On Jul 25, 5:02*am, des bromilow wrote:

I don't know what the correct property is I need to look for here... Basically
I have a tabletop which supports a small lathe, and the tabletop is made
of wood, and I'm replacing it with sheet steel.

The lathe support is a substructure under the sheet, the sheet itself
just has to hold random tools and swarf and capture any dripping
coolant?

A thin sheet won't be less 'floppy' than wood (will sag if loaded in
the center). That's why corrugated, not flat, steel is used for
roofing
and such.

Bending the edges of the sheet to form a lip will stiffen them a lot.
That's how steel shelving gets its stiffness.