Where do people buy their metal stock from?

[Sawdust=manglitter]

As per the title, i’d like to know if people have a specific website that they like to buy their metal stock from? I’ve bought some chunky brass rods from ebay before, but no idea if ebay prices are the norm, or is it a bit of a rip off? I’m just getting started, so a good cheap source of practice material would be greatly appreciated.

 

[RichardG]

Try and find a local metal fabricator, my experience is that they will sell small amounts at a fair price. Some will even let you rummage through their scrap bin and charge scrap prices. P+P charges for online orders is often excessive.

 

[Trevanion]

I have an excellent couple of local sources, one being the bolt shop/general engineering firm on the local industrial estate which'll sell me round offcuts and lengths of stock plus any amounts of nuts and bolts I need, another is a general welder/engineer who'll sell me lengths of flat bars, angles and tubing at a good price and lastly a friend who does CNC engineering whom I grovel the occasional aluminium offcut from :lol:

For more specific stuff I do look online, Ground Flat Stock sell lengths of silver steel which is a high carbon steel (hardenable) and very accurate in diameter, you used to be able to buy it in 2M lengths which worked out very cheap but they don't seem to do that anymore

Buying local is much cheaper than online, for example from my local shop I can buy a meter of 25mm bright mild steel round bar for about £10, buying online is about £17 excluding postage.

 

[Doug B]

If you google steel stockholders South Wales it brings up quite a few steel suppliers plus multi metal suppliers, I don’t know if any are local to you.
I find these places the best way to buy metal as if you pop along they usually have off cuts they are willing to sell quite inexpensively for cash, I recently bought a 4’ offcut of 7/8” aluminium bar which the price online varied from £15 to over £30 plus p&p, I picked it up locally for £10.
I tend to look online first to get a feeling for price but have not yet had to pay the prices the online metal sites quote

 

[AES]

A lot of good advice above. Unless it's something REALLY special (most unusual in my case!) I do the following:

Go skip (& similar) diving - e.g. 1: you can often see a bit of electrical gear or a dead PC/laptop which will yield sheet metal, often very accurately punched and folded; e.g. 2: old printers, photocopiers, etc (beautifully ground hardened steel rod (I think often it's silver steel), etc, etc. Just keep your eyes open.

Local small metal working business/es - e.g. my local jobbing welding/fabrication shop (for cheap offcuts of rod, angle, plate, etc);

Local metal stockholder (ditto the comment posted above about selling offcuts of just about anything at "sensible" prices);

Keep an eye out for discarded electrical plugs & sockets, etc - especially the "large" brass pins on UK items (compared to us foreigners) are a good source of small bits of brass - even better if you ever see one around are the UK old 15 Amp round pin plugs;

Ask your family and friends to keep their eyes open too;

Go to WH Smith for latest copy of "Model "Engineer", or "Engineering in Miniature", or "Model Engineers' Workshop" mags. Study the small ads (mainly on the back pages) for a LOCAL model engineering specialist shop - as someone posted above, unless you're just buying a 6 inch length of thin ali rod, postage/shipping costs are far too high to go far afield for most metal stuff.
Similarly keep whatever mag (above) you buy and next time you take the good lady shopping somewhere, or visit Aunt Gladys, or w.h.y; see if there's a m.e. specialist on the way/nearby.

It all adds to the fun of owning a lathe and making/repairing stuff!

 

[TFrench]

Mixture of all of the above for me. There's a stock at work of "handy looking" chucks of mystery metals that have been accumulated over the years, but if I need something specific I get steel stock (flat, box sections or angles) from the fabbers down the road, and solid bar I have found a stockholder in leicester that sells bar ends (proper term if you go asking for offcuts!) for cash. Ebay is the last resort, but sometimes you have to do it!

 

[woodfarmer]

If you need specific high quality steel these people are very reasonable
Jenkins Steels Ltd
Unit 1T, Admiral Business Park
Cramlington
Northumberland
NE23 1WG
Tel: 01670 202022
Mob: 07766723065

sometimes you just have to have the right stuff and I needed some EN19T.

