Try this e-bay seller I've used them in the past for tube.

Richard,

You could try Blackgates Engineering. They are at Shaw Cross Business Park in Dewsbury.

http://www.blackgates.co.uk/

Regards

Kevin

Richard,

What are you using it for (What are you building)?

I would be wary of anything from a scrap yard (or scrap bin for that matter), you don't know what you are getting …. for some things it does not matter but for others it does.

Dave

You could try M-Machine . 10SWG = 3.25mm, 14SWG = 3.25mm.

Andy

RR

If you are making acros, then depending on the load you intend to support, I would suggest you need to know the type and characteristics of the metal you will be using. If you go to a scrapyard then you will have no idea of the type of metal nor its history. Could be in the extreme a recipe for disaster.

Martin

PS

Does really fall into the remit of model engineering?    

Edited By Martin W on 29/11/2012 12:38:24

I'd be worried that the 38mm tube is too thin unless you go for thick wall. Accrows have the inner part the same size as scaffold tube and the outer larger. Also make sure you allow a good overlap.

Richard

is it really worth the time and effort as well as cost to make Acrows when you can hire them for about £7-£10 a week?

I know which I'd prefer to do.

Keith

Yup, thats what I did. Bit of 4×2 and I drilled a hole in 13mm hole in one end to take a 1/2w bolt/washer nut. the bolt was 6in long and the hole was 3in deep so fine tuning for loading was easy. I only had to support the floor above a bay window, i used 2 and the load was <100kg each

OBTW I nailed the bottom to the floor

No probs

Robin

Hi,

Why not 4×4 fence posts, you should allow for 2×4 or 2×6 long spreaders at top and bottom. Folding wedges at bottom will adjust accurately – nail wedges into spreaders when loaded. You could use the fence posts afterwards for a new fence or sell them on.

Regards

Terry

Is this just a domestic ceiling? If so, it shouldn't take too much holding up. Wooden posts. a bit shorter than the floor to ceiling distance, the shortness to allow for the thickness of a loose plywood or similar spreader pad at the top, and for a bit of wooden shimming under the foot. Hold the pad up against the ceiling with the pole, and add shims beneath until the post starts jamming when it's a couple of degrees away from vertical. Then whack the foot with a lump hammer until the post does reach vertical, lifting the ceiling fractionally as it jams in place.

I used this technique when single-handedly cladding my workshop ceiling joists from beneath with heavy 8×4' sheets of 12mm chipboard, and it should work just as well to support a whole ceiling, if you use enough props. My old Machinery's Handbook quotes 550lbs per sq inch of cross section for low-quality pine in compression along the grain, so if you use 4×4" (100x100mm) timber, each post should be good for about 4 tons. 1×1" posts would be OK in theory, but in practice they would probably bend.

Andy