I'm concerned about the weight increase if I use steel vs. aluminum. The steel is thiner (.05" thick) vs the 1/8" (actually .130") aluminum I bought at the avioation department in Home Depot. The steel is free since it's scrap, so that's always good. But. if it weighs too much, I'll buy more aluminum.
I cut out a 2" x 11" of steel. It weighed 4.2 oz, which was lighter than I expected. The aluminunm bar is 1.5" x 36". It weighed 11 oz. The steel actually weighted less per square inch; it was .1909 oz/square inch vs. .2037oz/inch for the aluminum. I should have done this earlier. I wouldn't have hoarded the aluminum liike I did (because I'm frugal).
One more note. These desk legs/ends have been in a damp enviornment for the past 5 years and there is no rust. Conculsion: it must be galvanized steel. One more advantage and no downside that I can think of.
