At least... for a little while.
Think I have enough bed frames?
At least... for a little while.
Think I have enough bed frames?
When I opened the thread I expected a new pet.
In reply to GIRTHQUAKE :
Not in the place for a new pet right now. Besides, with the traffic in this area it would be more like scraping up an ex pet.
Ah but how many items have you made from that steel??
In reply to MyMiatas :
A decent amount, actually. Everyone poo-poos bed frames because you don't know what steel its made of, and all sorts of reasons. I design it as if it has the strength of aluminum, if I really need to test it I chuck the design in Solidworks and run some light FEA with it as aluminum. Usually welds beautifully as well.
Fusion weld so its a little undercut, but it was good enough for the project I was working on
I'm kind of a whore for scrap steel. I refuse to get rid of my drops because some day 15 years from now it will be perfect for that last little piece I need.
I'm actually looking for some bedframes right now because I'm building a hitch carrier thing and I think it would be perfect. Remember that tilt-up boat thing you gave me a couple years ago? The friend I was helping decided it was too heavy for her to operate, so I took a small section of the tubing to make a receiver winch mount, and the rest (including the tip-up part) will be my new hitch carrier.
GIRTHQUAKE said:When I opened the thread I expected a new pet.
I was thinking hitchhiker, thus the hint of regret in the thread title.
I used to be a property manager I love bed frames. First thing I made out of them was a welding cart, second was a dual battery tray for my Jeep. I still have quite the pile.
My biggest score was I got a bunch (like 10) 6' x30"x 1/8" steel prison beds that were brand new. I think I still have some. Buddy said we're trashing them come grab 'em.
I was walking down the street in Baltimore a couple of years ago and spied a metal bed frame sitting on the sidewalk awaiting trash pickup. Still in my business work clothes, carrying a laptop bag, I scooped it up and marched it 4 or 5 blocks back to my car before returning to the office.
Not a single person said a word to me or made eye contact while I was carrying that angle iron.
Good ol bedrames. Ive had plenty of people say you cant weld them but ive made plenty of things from welded bedframe angle. Including the "squirell-a-pult".
I was expecting a sign. This one had been wind blown to almost perpendicular for months before someone finally hit it while texting and driving, then found its way to my garage.
GIRTHQUAKE said:When I opened the thread I expected a new pet.
Yeah, a pet hooker.
This thread is reminding me that tomorrow is trash day. So look for bed frames, broken lawn mowers...
AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:GIRTHQUAKE said:When I opened the thread I expected a new pet.
Yeah, a pet hooker.
ayyyyyyyy
I think older bed frames are great and probably made of good steel ,
the ones made in China these days less so ,
you can also make nice heavy duty things with Pallet rack beams and end pieces , I made a second story 6 x 15ft in my garage to store stuff above a parked car .
Older US made bed frames were typically recycled from old railroad tracks.That is 1084 steel, a medium high carbon alloy. You can tell by the sparks when cut with a grinder that it is hard. Regular mild steel angle would not be strong enough for the purpose.
OK. Don't take this the wrong way but....
I read often enough here about people picking up trash to reuse that it seems to be a thing in certain parts of the US. Is this a "garbage day so folks have stuff at the curb" thing? From my Pacific Northwest perspective it makes it seem like you folks are living in a trash filled post apocalypse style landscape with piles of refuse everywhere. I imagine culdesacs with heaps of old appliances and mowers everywhere. I don't remember it being like that from my time in the south (except parts of South Carolina)
'round these parts if it doesn't fit in the green waste or blue co-mingled recycling bin from the waste management service you subscribe to, you have to take it to the transfer station yourself. There are hundreds of folks at any time sorting stuff like appliances and metals into the correct containers. It is free to recycle anything like this.
I am just trying to picture what this looks like.
In reply to Trent :
Nah man, looking at it wrong. There are two things going on here.
It isn't a southern thing. Its an HOA vs no-HOA thing. Urban vs Suburbs as well. Thats the first.
Second is that everywhere in the US has a drug problem. Usuallt meth, opiods, or both. These folk are looking for a quick buck, and driving around picking up scrap metal in an old E36 M3ty truck is usually a safe-ish way to do it.
When I put stuff by the curb I usually don't even have to wait two days for it to be gone.
I'd bet its the same in the PNW, you just may not be going to areas it is common
Anytime I've put things out at the curbside as a "donation" it's been gone in hours. We typically have it near the trash on the curb, but in it's own little region with a sign on it.
Bubbles and Johnny scrappin.
Where I lived four years ago if you put metal on the curb on garbage day it was gone before the crew came to through it in the truck. Of course the price of scrap steel there is worth collecting but now where I live now I messaged two people of of CL about picking up a car body. Both said Monday. One even said after talking on the phone messaged me to pay him $100. I said nothing to offend him just asked him if he could pick it up after 5pm on that Monday.
In my town the local government owns the trash haulers and so they pick up bulk waste for free. We also only have a single scrap yard in town who doesn't take steel, so we don't have many scrappers.
if I had a welders I'd probably be collecting a few bed frames I know are sitting in trash piles as we speak
I just picked up a big propane patio heater. Put out to the edge of the road means "free crap that may have some value". And yeah, nothing sits long before its gone. Ive seen metal stuffs put out at the edge of the road while on the usual noon walk around the neighborhood and it was gone before i could get back to it a few minutes later.
TJL (Forum Supporter) said:And yeah, nothing sits long before its gone. Ive seen metal stuffs put out at the edge of the road while on the usual noon walk around the neighborhood and it was gone before i could get back to it a few minutes later.
Was walking the dog once, someone put a radio flyer wagon with a broken wheel on the curb. I was three houses down. Someone pulled up and grabbed it before the guy was even all the way inside his garage.
The jerk.
Your top picture shows why having a pickup is dangerous. It allows you to grab this stuff without a second thought. I'm in the same position.
In reply to Mr_Asa :
Drug addicts here too. I put something at the curb, then walked across the street to talk to the neighbor. My back was turned to our property, but I heard someone open a truck door so I turned around to thank them...and then turned right back around toward my neighbor, thankfully without making eye contact with them.
In reply to Trent :
Nah. Cities are a little more regulated, but suburbs often have an "amnesty day" where you can put out big stuff like a mattress or an old moldy couch. Around here, those are prime pickin days for folks like me. Lawnmowers, scrap steel, random garage castoffs, even got a running 125cc scooter once. Cleaned the carb so it ran better and sold it for $150.
It's not like a trash-heap apocalypse, it's just that people like me and Mr_Asa have a keen eye.
But my suburban street is like any other street on trash day; everyone has one neat trash dumpster and one neat recycle bin. It's just when you see that one dumpster with a rusty shovel leaning against it, or a window air conditioner that can be scavenged for the motor to make a fan, the condenser to make a home-brew oil cooler, and the switches to make god-knows-what. That E36 M3 makes me salivate.
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