Metal for practice

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I see people using square pieces of metal to run beads all across the flat side and then flipping it over and doing it along the back side, all across the other welds and pretty much filling up the plate with beads.What thickness is this plate that is used?  Where is a good source (usually) for these pieces of metal?
Reply:If you are learning stick, 1/4" to 3/8" is a good thickness to start with. It's not so thin you burn thru right away, and thin enough you don't need a ton of amps. The school buys 3" wide flat bar and cuts it into 6" lengths for the students to practice on. You can buy flat bar from almost any metal supplier. The other tech school I started out at years ago used to give the students a 12" long chunk of 3" angle iron 3/8" thick to practice running beads on. You started out tacking to small chunks of scrap to the bottom of the V and started running beads next to each other to fill the V to get the feel of running the rods before you moved on to more expensive plates for joints..No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan
Reply:See if you can find a business in your area.  Offer to buy a few hundred pounds of scrap at the same price they get at the local scrap yard.  Practice welding to your hearts content.  Sell the results to the scrap yard.You might lose a little if the price of scrap changes, but you should only be out the cost of the rod, electricity and transportation.  Fairly cheap way to practice.You might also work a deal directly with the scrap yard to buy and sell back to them.Dynasty200DX w/coolmate1MM210MM VintageESAB miniarc161ltsLincoln AC225Victor O/A, Smith AW1ACutmaster 81IR 2475N7.5FPRage3Jancy USA1019" SBAEAD-200LE
Reply:Good idea.  Our local scrap metal place used to sell metal. Now they only buy. I guess its worth more to sell it to the Chinese than to resell to the public.
Reply:Maybe you can still work out a deal. They loan you several hundred pounds of scrap, you add 30 pounds of rod to it, and then you bring it back to them and get a few hundred pounds more. They get 15% more metal for just loaning out some scrap for a few weeks, and you get some arc time. Even if you had to pay a little in the trade by finding some scrap elsewhere that you also bring to them (after you practice on it) you might be able to work some kind of deal without actually buying it. At least it's worth a try. When I was a teen I used to make the rounds of the garages and gas stations, looking for small pieces of scrap that I could use. After they got to know me they set aside the type of scrap that they knew I wanted, and they almost never wanted anything for it. There was also a metal shop and I was allowed to pick through their metal scrap. Sometimes they would charge a small amount but most times it was free. I almost killed my first car hauling pieces of steel like this.CharleyMiller MM252Miller Bobcat 225NTMiller DialArc HF / DIY Cooler2 Victor O/A TorchsetsMilwaukee 8" Metal SawMilwaukee Dry Cut "Chop" Saw 5 Ton Wallace Gantry Various Grinders, Benders, etc.
Reply:Unfortunately many scrapyards have been disallowed from selling their scrap to the public by their insurance. Just like pick and pull junkyards, they are slowly being eradicated in the name of liability.If you check out a couple and they won't deal, then all of the yards in your area have probably been similarly afflicted, and it would then be a more productive use of your time to check out local fabricators, job shops, and the like.And in my experience, when it comes time to sell, the ones with the best prices have minimums. They will always take what you got, but they will only pay out for steel loads over 1 or 2k pounds. Fewer random loads to weigh and sort means they are able to offer better prices to those with weight.But steel loads are meh.Aluminum and copper on the other hand... $10k of aluminum...mens agitat molem