Stainless Steel Trivets

[HigherPlane]

Hey Guys

I'm trying to find some polished stainless steel square bar to use as trivets/inlays in my concrete countertop. I need 3 about 700mm and 3 x 300mm and about 20mm thick. I'm trying to figure out if there's somewhere I could buy these pre frabricated. I can't think of an application for polished steel rods (as there may not be one) so I don't even know where to start looking.

I've had a quote of $200 to get them fabricated which is fair enough I guess, but I'm hoping to find a cheaper option. They would need to be 316 (marine) grade as the longer ones would be exposed to water a lot.

Any ideas?

Cheers

Matt

[China]

$200 is a good price the steel would be close to $80, + cutting + plus labor for polishing doubt wether you will do much better

[Dave J]

I am pretty sure you wont buy stainless that thick ready polished. I bought some 30 x 6mm flat bar and it only come in mill finish, it was a pain to polish.
I would go with that quote, it's a good price. I don't think you will get better price, unless you have a mate in the business.
Dave

[malb]

If you want solid barstock, it is only available commercially in mill finish which includes a thick scale layer. To fab what you want, someone needs to buy a 6m length of what ever sizes you want, cut them over length about 30mm, grind the scale off them and bring them up to about 320 grit finish, cut to final size, grind ends and mirror polish all over. They get cut overlength initially as the ends will round significantly during descaling and working up to 320.

As an alternative, consider using tube which comes at about 180 finish. Fab shop should be able to prep tube lengths to 600 grit easily, then weld in end caps, grind the welds back and polish all over. There is work with welding the caps in place etc but probably less than descaling the barstock, and you are paying for a lot less metal.

[BenM78]

Do you want a clear mirror finish or a brushed stainless look? $200 for mirror is a good price, would easily be a days work in doing that. For brushed, I'd expect about $200, pretty quick on a scotchbrite belt to achieve.

(This is the sort of work I do every day eg today I cut 10x20nb Sch10 pipes at 200mm, welded an end cap on, machined square and polished then cut 10 90x90 plates, round corners off drilled mounting holes then welded the tubes to the plates. Then pickled and cleaned up. About 4 hours work.)

[HigherPlane]

Cheers for the advice fellas...looks like I'll be going with that quote.