Tips on buying *stuff* in FIRST

[AdamHeard]

From my experience with a large supplier (Coast Aluminum) the more you order, the better price you will get (buying 20 pieces of 10ft extrusion vs. 1 piece) and after a point they will even give free delivery.

[Cory]

Whenever ordering from McMaster I always call instead of doing it online.

This allows me to figure out what kind of shipping I need to get something to me by a given time, as well as letting me specify a shipper (for instance, California Overnight will deliver a package shipped by 7 PM the previous night by 10 AM the next morning, for a fraction of the cost of UPS or FedEx). Most of the time I get next day arrival via standard ground shipping.

Seconded on the metal. I never buy in less than stock lengths (12' for solids, 20' for tubing and extrusions) unless it's a very big solid (needed some 3.25" OD 6061 round stock, and some 4"x4" 6061 barstock. Something like $550 for 12' of the former, and $750 for 12' of the latter). If you're buying tubing, extrusion, or smaller solids, they're going to charge you the full price of the length for a cut section, or charge you $20+ to make a cut. A good sales person will tell you if it's cheaper to buy the whole length even if you need the shorter piece.

Don't buy 6061 from McMaster. It's WAY overpriced. I can get the same stuff from Coast for 50-75% the price of McMaster. McMaster's prices on 7075 however, are not bad. Don't buy bearings from McMaster either. We paid 1/10 the price from a local source. Call Motion Industries or a similar company and ask them to quote you the cheapest bearings their suppliers have.

[Triple B]

we used some 3.5" AL for our wheels in 2008. when we called to get a price on the bar stock it was quite pricey, i asked for small drops and they had several hundred pieces about 2.5" long, we only needed about 1.75' long, so we picked up 30 of them, they were less than $2 each and now we have enough for future use.
mike d

[=Martin=Taylor=]

ALWAYS deliver parts to a personal residence rather than the school. Some schools don't receive boxes/mail on the weekends.

Its always frustrating to do nothing all weekend and then receive all the parts on Monday

[MrForbes]

Delivery address might depend on how the parts are paid for, though! For example, anything purchased by our school with a PO needs to be shipped to the district receiving office.

[Dick Linn]

If you can use some of the sizes of these surplus aluminum jig plate, they are a bargain:

http://www.sandsmachine.com/alumweb.htm

Local metal suppliers usually have a pile of "dings and drops" or "shorts" and may give you a good deal on some of that. At least you may get the quantity price on regular stuff if they know you are a FIRST team.

[vivek16]

Ok, the main supplier we use is discountsteel.com

They have a local warehouse that is close enough that we can just go pick it up. Their metal prices are from two years ago (online anyways) so you will save a little if you order online and go pick it up yourself. I think they have warehouses in Minneapolis, MN and Fortsworth, TX

thanks, Vivek

[JudyVandy]

Rankin Automation in Broomhall, PA, gives FIRST teams a really nice discount on 80/20. We found them really nice to deal with, too.