Any way to tell about quality of steel tubing?

[have_blue]

"IF this material is really something special and not what I can get everyday at regular steel suppliers it would make it more appealing to go thru the effort with salvaging and dealing with all the other components----it would be at least a few days work to tear it all apart and seperate it just to dispose of the electronics portion. IF .

I know exactly what you mean. There's nothing like finding good metal in a sea of junk. Here's what I would do: Get a piece about 2' long, and clamp it hard in a big vise. Common CRS or HRS up to ~1" O.D. will flatten completely. Try to bend it. CRS up to ~1" will be easy to bend. Hammering and noting mushrooming is a good indicator, and so is filing. Higher strength alloy tubing will be just a tad harder to file, but noticeable. I have even used a pedestal or disk grinder to sort alloys according to their spark pattern.

Old computer racks could possibly have been made to Mil spec. I guess that many early PC's were made at least partly to Mil spec** in hopes of getting a DOD contract. If that's the case, the tubing may be a slightly higher strength alloy than common CRS or HRS.

**We still suffer from data cable and power connector designs in PC's that are very difficult to unplug to this very day!

Good luck!