Pricing on small bits of metal?

[yadnom1973]

I ordered some metal from a reputable metal supplier recently and when I got the quote back the prices were all about what I could find elsewhere except for some smaller pieces of bronze and stainless steel.

The price for the stainless steel was several time more than if I buy it off any eBay supplier.

Ordering 100mm of bar or 150x150mm of phosphor bronze may well be an unusual and fiddly order for a supplier like this and I suspect that they could well of dropped some kind of standard charge on top for buying the minimum length it comes in then cutting off the part I need.

In this case then going to an eBay shop who has set up a business by buying it in smaller lengths and sending out even smaller offcuts for a fraction of what it would cost from the supplier would be the sensible thing to do.

But before removing these little items from the quote I thought I’d check here and see if anyone knows of any other reason, is there A4/316 stainless and A4/316 stainless, that is to say some other lower grade of the same name that I could be buying?

 

[el gringo]

I ordered some metal from a reputable metal supplier recently and when I got the quote back the prices were all about what I could find elsewhere except for some smaller pieces of bronze and stainless steel.

The price for the stainless steel was several time more than if I buy it off any eBay supplier.

Ordering 100mm of bar or 150x150mm of phosphor bronze may well be an unusual and fiddly order for a supplier like this and I suspect that they could well of dropped some kind of standard charge on top for buying the minimum length it comes in then cutting off the part I need.

In this case then going to an eBay shop who has set up a business by buying it in smaller lengths and sending out even smaller offcuts for a fraction of what it would cost from the supplier would be the sensible thing to do.

But before removing these little items from the quote I thought I’d check here and see if anyone knows of any other reason, is there A4/316 stainless and A4/316 stainless, that is to say some other lower grade of the same name that I could be buying?

have you checked out Amazon?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06Y491MP6/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[yadnom1973]

Good suggestion, I'll have a look but the question stands, if it's cheap is it a bargin or are there inferior 316 stainless

 

[rlukens]

I always thought A2 stainless was 302 and A4 stainless was 316. But what do I know?
I'd be more concerned with the carbon content, 316 vs 316L, if "rust" is an issue.
What are you planning?

 

[yadnom1973]

Yes it's A2-306 and A4-316 as far as I'm aware. I’d not heard of 316L. From what I can see on line 316 has a slight strength advantage over the 316L which would be better for me. Corrosion wise the 316 will do just fine, it’s a bit of mechanical kit that I’ve been working for a camera so has to put up with adverse outdoors conditions like a tripod would but no more than that, ether way I'm not sure anyone is going to make any money slipping 316L in the bag instead of 316. It seems to be the same or more expensive. I was wondering if there’s any flavours of 316 out there that might be, well I don’t know really, just not as good.

 

[el gringo]

another flavor of 316 SS

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surgical_stainless_steel

 

[Cogsy]

I guess that buying from a reputable supplier is a little 'safer' meaning you're likely to get what you paid for. I can imagine a small 'drops' type supplier not necessarily always knowing the exact grade of stainless they were supplying, whether on purpose or by accident.

 

[yadnom1973]

That's the 400's el gringo. They are no problem to spot as they are magnetic. It sounds to me like the only thing that they could really do is replace 316 with 304.

I’ve just realised what you were saying rlukens, mixing up my 302, 304, 306, I’m always forgetting which one it is but I think 304 is the one that A2 means.

It looks like such a tricky job to tell them apart I suspect a lot of these “marine grade stainless steel” deals on eBay are really just 304 but unless someone points out some new cheap non-magnetic stainless it’s still a real bargain compared to the dealer when looking for these little bits of something.

 

[Wizard69]

Good suggestion, I'll have a look but the question stands, if it's cheap is it a bargin or are there inferior 316 stainless

This is simple a question of quality control and yes there are better suppliers of stainless steels and lesser suppliers. Frankly it is the same as any other type of steel of product in general.

Beyond that you can have people importing foreign made stainless "AS" 316 even if it was processed to a different spec in whatever country. So you end up with a product that meets a spec in one location but is at the margins in another.

If the quality of the stainless is important at the very least ask for traceable stock. To be honest i don't think it really matters for most builders in this forum.

 

[petertha]

I made some 'tester' valves out of 416. Unless you are intending to weld or really require specific corrosion resistance, machinability is a key criteria IMO. My (limited) experience on some SS alloys is it can work harden & doesn't like minimal skim cuts very much, like creeping up to a dimension.

416
https://www.onlinemetals.com/merchant.cfm?id=9&step=2&top_cat=1

OLM has some SS overview material guidelines
https://www.onlinemetals.com/productguides/stainlessguide.cfm

but you can find machinability ratings online like this link. None of them are great but some slightly better than others
http://www.carbidedepot.com/formulas-machinability.htm

Other example is some twin 4-jaw chuck keys. I knew it was SS because it was non-magnetic, but this material fought me every step of the way. Tough stuff

 

[yadnom1973]

Hi, I’d love to have the strength of a 400 but I need it in the 300’s preferably 316 for the corrosion resistance. nice looking parts.