Where does one get metal in the SoCal area.

plutoniumsalmon · Oct 30, 2014

Hello.
Just wondering if you guys have any opinions about stock supplier around Los Angeles. I am looking for a place that has different flavors of stainless and aluminium.

Thank you.

Guest · Oct 30, 2014

I moved from So Cal a few years ago, Fry Steel would be my first choice. Last I check they were starting to stir in Chinese Aluminum with the domestic stuff.

rjibosh · Oct 30, 2014

Depends on what you want. There are plenty of specialty steel suppliers here. Just google steel suppliers in LA. For small amounts of relatively common hrs, crs, alluminum, and stainless, Industrial Pipe and Steel in El Monte is good. They cut to size for a fair charge, sell stock and scrap or drops. Also have brass and drill rod. Worth the trip just to look around. McMaster ships from Santa Fe Springs in two days or less and has a good selection of all metals and shapes.

sagespecialized · Oct 30, 2014

What you find is one source specializes in a particular type of material then has a little bit of the other stuff mixed in. If you want to window shop IMS has a pretty nice showroom...

ortho · Oct 30, 2014

Check out a recycling place. Lots of crushed autos, motors, axles, appliances, etc. Depends on your needs/want. Get them dirt cheap.

Tedger · Oct 30, 2014

I've used these guys;
Coastal Metals
19760 Cajon Blvd.
San Bernardino, CA 92407
800-811-7466

toolmaker96 · Oct 30, 2014

Future Alloys in Chatsworth for aluminum.

Matt@RFR · Oct 30, 2014

Dualkit said:
I moved from So Cal a few years ago, Fry Steel would be my first choice. Last I check they were starting to stir in Chinese Aluminum with the domestic stuff.

I called Fry a couple weeks ago for a quote on 6061 flat bar, and asked that it be domestic. Without hesitation (not even enough time to type in the size bar I needed) the girl said they won't have it in domestic. Wow.

dstryr · Oct 30, 2014

Matt@RFR said:
I called Fry a couple weeks ago for a quote on 6061 flat bar, and asked that it be domestic. Without hesitation (not even enough time to type in the size bar I needed) the girl said they won't have it in domestic. Wow.

I use Sunshine Metals for 7075. They are price competitive on 6061 as well.

Fry Steel is the go to for odd ball small quantities. You pay for convenience and quick turn.

Bobw · Oct 30, 2014

Matt@RFR said:
I called Fry a couple weeks ago for a quote on 6061 flat bar, and asked that it be domestic. Without hesitation (not even enough time to type in the size bar I needed) the girl said they won't have it in domestic. Wow.

I'm not a fan of Fry steel. I got burned on 2 1018 orders and a 4140 order... The parts had to go through mag inspect... The first order. 7/16 dia 1018, about 300 out of
1000 parts failed... Ordered some more, 1/2" this time, get under the skin blah blah... 3 parts out of 300 passed. The shit was BAD!!! Didn't even need to be mag
particled (we had guy renting space from us, so it was sort of "in-house"), you could see the cracks from 18 inches away...

Then a bunch of 5/8 4140... Same shit, cracked like I've never seen before in my life, I can't believe the material was actually staying together in one piece.

As for aluminum... I haven't bought any from them in many many many years... But it was Xing Xang Aluminum Company. Machined fine, it was on size and wasn't
dinged up bad or anything... Even passed pen inspect.

They were really good on the alloy steel squares and rectangles CHEAP, but I never had to put any of that through inspection and never paid attention to the certs, though I couldn't
see cracks in it.

Their $30 packaging fee is BS.

Bobw · Oct 30, 2014

The question the OP asked... I've been VERY happy with Copper and Brass, a division of Thysenkrup.. They also own Online metals.

They KNOW what DFARS compliant metal is, the prices are pretty darn good, quoted with shipping.... I can get half a ton of aluminum from them
SHIPPED to me cheaper than I can get it anywhere remotely local, and sadly... It gets here faster, usually within 3 days if they have it in CA, even
if they have to cut it out of plate.

I needed 12 foot 4 inches of 304 rectangle bar one time... The sales lady, who knew what DFARS compliant was, said they are random lengths around
12 feet and she would have them pull me a long one. I got 12 foot 4.5 inches... I was so happy... And quite impressed.

extropic · Oct 30, 2014

plutoniumsalmon said:
Hello.
Just wondering if you guys have any opinions about stock supplier around Los Angeles. I am looking for a place that has different flavors of stainless and aluminium.

Thank you.

The area of the City of Los Angeles is 503 square miles and the County of Los Angeles is over 4,000 square miles.
Too many options to list.
Are you looking to walk in and sift through remnants or placing commercial size orders to be delivered to your facility?
If the former, Industrial Metal Supply has a location in Sun Valley which is hobbyist friendly as well as full service. They also have a location in Irvine, but I've never been there.
Their web site isn't bad either; Industrial Metal Supply - Metal Made Easy

PriddyShiddy · Oct 31, 2014

I run mostly 6061 and insist on buying American whenever possible so even though my shop is 0.2 miles from Schorr Metals in Anaheim I buy almost exclusively from Industrial Metal Supply. Dimensionally the Kaiser is larger and flatter for bar stock i. e. 1.5" is 1.502" vs 1.496" many Chinese bars come out and the import bars tend to have a concaved shape to the wider sides.

For my production parts I use 0.250" Kaiser precision plate purchased in 48.5"x144" plates and they saw cut into blanks of 9"x15.875". Out of 4,000 final parts per run the parts hold a 0.001 thickness or better @ 0.256" thick.

