A more detailed look at projects.
July 11, 2012
AircraftSpruce.com is a great source for some of the more difficult to find materials and tools. They are primarily a supplier of homebuilt aircraft supplies but those are sometimes very useful for other projects. Some of the items they carry are solid rivets, composites, air tools, hand tools, sheet metals tools, and some more obscure items you don’t know you need until you do.
July 10, 2012
Today’s featured supplier is OnlineMetals.com
I have used their small quantity/custom length services for years now. If you need any type of metal or plastic in a smaller quantity, odds are they have it. The prices (before shipping) are pretty comparable to what I find locally too. The difference is I cannot locally find a lot of the materials they carry. Chances are pretty good if I do find it locally, it is cheaper to buy a full stick of material than to pay for a cut too. This is exactly the niche where Online Metals excels – small pieces of specialty or hard to get materials. Take a look around the website to see what they have that you may need in the future. Make sure you file it away so you can find them when you need some material for your next project.
June 17, 2012
So, I’ve got this great idea for a new weekly post series. I am thinking I will be able to do a short feature on a specialty supplier. I think I have enough of them stashed away to do something like a post a week for the next few months. Hopefully everyone will find them useful and learn of a new source for some items.
June 17, 2012
Finding sand paper for working on the truck proved a bit difficult. I ordered some roll of 6″ discs in 80 and 120 grit from www.mcmaster.com but they didn’t have the 36 grit I had been using and of which I wanted more. After shopping around online, I ended up finding rolls of 40 grit for about $20 for 100 discs. Not a bad price, but not exactly what I wanted and I wanted them now so I decided to try locally. Everyone, I tried five stores, sold job packs of 5 discs, but only in 5″ size and only in grits I already had or didn’t need. I finally got the suggestion to try a refinishing supply place (not sure why I didn’t think of that). They had exactly what I was looking for but for ridiculous prices, a box of 100 was $150 (which would last me a lifetime) and a pack of 5 was around $11. I got two packs which should get me through the truck and if I need more, I will be ordering them.
On the other hand, shopping for dust masks and ear plugs, the opposite was true – local prices were lower than ordering them online. I got a case of 3M N95 masks for less than I could find them any where online. I also got a case of ear plugs from a local industrial distributor for more than $5 less than I could find them online.
It pays, or saves, to shop around.
For abrasive products, flap discs, discs, blades, belts, etc, check out www.lehighvalleyabrasives.com. They have a good selection and good prices