darkside said:
But where do I find a female to mount on my bench?
You grab the Yellow Pages and find "steel suppliers." You go over there and tell 'em you need ** amount of 2.5" square 3/16" wall. Done. They'll know what you're doing, this is extremely common.
Any tow supply place will also sell pre-cut and drilled lengths with the reinforcement "ring" pre-welded (which you don't need and might just interfere w your work bench). The ring is simply to prevent splitting under heavy moment arm loads.
Most steel yards will sell by the foot, ask about drops they might have laying around they might sell at a discount, too. You can drill the holes for the pin yourself, and it doesn't have to be 5/8". Hell even 3/8" should be fine. You could use a bolt, or any hardware store will have a selection of clevis pins in any size you want (or buy a standard hitch pin, they're only around $4). Drilling the holes is best done with a drill press since you're going thru two planes, but you can measure, mark and drill w a hand drill, esp since this is far from a critical application. If the holes are off 'just ream 'em, it's no big deal here.
For that matter you don't even have to base this off a 2" square system, you can use any size you want that fits into any size you want..... but 2" is a good standard and going smaller isn't gonna save you any $ worth mentioning.