Best part? Besides supporting US production, price. I average just over $2/lb for bar stock. That's $1/lb cheaper than Fry or Schorr has ever quoted me. That isn't their normal price, but I worked on a sales rep to get it and it stuck.

Free delivery on $150 orders, and most times that I ask nicely on less. 95% of my orders have been delivered next day.

Their drop section is phenomenal, iirc it's $2.29/lb for drops and they have a great selection.

The down side is they haven't had any of the 7075 I've needed nor the O1 drill rods. They were happy to order them but since shipping on those are cheap (0.250" x 36" rods purchased 50 at a time) it's cheaper for me to order those online. O1 I get from flatground.com and the AL 7075 is so cheap I just order from McMaster-Carr since I'm paying shipping anyways from them.

Guest · Oct 31, 2014

The IMS location in Riverside is good for the hobbyist and full blown production shop alike. Lots of precut sizes in the showroom at reasonable prices, good selection of low cost remnants. All of their aluminum was domestic except the huge sizes (12" round +) 3 years ago. The drawback is they are limited on material selection, they didn't carry any stainless other than 300 series for starters. The only aluminum was 2024 and 6061, no 7075.

Guest · Oct 31, 2014

I always wonder about the guys who recommend McMaster-Carr for material. Their prices start at double of the Fry's, IMS and any of the other large stocking distributors that don't do online sales. I said, start at double material on the smaller end of the scale can be up to 10x what a metal only yard charges. The cheapest price you will get is a 6 ft bar, one cost the same each as 50 no discounts. Of course 3 footers and 1 footers are more expensive, and if they are flat out of 6 footers they won't sell you double the amount of 3 footers at the same price. I love everything about McMaster except when I have to buy material from them, they are a last resort. I figure guys that like McMaster for buying metal must being doing mostly complicated tool and die work
where only a smidgeon of the billed price is the metal cost. No big deal if you turn a $25 piece of metal that could cost $5 into a $2,000 mold. It is a problem if that $25 piece of metal makes a $75 mass produced part.

Steve's Hobby · Oct 31, 2014

extropic said:
The area of the City of Los Angeles is 503 square miles and the County of Los Angeles is over 4,000 square miles.
Too many options to list.
Are you looking to walk in and sift through remnants or placing commercial size orders to be delivered to your facility?
If the former, Industrial Metal Supply has a location in Sun Valley which is hobbyist friendly as well as full service. They also have a location in Irvine, but I've never been there.
Their web site isn't bad either; Industrial Metal Supply - Metal Made Easy

Industrial Metal buys from Fry, Steve Fry whom owns the business is a good guy and meet him on several occasions, I know Industrial Metal buys from them as Industrial is just down the street, and I see the Fry trucks in there once in a while. I buy from both. Industrial Metal is good if you just want one, or two pieces, they have several areas of odd sizes and its easy, Big Orders: Fry, small, quick, selection: Industrial. Fry will send you there very nice catalogue if you call them

2outof3 · Oct 31, 2014

Steve's Hobby said:
Industrial Metal buys from Fry, Steve Fry whom owns the business is a good guy and meet him on several occasions, I know Industrial Metal buys from them as Industrial is just down the street, and I see the Fry trucks in there once in a while. I buy from both. Industrial Metal is good if you just want one, or two pieces, they have several areas of odd sizes and its easy, Big Orders: Fry, small, quick, selection: Industrial. Fry will send you there very nice catalogue if you call them

I am sure Steve Fry is a great guy. I also am sure that IMS and Fry trade materials when it works for them. IMS has 6 locations and over 400,000 square feet. Fry has two warehouses and about 180,000 square feet. We buy from both but when making a trunnion and other items out of aluminum we use the Kaiser product from IMS.

Steve's Hobby · Oct 31, 2014

2outof3 said:
I am sure Steve Fry is a great guy. I also am sure that IMS and Fry trade materials when it works for them. IMS has 6 locations and over 400,000 square feet. Fry has two warehouses and about 180,000 square feet. We buy from both but when making a trunnion and other items out of aluminum we use the Kaiser product from IMS.

Divide the 400,000 by 6 and you can see individual locations are smaller, basically Industrial Metals is retail for walk ins etc, Fry is a major distributor. I buy Brass, and 12L14 for the most part, I would have to think that if you are into special or exotics, maybe Fry is not your choice. I like IMS, I buy a lot, but say 500 pounds of 1/2" round Brass: Fry, they bring it help unload, order in the morning, here the next day.

Lucky 13 · Nov 1, 2014

Coast Aluminum and Architectural in Santa Fe Springs. I worked in there Hayward location for 7 years and cannot praise them enough.

10628 Fulton Wells Ave, Santa Fe Springs, CA 90670 (562) 946-6061

2outof3 · Nov 1, 2014

So in the end, you have at least a dozen reputable suppliers for pretty much anything you need. Some are better at bar like BRALCO and some are better at sheet blanks like IMS. What a luxury for the SoCal suppliers. Add to that, the crazy number of grinders, material cut off venders, plating firms, anodizers and It is understandable why so many machined products come from one of the most expensive places to do business. Next time I hear a complaint about doing business in Cali, I will remember the guy in New Zealand looking for a better anodizer.

Where does one get metal in the SoCal area.

Hot Rolled

Guest

Guest

Hot Rolled

Cast Iron

Aluminum

Aluminum

Hot Rolled

Titanium

Diamond

Diamond

Diamond

Stainless

Cast Iron

Guest

Guest

Guest

Guest

Cast Iron

Titanium

Cast Iron

Aluminum

Titanium

Similar threads