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Sourcing Fastners

GlenG

Glen
I know it’s not metal stock, but there isn’t another sub forum yet.

I always have trouble finding small lots of fastners, not the stuff you find at HD, but odd ball stuff. Like right now I’m looking for a couple of brass tipped 10-32 set screws. Because of my work schedule/location it is next to impossible to get to industrial supply houses.
Are there any places online that have small minimum charges or offer small qty sales?
Where do you guys go?
 

Chicken lights

Forum Pony Express Driver
I like Spaenour for oddball stuff. There’s a thread on here about McMaster-Carr. I also have good luck at Bolts Plus, they still feel customer service is important.
 

Bofobo

M,Mizera(BOFOBO)
I get my stuff at foothills fasteners, even if it’s just for four specific bolts
 

PeterT

Ultra Member
Premium Member
How do you guys order through Spaenaur? I've browsed the online catalog, lots of stock, but then what? Haven't been there in a while but I don't see the equivalent of click add to shopping cart, view shipping & checkout. Seems like it inevitably goes 'request for quote' screen. The main web page says call or email them or ? Right about there my enthusiasm deflates & probably explains why I've never actually placed an order. Am I missing something or are they still living in 1995?
 

Tom Kitta

Ultra Member
I am guessing with their level of sales phone or email works - i.e. they do not sell to 1000s per day. They should get a store BUT putting 60,000 items into a DB may not be worth it?

I know there is (was?) guy in Calgary selling motor brushes and had like 50000 types in stock - problem for him was that brushes are not chosen that easily by just number - they are by size, so he would have to enter build a bit of a custom engine to shop for things. I guess it was not worth it for him.

They may be a cheap source for imperial torx screws! Metrix torx screws can be had from China, but imperial is very hard to find.
 

Dabbler

ersatz engineer
@PeterT It has been 8 years since I ordered directly. I put together a large order to avoid the pick fees, put it all in an email, and phoned them and created an order, and then emailed them with the details. They called me back for my credit card info, and I recieved it 2 days later. I hope this helps.


P.S. I'm sure they have a better system now, but they are primarily a B2B business, with average order size bigger than thousands of dollars. I felt like they wre polite, but indulgent, as a several hundred dollar order was small.
 

Chicken lights

Forum Pony Express Driver
@PeterT It has been 8 years since I ordered directly. I put together a large order to avoid the pick fees, put it all in an email, and phoned them and created an order, and then emailed them with the details. They called me back for my credit card info, and I recieved it 2 days later. I hope this helps.


P.S. I'm sure they have a better system now, but they are primarily a B2B business, with average order size bigger than thousands of dollars. I felt like they wre polite, but indulgent, as a several hundred dollar order was small.
They have a walk in sales counter too, pre-Covid there was always a line out the door. A lot of weekend warriors that don’t know what they want mixed in with some tradesmen. Larger businesses would call in orders and send someone to pick it up. The staff is always polite and helpful but they must have the patience of saints dealing with the weekend warriors. It’s a neat place to visit
 

Janger

(John)
Administrator
Vendor
Bolt supply and bc fasteners. both online. the latter is easy. The former requires getting an "account" and customer number. They will ship.
 
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