Purchasing aluminium stock

[jarhead]

good evening everyone,

A seller on FB marketplace has round and flat stock for sale. Not being a cheapskate what should i expect to pay? By the piece or the pound?

Thank you

 

[C-Bag]

Yes.

Hate to be vague but ive not found any rhyme or reason for pricing. It’s good to know what the online retailers are asking and I wouldn’t pay over 5-60% of that.

 

[Ischgl99]

I use price per pound when comparing costs. If they list the price per piece, I will calculate how many pounds that is and compare to places like McMaster-Carr and Online Metals as a baseline for maximum prices I would be willing to pay for something I can get quickly, and it comes with material certifications. I don’t need certified material for what I do, but you will know exactly what you have when purchasing it that way. Anyone selling drops needs to be significantly less than that, you are trusting they know exactly what they have, and they are not always correct. You can’t rely on the color codes for the material either since every distributor could be different. It will also depend on condition, some people are selling heavily rusted steel for close to what you can purchase something in new condition, so that needs to be even lower. Like c-bag, 50% of the price from a quality supplier is a good start, but if it is local and I can avoid shipping costs, then I might pay a bit more.

 

[C-Bag]

I am not a cheapskate but I am frugal. And as such I am always on the watch for anything I can repurpose. Sometimes I run into stuff in the free section of CL. I’ve also gotten some insane deals off the materials section on CL. I have also gotten crazy good stuff in the free stuff people put out on the curb on my twice daily dog walks. My last score was a bunch of galvanized pipe, black pipe, 3/4” angle iron, 1”x3/8 aluminum bars and a fence for my vertical bandsaw! All of it new and most still with the sticker from the local hardware store.

 

[usamech]

Two days ago I bought 8lb's worth of used aluminum electrical conduit 5 inch OD couplings from a junk yard. 16$ Sold by weight.
Week ago I bought 50lb's worth of of galvanized pipe electrical conduit for 25$ from same place.

 

[usamech]

And I forgot to mention. I think I'm in the wrong business. I must pay this place by weight to accept my scrap metal, and yet I'd have to pay by weight to get it back!

 

[ddillman]

Thats insane we take in scrap and get paid for it all the time

 

[RJSakowski]

In 2019 I bought 6061 aluminum drops from Howard Precision in Milwaukee, WI. I bought 64 lbs of plate for $64 + tax. and picked up to avoid shipping charges. They were running a special sale at the time and a number of fellow HM'ers took advantage of it. They run sales from time to time. https://www.hobby-machinist.com/thr...-1-lb-aluminum-plate-drops.79805/#post-685368

 

[JPMacG]

Small drops that have little chance of being useful for a project should be inexpensive, as we are competing only with the recycler / scrap yard. Larger drops are more valuable, up to the new material cost from a supplier.

 

[C-Bag]

I feel like my secret is not waiting until I’ve got project I need it for because it rarely shows up then. So it’s part of my morning coffee to browse CL. The stuff people throw away is amazing and just as amazing is those who think their junk is gold. Browsing all the time gives me a feel for what’s a deal and what’s stupid.

I do sometimes wish I was set up to smelt aluminum because there has been a couple of times that would have been a worthwhile process. I picked up a gym grade treadmill off CL for free and the super HD frame was all aluminum and was at least 120lbs stripped of everything just the aluminum. I ended up having to pay to have it hauled away.