Three Is Not Always A Charm.

jbolt

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I recently ordered a large-ish piece of aluminum from one of the web vendors for a paying job. I could have sourced it locally but the supply house I can get this size for a reasonable cost is 40 miles away and for the shipping cost it was worth ordering plus I had some lead time.

The published policy for cutting is the ordered length is guaranteed -0.000" +0.125".

I ordered a 1.5" long piece of 8" aluminum round. Typically 30 to 40 thou will be lost in cleanup so if it came at the 1.5 minimum all would be good.

Piece #1

Stock Short 01.png

Okay I can understand someone making a mistake. It can happen. It's kind of obvious but I will give them the benefit of the doubt.

I sent an email with photos to customer service and they promptly sent out a new piece. I still have some time so if they get it to me by Friday like they say all should be good.

Piece #2

Stock Short 02.png

Really? Some basic training on measuring is in order. You would think that when they got the re-cut order because the first was short they would error on the larger side. Too late in the day to get locally now I'm going to miss my deadline, not cool.

Another email to CS with photos but this time I started getting excuses about cutting short pieces and the saw wanders a little and blah blah blah. Like I could tell my customers something like that.

A polite but strongly worded reply back to CS reminding them of their guarantee and something to the effect that this isn't rocket science, this time CCing the sales department as well, resulted in an apology and a reassurance that the warehouse manager would personally QC the item so the correctly cut material would be sent out overnight (meaning by Monday).

Piece #3

Stock Short 03a.png

Speechless. There are no words for this level of incompetence.

I informed CS of the latest failure and told them I would source the material locally, which I did and had the material within a few hours and the part completed by the next morning one day late.

Their response was a full refund. At least they got that right!

Some would say I should have just ordered it a little longer to begin with but I have never had this problem before with any of the local supply houses. I'd rather spend money on tools than lining my chip pan.
 
A half dozen more pieces, and you just might have a usable one.
Lately I have been disgusted with "quality control " ; or the lack of I should say.

Sent from somwhere in east Texas by Jake!
 
My rule of thumb on something 8" OD, is always add at least 1/8" to 3/16" to the finished length needed for raw stock. So if it has to finish at 1.500" order it cut at 1-5/8" long or a bit longer! Don't take it for granted that they will cut it a little longer automatically, they won't!

Oh, don't tell them it needs to finish at 1.500". A less experience sales person won't know to add saw cut allowance to the internal paperwork so it gets cut longer, It won't happen!
 
If you can get a cleanup on 8" rnd with 0.03/0.04, you have found an exceptional saw and operator.

I've never had that problem from any of the local suppliers. The piece they cut me was 1.560" (+-) 0.02".
 
Is your digital caliper measuring correctly? Can we see a picture of your caliper with the 1.000" calibration tool in it?

Vlad
 
Is your digital caliper measuring correctly? Can we see a picture of your caliper with the 1.000" calibration tool in it?

Vlad

Nothing wrong with my calipers. I use them daily.
 
There used to be a place in California that specialized in supplying cold sawed aluminum in any shape and size you would want. An 8" round cut to 1.515" long would cleanup at 1.500"! Never used them, had some surplus aluminum slugs that came from their place.
 
I suppose a large enough cold saw would do it. They leave a nice finish and use a blade more like a milling cutter than a plain bandsaw, which is what I had in mind.
 
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