Welding Tips and Tricks

I am working with Craig Vetter to build an electric motorcycle capable of getting around 200 miles per charge and I am looking for a local source of Aluminum and steel to use in building my streamlined motorcycle.

I am in the early stages of building but you can follow my project here http://www.callmeburton.com

Specifically I am looking for
1) 3/8" aluminum plate ( around 3' x 1.5' ) type doesn't matter too much as it will not be bent so T4 / T6 is ok here.
2) ~.065" sheet 4'x4'
3) ~.01" sheet 4'x8' (likely cut in half)
4) 3/16" x 3" x 8'
5) extruded 1" or 3/4" angle likely in 1/8" x 8'
6) extruded 3/4" to 1" square about .08" x 8'

And of course it would be nice to have scrap metal to weld on.

Anyone in my state know of a place let me know.

If you were local to me, I could hook you up.

There's an on-line store that sells metals of all kinds, will take small orders, ships UPS, and has everything, including exotics. I don't recall it, off hand, but I'm sure our members who are in EAA are familiar with them.

You won't want to use them after the prototype stage, as shipping would eat you up, but at the same time, a real metal dealer will rape you for small orders, so it's a good option until you're looking at production quantities.

If one of our EAA'rs doesn't beat me to it, I'll try to dig up a link.

EDIT: I think this is it...

http://www.onlinemetals.com/

Steve S

I have that website already as well as metalsdepot.com

I got an email back from Dominion Steel and they are more expensive than metalsdepot lol

onlinemetal doesn't seem too badly priced. Everything I needed and then some cost about $400 after the $60 shipping.

Dominion Steel wrote: 1) 3/8" aluminum plate ( around 3' x 1.5' ) type doesn't matter too much as
it will not be bent so T4 / T6 is ok here. - $210.00 (6061 aluminum that's what we carry)

2) ~.065" sheet 4'x4' - .063 $105.00

3) ~.01" sheet 4'x8' (likely cut in half) - No stock

4) 3/16" x 3" x 8' - $40.00

5) extruded 1" or 3/4" angle likely in 1/8" x 8' - No Stock

6) extruded 3/4" to 1" square about .08" x 8' - No Stock

If you have any questions please let us know.

Burton,
I buy small bits from speedymetals.com

Len

I hope your seated because the bit of technology I'm about to share with you will blow you away !
http://www.yellowpages.com/alexandria-v ... 0suppliers

Antorcha wrote:I hope your seated because the bit of technology I'm about to share with you will blow you away !
http://www.yellowpages.com/alexandria-v ... 0suppliers

I will assume you don't think I am internet illiterate when making the comment above.

In the list you provided you will see the majority are fabricators or workers not suppliers. I already contacted several in the list who explicitly said they were suppliers. Many others I went to their site to see if there was any hope I could get something from them. The majority do prefab steel framing, gutter repair / building, fence repair, recyclers, fabricators etc.

I have likely spent a couple hours pouring through such lists with no good leads outside dominion and a few others who refuse small orders. I am explicitly looking for someone who has experience getting metal from XYZ in northern Virginia.

Thank you for your help though.


@Braehill
speedymetals looks expensive and has smaller cuts than metals depot or online metals it seems. For my project I really need larger sheets than 2' wide/long. Thanks for the info though.

Personal plug; I can you what you need but shipping them to you might be expensive or complicated.
-Jonathan

Where are you at in Norther Virginia?

mcoe wrote:Where are you at in Norther Virginia?

Woodbridge

If you don't mind a little drive, I deal with a company out of Morgantown, WV. Their main branch is in Huntington, WV but they are very reasonable and easy to work with. They are the cheapest place I have found. It would be about a 3 hour drive from Woodbridge to Morgantown but if your interested I can give you the info.