point to shove them into the ground. 40 6m lengths of rolled rod took 2 days to cut and weld, and made a jig to hold them in place as well from some scrap steel angle and stainless plate.
It's interesting that Rebar in Oz has to meet certain tension, deflection, load bearing etc specifications, but anything goes as far as composition (as I understand it) is concerned. Cheers Rob
@@Xynudu You can bet that not all actually meets that spec though.
Be careful Rob, it’s a slippery slope to hoarding my friend. I have a lot of metal “stored for future use” and my wife was encouraging me, nagging to you and I, to get rid of some. I said “sure, which pieces”? and of course she replied with “whatever you’re not using”. She walked right into it because I replied with “I don’t know what I’ll need tomorrow” End of the discussion. When I was still working at the bus company the workshop would throw out the worn out “S” cams from the rear brakes and they had a shaft of about 40 x 300mm attached to the “S” so most truck repair shops would have them too. If you have somewhere that repairs earthmoving equipment then they will have bucket loads of track pins to get rid of when they refurbish tracks. Of course this stuff needs annealing as do those weight lifting bars.
Cheers mate, Stu.
Hi Stu. You want to see my Bro-Inlaw's collection. LOL. He's a farmer and they can't help themselves when it comes to free, cheap or never throw anything out. The trouble is they won't spend a few dollars to get their cheap/free/broken items going again. Regarding the barbell' I was wondering what the steel will be like as they are generally flexible to some degree. I'm expecting high tensile, maybe high carbon, so annealing may be necessary. Then again as this is a cheap home use set it could be plain Jane stuff. I may have a look today if I get time. Cheers Rob
Spent years reviving an old Premo lathe, thought about buying a new one, till I did see that the were good for 3 years. Mine is 70+, till strong. But now, gotta get something to use it on. Going scrounging----. Thanks for this video.
Good to know! The old lathes worked totally fine in their day and provided it's not worn can carry on today. Cheers Rob
Nice score Rob 👍👍 Funny how things work out. My mate, who supplies me with my free aluminium offcuts, called round yesterday with another sack full 👍 Still have a load left from his last delivery! You can't beat free metal 🙂 Cheers, Alan.
You can't beat mates like that 👍
Hi Rob , the bar from the weights might be perfect for draw bar especially the join thread end , I’ll be keeping a watch out for some lying around 😊👍
Good idea Colum. Fairly fine pitch thread and maybe drill through to take a removable cross bar for tightening. Lots of possibilities. Cheers Rob
The local Cardinia council no longer does bi annual hard rubbish pick ups.
You get to book an individual pick up.
VERY annoying.
How am I going to refurbish my wheel barrow ?
Where is the hard up fellow going to get a free bicycle for the kids ?
A lot of hand wringing about recycling while the bun headed wankers are destroying the very thing they supposedly 'believe' in.
Keep up the good work.
May the scrounging long continue.
Tom, in Melbourne.
Hi Tom. Same thing here, but people still put out stuff regardless and it all gets taken eventually. The day before garbage day or after the weekend is best as that's when most stuff gets turfed. He He. Some streets are better than others. My street has several houses that put out a steady stream of useful bits and pieces. Makes you wonder where it all comes from. Even cooking ware is useful for sorting trays and metal casting molds. Cheers Rob
Fakebook marketplace and Gumtree work, just look for your area, and free to collect. Or place an ad or two there to see what people want to get rid of. After all, if you can get enough to cover the fuel to there and the scrap yard, whatever you want is free, and copper makes it worth it.
It is always good when you find some steel or someone gives it to you. One of the guys at the woodturners club imports machinery for his job. The creates have about 10 pieces of 10mm thick x 65mm wide by about 400mm long counter weights in them for shipping. They normally get thrown out until he asked me if I wanted them. I have use a few of them on different projects already (e.g. the bases for my bandsaw and planer restorations).
All good stuff Jon. There's a lot of crating that gets wasted when shipping machinery, glass, bedding etc. We've used a lot over the years. Companies are glad to get rid of it for free, plus it 's great for guys like you and me. Cheers Rob
Hi Rob, I'm always on the lookout for scrap metal, but rarely have any luck finding any. My son did give me some large diameter bolts, which machine ok. A lot of exercise weights are now plastic casings filled with concrete. I guess cheaper and easier to make than cast iron. Take care mate. Cheers Nobby
Hi Nobby. Interesting. I wasn't aware of that. I've looked at those plastic coated dog bone shaped hand weights and wondered what they were made of. There were actually a few at the site I got the barbell. Wrong shape for much use really. Cheers Rob
Sometimes you just have to be lucky to find something useful. But it doesn't happen every day :)
Pretty much!
With your lathe, you make all sorts of shit. With my lathe I make all sorts of stuff shit. :) Hey, Rob, hope you are well mate. WE nearly bought a used XV based on your previous video, but at the time, a used forester was the best value, so we got that instead.
