[DFTF] Aluminum Sources...

[Joe Johnson]

This is part of a series of posts called Drinking From The Firehose on getting Dr Joe back up to speed on All Things FIRST.

Today's topic:
Aluminum Sources...

This is a relatively easy one but perhaps not.

Of course, McMaster.com is my go to source for 99% of my robot material needs. Well, not strictly true but pretty near.

But... ...they have a pretty limited supply of thin wall aluminum U Channel and Tubing. By "thin" I mean 1/16" or so.

In tubes, I am interested in finding sources for ~.062" wall:

• 1"X2"
• 1"X3"
• 2"X2"
• 2"X3"
• 3"X3"

In U channel, I am interested in finding sources for ~.062" wall:

• .5"X2"X.5"
• .75"X3"X.75"
• 1"X2"X1"
• 1"X3"X1"
• 1"X4"X1"

Any help out there?

Joe J.

[AdamHeard]

Originally Posted by Joe Johnson

This is part of a series of posts called Drinking From The Firehose on getting Dr Joe back up to speed on All Things FIRST.

Today's topic:
Aluminum Sources...

This is a relatively easy one but perhaps not.

Of course, McMaster.com is my go to source for 99% of my robot material needs. Well, not strictly true but pretty near.

But... ...they have a pretty limited supply of thin wall aluminum U Channel and Tubing. By "thin" I mean 1/16" or so.

In tubes, I am interested in finding sources for ~.062" wall:

• 1"X2"
  
• 1"X3"
• 2"X2"
• 2"X3"
• 3"X3"

In U channel, I am interested in finding sources for ~.062" wall:

• .5"X2"X.5"
• .75"X3"X.75"
• 1"X2"X1"
• 1"X3"X1"
• 1"X4"X1"

Any help out there?

Joe J.

2x1 is common, but if you find these other sizes PLEASE advertise them. We've looked for thinwall larger than 2x1 and have never found it (calling suppliers, etc...).

[Cory]

I spent about an hour hunting the internet for 2x2x.0625 and could never find it.

[slijin]

Online Metals has a great supply of aluminum stock, but I don't believe they don't carry a large variety of thin wall material.

Edit: A quick Google search yielded 2.25"x3" thin wall stock; another gave me this, which has some miscellaneous sizes (it does have 2"x3", but doesn't seem to go much higher) in thin wall; just Ctrl+F "0.0" on the page to look for thin wall stuff.

[msimon785]

If you don't mind shipping from the Los Angeles area, I suggest looking at Tell Steel. They are very fast with quotes and have unbelievable prices in terms of Aluminum. If I remember from last year, Al 1"x1" square tubing was around $0.79/foot.
However, do NOT use them for machining services. Where their materials prices are extremely cheap, they make up the money with their machining.

[Phyrxes]

www.speedymetals.com is one of the vendors we have used.
Also www.estoconnectors.com is a company whose primary business is the materials for trade show displays and equipment enclosures. They sell a variety of box options you might want to look at and they sell molded connectors. We have used these for displays, equipment enclosures, and on our robots.

[Brandon Holley]

Joe-

Some local flavor for you...

We used to buy a ton of our metal from Mcmaster or other various online sources. With McMaster you are paying a price premium (and have a limited selection) and anywhere online involves dealing with shipping costs.

Up in Woburn, MA (about 15-20 mins north of Boston) there is a company called "Admiral Metals". For the past 5 or 6 years we have been buying a large majority of our metal stock from them. We use a lot of 1"X1" box tubing in 1/8" and 0.062" thicknesses. We generally buy 100s of feet of it as we use it for not just ourselves, but help many of the younger teams in the area too.

The real magic of this place however, is a little sub-company within the same building called "Metal Source". This is a walk-in "scrap" purchasing outfit. Now their definition of "scrap" and my definition of "scrap" are very different things. All of the metal in this area is sold by the pound, 6061, 7075, doesn't matter. The prices are as low as you will find for Aluminum stock. You often can buy pieces that are "just right" so you do not need to buy a huge piece of metal to use a fraction of it. We've used it for just about every metal need on our robot: 7075 round and hex stock for shafts, 3/16" and 1/8" thick 6061 plate, and 4.5" 6061 round stock for wheels. They have a bunch of other metals too, just not steel. Brass, copper, etc.

I feel truly lucky to have a source like this so close that we are able to drive there and get exactly what we need cheap. Hopefully you guys can check it out as well and enjoy using them too.

I have a similar contact for plastics if and when you get to that point as well...

-Brando

[JamesCH95]

Originally Posted by slijin

Online Metals has a great supply of aluminum stock, but I don't believe they don't carry a large variety of thin wall material.

Online Metal Store has, in the past, given me a 10% discount on all orders if I linked to their website from mine (Formula SAE team), and an additional 10% off on orders over a certain $$ value.

[Madison]

Originally Posted by JamesCH95

Online Metal Store has, in the past, given me a 10% discount on all orders if I linked to their website from mine (Formula SAE team), and an additional 10% off on orders over a certain $$ value.

It never hurts to ask the folks at Online Metals if they can do something to help you out. We pick up all of our material from will call since they're located about ten minutes from my place and they've always been helpful and friendly.

McMaster offers us two-day shipping and Online Metals let's us pick up an order an hour after placing it. You can imagine which we use.

[thefro526]

We were lucky enough to make friends with a local metal distributor and they let us (18+ only, which meant me) pick through their 'scrap' bin. Interestingly enough, they only sell metal in 20' lengths, and if you need anything less than that, they still charge the full 20' price. This leaves them with quite a few pieces of 1'-10' pieces of assorted Tube and Stock that they're willing to give us for free. I don't know if there's anyone local to you, but it might be worth a shot.

[Travis Hoffman]

This may not be helpful for your team but we've used Clinton Aluminum to supply quite a bit of our aluminum over the years:

http://clintonaluminum.com/

[roystur44]

Originally Posted by Cory

I spent about an hour hunting the internet for 2x2x.0625 and could never find it.

2 x 2 x .062 is a funny size. You can laser/punch sheet metal and form it then weld/rivet.

Thinking out of the box maybe try making the tube out of round tube stock which readily available. I was showing Austin the other day some samples and how strong/light the round tube stock is. Maybe he can show you the samples.

Extrusion is another way of getting the thin wall material.

The metal suppliers we use in the Bay Area are:

Tube Service
Ryerson
Lusk
Reliance Metal Center
Coast Aluminum
PDM



Roy

[roystur44]

Here's a video of what a tube laser can do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOS1B3jdknI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7L2uu...watch_response


This is available in the Bay area.