My original post seems to have disappeared?

I'm looking at laser cutting services and I could get them in stainless steel for around 12 to $15 shipped. There is a choice of either 3 or 4mm thickness. The original aluminum strut was 4.6 mm.

I was planning to put in the same number of holes as the original to keep it adjustable height. But do you think 3 mm would be too thin? steel is three times heavier than aluminum. 4 mm would definitely be much stronger but heavy, around 2.6 times the original.

Chat AI claims that the 3mm stainless steel will be around 80% of the original stiffness while the 4mm stainless steel will be twice as stiff as the original aluminum. I'm thinking about stability under full load.

The original strut width this around 14.5 mm, and the maximum width of the C profile is 15.3 mm. So the width can only be increased to 15 mm.

Shortening the length and removing one hole from the top end only reduces the overall weight by 6%.

Otherwise for the same weight, there's still the option of the XLC replacement struts for around $8. With the same risk of the aluminum fracturing again in the future.