 

[Yojevol]

I've used Metals4U in the recent past. They're very helpful and used to supplying small quantities; website good for checking prices
I have a small general scrapyard nearby who is worth a visit. I'll be going to him when my current stock of lead (for clock weights) runs out. Local church roof now exhausted
Brian

 

[Eric The Viking]

Not a thread hijack (I hope)...

... it turns out that I probably need to get some brass plate/sheet to pack out our espagnolette French window lock set. Does anybody have a favourite supplier?

I'm probably going to need about an A4 sized sheet, thickness as yet unknown (will have to make some awkward shapes), so I've already started saving up.
:-(

E.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I would think a chandler's would be as good a place as any for something that size.

 

[Eric The Viking]

Good point, but we've almost paid off the mortgage and I won't get that past the Financial Controller (I used to own a dinghy). Mind you, she won't get the lock fitted either, so I suppose it might end up as a Mexican standoff. ;-)

E.

 

[AndyT]

I've picked up a tip from somewhere that it can be cheaper buying a plain brass kickplate - eg https://www.ironmongerydirect.co.uk/pro ... ***-652611 - than a bit of brass stock. No idea if that's true and I guess it depends on where you buy the kickplate and whether the bits you need will cut out of that shape piece. But maybe.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Yes - that's probably a hundred quid's worth from a chandler's.

 

[AES]

@Andy T: Re a kick plate, I don't KNOW this, but here anyway, a lot of door furniture that looks like brass actually isn't! So I'm just suggesting that if you do go that route you need to be careful - especially if forced to buy it on line, which I guess under current circumstances you will be.

Could you possibly use multi layers of thin bras sheet (even shim stock)? Though I must say I think if you really do need an A4-size sheet it's going to cost a bob or two, however thick you need!

How are you going to cut it?

Sorry if that's all "granny & eggs".

 

[Yojevol]

if you really do need an A4-size sheet it's going to cost a bob or two, however thick you need!

250 x 250 x 2mm £18.78 +VAT

 

[AES]

Oh, not as expensive as I thought! Thanks. But the last piece of brass I "bought" came out of the "scrap" box at work, in exchange for a small contribution to the coffee collection.

 

[nev]

As per the title, i’d like to know if people have a specific website that they like to buy their metal stock from? I’ve bought some chunky brass rods from ebay before, but no idea if ebay prices are the norm, or is it a bit of a rip off? I’m just getting started, so a good cheap source of practice material would be greatly appreciated.

Try Teilo Components in Capel Hendre Industrial estate for scrap/ bits and bobs. They are a small engineering/ metal fabrication place. They are currently moving from the road on the first left in the ind. estate (near Revs motors) to a larger premises in the third right in the same estate (next door to Braces bread.) so may well have a decent sized scrap bin by the time they've tidied up.

 

[Eric]

If you want to buy smaller quantities of metal online, I have found MetalMania to be one of the most reliable sources.https://www.metalmaniauk.com/

They sell 250x250 x 1.2mm CZ108 spec brass for £14.10 including vat. Larger sheets work out a fair bit cheaper

 

[marcros]

I've used Metals4U in the recent past. They're very helpful and used to supplying small quantities; website good for checking prices
I have a small general scrapyard nearby who is worth a visit. I'll be going to him when my current stock of lead (for clock weights) runs out. Local church roof now exhausted
Brian

I think this is the supplier near me. Used a couple of times and they are great.

It is worth checking the custom lengths of stock, often cheaper to buy a custom length of something and chose 250mm than the 250mm length on offer. Must be an error on their pricing.

 

[Eric The Viking]

I don't really need all that, but it's for an espagnolette bolt set, so there is one long wide bit for the handle and four smaller plates for the bolt guides. It's because the weather strip sets the door off from the "doorstop" part of the frame slightly, and I can't make the cill look neat if I can't let in the keep properly.

Forgive my terminology. Not me BTW, but trying to rectify a bodge by the installers a few years back, without having to re-make the door - in the present situation I probably won't be able to get the materials. But I can use white PVC temporarily, and put brass plate in (which will be nearly invisble if made carefully, polished and lacquered). Lovejoy's link above is just what I need - 2mm rather than the 1mm finger plates I found and much cheaper (and I get leftovers - it's handy stuff to have).

Most grateful for all the thoughts.

E.