Layout fluid - Fastenall

On 4/9/2018 3:04 PM, Paul Drahn wrote: > Just got back from Fastenall. They are about 250 ft from my plant back door. > > I am working on a tooling plate and the spray can of layout fluid is empty. They used to have a big display of both spray and brush on the wall behind the counter. > > Now the employee has no clue what layout fluid is. He looked it up on the computer and "oh, there it is. Nope, no stock!". > > Did Lowes or Home Depot buy out Fastenall or just begin using their method of stocking stuff? > > I will bring some from home. My GM says only Amazon stocks everything, and I'm beginning to believe that. > > Paul

MSC stocks the most as a one party source. McMaster-Carr is second.

Fastenal is expensive, non-responsive to quote requests, doesn't accept cash, and locally doesn't stock much. 90-95% of the stuff I look up on their website shows ships from mfg or ships from warehouse. Motion Industries and OneSource have similar issues on local stock. I can think of maybe 3 things I've bought at all three combined in the last five years. Not for lack of trying.

Machining supplies I usually go to MSC. I get my same old discount I got from Enco so its not badly priced, and I can get it next day in most cases for the price of ground freight, or in a couple days for free freight. Their billing and accounting can be a pain. More so since I pay at time of sale. Now I make sure to check stock and location before ordering.

Bulk metals I get from a metal vendor. Aluminum I buy locally at Remington Industrial. Nuts and bolts I mostly get locally at Copperstate Bolt. 4140 comes Alro if the weight is enough to get good pricing. Smaller quantity I shop around.

McMaster Carr gets the first nod for most misc hardware and small quantity materials. MSC does have a a lot of that stuff too so I price check them against each other. MSC is faster if I opt for their red upgrade option.

Bob La Londe wrote in news:pagrbl$21g$ snipped-for-privacy@gioia.aioe.org:

And "ships from warehouse" sometimes takes unreasonably longer than it should. Here in Indianapolis, one of the Fastenal branches is literally right next door to a Fastenal warehouse, and it *still* usually takes several days.

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.860941,-86.2304802,651m/data=!3m1!1e3

Store is to the north, warehouse to the south.

My local Fastenal branch has been astonishingly cooperative. They do have to order things in, but I've pestered them with tiny special orders for small fittings and hardware, which they fill gladly. $10 here, $15 there, no problems. I think the smallest was maybe $5. The one oddity is they always ask for a company name. I tell them I'm retired from a large local employer, pay with my personal credit card and everybody is happy. The service isn't instant, but a few days to get $5 worth of obscure parts shipped at no added cost from a few hundred miles away does not seem bad.

My $.02,

bob prohaska

I have an Alro nearby, but I almost never buy from them because I'm a hobbyist and only need small qantities. Went in there one day, and a

36" piece of O-2 was almost 3x what MSC and McMaster for the same item. I would be willing to pay a little more to support them since they're maintaining a presence here, and paying local taxes - just not 2x-3x more.

Their prices used to be far more in line with other vendors but something changed.

On 4/10/2018 8:35 AM, Bill wrote: > On Mon, 9 Apr 2018 16:01:14 -0700, Bob La Londe wrote: > >> 4140 comes Alro if the weight is enough to get good >> pricing. Smaller quantity I shop around. > > I have an Alro nearby, but I almost never buy from them because I'm a > hobbyist and only need small qantities. Went in there one day, and a > 36" piece of O-2 was almost 3x what MSC and McMaster for the same item. > I would be willing to pay a little more to support them since they're > maintaining a presence here, and paying local taxes - just not 2x-3x > more. > > Their prices used to be far more in line with other vendors but > something changed. >

I only get decent pricing from them if I buy several hundred to a couple thousand pounds. A few months ago I bought several bar length pieces of

4140HT oversize 1" x 6" x apx 12' flat bar and several pieces of 4140HT TGP round rod in various sizes. Their price was better than any other quote even including truck freight to my shop. Their one each price was quite a bit higher than any other quote.

For thin pieces of tool steel Admiral steel has some some stuff listed on their website for knife makers that is quite competitive. Nothing thicker than 1/4" though if I recall.

Tool Steel of California has decent prices on some tool steels as well, but I always price check. Often my discount at MSC when paired with orders over 149/299 discounts respectively makes MSC the better choice for small pieces. Especially since I get free freight.

I do often check McMaster-Carr, and have several pieces of O1 on the shelf that came from them. I also check Speedy metals, Online Metals, and a few others when shopping for small pieces.

It pays to shop. Once in a great while I even find a good deal on steel on Ebay. Iggy sells labeled salvage there, but I don't recall his Ebay handle.

Discount Steel is almost never the best price, and I have had issues with order fulfillment with them. I cancelled my last order with them because they never filled it and never let me know they had a problem.