Thread: Lathe newbie seeks metal, western brisbane

To the member who responded by PM, thanks, I can't reply because your mailbox is full.

If you are prepared to do a bit of work try your local motor mechanic for things like shock absorber shafts, axles etc

Roger

Originally Posted by rogerbaker

If you are prepared to do a bit of work try your local motor mechanic for things like shock absorber shafts, axles etc

Roger

Thanks roger, that's a good idea. Chunks of axle would get me by for some of my needs.

I'm basically after round steel in sizes 20mm--50mm, square around 40-50mm, and flat bar 12-20mm thick. Could use aluminium, bronze and cast iron offcuts if I came across those, also. Lengths as short as 3cm would be usable to me.

Get onto Oztion ( a similar arrangement to Ebay ) there is a seller called "offcutsgalore" he sells off cuts of various types of material for hobby machinists .I have purchased a lot of material from him and can recommend his products and his service is second to none. The material is all new ,not recycled stuff.
Send him an e-mail and he will explain his postage costs and how he works out the weight and postage .All his listings have the weight of the material included and you can work out exactly what the postage will be.

Kev.

Originally Posted by Woodlee

Get onto Oztion ( a similar arrangement to Ebay ) there is a seller called "offcutsgalore" he sells off cuts of various types of material for hobby machinists .I have purchased a lot of material from him and can recommend his products and his service is second to none. The material is all new ,not recycled stuff.
Send him an e-mail and he will explain his postage costs and how he works out the weight and postage .All his listings have the weight of the material included and you can work out exactly what the postage will be.

Kev.

Thanks kev, I've bought from George at offcuts galore (he's on both ebay and oztion/quicksales) many times--this is where I've been getting my aluminium, brass, and some cold-rolled steel. Cost gets rather prohibitive for big chunks of steel; I hadn't thought about asking him if he could do me a 5kg bag of mixed shorts.

Always a bit of a problem to source short bits of various metal shapes.

I have obtained material from various sources. There is a place in Bayswater Vic that sells a wide variety of metal, 1020/1045/1214 amongst others and will cut to any length. They also have short bits in racks, end of bars etc.

I can buy BMS (Bright Mild Steel) locally from a metal supplier, in round square and flat. Have used the square stuff for things like T nuts for my mill.

I buy 303 and 304 SS round bar fro a local fabricator who stocks sizes up to 1".

One of my best sources was a repetition engineering place that has short bar ends that the CNC machines can't grip anymore, have obtained round and hex in brass, SS, 1214 etc.

Local garage sales are also a good source, I have purchased dumbell sets for next to nothing and just recently made a few slitting saw arbors out of the handle bars.

Truck wreckers are another good source, axle ends etc.

Local trailer places often have axles that the don't/ca't use anymore, both round and square, usually mild steel.

Have bought a fair bit of short stuff at the last Bendigo Model Engineers' Exhibition, quite a nit of round (up to 60mm), square up to 70mm and flat up to 25mm alumniium, 1040 and 1045, and some good sized nylon rectangular section.
Your local Model Engineers Club may be able to help as well.

While I was talking to these guys aother bloke piped up and gave me his card, he runs a local engineering place and has various off cuts, but haven't been to visit him yet.

Have looked at Offcuts Galore but his prices are a bit over the top, usually between 2 and 3 times that I pay from the Bayswater place, then you still have to pay postage.

To give an example, I bought 500mm 60mm diam 1045 bar there for $25, 500mm 57mm 1214 bar for $30. Compare this his short pieces, then add the postage and you will see what I mean.

It's just a matter of asking around and keeping your eyes open at markets, garage sales and the like. I have turned in to a bit of bower bird and now have lots of various materials for my lathe/mill in stock, when I see it I grab it even though I may not have an immediate use for it.

George at offcuts galore tells me he's not working in fabrication any more, so his "offcuts" are now new merchant bar chopped to order.

I've got a few bits of 20-30mm bar from flea markets, but I never see anything larger.

Business products for sale, shop and save on quicksales.com.au

Originally Posted by martrix

Business products for sale, shop and save on quicksales.com.au

Most of the metal on quicksales (aka oztion) is Offcuts Galore (george vesley), whom we've been discussing. I see he has quite a bit of mild steel up this week, had hardly any last time I looked.

Its infuriating to me (as a professional computer programmer by day) that so many metal merchants are in the internet stone age, no prices or inventory online. I know scott metals have prices for their black bar. Anyone else have pricing online? Is there a fudge factor I should apply to black bar prices to arrive at a rough price I can expect to pay for machinable BMS?

(I know about the model engineering places that advertise in AME, but they tend to deal in smaller stuff).

Early bird steel post there prices on there website.

For axle steel, hit up your local trailer repairer, a bent or nackered axle is no use to them, but great for you.


On the matter of brass, bronze and copper George Westons and sons at murarie is the place to go......all new stock and will sell you quite small pieces....as long as they have a broken length they will sell you bits.

and only 1 price.....whatever the market rate per KG determines that day

As you progress, you will find that free steel is like free wood, there is plenty of it about once you know where to look, in a very short time you will have enough of it to be a problem.

Soon you will have the disease, every rusting hulk, every pile of junk..."I can see usefull steel in that" ..sorry mate once you have it there is no cure.

cheers

Thanks brett22---early bird steel pricelist was very helpful, alas they're clear on the other side of town.

Soundman, thanks for the info, esp on the brass. I have no trouble scrounging wood and metal tube, but solid bar seems to be my nemesis.

I've gotten my new (old) lathe in some sort of running trim, and I'm ready to start making swarf. I pulled the one 30cm bit of 30mm bar I managed to scrounge so far out of my scrap box yesterday, and it turned out to be hardened!

Dismayed, I put in an quote request today at scott metals for some new bar (1m of 25mm, 60cm of 30mm and 60cm of 40mm), which I calculate is about fifty bucks worth.

Here's the reply I got, verbatim and unabridged:

> Thank you for your recent inquiry.
>
> Unable to supply the small quantities you require of this product.
>
> Regards, The Sales Team at Scott Metals.

Thats it. A a one line response inserted in a form reply. No indication of what minimum order size is, or what sizes are in stock, or suggested alternative suppliers. Just "rack off mate, we don't get out of bed for less than a truckload".

Given that the only other time I visited Scott (in person) they were helpful and friendly, and seemed perfectly happy to sell me $15 worth of plate, I'm really shocked at their appalling service.

My brother-in-law suggested I try Jackson steel at Redbank. Any other suggestions in the west or inner burbs? Couple of hours on a sat morn odd lunchtime is about the only driving time I get (spouse shops saturdays), otherwise its bus or bike.

(And don't think I haven't lugged metal home on a bike before )

I requested a clarification from Scott metals. They say they don't stock any bar over 20mm, and will only order in for sales of a whole 6m length.

They seemed puzzled as to why anyone would want stocking or min order size information on the website when you could just telephone.

Looks like steel merchants and the Internet don't mix so well. Being a 9-5 desk jockey who only slings chips by moonlight, I like to shop online where I can.

Of the 3 steel merchants in my area whose websites claim they cater to the handyman as well as industry, two never responded to their online quote request form at all, and the third brushed me off.

A forum member has been most generous with a gift of some steel bar lengths, so I'm up and turning.