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Buying socket head cap screws online

M2 to M5 stainless I usually buy on amazon, search around for the cheapest ones. Bigger metric bolt supply houses and you might have to order them and wait. Standard Bigger up to 3/8 for grade 5 I go to coop or Peavy mart. They are sold by the lb, price check is required. If I need specific fasteners, smaller standard like 6-32ec, Fastenal and local bolt supplies. Any thing bigger then 3/8's I usually go to the bolt suppliers. Most have walk in sales. If possible see if you can piggy back off of a commercial account, just like KMS tools this can give you a big discount.

Nisku bolt used to have grab bags that they would sell at the front door. They were gold for hobbyist as they were packed with lots of partial and odd fasteners. Have not seen them for years so might have been a different era.
 
I went to bolt supply house to get the few screws I needed. After looking for a bit and not finding what I needed I had to play 20 questions with the desk to finally get what I was after. They just had bulk bins and no boxes so I asked if they had boxes of 100 for 10-32 socket head cap screws. I was then told they do but it depends what size. Ok fair enough so I told him the 2 sizes I was looking for and was told they didn't have any packs of 100 in those sizes. I then had to inquire if I was to buy 100 loose screws in each size would they be any cheaper per piece than if I was to buy say a dozen of each. He seemed annoyed that I would even ask and proceeded to look up the difference if price based on volume. Well turns out good thing I asked because if I was willing to buy 100 loose screws of each size they ended up being half the price per screw. I didn't bother asking what the magic number was before the price is cut in half. I'd hate to buy 49 and find out if I would have got 50 instead the price would be half as much. I'm hoping I got 100 screws in each bag he just weighed a few loose screws and then added to and removed from the bag until it was the right weight. The one bag I hope he counted them because he didn't weigh that one. For all I know I got the annoyed hand full and called it 100. I would have gone and counted them out of the bin myself but he went and did that while I was paying. I get the feeling most people there just take what they need to the counter and pay whatever the price ends up being since it's mostly companies they deal with.

Anyways they weren't very expensive and I got way more than I will ever need so in all I call it a success.
 
Spanenar has lots & lots of everything, typically in box qty AFAIK. Extensive online catalog to peruse. I heard they supply stock to Canada wide places we frequent. But the pricing & ordering system is painful IMO.

spaenaur.com

Spaenaur Catalog

The Spaenaur Catalog features over 60,000 hard-to-find products and it is available in many different formats to suit your needs. You can request a print catalog, download the full catalog, and find the individual sections of the catalog, use the search box, or flip through the catalog online
spaenaur.com spaenaur.com
 
PeterT said:
Spanenar has lots & lots of everything, typically in box qty AFAIK. Extensive online catalog to peruse. I heard they supply stock to Canada wide places we frequent. But the pricing & ordering system is painful IMO.

spaenaur.com

Spaenaur Catalog

The Spaenaur Catalog features over 60,000 hard-to-find products and it is available in many different formats to suit your needs. You can request a print catalog, download the full catalog, and find the individual sections of the catalog, use the search box, or flip through the catalog online
spaenaur.com spaenaur.com
Click to expand...
That quite the catalogue I wonder how my wife would feel if I were to print it to have a copy in the shop haha. Would be handy to have a catalogue like that in the shop for reference of what types of clips and fasteners are available for projects. I enjoy flipping through paper catalogues of neat stuff like that.
 
They use to send their printed catalog (think phone book) for free. But maybe there is a postage charge now, not sure but you could inquire. The button reverts to an email.
From memory I think they sent their price list as a spreadsheet, but maybe that changed too with constant price fluctuations.

1728104235198.png
 
I'm a late comer to this thread. I use local brick and mortar for most of my bolt purchases. But when I need 100s of dollars of bolts, then I order directly from Spanaur. Their pick fee is reasonable, and I get to save about 30-40%. This only works for larger orders tho.
 
I mostly buy Imperial from Fastenal since they have a local store. Setup an account; they frequently have clearance sales of slightly unusual stuff -- 4-40x3/8 BHCS for as I recall $0.01/each. I try to design around what I have in stock so I'm gradually going through my purchase of 2000 for $20!

