Am I the only guy who uses bed frames for making stuff? Welding carts, braces, home made tools etc... I never throw out a bed frame. I keep a pile of them and always end up using them to build something temporary or permanent.
And I thought I was the only one, there's a trash gypsy that comes around every Tuesday looking for scrap metal, I trade him my scrap for the bed frames he picks up, great stuff for all kinds of things.
I tried one once - the problem is that they are a really crappy alloy. Good for temporary bracing or stuff like that, but don't use them where any real loads are involved.
My swing set never made it up when I was a kid.. Dad never got around to it... The ol'Man used it in more projects than I can count.. Hell.. later I used pieces of it in two bikes and a Car .... ha...
I have used them in the past... but not anymore. Had a few items I made out of them crack near the weld, nothing really critical, but... they are HARD too, will dull a drill bit if you aren't careful. Mild steel angle is so cheap, I don't bother scavenging bedroom furniture anymore.
Don't use them for anything that takes any real weight . They act like high carbon steel . I used them under my wood bed.
Bed frames are nice, they make a great tool cart if you do not have roller boxes. Just throw them on and roll. I personally would not use a bed frame for really critical, like a go kart or mini bike.
i built the cab for my avatar from a 28 sedan cowl w/doors-bed frame and some sheet metal. The back window and B posts were from a A sedan and the floor was from a B.K playground that I tore down. (pre ball pit)
I have a piece of one holding the tranny up in my truck right now, while the engine is out for a freshening up.
Needed one last piece of L shape for a trailer that I build. Used for the top rail of the drop down gate.
Most bed frame material is re-formed from railroad track. They heat it up and roll it through progressive dies to get the angle profile. Its stronger than similar size mild steel angle Same for T fence posts. No it doesn't weld well , that's why every one is riveted together a full lap or three face joint will hold just about anything you want I use it for all kinds of stuff. plasma straight edge is my favorite
Built a battery box for a T-Bucket I made in the 60's. It was cantilevered off of the frame, but I never had a problem with it in the 7 years I had the car. I did have to weld it to the frame, because it was too hard to drill.
I want to make a bed frame for my room out of an extra T frame, using torque tubes as the posts. A friend made bed stake sides for a beater trash truck from them, hard steel to drill through.
Interesting results.Think the steel quality issues would apply to bed frames from 40-50 years ago? I've used little pieces from old ones,and didn't notice any problems welding them.I thought 50 year old US steel angle would be better than new Chinese steel.More traditional,y'know?