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Hobbyist Tooling and Raw Materials


Federal Farmer

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I'm not sure where you live, but raw material wise, Adams steel in Mchenry is AWESOME. I put together an order on onlinemetals, at 113 for aluminum (not including shipping) and Adam's Quoted 73!! So needless to say, just another option.

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Do yourself a favor and bounce between onlinemetals.com and metalsdepot.com when you order online... Also don't rule out a local source if you can find one, there is a 'junk surplus' store that I go to that gets a decent amount of scrap metal from local machine shops and then sells it at the current per pound rate so you can get some great deals vs retail...

 

Also don't rule out Harbor Freight, especially for tooling for the smaller mills and lathes...

 

And when you get into machining irregular shaped parts on the mill that are hard to hold, consider getting some 'Wood's Metal' with nothing more than boiling water you can mold custom and temporary jigs and holders that come in handy for the hobbyist...

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Grainger is pricey but close to me. McMaster Metals is another source, we used to buy from them when I was in tool and die many many years ago. Cheaper from me but further.

 

I got my mill from Grizzly.

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I purchased a 2" x 5" x 12 foot bar of 6061 from Suburban Welding and Supply in Franklin Park for $417.86. Price checking I find that it would have been $622 plus shipping at speedymetals.com and $465 plus shipping at onlinemetals.com.
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CGS, which Grainger? I think one is by me, I work in Vernon Hills.

 

And YES I want a Grizzly myself, the X2 version.

I have a few Graingers in the Niles area.

 

This is my Grizzly mill http://www.grizzly.com/products/6-x-21-Mill-Drill/G0619 I wish it were a weee bit bigger (heavier) but so far it has done everything I have asked of it.

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Ive had some luck here, website takes a little getting used to.

 

http://www.shars.com/

I've bought some cutters from them via ebay. Good service, fast shipping, reasonable prices.
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