Milton Keynes Metals?

I can't keep my counsel any longer - this being the fourth time within a week that I've seen that online supplier mentioned.. the one who, as an example, charges this;

Brass Round Bar 7mm

for this;

7mm Dia Brass Round

..other independent suppliers are widespread and just as competitive..

My eyes were opened to this web-supplier when last week I bought 210metres of small dia. black mild steel round from my local family-run stockholder - price £270, dropped in my yard in 3m lengths, with a VAT invoice & receipt.

Just out of interest, I checked whether it would have been cheaper to buy online - the M4U business was the first up - if I'd have bought from them in whole-bar lengths, the price would have been £403+ delivery. As an exact-same like-for-like order in half-bars, the price came out at £699+delivery.. yes, that's what I thought, so I checked it twice more - £699..

Please do shop around and support independant stockists - you could conceivably be paying 2 or 3 times more for your metal than you need to..

With hindsight, looking at the stock photos on their website you might get clues, main one being items photographs taken on a rusty,and in some photos obviously wet metal table.

Can one of the admin staff explain exacly what a "shopping partner" is and how a suppler gets on the list?

Robert G8RPI.

I use Mac Models and M-Machine-Metals for my modelling supplies. For large stuff when I made driveway edging and plant supports I used F H Brundle who delivered it in 6m lengths that week and were a fraction of the price of the good old metals4u.

Robert - I've actually messaged Neil Wyatt directly and asked something similar about a "shopping partner" .

If people are too lazy to shop around from the comfort of their own home they may well pay top $

Tony

Such wisdom.

There are reasonably priced UK suppliers, this was recent order I placed, including a 78" length of 19mm silver steel for £21.99

It can sometimes pay off to have a look at the big boys as well. They often run offcuts departments. Very well priced for specialist bits outside the normal scope of our ME suppliers. Places like AALCO will help, or used to, AMARI PLASTICS have helped me in the past. A quick scan on the net will reveal lists of stockholders, their sites will often give "stocklists" of offcuts at cut throat prices. There are others you pick up by local knowledge and word of mouth. I was in Llanelli when we met up with Keatley Brothers in Birmingham. Didnt know of them and I am Black Country.now living back here.

However my threads elsewhere will tell the tale of another very respected advertiser in ME MEW and here. Would not touch them with a barge pole ever again. Yet there are others who have given brilliant and above and beyond to help. Experience is a very wise teacher and no one can give you that.

Spot on I suspect, I am sure to become a shopping partner all you would need to do is cough up. Is there any past partners that were 'struck off' for quality issues or negative feed back on the site?

Once we've got rid of the blond buffoon I'd be happy to buy you a real pint.

Andrew

I did bring my experiences to the attention of the editor of ME at the time and for several months their banner didn't appear in shopping partners, but alas it found its way back a couple of years ago. Best to avoid.

Reading this I think quiet a few of us owe Mike a drink.

JA

He is quite right, though. I needed (I think) an ISO10 slide way oil but could not find an alternative. The best internet price was around £90 (presumably plus delivery - I didn’t check because they wanted full personal details before check-out) or about £95 delivered, for 20 litres.

As I didn’t want just one litre (could have been £17.34 delivered from epay) or to spend nearly a hundred quid I enquired the price from another supplier who clearly also buys in bulk and sells in smaller quantities. I settled on a single 5l container at what I considered to be a reasonable price (still rather more than the 20l rate, mind)

He also sells a limited range of fixings and steel round bar, etc. An accommodating epay seller who was willing to put up a different item on epay as a special, so he gets my recommendation for members to check him out for model engineering bits. No further connection (found while searching for a good deal) other than as a satisfied customer.

A1factors at Nottingham - try him, is all I am suggesting. I rarely buy metal, so am not sure how the economics stack up for such as free-cutting steel, etc.

For things like slideway oil, if you can find the spec, (ISO or whatever ) it is possible that your local oil supplier (Shell being my nearest ) might be prepared to sell you a 5 litre container

Local steel stockholders will behappy to sell you a length of material, probably, although I was faced with the problem of taking home a 3 metre length. But most will cut once or possibly twice for free but charge for further cuts. You could take your own hacksaw, if it is not 100 mm bar!

If it is any help, Cromwell Tools used to sell Silver Steel in 1 metre lengths, as well as the usual 13" pieces

Howard..

slideway oil iso 10 ? For the likes of myford Etc it is SAE 10/ iso 32 ! 2 systems but the same oil ! A light mineral engine oil or hydraulic oil - about £10 per 5l. Noel

I should have added and available from most garages or motor factors ! There is no need for fancy synthetic oils in this aplication at twice the price. N

Aimed at me?

First, it’s not a fancy synthetic and, second, it is a much lighter oil than ISO 32. If Pete Rimmer reckons it needs a thin oil, I’ll take note of his advice, thanks. Why F-up a machine by feeding it with a lubricant that may not reach the parts that need it? The machine manufacturer did not specify the grade for no good reason. I expect they actually knew what they were talking about.

Is slideway oil 'just' a regular machine oil of given viscosity then? I paid extra on the assumption that it had additives giving it special properties, ie staying put, low sticktion, not emulsifying with coolant.

Definitely not. They have specific properties, including those listed. My slideway oil is slightly stringy so it stays where it is put; not all slideways are horizontal.

Andrew