Thread: Steel suppliers

Was at my local Voestalpine steel merchant today.

They are only a small merchant (the main Voestalpine state branch is 15 km further away) and although their "ready to pick up racks" were "chocka" the work floor looked very quiet but according to the blokes on the counter they are flat out and only just starting to catch up with their usual stock.

He said stuff seems to go out as quickly as it comes in so they're struggling to keep up. No 304 SS so had to settle for 316 - it cost a few bucks more, but saved me driving the extra 30 km.
Voestalpine.jpg

Well you're lucky. My local shop doesn't do cash sales anymore, no offcuts, have to open an account, order online , pay in advance and they ring you whenever it's ready. Not good for small time machinist's.
Rgds,
Crocy.

Originally Posted by Old Croc

Well you're lucky. My local shop doesn't do cash sales anymore, no offcuts, have to open an account, order online , pay in advance and they ring you whenever it's ready. Not good for small time machinist's.
Rgds,
Crocy.

That's a shame.

There's a $55 minimum cash buy so if you are just after one short piece of something it can be expensive but I rarely come away spending less than $55. They have heaps of offcuts so you can often pick up a bunch of short bits for $55. The guys that work teh floor are also decidedly cheery and helpful!

Originally Posted by Old Croc

Well you're lucky. My local shop doesn't do cash sales anymore, no offcuts, have to open an account, order online , pay in advance and they ring you whenever it's ready. Not good for small time machinist's.
Rgds,
Crocy.

That seems inherently more efficient to me.. yeah ok you don’t get to fossick in the offcut bins but you can order at anytime you like and when you go there it’s because they have processed your order. Requires a level of forethought but I don’t see that as being a bad thing either to be honest.

There's no short-short offcuts and even though there's a bin, there's no public access to it. All the offcuts are at least 150mm long. up to about 3-400 mm or so. There's also no fossicking for these offcuts - the offcuts are all neatly laid out on a wall of shelving and they are sorted in order by cross section (round, hex, square, tube etc), size (diameter and length) and type. Its really quick to find what you need if they have it. I'll take a photo next time I go.

The general metal merchant I go to does have large scrap bins (Al, steel, SS etc) undercover, and "piles" and sometimes "pallets" outside [all going rusty] so it's pot luck. If dozens of pieces of stuff are on top of that beaut piece of "X" you're chasing there's no removing them from the bin to get at X. I've bought 6 and 8m lengths of stuff from them so they then have given me a good deal on what I select from the scrap bins. Wearing suitable PPE they also let me walk onto the cutting floor to some of the auxiliary scrap bins located close to the big bandsaws. Eventually these bins are tipped into the larger bins but it's nice to have early access to these offcuts. I don't know how long that will last.

Originally Posted by racingtadpole

That seems inherently more efficient to me.. yeah ok you don’t get to fossick in the offcut bins but you can order at anytime you like and when you go there it’s because they have processed your order. Requires a level of forethought but I don’t see that as being a bad thing either to be honest.

You "country folk" are used to sending an order by carrier pigeon though.

Some of us have upgraded to the telegraph. Carrier pigeons used to get taken by the hawks and eagles, or for some ones pie
Our local merchant, has a nice array of offcuts laying in trays or standing up, sometimes I manage to score a nice bit of round bar too.
Kryn

Originally Posted by lamestllama

You "country folk" are used to sending an order by carrier pigeon though.

https://phys.org/news/2009-09-carrie...-internet.html

Iv'e found the guys at the Welshpool store are happy to accommodate the small orders us hobbyists usually buy.
Canning Vale on the other hand are only interested commercial quantities.
Iv'e gone to Canning Vale once, and I live close by.
Mark

Neither Capral nor Surman, the two aluminium and brass suppliers in Adelaide do counter sales anymore either. Same system, order over the phone and pickup, no going through the parts bin anymore. Very annoying for people like me. Fortunately, I've almost finished my project so hopefully won't need much more.
Machinery Warehouse in Cavan still allow fossicking, although they generally only have sheet. This guy is cheap, very, very cheap, and I'm sure he could use the business if you are in the area.

Capral we’re still doing walk in a couple of weeks ago when I was last there. They have gone cashless, eftpos only like a lot of other places.
If they’ve gone pre order only that will be mildly annoying, I generally go there for a particular thing and leave with a stack of stock I didn’t know I wanted until I was there
Their website says they are still doing walk in.
https://www.capral.com.au/contact-lo...trade-centres/

Surman metals never have had a walk in service as far as I am aware Capral served me over the counter as a walk in last Monday.