Inko

Yeah if your a little guy that wants onesys and twosys of pieces it can be hard. I order the stuff 200 feet at a time and its still hard to get service sometimes. Best way to get service is to go in. The onlypeople that they deal with through email ishuge contractors that buy tons at a time. There are some small online companies that will sell precut orcut to length but since ythey are a middle man you pay a higher price. I called my supplier today and cash price for 1.5" 120 wall is 2.02 a foot. 1.25" 120 wall is 1.52 per foot. Canadian prices lol.

rvator

Have you though about using aluminum rigid conduit?

jeepguy553

Honestly no but my MIG isn't set up for aluminum. I would need a spool gun and another gas bottle. I can see doing that but not for a while.

Freewill

X2. Rigid aluminum conduit is very nice stuff. Did a lot of "government jobs" with the stuff when I used to do industrial electrical work.

If you don't want to weld, there is the option of threading the stuff and using threaded pipe fittings. Might not work for your application, but you can do a lot with elbows, tees, and a pipe bender.

I would not recommend galvanized rigid or EMT for a rack.

Are you set up for stainless? They make real nice stainless tubing. Try http://w ww.onlinemetals.com/index.cfm

Inko

Depending on your welder, most small suitcase welders do not need a spool gun for aluminium. You can feed the wire through your regular mig gun taking extra care to make sure your whip doesnt have kinks or bends. On top of that you will need to switch from your MIG mix gas to a bottle of argon. But it can be done without a spool gun.

jeepguy553

I have a HF/Chicago Welding 220VAC 151-amp MIG. I know it has enough balls to burn aluminum with the right gas. I guess I could change out my liner and tip to set it up for aluminum welding. Keeping the feed line THAT straight may be a trick though.