Online Metals ProtoBox

[vederstein]

It's amazing how I can have hundreds of dollars of barstock sitting on the shelf and not find the sizes I need for the engine I'm working on. So I needed some more material.

After looking at many a online metals vendor, I ended up purchasing from Online Metals (OM).

I order specifically what I needed but I had a 25% off coupon code, so of course I needed MORE METAL!!!

Anyways, OM has these "protoboxes" which are just drops of materials from their barstock. You know what type of metal you're getting, but have no idea what shapes. I took a chance on buying two of them fully knowing it may suck.

This following is what I ended up with:

First I bought the 20lb cold rolled pack. It had a lot of tubing in it and a couple of pieces of rectangular stock. Overall I'm not too impressed with this one. The DOM tubing definitely has some usefullness. But the thin walled tubing doesn't have much of a use for me. Oh well, $20 down the drain.

The second pack was the 20lb brass pack. This one was excellent. Mostly it was roundstocks about 1 foot long with a couple of small rectangular stocks as well. The largest piece as 1-1/2" diameter! This was well worth the $55 price.

Remember, if you go this route, your experience may/will be different.

...Ved.

 

[ShopShoe]

Vederstein,

Thanks for posting that. I have always wondered what you would get with one of those. I do think they describe it so no one will be confused.

I have often purchased the "Random Length" option when buying a piece of stock in a new size (described as 10-12 inches, depending what they've been cutting.) I find that option useful for me. If I only need 6.5 inches, why not buy more, but I don't care if it's exactly 12 inches.

--ShopShoe

 

[Jyman]

Thanks for sharing what you got in the boxes, I have always wondered what a person would get. Would you mind sharing how much shipping was?


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[Nerdz]

Im giving the 10Lb Aluminum box and 5Lb Brass box a shot. Oddly enough the coupons that were set to expire yesterday still work today! Since they have a local shop in my area, Ive opted to pick them up (Tomorrow obviously).

 

[vederstein]

Thanks for sharing what you got in the boxes, I have always wondered what a person would get. Would you mind sharing how much shipping was?

Jyman:

Shipping for the entire order was $37.09 to Indianapolis. With this order I also got several aluminum stocks, so if I had to hazzard a SWAG (scientific wild ass guess) on the shipping for just the protoboxes: probably about $25-30.

...Ved.

 

[Jyman]

Thanks Ved, That makes a good price per pound for brass.

Jon


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[Nerdz]

I wish I got the 20Lb Brass box! Heres what my 10lb aluminum protopack contained, along with the 5lb brass one

 

[vederstein]

That's quite a bit of shiny stuff! Also you got brass hex stock - I'm jealous.

...ved

 

[Nerdz]

That's quite a bit of shiny stuff! Also you got brass hex stock - I'm jealous.

...ved

I'll trade you for the large peice of brass stock , although I got the same of brass stock as you from the scrap yard for $10. They arent that large, the hex is only 0.5'' as is the larger round stock all the way at the end.

 

[Gordon]

Where do you find the protobox item. I cannot find them. I purchase from Online Metals from time to time but have not seen them and cannot find them on the site.

 

[Nerdz]

Right here for Aluminum

https://www.onlinemetals.com/merchant.cfm?id=256&step=2&top_cat=60

Brass
https://www.onlinemetals.com/merchant.cfm?id=257&step=2&top_cat=79

They seem well hidden, it took me some time to find them as well.

Copper Protobox
https://www.onlinemetals.com/merchant.cfm?pid=21880&step=4&showunits=inches&id=260&top_cat=87

Cold Roll Protobox
https://www.onlinemetals.com/merchant.cfm?id=265&step=2&top_cat=197

Stainless Steel Protobox
https://www.onlinemetals.com/merchant.cfm?id=258&step=2&top_cat=1

 

[Gordon]

Thanks. I probably will try it next time I order some material. Never saw it before.

 

[Gordon]

I recently purchased the 20# brass. It was mostly worth it. I got some good brass but I also got several pieces of brass tube which has limited usage for engine building. I wonder if they would let you specify "no tubing"? If I order again I may try. I bought the brass in kind of a hurry because I had a free shipping coupon for today only. I think that I will try the alum some time.

 

[Nerdz]

You could give it a shot. I wonder how they determine what goes in it. Just grab off the shelf? I got aluminum hollow square-which has limited use.

 

[vascon2196]

Here is a great resource for metals when you don't need a lot.

https://www.metalsdepot.com/

 

[Gordon]

I just sent an email to Online Metals. They replied.

Hi Gordon,

We’re very happy to hear that you were satisfied with your order! When placing any future order, you are welcome to write any special requests in the “special processing/handling instructions” on step 3 of checkout. We cannot guarantee the contents of any proto boxes, but our warehouse will always do their best to follow your instructions.

Please let us know if you have any further questions.


Thank you for shopping OnlineMetals!

Stephanie Moriearty

 

[vederstein]

I know this thread is old, but I purchased another 20 lb brass protobox.

This time around it was mostly rectangular barstock. The thick walled tube may have some interesting uses in the future. I got several pieces of 3/8 x 1" rectangular bars. As for the square tubing and the tee shape, those are probably no good to me.

...Ved.

 

[olympic]

It's amazing how I can have hundreds of dollars of barstock sitting on the shelf and not find the sizes I need for the engine I'm working on. So I needed some more material

Happens to me all the time....

 

[Gordon]

It is not a good deal when half of what you get is unusable to you. In most cases it is probably better to just pay a higher price and get stuff that you can use.

 

[CFLBob]

I've bought virtually all of the metal I've used in projects from OM and have never seen these packages!

The last few times I've needed something like a 2" long piece of 1" cold-rolled or a 2" piece of 1x3 aluminum, I bought one of their drops from the page on that material. They say it will be between 10 and 12" long but no guarantee. When you need a few inches, that's fine.

Last time, I almost swore off buying from them. They shipped three different drops from three different states. Shipping cost almost twice what the metal cost. That's so common now it's hard to get the metal.