Help n finding a supplier of copper plate/tube

[bearcar1]

Gentlemen,

I've started building a new boiler. I've made boilers from kits that have all the required bits and bobs necessary but this one is from the ground up. I'm building from drawings, with some so far, minor adjustments to accommodate the material sizes I do have on hand. After getting the shell final sized and square, and all of the holes marked out in the proper place and drilled, I was feeling a bit smug and figured "how hard can it be to source the rest of this beast? Ha! I absolutely know that the local hardware and big box stores will not have what I need as they usually do not have items I need under more normal conditions. The plumbing supply places in the area were less than enthusiastic to talk with me and I refuse to spend the remainder of my afternoon calling around. Also, cost comes into play here. Don't get me wrong, I do not have any problem paying for the items as I know copper is expensive, but I really am sick and tired of paying as much as or more the cost for shipping. What I am looking for is some vendor that will sell less than a square foot of .063" (or a bit thicker) copper plate and also 5/16" 22swg pipe. Does anyone reading this know of a place here in the Chicagoland area (Google was how I got the numbers to call in the first place) that they have purchased similar pieces of metal from? I'm certain that such a place exists but I have lost my enthusiasm for a time and need some help in locating such place.
*club* *bang*

BC1
Jim

 

[portlandron]

Auto parts stores have copper tubing.
For the sheet stock might try a sheet metal shop or roofing company that does copper work. Fourteen gauge copper is .064 and fifteen is .0508.

 

[Mainer]

McMaster-Carr www.mcmaster.com has a 12"x12" 0.63" thick piece of alloy 101 copper for $60.75, and I've always found their shipping to be quite reasonable.

 

[dalem9]

I get my copper from a plumbing shop. Figure out what size you need and get a piece of tubeing and flatten it out .works great for me.A 3 inch tube will give you a piece close to 10 inches wide and what ever lenght you need.Hope this helps .Just tell the shop you need it to fix a drain . Dale

 

[bearcar1]

Thanks Mainer, (too rich for my blood at this time)

Dale: you may have just jogged this brain fart out of my head. I have a left over piece from the start of this adventure and knew about making a flat from tube but did not connect the dots. I'm more of a coloring book kind of guy myself. Anyway, I did some measuring of my leftover piece and I can get the two pieces I need from that. I just did not really want to anneal the stuff anymore than I have to. Now I'm just worried that my torch will have enough gas to do what I need it to do. I am still in need of a place for the 5/16" pipe as I'm not sure that the stuff at the auto store is up to the task at hand (too soft??) but thanks Ron for the suggestion.

BC1
Jim

 

[techonehundred]

Jim, You can also check out metal supermarkets. There is a store in Addison and in Chicago(Both have really nice people to work with). I would call to see if they have it in stock. They will sell it any size and they list three different grades.

 

[dalem9]

Jim if you have a table saw use an old carbide blade and cut it down the center then aneal it .flatens out better when anealed. Dale

 

[bearcar1]

Thanks Anthony,
I may yet still have a go with those folks. I had good dealings with them once before long ago. The young kid called around and got back to me with pricing on a chunk of brass I was in need of. And the cost was lower than I had gotten from all of the other places, mainly because I think the piece was an end drop that no one needed.

Thanks again Dale, this evening I did get the scrap piece of pipe I had left over cut. I used a cut-off wheel in the Dremel and it made short work of it too. I began my efforts to anneal the piece before I flattened it out but the bottle ran out so will have to attempt another round tomorrow.

I should have done my homework on obtaining materials before I jumped on this hand grenade but, I just have to keep telling myself to calm down and it will happen ... eventually. :big:

BC1
Jim

 

[Mainer]

Assuming this one comes apart more or less like mine, you should find all the pieces movable by a single person if you grunt loudly enough, except for the column and base. I separated the column and base on mine, but they were still too much for me to manage except with a hand truck and creative rigging. Ideally, it would be A Good Thing to keep the column + base together to preserve the alignment of the knee screw with its nut in the base. At least on mine, there are no dowel pins in the base + column joint and it can shift enough to affect the screw alignment. If you do take the two apart, you will find a 2nd person really handy when the time comes to put the two back together again.