Seattle area tool suppliers

[dp]

I've decided to get back into machine work at the hobby level. Anyone have a recommendation for tooling suppliers in the PNWet? Or on-line?? Any help appreciated, and thanks.

dp

[precisionworks]

DP,

Welcome! Nice website, do you ride?

Here are some online suppliers I use:

www.use-enco.com

www.jlindustrial.com

www.mscdirect.com

www.reidtool.com

Enco has the most items on sale at all times, J&L has the best tech support, MSC has the biggest catalog, & Reid has items that are hard to find.

------------------
Barry Milton

[dp]

Thanks, Barry - yep, a Harley Road King at the present time. Not that I can get it out of the garage just now. And thanks for the links - I'll have a look. There's just a few tools I'm interested in, and some brass bar stock which I think I can find in Seattle.

dp

[capperbar]

Try Hardwicks in the U district for odds and ends.
Sav

[Toolbert]

dp,

Sign up for the Seattle Metalheads yahoo group:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/seattle_metalheads/

and then check the Links section. SMH is an email list of around 60 local folks.

My out-of-date, somewhat thin Seattle directory is:

http://dogpatch.com/bobp/bobfaq.htm

Bob

[3 Phase Lightbulb]

When I was a kid living in Washington State, my dad used to take me to the Boeing surplus warehouse where you could buy just about everything by the pound.. From thousands of pounds of Drill bits and taps to Beehive Dumb terminals, to 300 baud acoustic couplers (huge bins full). That place had everything (by the ton)...

Does that place still exist?

-3Ph

[weldnfab]

It sure does,3 Phase, and is as full of stuff as ever.

[3 Phase Lightbulb]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by weldnfab:
It sure does,3 Phase, and is as full of stuff as ever.</font>

I remember always getting super excited when dad wanted to go to boeing surplus. I always ended up filling my own shopping cart with lots of cool computer stuff. We don;t have anything like that over here on the East Coast where I've been for the last 20 years.

-3Ph

[Rustystud]

You might try Pacific Tool and Guage. They are making some really nice carbide and/or M42 endmills, reamers, counter bores and taps. They will make custom stuff for you really reasonable too. Dave Kiff is a great guy to deal with. You can find them on the on the internet.
Rustystud

[Ries]

Alaskan Copper is the place for brass.
They are on 6th avenue south, just north of spokane.
Most of the old industrial suppliers are gone now-
You can get some things from Grainger, Tacoma Screw, and Pacific Industrial on 4th avenue.
But for most things, mail order from MSC, McMaster, or Enco is gonna be quicker, cheaper, and a better selection.

[dp]

Ries - I stopped into Pacific Iron today and it really should be called Pacific wood products. Metal is no longer what they do. Damn shame. Nosing around the bins was always half the fun.

dp

[DR]

dp,

Pacific Iron??? You were about a mile too far north. Pacific Industrial is what you want, very little if any wood there.

Kind of confusing having two salvage outfits with similar names within such a short distance.

[kevinro]

Pacific Iron has a metal yard in the back. They sell quite a bit of surplus raw materials. They also have new materials. Good place to find aluminum tube and channel. They got out of the 'junk' business.

Pacific Industrial is a true salvage yard. If you need a 24" diameter hydraulic piston, thats your place. They had a set of 8 of these pistons last year. Each would lift about 500,000 pounds at 7500PSI.

Finding a good selection of tooling in stock in Seattle is rather difficult. Arronson Cambell over in Bellevue isn't too bad. There is slim pickin's downtown. I gave up and just order from mscdirect.com or McMastercarr.com now.

Kevin in Carnation

[PALux]

Don't overlook the Grizzly showroom in Bellingham. It is nice to put hands on before buying.
Phil

[jeastwood]

I'll second the suggestion for Hardwick's a GREAT place to browse, lots of used tooling.