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Sources for sheet aluminum in Washington and Oregon?
Posted:
Sun Jun 19, 2005 12:56 pmby gman
Anyone have sources along the I-5 corridor, Seattle to Portland Area. I had an online link to a company in Seattle but lost it. Thanks gman
Posted:
Tue Jun 21, 2005 3:26 amby Tim Greiner
gman-
My father-in-law, a general aviation guy, used to get his at the Boeing surplus store, I believe it is in the south part of Seattle. Really good prices, a pretty good selection of aircraft and regular grade stuff, and lots of tools.
Tim Greiner
Posted:
Tue Jun 21, 2005 10:21 amby AmyH
Tim,
Do you remember at all what sizes he was able to get? I am around the Seattle area, and I have been looking for a good supplier too. I have been to the Boeing surplus store before, it was pretty cool, but I wasn't looking for aluminum at that time.
Amy
Posted:
Tue Jun 21, 2005 8:14 pmby gman
I found their website, looks like you have to go there often to see what they have, also seems like you have to buy in bulk, not just one sheet at a time.
Posted:
Wed Jun 29, 2005 12:31 pmby AmyH
Okay, I found a supplier of wide aluminum in the Seattle area, finally! I don't know how wide you need gman, but Western Trailer Repair (707 South Lucile Street, Seattle, WA 98108, 206-762-7850) carries truck trailer roof coil 103" wide, cut to any length that you need. It is .040 thick, and runs $11.40 per linear foot. The best part is that they will sell to the general public, and they don't care how many feet you purchase! I have been thinking of building my tear around 6' wide, so finding a supplier of wide aluminum was a huge deal for me.
Hope that helps out,
Amy
Posted:
Fri Jul 01, 2005 11:57 pmby dahoon
Did either of you contact Alcoa in Spokane for your aluminum material. I have a Spokane directory, somewhere(lost in the move back to the wetside). If interested I could dig it up. I know they had all kinds of materials, I just don't a price sheet.
Posted:
Mon Aug 22, 2005 8:07 pmby Mightydog
For those of us in the Portland OR area:
WW Truck Trailer
503-760-2336
103-inch wide .040
$12.25/linear foot
Wabash Trailer Repair/Service
503-285-2140
101-inch wide .040
$13.77/linear foot
Young Trailer Co
503-668-4191
102-inch wide .040
$14.24/linear foot
These prices are as of 8/22/05.
All three of these places were very kind in dealing with me--no one laughed or pointed or made me feel bad about asking for such a small amount. As long as I had money, they didn't seem to have a problem slicing off a foot or 50-feet!
Posted:
Thu Oct 13, 2005 9:50 pmby Chris C
For gosh sakes, why didn't you take it back and complain to them?
Posted:
Thu Oct 13, 2005 10:03 pmby madjack
...remember these guys use this stuff to repair the tops of 18 wheeller trailers where it is seen by no one but birds and troopers in 'copters and plane's, so you may need to 'splain to 'em just what you are going to use it for...maybe they will leave the gorilla in the back
madjack
Posted:
Fri Oct 14, 2005 10:18 amby AmyH
Wow, that's terrible!! I would definitely take it back and let them know that it won't work for your application. Get them to cut you a new sheet. When I spoke to them and told them about what I would be using it for, they sounded very accomodating. I really think that they will understand if you explain what you are going to use it for, they seemed really nice to me. And there has to be some kind of law they are breaking for having a gorilla as an employee!!
Good luck with it Danny, Amy
Posted:
Fri Oct 14, 2005 12:35 pmby halfdome, Danny
My 1/2 brother said that to bondo alum the can must say for alum. Also you need to use a primer specifically for alum or your paint job won't stick. If I were to try and sand out the scratches I would end up with dips even if I tried to feather it in. 
My TD will be painted to match my tow vehicle. Danny 
Posted:
Fri Oct 14, 2005 12:53 pmby madjack
...hd, we did a test on a piece of scrap Al, scatching and gouging it heavily. A randon "turned" finish similar to Doug Hodders unit worked best but is VERY time consuming, using a very coarse scuff pad(scotch brite) and a random orbit sander seemed to work best, while it did not eliminate the gouges and deep scatches it did blend them in to the point that you had to really look for 'em to find 'em. My 30 yr body man buddy told me that Al has a "memory" to it and there is virtually nothing that can be done that will totally eliminated deep scratches and gouges
madjack
Posted:
Mon Nov 07, 2005 1:00 amby jayray
I bought 4X10 sheets of .032 @ keizer sheetmetal in McMinnville, Or. they can even sheer it to size for around 15 bucks.
There are many scratches, dings and creases on the sheet 
. Lucky for me I can cut out some of the damage but not all of it, I may have to paint the TD to match my vehicle after all 
band it, and take it off the machine. He offered some free scotch pad type 5" disks for my DA sander to see if I can buff all the damage out. I have a 1/2 brother close by who has been a auto body man for over 20 years and I'll see what he could suggest. One time I had to make a swirl pattern on a 12' radiused aluminum inlayed conference table it it looked great after 8 hours of using the DA sander. Worse case bondo and paint will make it cherry looking. 