Drill Rods?

[ObsceneJester]

Where do I get them? Also how do I know where they fall into where I can bend..

[com202]

www.onlinemetals.com and www.fastenal.com are the 2 that I have seen

Both have drill rod.

Thanks to Booyah!!! for the above info.

Mike and others could give you an idea as to how they compare to other steels.

[Alawadhi]

How hard is a 5/16 drill rod comparing to a bastard? is it inbetween the bastard and the hex?

[Tim71]

I've bent both the 5/16 hex (harder mcmaster kind) and the 5/16 drill rod and the drill rod took alot more out of me even though it may calibrate slightly lower. The drill rod gets alot harder at the end sorta like stainless. Not quite as bad as stainless but a heck of a lot harder than CRS.

I consider the 5/16 drill rod my hardest 7 inch unbraced bend to date.

The 9/32 drill rod was slightly easier than the old reds and the easier bastards we had there for a while but the crush would give you a workout. It's a good way to help get you to the 5/16 level in my opinion.

Typically for any given size, say 5/16 for instance, the easiest is hot rolled followed by zinc plated, followed by cold rolled then hex then drill rod then stainless. At least that's my conclusions. 1/4 inch is harder to tell the difference though but it's still a good step up from the CRS.

Hope this helps.

Tim

[gazza]

Tim

Knows his stuff and is spot on with his recomendations and yes the 1/4"stuff is abit more hit and miss than the 5/16" stuff.

Tim nice work on the 5/16" drillrod.

[acorn]

McMaster has a very nice selection of inbetween size drill rod. I think I have just about all the available sizes from 9/32 to .368 of W1 drill rod from there.

- Aaron

[bentpresser]

Tim, was that the drill rod that I sent you by chance about a month and a half ago?

[Tim71]

No it's oil hardened I got from fastenal. Can't remember which one you sent me at the moment. It was tough for me at my level.

Tim

[diamond]

Just a word of warning, I've gotten some W1 drill rod in the past that snapped and cut a gash in my neck as I went to crush it. Be careful guys. It's pretty scary when it pops (and very impressive sounding ) especially when you aren't expecting it. Not sure if it was a fluke batch or what the deal was. Be safe and happy bending.

[lone Wolf]

I got some 1/4 drill rod where does that at 7"

[Tim71]

Bentpresser,

I think that the 5/16 you sent me was the zinc plated stuff not drill rod. The drill rod is very shiny and precise and much much harder. The 5/16 zinc calibrated at 325 and the drill rod hit 475.

Could be wrong but I'm pretty sure that's the case.

Tim

[bencrush]

Drill Rod is awesome stock. Turning out to be my favorite. Bends similar to Stainless but a bit easier on the crushdown. Definitely gives you much more bang for the buck per piece than CRS or Hex. IMO a 6" piece of the .3125" Drill Rod is every bit as hard as a Big Shiny Bastard.

[ObsceneJester]

How do I tell the difference between them? How would I know the level difference. For example, lets say I was bending a Grade 8 what drill rod would be around there or a touch harder for me to purchase?

Is there a way to tell the strength increase, if so how?

Also I've looked up Fastenals on the web, confusing as hell and can't find a thing. I would visit them soon but again would like to know something about them before I go..

I was also looking up on www.onlinemetals.com and I didn't know what a 1018 steel was or what kinda steel I would get for bending (like a Red nail comparison or getting to a red nail-bastard level ectera ectera ectera)

Any help would be amazing

[Tim71]

Without getting into the real small increments then 9/32 would be great for you as a step up from the G8. The 7 inch piece is a good bend and 6 inches would be even better.

There again my opinion.

Tim

[Booyah!!!]

Would the Drill rod be you are talking about be water, Air, or oil hardened? I have only tried W-1 Water hardened steel that they say is in its annealed state.

[com202]

How do I tell the difference between them? How would I know the level difference. For example, lets say I was bending a Grade 8 what drill rod would be around there or a touch harder for me to purchase?

Is there a way to tell the strength increase, if so how?

Also I've looked up Fastenals on the web, confusing as hell and can't find a thing. I would visit them soon but again would like to know something about them before I go..

I was also looking up on www.onlinemetals.com and I didn't know what a 1018 steel was or what kinda steel I would get for bending (like a Red nail comparison or getting to a red nail-bastard level ectera ectera ectera)

Any help would be amazing

Here is the fastenal page with the steel: http://www.fastenal.com/web/products.ex?N=...in_dim_search=1

Here is the onlinemetals page with the w1 steel: http://onlinemetals.com/merchant.cfm?id=160&step=2

Here is a page from onlinemetals that has info on the different options : http://onlinemetals.com/toolsteelguide.cfm

[neilkaz]

Would the Drill rod be you are talking about be water, Air, or oil hardened? I have only tried W-1 Water hardened steel that they say is in its annealed state.

Fastenal has lots of water hardened drill rod sizes, but even more O-1 oil hardened sizes including metric from my looks at their online catalog. O-1 costs a bit more, but it may be useful to stay with O-1 simply because there are more choices for drill rod in the sizes you better bended could use. I am unsure whether W-1 or O-1 would be more difficult nor which one would be most consistant between samples and sizes.

.. neilkaz ..

[Tim71]

I use O-1 exclusivly. It's the only thing my fastenal has in stock.

Tim

[acorn]

I just use W1 and get it from McMaster.com. I've done .281 (9/32), .290, .302, .3125 (5/16), .323, .332, .343 (11/32), .348, and getting close on finishing a .358. I've also gotten a .368 past 90deg a couple times. Its a very good workout steel just a little pricey if you want to do volume. I usually train with other things and try it to see where I am at since I can get such small increments. I remember having Fatboy try a 7x.323 after getting the Grand bastard and barely being able to wobble it for comparasion. 9/32 is definately above a 60d probably closer to 6"g5 or g8 at 7". with this stuff though you can't go by calibration numbers alone because the initial part of the kink is not too bad but it begins to loads up quite well once you move past 10-20 deg or so.

- Aaron