trying to make a couple buss bars for a battery rack and wanted some ideas on what kind of material to use. I stay not too far from a home improvement store and was looking to buy a few flat metal bars. In no way shape or form am I giving my first born for copper lol. I wanted to know would aluminum get too hot? They'll be about 30-36" long x 2" wide x 1/8" thick and I will have about 600amps of current going through them. Or should I use plain steel or steel with zinc plating?

Use aluminum.

 

You need a LOT more thickness than 1\8" lol.  

I have never heard of buss bars being that thin.

 

For the bare minimum, 600A, you can use one of the following sizes-

 

2" wide x 7\16" thick

2 1\4" - 2 1\2" wide x 3\8" thick

3" wide x 5/16" thick

 

Now, for more optimal sizing, here are sizes rated for 1,000A continuous

(i like to always use overkill specs to reduce resistance at all costs)

 

2" wide x 3\4" thick

2.5" wide x 5\8" thick

3" wide x 1\2" thick

Nothing wrong with aluminum at all...

Yep, i prefer it over copper.

If I have a choice and money isn't tight, I use copper.  But it is expensive... 

 

For all other practical purposes, aluminum is just fine.  It is also easier to machine than copper... 

 

And hey, you can paint it with copper paint and you have CCA, lol...

OMG.. hahahahahahaha.

 

My reasons for aluminum is the resistance in time to oxidation.

 

I had a copper bar here that started visually oxidizing in 2 weeks.

 

I still have aluminum material in the garage from 09 that still looks new.

 

I know you can spray or paint protection on copper but user error could result in oxidation and not know it.

I hate that small but possible percentage that can happen.

 

Even sharing same ampacity to copper, aluminum is still cheaper and doesn't really require too much extra room.

 

I say copper is good for small pieces including wire but aluminum will rival for everything else...

 

Plus if you need to run 500 buss bars, lol.. aluminum will save you a lot of weight too.

thanks guys. I think I did see some 1/2" thick bars in Lowes this past weekend. Pretty cheap too. Thanks again

Pfft, everyone knows raw silver bars are the only buss bar worth having now a days! lol

Just for reference.... aluminum is good for 700A of ampacity per square inch of cross section. Copper = 1,000A. 

also found a pretty good site that has some nice bars http://www.onlinemetals.com/index.cfm. Also I have another question. Do u suggest I run full grounds from front to back or could I make short grounds from the bars to the chassis in the rear?

If you have a full frame vehicle, there is no reason to run a seperate ground.  If you have unibody, then it makes sense when your current demands get pretty stout...