ballistic steel?

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anybody ever heard of ballistic steel? someone on cl is selling a 4'x8'x1" ballistic steel plate, asking 300.  Do you think it would work for a tabletop? I would love to have a 1" top, and that seems like a great price, but I've never heard of ballistic steel.
Reply:Its likely AR500 , thats the most common grade of " ballistic " steel .   I haven't priced any  but i do know that its spendy , and hard to work with if you want to retain all the " hard " propertys  all the way to the edge .  I dont see why it would really work any different than mild steel for a table top because nothing there would need the abrasion resistance .
Reply:That's a great deal. Plain A36 would run you about double that.John 3:16(2) Miller Pheonix 456(2) Millermertic 252Dynasty 210DXHobart 210MVPDoringer D350 SA Cold SawScotchman 350LT Cold SawWebb 10x50 MillWebb 15x40 LatheGeka Bendicrop Ironworker
Reply:Originally Posted by EcondronThat's a great deal. Plain A36 would run you about double that.
Reply:That is a good deal even if it were a36.  Like farm dad said, likely ar500.  The ar stands for abrasion resistant.
Reply:.23 per pound cheap worth. 80 for AR -plate .
Reply:any suggestions on chaining it in a pickup bed for transport? not sure I want 1300lbs sliding into the tailgate
Reply:Go rent a lowes/Home Depot truck for 19.99$ an hour. No need to beat up your suspension,tailgate,bed,brakes and transmission. Your already saving a boat load of $. How do you plan on loading/unloading it?Thermal arc 211iCk flex-loc 150 & 130Clamps, saws & grindersHarbor freight 80 amp inverter
Reply:Don't accelerate fast, it won't hit the tail gate then! Haul many of plates in a pickup.Put a pair of 8' or what ever length your bed is. Set your plate on top of that. Wood against steel is much less slippery than steel against steel and it allows to get under the plate to unload. Push it against the front bulkhead as you can't control other idiots and may need to brake hard. Don't accelerate like an idiot and it won't slide back(you should be able to control that).  If you can't screw a scrap of 2x4 across the other two at the rear of the plate. It will keep it from sliding. On our old farm 2wd trucks we just put a 4x8 sheet of 3/4 steel in the winter.  More than once I have pulled a stuck 4wd truck out in a blizzard.
Reply:Smokin' deal, where did you say? City of L.A. Structural; Manual & Semi-Automatic;"Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place where gold is refined. Iron is taken from the earth, and copper is smelted from ore."Job 28:1,2Lincoln, Miller, Victor & ISV BibleDanny
Reply:I saw the inside of one of those armor car building places. The sheets of steel they were using clearly said "AR500".old Miller spectrum 625 Lincoln SP-135 T, CO2+0.025 wireMiller model 250 and WP-18V torchCraftsman 100amp AC/DC and WP-17V torchCentury 115-004 HF arc stabilizerHome made 4 transformer spot welderHome made alternator welder
Reply:Ballistic steel is armor plate. I would make a decent table top. Grab it. See if he has the test reports. Could be worth mucho dinero.Last edited by shovelon; 06-23-2014 at 01:25 AM.Weld like a "WELDOR", not a wel-"DERR" MillerDynasty700DX,Dynasty350DX4ea,Dynasty200DX,Li  ncolnSW200-2ea.,MillerMatic350P,MillerMatic200w/spoolgun,MKCobraMig260,Lincoln SP-170T,PlasmaCam/Hypertherm1250,HFProTig2ea,MigMax1ea.
Reply:Just don't plan on drilling it!   My son used to work for a Chevy dealership and had an armored unit come in one day that he had to drill though.   IIRC, it was a long and tedious process.
Reply:I'd be Leary if it's on CL.  I just don't trust lots of folks I don't know.  It could also be AR400 which is inferior to 500 grade.  Still, 400 is tougher than A36.  I bought a piece of 3/4" mild steel that measured 4'x3.5'.  The steel yard loaded it in my truck with a fork lift on top of a wooden board in my truck bed.   When I got home, I took a piece of scrap 1/4" steel with a hole I cut out using my torch.  I then welded that piece of scrap to the edge of the plate, thus giving me a loop to hook a chain to it.  I slid my engine cherry picker boom over it and on the edge and lifted it up a bit.  Since I drove on the grass edge, I chocked the cherry picker's wheels securely and slowly drove away from the now fastened plate.  The plate slid off the wood "deck" from the tail gate and the other end of the plate hit the grass.  I was then able to jack up the entire plate from the grass and easily pushed the plate around with the cherry picker, to the garage.  It wasn't hard, just took some thought and about 1 minute of welding.  Then cutting off and grinding smooth the old weld spot.  Easy.  Albeit my plate is smaller than yours though.Lincoln Power Mig 216Lincoln AC/DC-225/125Miller  625 X-Treme PlasmaMiller 211 Forney 95FI-A 301HF 91110Victor Journeyman O/PMilwaukee DaytonMakita  Baileigh NRA Life Member
Reply:anonymousI've worked through 100's of tons of AR500.  It readily magnetizes, and collects grinding particulates.  It makes a real messy surface, and the corners grow beards.  There has been traffic on the forum about the problems of welding on, and around magnetized metal.  I can imagine a table with its own field could present similar welding issues on weldments fabed on said surface.See - What are your targets made of? at http://mgmtargets.com/faqs#madeOfI'd pass, and apply your money to a table-top that assuredly won't have this problem.Opus
Reply:Have him prove that it's ar500, mill test reports or receipt or something.Welding/Fab Pics: www.UtahWeld.com
Reply:Ballistic steel is not Abrasion Resistant steel. If it is listed as ballistic steel, you need to know which grade. Particularly if it is homogenous and hardened. If the test reports say hardened and what  grade, you can verify with a portable hardness tester. But beware, hardened does not bend without risk of cracking.Again, the right Armor plate/ballistic steel is worth some bucks. Maybe not as a table top, but on the open market.Weld like a "WELDOR", not a wel-"DERR" MillerDynasty700DX,Dynasty350DX4ea,Dynasty200DX,Li  ncolnSW200-2ea.,MillerMatic350P,MillerMatic200w/spoolgun,MKCobraMig260,Lincoln SP-170T,PlasmaCam/Hypertherm1250,HFProTig2ea,MigMax1ea.
Reply:don't you just hate it when someone on cl doesn't respond to phone or email? still haven't heard from him, probably already sold.  thanks for everyone's input, it was fun to think what an awesome table that would be.
Reply:anonymous " . . . it was fun to think what an awesome table that would be".You are not paying attention - AR500 makes a Fecal table-top.  Review: and Read-For-Comprehension all of the posts.Not getting this 'Albatross' is too your good fortune.Opus