Online Metals Blog

(By Amber Barbee, Marketing Director)

As you know, you can’t put spaces into a web address. If you’ve got a 2 or 3 word business name that you’d like to include, you’ve got to either smash the words together, or add hyphens.

OnlineMetals.com addressed this problem, by turning it around. We set up our domain name, and made it our official business name too. (What better way to drive traffic to the site!)
It’s one word, with 2 capital letters, and no hyphens. I like it.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t follow the general rules of our written language, so spell checkers vendors and customers have come up with some pretty amusing variations though out the years.
Here are just a few:

2 words: Online Metals The most common.

Added inventory: Online Materials Good call. We do carry more than just metal!

Hyphenated: On-Line Metals A stylized version of the word online. When I read this I think of a bunch of metal bars, stacked on top of a painted line.

SUPER abbreviated : On-Line This one’s my least favorite. Misspelled AND missing the last half. Drives me batty!

All spelled out: Online Metals Dot Com (Oldie but goodie.)
…and so on.

But today, I think I read my favorite one. I wouldn’t consider it a spelling error. More of an insight into the state of our employees!

Onlinemental.com

If you have any amusing misspellings of our company name, or yours…share em.
(Keep it clean, kids.)

OLM** just added roughly 40 sizes of C182 Chromium Copper, a/k/a RWMA* Class 2, in Hex, Rectangle, Round, and Square.

C182 is a highly specialized material, used primarily for producing electrodes for resistance welding.

* For those who care about such things, RMWA stands for Resistance Welding Manufacturing Alliance.
**…and for those who don’t know this already, OLM stands for “ONLY LOCATION to buy industrial MATERIALS!”

Spread the word.

Team Phoenicia made it into the news recently!

They’re OnlineMetals friends, customers, and the team OLM is rooting for to win the Google Lunar X Prize!

They brought their Lunar Lander to Maker Faire this year, and caused quite a buzz…

Here’s the article:
http://www.mercurynews.com/mike-cassidy/ci_15177378?nclick_check=1

This amazing piece of art was created by Seattle artist Molly Epstein, using OnlineMetals materials.

It will be on display, along with a number of other pieces that Molly’s created at the 4culture Art Gallery in Seattle.
http://www.4culture.org/publicart/gallery/index.htm

Heartbeat Device 1
Description: When one places their fingertip on the stainless steel button their heartbeat is detected. A mechanism below the silicone surface provides tactile feedback of their heartbeat which is felt in the palm.

Materials: Stainless Steel, Silicone, Heartbeat Sensor
Dimensions: 13 H X 9 W X 6. D”

We thought it was about time that we put together an official OnlineMetals “Dress Code.” Although we’re a .com, and we do what we want, there are times when outsiders come to visit and we don’t know what the heck to do.

Until today!

Current state of the OnlineMetals Wardrobe: DRESSCON - 5!

A great letter from one of our customers:

Hello Online Metals,

I wanted to send you a picture of our Ivanpah Full Race Kite Buggy.

Most people don’t know what a kite buggy is so I will explain. A kite buggy is (normally) a 3 wheeled trike style buggy that a rider sits in and uses a large kite to pull them around. (They’re sometimes referred to a power or traction kite.) There are no motors, no engines…no brakes. Just the rider, the kite and the wind. Power kiting is a relatively new sport to many and consists of a completely renewable carbon free footprint and totally green sport as we use no fossil fuels of any kind. Power kiting is one of the fastest growing extreme sports in the U.S. and can be found on land, snow and water.

Our Ivanpah Full Race Buggy was designed specifically for the extreme conditions of the Ivanpah dry lake bed located appx. 45 miles south of Las Vegas along Interstate 15 on the California / Nevada border. The lake bed is appx. 5 miles wide and appx. 15 miles long and has a surface that is like sandpaper, abrasive for excellent traction but amazingly flat and free from any obstacles which makes it perfect for high speeds. Ivanpah is home to many wind powered functions including the North American Land Sailors Association World Cup (NALSA) and the North American Buggy Expo kite buggy event (NABX). These are the largest wind powered events in North America. The Ivanpah is also the home to the newest land speed record for a wind powered craft, set earlier this year by the Greenbird project land sailor at 127 mph. It is also the home for the unofficial land speed record set for a kite powered buggy at 77.6 mph. Screaming across the barren desert at 50-60 + mph with your backside sitting just inches off of the ground is a rush that can only be imagined by experiencing it….all under the power of the wind.

The kite buggy shown here, and built using Online Metals material, has set preliminary test runs at 69.6 mph. If conditions cooperate, we should be able to break the 80+ mph barrier for a kite powered craft. The buggy pictured is a Chrome Molly & carbon steel frame. We also produce a fully polished stainless steel model. More pictures and information can be found on our website at the address below:
http://www.awindofchange.com/ivanpah.html

Thank you for all your superior support and supply of excellent high grade materials.

Happy Winds!
Kent
www.awindofchange.com

Wendell has been using OnlineMetals products for years.

Every time we visit his website, we recognize a piece of our material, and are pretty impressed with the cool thing he’s done with it!

This week, he shared the new Helm Chair for his boat “Helge.”
So cool!

To see the full project, click here!

Another great letter from one of our OnlineMetals customers…

To: OnlineMetals Staff

Good morning,

I thought some of the people at your company would get a kick out of knowing that your aluminum is getting a LOT of attention on the Internet this morning.

I’ve been building a robotic “Better Mousetrap” as a hobby for more than a year, and bought your aluminum for the case.

We just started sending out press releases at 5pm last night, and it’s already been seen by more than 400 THOUSAND people all over the world by 5am this morning.

Here’s a link to the photos and video:
http://www.telovation.com/articles/better-mousetrap.html

Best Regards,

Jake
Telovation.com
A Radok Company
Scottsdale, Arizona

Hey, we’ve got a bet going! Less than an hour to reach 200 FB fans! