Fabricated Steel

[elphingirl]

Hi
I am a bit of a newbie, and was wondering whether anyone knows how you go about organising pieces of fabricated steel? (for a pergola support). Specifically, what affects the cost most, do you have to provide drawings, and will they hot-dip galvanise the whole thing?
And, any recommendations for Central Victoria?
Any help will be appreciated.
Cheers
Justine

[johnc]

Justine,

You should have no trouble hot dipping the metalwork, there are two places in Melbourne that I am aware of which you can find in the yellow pages. There should be local fabricators in your area, you will need to provide details of what you want cut and what has to be welded to it. There must be holes in the finished product to access any cavities such as the inside of hollow posts to alow the galv to get inside. The process acid dips to strip back to bare metal then into the gal bath. You pay by weight, and size and generally its cheaper to either deliver it yourself or have it freighted. Some of the suppliers have trucks running and I would start with the dipping company to see if you can get a name of the couriers. I'm uncertain if the dippers own the trucks or its private contractors that do the delivery. The process is not that expensive, but that's my opinion and your expectations of cost might be different.

JohnC