For regular steel I thought summit had the best pricing. I have a local steel supplier down the road from my shop and they wanted $150 for regular 1" .065 steel. 20’ length.
I went with stainless and got it from fisheries supply a supplier of mine. I built my machine with 3 6ft sticks of 1" polished .065 wall. My work area is about 17.5x19.5". Those 3 sticks retail are about $160 and I think they have free shipping at that price
yeah Summit has .083 8’ for $22 by far the cheapest
I used Metals Supermarket and I am not sure if it was a fluke but when I called the local store direct it was almost 50% less then using the online web ordering service. I guess they get a cut.
May pay to call local shop direct? Or maybe my local shop was a little more aggressive?
Some chains/stores sold the rights to their online business, and the online version is a totally different business. I am not sure if that is happening at metal SM. But they definitely seem like they offer different prices in person.
I used JEGS, bought their mild steel tubes in 4" lengths and polished them myself using a drill motor and a mandrel in the ends. Sanded them progressively finer and then polished with rubbing compound and finishing polish. Look great, no rust and way cheaper than SS if you don’t mind doing the polishing work yourself.
Looks like there’s a Summit Racing here…
20 King Mill Road.
McDonough, Georgia 30253
I was able to get .083" DOM for under $20 per 8’ section at my local store in ohio.
EDIT: whoops! Sorry, didn’t see this. 
Last year JEGS had a crazy price on 6’ mild steel and shipping was dirt cheap. A quick wipe down and a little turtle wax is all I did…
I’m going to call the closest metal supermarket and see what they quote me on the phone…
Yes, see what it is ordering online, since you get “5% off your first order and 10% off all orders over $100 *”
You can order online, get the discount and pick up if you have a local store.
This is looking like my best option… sucks it is about an 80 minute drive.
Update: I called the closest metal supermarket and they have 16 gauge (.065) 20’ for $115. do yall think this is a better option then the .083 regular steel from Summit Racing?
For comparison, I paid $115 for 14 feet of 1 x .065 stainless a few months ago.
I wonder if they will ship 8’ long material for $11? Dang good deal.
Looking good!
Hey @Henslee, thanks for your posts. Curious how your build turned out, happy with the SS? Worth the extra $$ ? Did you end up getting 16 gauge (.065) 20’ from Metal Supermarket, or different spec/wall-thickness? Cheers!
yeah i have not had any issues with it, but i don’t really have anything to compare it to. I did go with the .065 304 SS. I went back and checked my emails, I’m sure its more than 54 cents now.
oh wow, it came pre-cut, that is nice
Yeah, I placed the order online and entered the lengths. It was pretty good cuts, just had to deburr everything. Does save a lot of time.