Ha Ha. Practice makes perfect Ben. Welcome to the Subaru club. The XV is my first try and so far it's been very good. The Forester is also good. I know a few owners and they like them. Unbeatable vehicles in the slippery stuff. Cheers Rob
@@Xynudu Oh, we are diehard subaru family. Ever since the 2004 outback, its been subarus all the way except for the camper towing Jackaroo diesel. (because Subaru doesn't make this class of 4x4).
OK all clear :) Cheers Rob
I love estate sales for metals, many cases they it's next to nothing or free..
Cheers....
Can be.
I agree Rob, free steels the way to go if you can source it. I've used loads of it over the years. Cheers Tony
Hi Tony. Mystery metal always makes things more interesting when machining and welding ;) Cheers Rob
Glad you're back on the regular! Love your practical, small shop adventures.
Thanks! I just do em as I see them. Cheers Rob
Nice video Rob. I see plenty of stuff on yt about other uses for weights. 1st time I've seen somebody look at the bar.
Hi Phil. My experience using the weights has been totally negative. Maybe there are some better quality (more expensive) ones out there, but the few I tried machining were made from the shittiest cast iron dregs, slag and sand you could ever imagine. Totally destroyed any carbide tooling I put near it. Not recommended. The bar is yet to be machined, so I hope it is way better. Cheers Rob
Thanks Rob. I had just drawn up plans for a Leven style flip up tool rest for my Myford ML10. After looking through my metal stock I couldn't find anything to make the turret to clamp the rest, but this reminded me that I have a couple of old weight training bars knocking around.
Glad to help :) Cheers Rob
Comes complete with threaded end, and a nice free nut as well.
take apart that useless printer for some nice ground rods!
Totally agree. Some make excellent extension rods for test/dial indicators. Cheers Rob
Just as I was cutting up some cast iron lifting machine weights. 😊😊😊
Hmmm. Good luck ;) Cheers Rob
@@Xynudu so far so good, brazed carbide tips have worked no problems so far.
Apparently some discs are OK, but I haven't found any ;) If it's not sparking then you should be good to go. Cheers Rob
@@Xynudu Ive got a couple of disk's half machined, and more that I just use as weights(?). I did manage to make a backing plate from one, but it wasn't at all pleasant. Today's job went surprisingly well.
@@mapp0v0 You probably got the mistake made from good steel, instead of the recycled shavings and scrap they melted for the normal batches.
I often wander down the street thinking...oh hey that drain cover could provide a lot of iron :D
I don't think the local council would be too happy about that idea ;) cheers Rob
@@Xynudu haha I think you're probably right! Thankfully here in the UK steel stock seems to be pretty cheap. At least compared to brass and aluminium.
Look out…he’s picked up a few more Regas……….
My workshop's been invaded by Regas. They're everywhere. LOL
@@Xynudu
Regas….Pride of Marrickville….
Thrift shops are a good place to find metal.
I picked up a Samsung forklift awhile back, 2001 manufacture date, it has 3/8 UNC axle studs, the axle seal is 3.125" x 4.5", the brake pipes are a 7/16" spanner size, the master cylinder says 17mm but when measured is closer to 11/16", wheel nuts are 1", that's as far as I have got with it so far.
I'm not surprised. I see throw back Imperial threads/sizes still being used on some new goods from China. I doubt that the authorities police this subject as it would be too difficult. The amount of re-tooling required to go 100% Metric on imports would be astronomical and have major trade implications. Cheers Rob
Interesting as ever Rob, many thanks for posting. You are one of the top drawer TY workshop guys, not only putting out videos that are damn useful but also replying to many of the comments which so few bother with. Cheers!
Thanks Stephen. A bit of community spirit makes it all the more interesting, plus feedback works both ways and we all get to learn. Cheers Rob
He he. You are thinking my way. I have searched all over to get a cheap or free surface table. I brought a very cheap glass shelf. It toughened and will do the job for what I’m planning to do. I never walk past a decent piece of steel.
Surface floated glass is extremely flat. We've used it in the past to face aluminium two stroke crankcase halves after welding/repairing. Does a top job and can handle grinding paste. Cheers Rob
@@Xynudu interesting. Thanks
One man's trash is another man's treasure. Love that old saying. You can find lots of good things in our throw away society today. Thanks for the reminder.
Good tips as always, hope you're keeping warm winter is on the way
Thanks. I'm trying to. Cheers Rob
@@Xynudu Yes nippy winter, today max is 23C, low was around 16 last night. Cold for the tropics....
Perfect.
Nice finds.👍
Thanks 👍
G'day Rob stay warm buddy Adelaide winter brrr
Yeah you're sure right there. Been bloody nippy lately. I had thought about one of those small Chinese diesel heaters for the workshop, but they are noisy little jiggers. Would drive me nuts ;) Cheers Rob
@@Xynudu ah just put it fiber away and run th pipe into the shed maybe
Further away sorry typo