I've had good luck with Amazon for assortments of M4 and smaller SHCS.
 
kstrauss said:
I mostly buy Imperial from Fastenal since they have a local store. Setup an account; they frequently have clearance sales of slightly unusual stuff -- 4-40x3/8 BHCS for as I recall $0.01/each. I try to design around what I have in stock so I'm gradually going through my purchase of 2000 for $20!

I've had good luck with Amazon for assortments of M4 and smaller SHCS.
Click to expand...

I have a local Fastenal too. They will order in small quantities and hold for pickup if I want. They will also ship for $$$. Local small stuff is mostly by the box except for the really common ones. I have not noticed any difference at all between metric and imperial stuff.

If I call for a particular product, they will check comparable stuff so I can choose something faster or cheaper.

They carry and stock a really nice assortment of loctite products. All the standard stuff but also things like gap filler.

The girl behind the desk will also deliver on her way home cuz I'm on the way.

Others knock them but they have been really good to me.
 
Susquatch said:
I have a local Fastenal too. They will order in small quantities and hold for pickup if I want. They will also ship for $$$. Local small stuff is mostly by the box except for the really common ones. I have not noticed any difference at all between metric and imperial stuff.

If I call for a particular product, they will check comparable stuff so I can choose something faster or cheaper.

They carry and stock a really nice assortment of loctite products. All the standard stuff but also things like gap filler.

The girl behind the desk will also deliver on her way home cuz I'm on the way.

Others knock them but they have been really good to me.
Click to expand...
+1 on their Loctite selection.
Fastenal also sometimes has sales on non-screw stuff. For example, one of my Lista cabinets came from them at a very good price.
 
I find the no-name amazon or aliexpress stuff is made with about 20% bubble gum, ok for 3D printing and such but the heads will twist off when you look at them. I have a lot in smaller sizes, cheap to acquire and ok for very light duty stuff. KBC no-name is cheap and a bit better and is the bulk of my stock, but for anything that really has to perform, its the branded ones I would normally get from KBC or McMaster.
 
Another issue with places like Amazon is you really don't know what you are getting. A friend of mine owned a boat shop and was purchasing a lot of hardware from a well known marine supplier. A university asked him if he was interested in participating in a corrosion study in the marine environment. Being the curious sort he was.

He was buying fasteners of a known grade of material. The university tested them. Armed with the data he gave them he asked the supplier if they were sure the fasteners he was buying were 316 grade. Indeed they were of course. He then told them that he had them tested and do they want to stand by that. They were no longer willing to stand by what they said. Wrong spec fasteners could be a disaster in a fishing boat operating far from shore. They were supplying random grades of stainless.

Most of my current fastener supply is from Travers tool Canada and Fastenal. The fastenal stuff came from a surplus shop that was selling a bunch of stuff from a closed business for $4 a pound. Good deal for small stuff. Another potential source for hardware is the stuff they use in aviation. I have a lot I have collected over the years. It's reasonably priced in quantities of 100 and you know you are getting quality stuff. I have not bought any since covid so it's possible the prices have gone nuts. Yo use stuff like this you would need some special countersinks. Aviation uses 100 degree countersinks. Oh and none of it is metric.
 
How do you guys get good Fastenal stores? Here in Alberta they turn us away. Literally. I have a business, and they said that they purged all accounts buying less than 10K$ per year. No go for any future purchases. WTF?

(I went to 3 of the stores in the area and it is the same story)
 
Do you need to be a business and have an account to Buy from fastenal? when I was on their website it seemed like you do but maybe it's different in store? We have one in town but I have never gone in before.
 
Dabbler said:
How do you guys get good Fastenal stores? Here in Alberta they turn us away. Literally. I have a business, and they said that they purged all accounts buying less than 10K$ per year. No go for any future purchases. WTF?

(I went to 3 of the stores in the area and it is the same story)
Click to expand...

Maybe I spend $250 a year at Fastenal per year and they love me. Can't explain why they are so different out west.
 
Megar arc 5040dd said:
Do you need to be a business and have an account to Buy from fastenal? when I was on their website it seemed like you do but maybe it's different in store? We have one in town but I have never gone in before.
Click to expand...

What I would do if I were you is go in to the store when they are not busy, tell them that you are a small business (maybe a farmer or a small machine repair shop), and ask them to setup an account for you.
 
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