Material Supplier

Can anyone recommend a supplier of small quantities of brass, Aluninium and Steel. I want to place an order for some steel I need for my Simplex and get some brass for the start of the Popcorn engine. If anybody can suggest a supplier in Sussex that would be great or a supplier that will despatch small quantities of materials at a resonable cost.

Mike,

Maidstone Engineering, Macc Model Engineers, Blackgates, M-Machine will all ship whatever quantity you need. (The first 2 might be a bit cheaper on postage though and they also sell via Ebay)

I have no connection with any of the companies above, except to say that I have had good service from all of them.

Dave

I would also recommend GLR (See advert in MEW). Pete gives great service, although my last shipment arrived with some 'interesting' protective packing around some copper tube comprising a bunch of (clean) boxer shorts!.

Just a happy customer - no other connection.

Dave

Hi Mike,

Had you thought to look in your local "yellow pages" under "steel stockholders". Don't be put off by the steel part, check individual adverts to see if they stock the other metals you want.

In West London , Acton, we have a really helpful place for the more common metals, naturally they cut to size and can fold sheet too, while you wait .

There is also the Metal Supermarket chain, but the prices can be the wrong side of surprising! They do though often stock the more esoteric grades of steel, but in a limited range of sizes.

The usual M.E. suppliers do a good job, but buying locally can sometimes save more than postage, if you know what I mean. especially if you buy trade, in 3 metre lengths, which can be worth it if you are going to use a lot of one size.

chriStephens

Hi Mike

I've used m-machine and found them to be very good. www.m-machine-metals.co.uk.

Bob..

Try Milton Keynes Metal they advertise in MEW & ME In my experience they've never been beaten on price and its all good quality stuff, you might have to wait a couple of weeks on delivery though

Folkestone Engineering Services, Hawkinge, Kent 01303 894611. Run by a Model Engineer, excellent service (just a satisfied customer)

Rudgwick Metals (01403 822471). Conventional steel stockholder, plus brass, aluminium, etc. Don't know about exotic materials; you can but try. Usual disclaimer.

Adrian

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. Some of the suppliers I have seen or used.

I will investigate the other suggestions.

Thanks again for your time and suggestions

And on the back of this I placed a largish order which was acknowledged within 24hrs.

Its been a week today and I hadn't heard a word from them so I dropped them an email and cancelled the order, within an hour I got this email response from them.

Sorry for the delay, (I have cancelled your order)
We are so busy we are taking several days to complete orders

I can recommend them for answering emails but nowt else.

I've now placed my order with GLR, I will let you all know how I get on with them.

Stew

please don't  think I'm being disrespectful but don't you think you are being a bit hasty cancelling the order

I have often waited for much more than a week for stuff

Best Wishes Martin

Edited By Martin Walsh 1 on 06/02/2014 13:03:39

I also think Stew was a bit hasty ..... A courier can take 2-4 days to deliver, and the Royal Mail/Parcel Force have been known to take over a week.. In fact for all you knew they could have already sent them.

M-Materials terms and conditions clearly quotes - "Goods will usually be despached within 10 working days or as soon as complete."

Dave

Edited By Steambuff on 06/02/2014 13:17:31

Just to the right of this post are adverts for MK metals and Noggin End.

Support the adverts support the site?

Stew,

Well I think your expectations were wrong ....

As stated in a previous post - M-Materials terms and conditions clearly quotes - "Goods will usually be despached within 10 working days or as soon as complete."

So you should not have expected your material in less that 10 days . They often do ship in less than that, remember what your are ordering is not off the shelf .... they have to take for example a 3m length of steel and cut it into what ever lengths you have ordered. This takes time.

10/14/21 and even 28 days can be the norm for some businesses .... we have all got used to and spoilt by the 1-2 days delivery from the likes of Amazon ... I'm afraid that this model does not always work in Engineering.

Dave

Hi all

I needed some pieces of steel to make some cutter holders and as I did not fancy pushing a hacksaw for a long time I rang Rudgwick Steels-.

The same afternoon the pieces were waiting for me - cut dead to size and a lot cheaper than a model supplier.

They supply just about all metals and are quite happy to sell to elderly model engineers like me. They have a scrap box and will cut to short lengths.

And they support the local steam and country fair.

No connection - just a very satisfied model engineer who no longer has to wait for post or carrier.

Regards to all.

Richard.

I can recommend a search on flea-bay I get 90% of my materials from there and find it cheaper than other hobby suppliers.

Regards Mark P

I have used noggin end metals several times and found their service excellent,on Tuesday this week I ordered a 12" length of 1"&3/4 dia aluminium bar, it arrived to-day (Thursday),not exactly a large order!Problem is of course postage costs,but that is not their fault.Usual disclaimer.They carry a comprehensive range of materials.

i am surprised at ticker/stew's comments. ive had excellent service from m-machine metals. last order was for the copper boiler barrel etc for my current 5"g loco project. ordered by phone and 2 days later arrived by courier perfectly packed and with very good (perfect) ends avoiding having to set same up in the lathe to turn the ends. i ordered well in advance of starting on same (though actually started the next evening) so if i had a wait of 10 days or longer i wouldnt have minded in the least. it was an odd size of copper tube which was 30% cheaper than Reeves or Blackgates. i have also used Macc Model Engineering also with excellent service and very competitive. Polly i have also found to be very quick.

it takes a long time to build a miniature loco so it isnt difficult to plan and order in advance.

cheers,

julian