SpudFiles

Well ebay is definately alot cheeper, i have found sizes more useful for me and for alot less.

LeMaudit wrote:Maybe try to find a machine shop with nice people, and ask them where they buy their metal? They could even give you some free or at a cheap price. Depends how nice they are

Mcmaster is not cheap. However, most metal suppliers want to sell you full lengths. Those selling shorter lengths (including Mcmaster) are going to charge more. That said, full length Al 6061-T6 should be available almost anywhere in the USA for less than $3.50 lb. There are shapes that cost more due to processing but for generic bar stock, that price should be your upper limit.

Al 6061-T6 should be available almost anywhere in the USA

I think John lives in Switzerland, so the US availability have little relevance for him

And I wish I could find $3.50 lb in Canada !

Ok here is a far better offer!

EN 10025 steel: 2.20CHF per kg
Al: 17per KG

cutting price is 2 somethign for alli and 10 for steel, so all i need to find is some machine to cut the rods, but that should be doable, any advice?

Thanks!

Because I am lazy, I use power tools to cut rods But a metal hand saw is as good

A trick: for aluminium or brass only (no hard metal like iron / steel!), if you don't have a metal cut-off power tool, you can use a wood band-saw but ONLY if there is a variable speed. You can cut soft metal with a wood blade at the lowest speed, and going very slowly.

Edit: if you buy locally, usually the places where the metal is sold have cut-off power tools.

Is there just simple metal rod cutting tools?

well.. yeah!
here are the two extreme:


http://www.toolfetch.com/Category/Hand_ ... TWW730.htm



http://www.toolfetch.com/Category/Metal ... MCCS14.htm

Hmm, i persume I just use a miter box and a hand saw to make strait cuts, how hard will it be to cut steel?

Not hard, long... for a 3 cm bar... I dunno, 20 minutes maybe? Depends a lot on you, and the hardness of the metal bar. Cast Iron would be easy... stainless would be almost impossible

But if you want it, you sure can do it. Just buy a very good bimetal blade for the hand saw if you want to save your energy. And go slowly, but steadily. Forcing will at best be very tiring, at worse will break the blade. A bit of lubricant would also help, at least a bit of wax on the blade.

But I'm sure others will have better advices, I always use power tools, I just love them.

hmm, ok then, maybe ill just stick to the aluminium, its more expensive BUT easyer to cut.

If you're going to cut aluminum with a handsaw, keep the blade wet with something like WD-40. Bi metal blades are good advice.

The carrier in WD-40 will absorb the heat generated by evaporating, and leave the lubricating element behind. This will prevent the aluminum from sticking to and gumming up your blade.(It IS messy though. )

Without it, the blade will be next to useless in minutes.

WD-40 also makes a great cutting fluid for aluminum when turning on the lathe.

If you can't get WD-40, then use cutting fluid. (cutting fluid is more $ than WD-40 though)

I use cutting fluid for steel and stainless only.

That's my .02.

Thank you for that, ill surely do it that way. Well I assume ill make my orders tomorrow

If you want a great aluminium cutting fluid for the lathe that is not messy, try Varsol (it is a paint thinner, I guess any brand can do). I use the low odour quality. A trick that was given to me by a professional machinist.

I am now thinking that it should work with a hand saw too, I never tried it though.

LeMaudit wrote:If you want a great aluminium cutting fluid for the lathe that is not messy, try Varsol (it is a paint thinner, I guess any brand can do). I use the low odour quality. A trick that was given to me by a professional machinist.

I am now thinking that it should work with a hand saw too, I never tried it though.

Don't use regular paint thinner. You want to use Mineral Spirits, LeMaudit has it right, get the low odor or de-odorized version. Home Depot etc. has it. Recall WD-40 and all these petroleum products are flammable. Do not grind or weld with rags soaked in this stuff lying around.

I am only cutting and drilling so calm down. I can't wait till I get all the stuff together!