what size steel

[tarheels]

i will soon be looking for steel to weld a sculpture. what size should i get. i have the BYO for hte Brutus and he uses 2x2, that seems like overkill to me. so what do you guys use.

[triple-oh-six]

I bought part of my sculpture pre-made, it was a double burner propane set-up from academy.
I pulled out the burners and replaced them with multi-jet LP burners and hard piped them.
I reinforced the frame to handle the weight of all the h2o and grain.
I ripped the shitty wheels off and put heavy duty casters on.
I'm now building on my third burner for the ketlle with bed frame.
Bed frame is easy to find and it's perfect for what I'm doing.
Most of it will be bolted together but the top (which will hold the brew pot) will be welded.
Good Luck,
Prost
0006

[foomench]

My sculpture in the making is here:
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=9851

I think the steel is overkill, but here's what I'm using:

For the legs, 2x2x11ga

For most of frame, 1x2x11ga

For a lower level box frame, not supporting weight but maintaining the structure, and mounting things like the motors, 1x2x14ga. This was something of a mistake. My original plan was 1x1x11ga, but I accidentally bought some 1x2x14ga when I thought I was buying 1x2x11ga, so I decided to use it for this. I tested the 1x2x14ga for the long top pieces and found it flexed too much.

Right now I brew up to about 12 gallons with a keggle, but I sized my frame to handle larger pots.

BTW, I bought a bunch of my steel as "surplus" which saved me at least $70. It had some rust on it, but that cleaned up easily with two $5 rust/paint remover pads for the angle grinder from Lowe's.

-Eric

[Lars]

I bought the 2X2 by .020 for my Brutus. It is WAY overkill. I ended up not putting in one of the vertical supports because it was simply not necessary.

[tarheels]

so you think 1x1 11 g. would work. how many feet total did you use

[Lars]

how many feet total did you use

I don't know... I did buy 20' I'll measure whats left in the next day or so and let you know.

[foomench]

I've seen some things made out of 1x1x11ga, but I wouldn't think that would be strong enough for a single tier 3-across stand, not with just four legs on the corners. What shape are you planning to build? I was just going to use the 1x1 between the legs on the bottom. It wasn't going to be weight bearing.

How much? I used this drawing as the basis of my sculpture:
http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i226/ ... nsions.jpg
But my supplier sells in 10, 12, 20', etc. increments depending on the type, and you have to figure on a little waste in the cutting process. My original plan was
12' of 2x2 (the legs)
36' of 1x2 (the top box frame and the pieces the kegs sit on)
24' of 1x1 (the lower box frame)
That gives a fair amount of leftovers.

-Eric

[tarheels]

i'm thinking about that same design, i would like to do it all the same size and maybe a little lower to the ground. can you see into the kegs without a stool. sorry for all the questions. i'm sure once i get started all have a ton more