New source for tools and welding supplies in the Charlotte, NC area

A couple of months ago a friend told me about a company that wanted some work done on their Web site so I visited them to see what they needed. Turns out they're a fairly large surplus dealer located in Mount Holly, just West of Charlotte, NC. When I arrived they were unloading and sorting a tractor-trailer load of welding supplies.

They told me that National Welders bought out Welder's Supply and they mostly did it to kill competition so they took most of the welders and a few other things they wanted and sold all the rest of the supplies to these guys. They're supposed to receive a large inventory from at least 3 Welder's Supplies stores.

They had only received the first load last time I was there but it was quit a bit of good stuff including rods, abrasives, plasma cutter consumables, TIG torches (probably 50 or more!) and more. They had the replacement clear plastic covers for one or more of the expensive welding helmets like Speedglass. I saw quite a few large rolls of MIG wire, like you might use in a larger MIG unit. They had a good assortment of the small rolls. Unfortunately the only wire they had in the size roll I use (10" maybe?) was

0.30 stainless.

Their prices seem pretty reasonable too. I bought a 5-pack of nozzles for my Hypertherm plasma cutter for $5 and a 5-pack of electrodes for $18. The cheapest I've found the electrodes online is about $11 each!

Of course they don't just have welding supplies. In fact, that's a small percentage of what they have. There was one Bridgeport type mill there; can't remember the brand. They have paint, safety supplies, ladders, saw blades, far too much to mention or even remember. They have quite a bit of used pallet racking plus they're a dealer for a major brand but I don't remember who. They're also a dealer for Metal Devil metal cutting circular saw blades. On one of my visits they had to show me the full head dental X-ray machines they had just picked up, new and still in the boxes. I think they said the manufacturer gets $45k for them! They also had this cool

4-wheeled thing sitting outside that looked like it was a cradle for a huge round tank or something. Turns out it was jet engine stand and positioner.

So I fixed their Web site and it's setup to handle online orders and a full inventory of products but they're not so good about entering the product info so I strongly suggested they hire someone to help with that. I think they have maybe 4 things listed on their site so far and a couple of those are old test items from the guy that originally built their site in 2003. They're also not so good about answering email. They much prefer to work in person or over the phone but they seem like good guys that enjoy what they're doing.

They do have someone handling their eBay store fulltime though so you can find some of the stuff they have available by checking it out. I just looked and there are 246 items currently available. For now they're selling locally and through their eBay store and by phone. They've been in business since 1988 though and get calls from all over the world for stuff... but I didn't know about them and they're half an hour from me! And if you're looking for something specific you can always call. They'll ship anything, anywhere!

If you go there, plan on staying awhile. You might also want to take a flashlight. It's a large warehouse and the lighting isn't so good in some areas.

You can find out where they are, get a phone number or visit their eBay store from their Web site at:

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Now for the disclaimer. Aside from fixing their Web site I'm not affiliated with them in any way. Just really impressed with all the cool stuff they have!! :-) Of course if you do happen to mention my name it might get me more work from them in the future but that's not the purpose of this message. I just wanted to let everyone here know about a new source for good deals.

Best Regards, Keith Marshall snipped-for-privacy@progressivelogic.com

"I'm not grown up enough to be so old!"

Reply to
Keith Marshall
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Well, if you happen to see a nice lathe or horizontal mill in the

Reply to
gcc

Will do!

Best Regards, Keith Marshall snipped-for-privacy@progressivelogic.com

"I'm not grown up enough to be so old!"

Reply to
Keith Marshall

Just a minute! It's not fixed yet. I get "No products are currently available in this category." for any product chosen.

Bob

Reply to
Bob Engelhardt

Actually it *is* fixed, they just haven't taken the time to set it up properly. :-(

If you click on "Machine Tools" on the Products page and then select "Milling Machines" you'll find a listing for a "machinst unipower mill" which is the Bridgeport type mill I mentioned in my original post. You'll find a fancey Renoir Bathtub listed under Wheel Chairs because they didn't have a product it fit under when the guy entered it and he didn't want to take the time to create one.

You can also click on "All Products" on the Products page and you'll see all

4 of the items they have listed.

As I said, they're not good on that type of thing but they still have good stuff at decent prices. :-)

Best Regards, Keith Marshall snipped-for-privacy@progressivelogic.com

"I'm not grown up enough to be so old!"

Reply to
Keith Marshall

Keith Marshall wrote: > Actually it *is* fixed, ... OK

What good is going to a web site with just 4 things on it?

Bob

Reply to
Bob Engelhardt

For someone not local to the Charlotte area, not a lot, which is why I mentioned that its in the Charlotte area in the Subject. Of course there is a link to their eBay store with around 250 items listed and there is a phone number so you can call them if you're looking for something specific or if you aren't in the area.

If you do happen to be in the Charlotte area there is a map and a description of how to find them which could be difficult otherwise because they're located behind another business and not very easy to locate from the address alone.

I fully agree there should be more products listed but that's up to them. Hopefully they'll do something about it but that's not what they paid me to do.

Best Regards, Keith Marshall snipped-for-privacy@progressivelogic.com

"I'm not grown up enough to be so old!"

Reply to
Keith Marshall

Actually if I click on the Product tab I get the following error:

Microsoft JET Database Engine error '80004005' System resource exceeded. /vsadmin/inc/incfunctions.asp, line 87

- Bob Headrick

Reply to
Bob Headrick

According to Keith Marshall :

[ ... ]

[ ... ]

Hmm ... fixed? I get:

HTTP/1.1 500 Server Error

with my browser identifying itself as Opera (which it is), as Mozilla/Netscape, or as MS-IE 6.0.

A look at the source shows only:

====================================================================== HTTP/1.1 500 Server Error ======================================================================

which does not give me any hope that turning on JavaScript or one of the other scripting languages will make any difference. ;-)

This is at about midnight November 18/19, FWIW.

Enjoy, DoN.

Reply to
DoN. Nichols

Unfortunately that's a problem with their Web host,

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I've seen it several times since I worked on the site and suggested that they may want to locate a new hosting service.

If you try it again in a couple of hours it will probably work fine.

Best Regards, Keith Marshall snipped-for-privacy@progressivelogic.com

"I'm not grown up enough to be so old!"

Reply to
Keith Marshall

Well it sounds like a copout but that's not a problem with the site or my work. It's a problem with the hosting service they use which is www. winsave.com. I've seen that far too many times since I started work on their site and suggested that they need to find a new hosting service.

I just tried to view it to see if it's back up and IE7 just says it can't display the site. I guess Micro$oft figures if you're an IE user you're too stupid to understand a *real* error message. :-(

Perhaps I'll have better luck convincing them when I show them the messages here that mention the problem.

Best Regards, Keith Marshall snipped-for-privacy@progressivelogic.com

"I'm not grown up enough to be so old!"

Reply to
Keith Marshall

According to Keith Marshall :

A Windows based server? Yep -- I can see why there are problems. :-)

Typical. :-)

Good Luck, DoN.

Reply to
DoN. Nichols

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