I’m new to metal working, and am curious to hear the best suppliers for material are. Looking for a variety of brass round bar, flat stock and aluminum round bar and flat stock.
I don’t know if they are the best but I’ve bought from Westbrook metals before, years ago. Onlinemetals.com and McMaster Carr have good selections if the sizes you need aren’t too expensive to ship.
This made me realize we are missing a Metal Suppliers page on our wiki – Category:Suppliers - Asmbly Wiki
Westbrook Metals is a local one I know a lot of the metal folks like. They have a lot of variety Materials, Metals and Types We Carry
Local:
Westbrook Metals
Metals4U
Asero
South Austin Metals
Westbrock has the best “drop” section in town. If you have cash with you, lots of time they sell it dirt cheap.
South Austin is open Saturday’s until 2 I believe. They have great pricing.
Nice, this is fantastic! Thanks everyone!
Yeah the local ones are almost always the way to go. The prices are already cheaper than online options, and you don’t get stuck with shipping fees on top. The shipping fees get significant for anything other than small pieces. I frequent Westbrook because it’s the closest to me and always had good experiences there.
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Metals4U’s remnant section is mostly plate aluminum, but quite a wide variety of that. I believe their price per pound is the same as Westbrook’s ($3?).
South Austin Metal didn’t have aluminum bar last time I was there; I don’t know if that was unusual or not.
Asero only sells steel. The good news is they have very short cut times and their prices are pretty competitive.
Good point on cut times. Unless I got something from their remnant pile, Westbrook always made me come back the next day for pick up. They also gave me 5/16" rod instead of 1/4" once. Which is 56% more material for free, but I needed 1/4" to fit and had to machine it down on the lathe.
OK so who is adding all this awesome content to the wiki? 
South Austin cuts on the spot. Wait time depends entirely on how many people are ahead of you.
Last I asked, Metals4U didn’t have a remnant section anymore. Has that changed?
They have started selling al remnants in the front.
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Do they have better deals if you pay cash?
In my experience, when it comes to the drop section yes.
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I prefer Westbrook, metals 4U is owned by the same people that own Westbrook. Westbrook is much closer to me and every time I tried M4U their customer service was poor.
As for cut times at Westbrook, it all depends on how busy they are and the order size. Many times I only had a brief wait.
Peace, Wolf