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I'll second that. I ordered an 8-foot-long aluminum bar for $25, which, at the time, was too long to ship with traditional shippers. So, a semi trailer showed
by morcheeba 4y ago
I'll second that. I ordered an 8-foot-long aluminum bar for $25, which, at the time, was too long to ship with traditional shippers. So, a semi trailer showed up at my door. Shipping cost $8.
- anonu 4y agoHow can they make money doing that?
- morcheeba 4y agoNo idea. I talked with the truck driver, and he said we was being paid way more than $8 for the delivery. I used my company account, so I guess they're willing to take a loss on some orders and make it up on others.
- xyzzyz 4y agoNext time he’ll buy $20 worth of bolts and pay $80.
- rickdangerous1 4y agoAnd thats ok.
- wlesieutre 4y agoWhat's a good place for well priced bolts if I'm not worried about next day shipping but need them to not be made of pot metal?
- elil17 4y agoWhere are you finding pot metal bolts? Your best option should be anything from Ace/Home Depot/Lowes. The matte finish ones are zinc galvanized, that’s just the protective coating. They are made of carbon steel and are graded according to standards set by organizations like SAE. Hardware stores will have grade 2 bolts for the most part (or the metric equivalents). These will be made with weaker steel and will be cut instead of cold rolled. If you’re doing something that needs more strength than that, you can get grade 5 or 8 bolts. These will be cold rolled from higher strength steel and may be tested with a penetrant dye to check for any fractures. You can get those at a hardware store or at many online stores. If you need more strength than that, you’re probably in an aerospace application and I recommend that you don’t ask for advice on HN. If you’re buying a shit-load of bolts (like, more than a thousand of one kind of bolt), then you can go to a wholesale website.
- wlesieutre 4y agoHaven't got pot metal bolts, just thinking of some machine screw assortments I've bought on Amazon. They've worked fine for 3d printing projects, but makes me wary of fasteners from unknown sources if strength could matter. Hardware store has been my go to, is that the reference people are using for saying McMaster bolts are 4x overpriced?
- elil17 4y agoYeah, it is. I wouldn’t worry about low grade bolts from unknown sources, really, unless it’s a safety critical application. The cost benefit to the manufacturer for cheaping out is almost nothing. To make it look like a bolt you’re going to have to make it correctly. You could use a cheaper metal but it doesn’t get much cheaper than low carbon steel which is already what they’re supposed to be made of.
- xyzzyz 4y agoYeah, if you can buy what you want at big box hardware store, then do, prices won't get much lower than that, and you'll get something that's certified to a standard. McMaster is useful if your time is worth too much to waste it on trips to Home Depot, or if you want something less standard.
- jjav 4y agoI don't usually find the local hardware stores to be cheaper than McMaster. I see Home Depot has 1/4-20 18-8 stainless steel bolts for $7 a pack of 10. McMaster has them for $8 a pack of 50. The exception is when I need just one or two of something and it is available in the single-unit bins at the local hardware store. With McMaster the minimum quantity is usually a box of N, but the price per unit usually quite a bit cheaper. And of course the selection is vastly better. For the above example, I'd usually really buy 316 stainless, which Home Depot doesn't even have.
- oriolid 4y ago> Where are you finding pot metal bolts? Self-assembled furniture seems to have terrible bolts more often than not. Instrument stands and drum kits also come with softest imaginable bolts except the most expensive gear. I'm sure there are other products like this.
- dghlsakjg 4y agoCall a local machine shop, mechanic or welder and ask. Almost every town and city has a store that specializes in hardware for tradies that has better pricing and selection than HD or Ace or homeowner stores.
- pySSK 4y agoFastenal is good for wholesale, and if you're lucky enough to have a location closeby, you can have it next day or even same day.
- Loughla 4y agoThe only problem is that Fastenal makes McMaster Carr look like bargain basement prices. I just ordered 8, 1.5" x 3/8" square head set screws from Fastenal. . . . for $18. That's a bit much.
- jrockway 4y agoBolt Depot? The Voron folks seem to like them, but I haven't ever ordered from them.
- Tossrock 4y agoI have ordered a large amount of bolts from them, and they're quite good. They don't have McMaster's selection of weirdo stuff (ceramic bolts, titanium bolts, etc), but for your standard Grade 5 / Grade 8 etc, they're solid.
- HeyLaughingBoy 4y agoMy go-to for stuff like this used to be SmallParts.com back when McMaster-Carr wouldn't sell to individuals (they do now). Amazon bought Small Parts and renamed it Amazon Supply. I haven't bought anything from them recently, but it's worth a shot. Small Parts was amazing they specialized in, you got it, small components such as fasteners (you could get titanium screws if you needed them), small mechanicals such as tubing, solenoid valves, bearings, shafting, metal, etc. They were a prototyper's dream.
- roflyear 4y agoWhere else can I buy bolts and KNOW they are the right bolt and material?
- NavinF 4y agoHome Depot, assuming you buy a pack.
- roflyear 4y agoHome Depot bolts are total garbage quality compared to anything McMaster gives you. They are good for some stuff, but I would not use them for projects where you want the hardware to last. Also you don't have the choice of the type of steel etc.. which really matters for some projects. IDK if they even tell you what type of stainless their stainless are? 304? Also they do not have a massive selection...
- loeg 4y agoMost orders pay full cost of shipping. This was an atypical experience.
- loeg 4y agoMy experience around their shipping was the opposite— surprise outrageous fee to get fedex to deliver a few feet of PVC. This was back before they showed you shipping prices up front.
- NavinF 4y agoYeah their checkout experience used to be horrible. Shipping costs were never displayed until the order shipped and it was often 10x the item price.
- jasongill 4y agoAs soon as I saw the title of this post, I thought "best e-commerce site? they don't even show you the shipping price until the item has been sent, and the shipping prices are insane!" I wrote them off long ago due to that - guess it's time to give them another try. Thanks for the heads up!
- jdc0589 4y agoyea... this is the one fault of McMaster. I'm within normal 1 day shipping of one of their major distribution centers and its still pricey. Doesn't stop me from using them when I really need something.
- loeg 4y agoYeah, the floor on shipping seems to be about $10 (CA to WA) but at least you find out the rate in advance now. Often worth it even for inexpensive items if it saves you an hour going to the store and searching and maybe not finding it.
- Bolkan 4y agoMight I ask what for?
- morcheeba 4y agoArt project to repurpose an IKEA lamp in to kinetic wall art.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- blauditore 4y agoI don't know the GP's reason, but I also orderd long aluminum profiles for LED installations (it's needed for heat dissipation, and also helped with mounting in my case).
- jdc0589 4y agoI ordered a bunch of 8ft lengths of aluminum 80/20 extrusion for framing the inside of a camper a year or two ago.
- HeyLaughingBoy 4y ago8' is a standard length for metal bar. OP might just have been buying their normal increment.