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Sourcing Metal | General Discussion

Chris Cramer said:
Does any one here know of a company that stocks bronze flat stock? I've been searching everywhere online for a source of bronze flat stock. Terra nova steel is Canada's leading distributor of bronze, but their website only shows round stock like rod and tubing. Every other place I've found bronze sheet like Amazon, is extremely expensive.

After my laser engraving/etching projects that I've done using brass and copper, I am eager to use bronze. Bronze gives much more contrast in comparison to brass, and has lower heat conductivity and reflection compared to pure copper.

My laser etched last plaque was made of pure copper which took around 90 hours to etch the desired depth because of it's high heat conductivity and how reflective it is. The only thing that keeps me attached to copper alloys is color. Both the color of polished coper, brass, and bronze are nice as well as the ability to patina copper with heat or liver of suffer.
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Golden Triangle Specialty Metals - Cambridge
[email protected]
Talk to Alex Green about their current inventory of Bronze Flatbar.
 
Doggggboy said:
Grainger.
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Yeah, all of grainger's raw bronze stock is round. I have thought about ordering flat bar from Terra nova and hot rolling it to 1/8" sheet with my manual rolling mill. If that doesn't work from the form of flat bar, then I would work it with a hammer before rolling or pressing it with my 20 ton hydraulic press.
 
Ah, thanks Doggggboy, I only looked on the Canadian website, it seems the US has a lot more bronze. Im thinking Id be paying quite a bit more for it due to the tariffs over metal and the change in currency, but I'll keep my hopes up.
 
Janger said:
At the last meetup we were discussing where to buy metal. I have more information.

Metal supermarket: they have lots of selection including the only place I know of to get 12L14 here in town which is very good for machining. They also have aluminium, steel, hot & cold roll, plate, sheet, stainless, copper, and brass. They are open on weekends, Sat. Still on the bad side they are as expensive, more expensive or less expensive than home depot depending on I don't know what. Whims, the moon, maybe qty but not always. Check your invoice before you pay.

Federal metals:
I just called federal metals. Their new building which will add aluminium, stainless steel, to their hot roll steel sales is still not finished as they keep having delays with the builder apparently. He was unable to say when it would open. Soon I hope, and I have high hopes for a better smaller supplier than metal supermarket. They are great for hot roll steel if that is what you want. Good prices. M-F only I think.

Samuel specialty metals. They have aluminium and stainless. Example Price was $50 for angle 1.5x1.5" x1/4 thick by 20' long aluminium angle. $125 minimum charge so you would have to buy three pieces for $150 in that example. I dont think they do cutting to buy less, but they probably would cut so you can get it home. Group purchase anyone? To compare angle 1x1x 1/8 thick by 6 feet long at homedepot is probably $30. Their sister company is wilkinson steel but I didn't call them. Open M-F 9-3!

Big Box suppliers... Homedepot, rona, princess. Princess is a little less than the other hardware stores. They are good for threaded rod. They also have really cheap bearings, but tend to be out of stock on particular sizes. All these stores are convenient and expensive. A few things not intended for machining can be used for various metal working projects. Electrical conduit. Gas pipe. Grounding rods.

I think steel should be about $1 a pound. At federal it seems to be $1-1.5 a pound generally. What about Al? at Samuel its $3.11/lb for example. And Stainless? And 12L14? Anyone?

Who else? Please relay your experience.
Online? Just browsing it seems expensive.

And fasteners. Screws etc. where is good? Good selection, open on weekends, and not expensive.

2016 edits
Metal Works Canada
http://canadianhobbymetalworkers.com/threads/new-metal-supplier-in-calgary.390/#post-3662
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I don't know the alloy, but I have 500 pounds, on the deck, that would cost about $13 CDN per pound. Cost, plus the exchange plus trucking. Who knows what the retail price would be
 
If you are still looking and don’t mind the price . . .

Metal Supermarkets do sell small quantities and state this on their website . . .
  • Bronze Flat Bar C954 is a flat, rectangular shaped bar of C954 Bronze alloy. Bronze C954 (Aluminum Bronze) is typically chosen due to its high strength and corrosion resistance when compared to other bronze alloys. This alloy is tarnish-resistant and corrosion resistant in atmospheric conditions, and it also has low oxidation rates at high temperatures.
 
Is there a place to get large chunks of 6061 aluminum in Canada and not get totally reamed ? Im talking like 7x7 bar which seems common in USA.
 
LenVW said:
If you are still looking and don’t mind the price . . .

Metal Supermarkets do sell small quantities and state this on their website . . .
Click to expand...
Yeah, I requested a quote for 1 ft of 1/4" bronze flat bar from them to try to hot roll it with my manual rolling mill but they responded that they are unable to get the material.
I contacted Terra Nova Steel to see if they stocked bronze sheet. They do produce it but it is only sold in full 4'x8' sheets. The sales manager at the branch in Edmonton recommended Online metals. Their price for one square ft of 3/16 220 bronze sheet metal is 213 USD.
 
Hi Guys,

I generally go to my local scrap yard for materials, though there are several engineering firms that will sell me material apart from letting me raid their scrap boxes/pile.

There is a very good Laser cutting place that I can get various plate material from and they will take a DXF and cut stuff very cheaply, usually by attaching it to another job.
 
gjestico said:
Is there a place to get large chunks of 6061 aluminum in Canada and not get totally reamed ? Im talking like 7x7 bar which seems common in USA.
Click to expand...

We used to buy almost all of our aluminum stock from https://www.thyssenkrupp.com/en/home. I'm a few years removed from material sourcing so I'm out of touch with current prices. I'd be sitting down, preferably on a donut shaped cushion while getting a price on a 7x7 extrusion...
 
I just found a place called Metals R Us the other day. The good news is they are in Canada. The bad news from my point of view is they are in Dartmouth Nova Scotia, which means dropping in to browse is rather out of the question. However they do have a website and they will send custom sizes. I had them ship me 12 inches of 1 inch square bar and 6 inches of 3 inch round malleable iron and the shipping to Williams Lake was $55. Not exactly cheap but I doubt if I can drive to Kelowna, (The nearest Metal Supermarket location to me), and home again for $55, even if the most direct route was open and I used my motorcycle.
.https://metalsrus.ca/
 
Hi Guys,

There is a "Metals R Us" in Leeds, UK. Far from cheap ! They really want to sell large quantities of heavy stuff, like 4" inch "H" section and "U" channel. Some time back I called to buy some 40 mm Leaded steel bar, I only wanted a foot, no you have to buy a minimum of 6 foot. A local engineering establishment cut me a short piece and said if I wanted anything in the future to call and see them. They charged me nothing for the short bit of steel, telling me that it came out of their scrap pile.
 
BaronJ said:
Hi Guys,

There is a "Metals R Us" in Leeds, UK. Far from cheap ! They really want to sell large quantities of heavy stuff, like 4" inch "H" section and "U" channel. Some time back I called to buy some 40 mm Leaded steel bar, I only wanted a foot, no you have to buy a minimum of 6 foot. A local engineering establishment cut me a short piece and said if I wanted anything in the future to call and see them. They charged me nothing for the short bit of steel, telling me that it came out of their scrap pile.
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These guys don't seem to be like that though. They were quite happy to sell me what I wanted and given the shipping was from 4000 Km away I thought it was reasonable.
 
There's a guy in Victoria BC liquidating a bunch of metal:

I wanted to score some cast iron rounds to make lapping plates from but $200 was way out of my hobby budget.

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