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New to me ZX45 milling machine

I need to source some material for mounts now for the DRO.
Can anyone suggest a good place to by metal in Saskatoon. I am looking for flat bar either aluminum or steel. I briefly looked online at metal supermarket and my jaw dropped when I saw the price of 3/8"x2" and 3/8"x4" aluminum and steel flat bar. Aluminum was almost exactly twice the price. I will admit it has been many years since I bought new metal but I don't remember flat bar being ridiculously expensive. I used to only be able to get it in 20' lengths now I couldn't dream of buying 20' just to make sure I had enough and some extra.

I was hoping to avoid dealing with rusty old metal from my scrap pile since its for dro mounts but I hay have to reconsider.
 
oh yeah...the cost of material has sky rocketed :mad:
Metal Super usually has a decent inventory...so you end up paying for that luxury...:rolleyes:
looks like you have a few places to choose from in your neck of the woods in Saskatoon...
Ardel, Shear, Cascadia, Varsteel, SteelMet, and ASA...not bad...I think we have 3 in Kelowna here...

One suggestion would be Shear...it looks like they're a fab shop...here in my town, I'll hit the fab shops up first...especially if it's just shorts n crops I'm after...they'll usually sell it by scrap weight vs "per the foot"...

I'd avoid ordering online and shipping it...as you'll pay through the short n curlies for freight....
 
KeeponDragon said:
oh yeah...the cost of material has sky rocketed :mad:
Metal Super usually has a decent inventory...so you end up paying for that luxury...:rolleyes:
looks like you have a few places to choose from in your neck of the woods in Saskatoon...
Ardel, Shear, Cascadia, Varsteel, SteelMet, and ASA...not bad...I think we have 3 in Kelowna here...

One suggestion would be Shear...it looks like they're a fab shop...here in my town, I'll hit the fab shops up first...especially if it's just shorts n crops I'm after...they'll usually sell it by scrap weight vs "per the foot"...

I'd avoid ordering online and shipping it...as you'll pay through the short n curlies for freight....
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Thank you! I have heard of shear would have never thought to look twice at them since they are a fab shop. Since you suggested them I googled them and was shocked to see they sell material. I will have to contact them and get some prices.
 
Go in person to metal supermarket (or any other supplier)and shop from their drops. Bring a tape measure. It will be a LOT cheaper, you may have to be patient and go a couple times or compromise on size and machine it down, but for flat bar they will likely have something
 
Jswain said:
Go in person to metal supermarket (or any other supplier)and shop from their drops. Bring a tape measure. It will be a LOT cheaper, you may have to be patient and go a couple times or compromise on size and machine it down, but for flat bar they will likely have something
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Is it common for places to sell drops? I have never seen that before when buying material in the past. Some places I have bought from would only cut pieces down for you as long as they were left with at least a 3 foot piece in order to avoid ever having small amounts of material that they couldn't sell for full price.
 
Megar arc 5040dd said:
Some places I have bought from would only cut pieces down for you as long as they were left with at least a 3 foot piece in order to avoid ever having small amounts of material that they couldn't sell for full price.
Click to expand...

Time to shop for a new supplier.
 
Susquatch said:
Time to shop for a new supplier.
Click to expand...
I am in the market for one. For years there was only one supplier that I was aware of in Saskatoon that would let you buy custom lengths as long as they had 3 feet left to sell. Everywhere else you has do buy full 20 foot lengths. And a few of the big ones you had to have a minimum order if you weren't a business with an account, about $350 but that was many years ago so probably higher now. Then a couple years ago they opened a metal supermarket here so now there is a second place I can buy by the foot.

I am hoping someone who lives in Saskatoon will chime in with where they buy materials.
 
Megar arc 5040dd said:
Is it common for places to sell drops? I have never seen that before when buying material in the past. Some places I have bought from would only cut pieces down for you as long as they were left with at least a 3 foot piece in order to avoid ever having small amounts of material that they couldn't sell for full price.
Click to expand...
Both places I go to in Calgary do, and are happy to sell you them so they don't pile up

One place even has sales on the drops every now and then.(Probably when they pile up)

Metal supermarkets is crazy expensive & I would try to avoid ever placing a large order there. But they will happily cut you 30 pieces 5" long or whatever you want so it's convenient. Now if you can shop their drops bin & get your material there for small projects the pricing isn't (as) insane
 
Jswain said:
Both places I go to in Calgary do, and are happy to sell you them so they don't pile up

One place even has sales on the drops every now and then.(Probably when they pile up)

Metal supermarkets is crazy expensive & I would try to avoid ever placing a large order there. But they will happily cut you 30 pieces 5" long or whatever you want so it's convenient. Now if you can shop their drops bin & get your material there for small projects the pricing isn't (as) insane
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Where do you buy from in Calgary? I will be out that way with my truck for a couple weeks in march maybe I can pick up some stuff.

I noticed metal supermarket was really expensive sadly they are similar prices to Steel MET the other place in town that sell by the foot. I have nothing against buying full lengths of metal as long as it is considerably cheaper per foot price than metal supermarket.
 
Megar arc 5040dd said:
Where do you buy from in Calgary? I will be out that way with my truck for a couple weeks in march maybe I can pick up some stuff.

I noticed metal supermarket was really expensive sadly they are similar prices to Steel MET the other place in town that sell by the foot. I have nothing against buying full lengths of metal as long as it is considerably cheaper per foot price than metal supermarket.
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I pretty much only buy from metal supermarkets, Calgary metal market, or preferably Kijiji.

Usually I buy a small amount at a time and if I'm not picky on materials I'll just go and shop the drops.

I hear a lot of the other places don't like to deal with smaller customers, but I'd be interested in where other people shop around Calgary as well when they are not buying full sticks
 
Jswain said:
I pretty much only buy from metal supermarkets, Calgary metal market, or preferably Kijiji.

Usually I buy a small amount at a time and if I'm not picky on materials I'll just go and shop the drops.

I hear a lot of the other places don't like to deal with smaller customers, but I'd be interested in where other people shop around Calgary as well when they are not buying full sticks
Click to expand...
Does metal supermarket and Calgary metal market have drops? Are drops sold at a lower price?
 
Got a little bit done this week getting ready for the DRO. The mill is sitting on plywood on a roller stand and is not the most stable thing in the world. Either the wood or the stand or both seem to flex. The mill also sits low for me to operate unless I am sitting on a short mechanics stool. So I am killing two birds with one stone. I have some 4"x4" tubing kicking around so I will make a rectangle out of it and put it on the roller stand instead of the plywood and weld it both to the roller stand and the cabinet. This should hopefully stiffen it up removing the wobble as well as raise it up 4". Not sure if 4" will make much of a difference for operating height but it will be a start. I can always add more tube possibly between the mill and the chip tray.

In preparation for lifting the mill off the base I finally, after being in this shop for 10 years, shortened the chains on my chain fall. The hand chain would get in the way and tangle on the floor and the load chain I was sick of always dealing with more chain than I needed. I wish I would have done this years ago! I have own the chain fall for about 20 years and have only ever used its full length once when using it to winch a car onto a trailer 20 years ago.

20240913_204723.jpg
20240913_212001.jpg
 
Ordered a bunch of new tooling for the mill today a combination from amazon and aliexpress. This is what all I ordered.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/100...o.order_list.order_list_main.4.21ef1802ECh3uQ in 10mm, 12mm, and 20mm

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/328....order_list.order_list_main.10.21ef1802ECh3uQ

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/328....order_list.order_list_main.10.21ef1802ECh3uQ 1 pack of BIP2015 and 1 pack of BF2055

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/100....order_list.order_list_main.22.21ef1802ECh3uQ 1 pack of these

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/328....order_list.order_list_main.27.21ef1802ECh3uQ 1 in 10mm and 1 in 12mm

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/329....order_list.order_list_main.32.21ef1802ECh3uQ i of these using BAP300 inserts

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/328....order_list.order_list_main.38.21ef1802ECh3uQ 1 of these for the quill

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/100....order_list.order_list_main.44.21ef1802ECh3uQ ordered this a few days ago

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B08FHQ1PSP/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_image_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 for a drill chuck I have

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B07WQWHMNN/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 also for a chuck I have

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B0DFMKYN3B/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 also also for a drill chuck I have

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B005W1BXAI/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 so I can use the drill chucks from the lathe in the mill

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B06WW2TZ45/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 to hold the metric stuff

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00RY558JM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Because sometime you just need to counter bore

Most of this was from my wife for my birthday the DRO was from selling other shop tools I don't need so I put the money back into the shop. Still have more stuff to post on kijiji and sell hopefully before winter then I can put that towards something else.
 
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