O/T 303 Stainless Steel Prices, Round vs Rectangle

[Jobnt]

Looking at thousands of feet of 303 stainless steel to make some necks. Got quotes for 3/4 x 1.0 Rectangle bar and 1.0 Round bar. The round bar, even though it's 0.1 cubic inches bigger in volume per part, is 40% of the cost of rectangle bar. 

Is that a supply/demand thing or a manufacturing thing? 

[#Rekd™]

Not sure but the rod has always been cheaper and easier to get.

[byte]

1 hour ago, Jobnt said:

Looking at thousands of feet of 303 stainless steel to make some necks. Got quotes for 3/4 x 1.0 Rectangle bar and 1.0 Round bar. The round bar, even though it's 0.1 cubic inches bigger in volume per part, is 40% of the cost of rectangle bar. 

Is that a supply/demand thing or a manufacturing thing? 

It depends on the supplier I suppose, my experience has generally been the opposite, when i worked the different lathe jobs the stock was usually bought square then cut by plasma/laser into disks that were turned down, because it was cheaper

Probably the bar is expensive because it is dimensions somewhat precisely?

 

[Jobnt]

6 minutes ago, byte said:

It depends on the supplier I suppose, my experience has generally been the opposite, when i worked the different lathe jobs the stock was usually bought square then cut by plasma/laser into disks that were turned down, because it was cheaper

Probably the bar is expensive because it is dimensions somewhat precisely?

 

Sounds like you were doing thin parts (10x1 dia to thickness ratio or greater)? So that makes sense being cheaper for plate then plasma cutting because buying a large dia round bar is way more expensive than plate.  

The bar I'm going to be using is standard 3/4 x 1 inch bar, cold drawn, nothing special.  

 

[byte]

21 minutes ago, Jobnt said:

Sounds like you were doing thin parts (10x1 dia to thickness ratio or greater)? So that makes sense being cheaper for plate then plasma cutting because buying a large dia round bar is way more expensive than plate.  

The bar I'm going to be using is standard 3/4 x 1 inch bar, cold drawn, nothing special.  

 

yes, that is correct

[AHarrison1]

2 hours ago, Jobnt said:

Looking at thousands of feet of 303 stainless steel to make some necks. Got quotes for 3/4 x 1.0 Rectangle bar and 1.0 Round bar. The round bar, even though it's 0.1 cubic inches bigger in volume per part, is 40% of the cost of rectangle bar. 

Is that a supply/demand thing or a manufacturing thing? 

I think it has to do with manufacturing cost of the draw dies between round and square, that is just a guess though.

[AHarrison1]

34 minutes ago, AHarrison1 said:

I think it has to do with manufacturing cost of the draw dies between round and square, that is just a guess though.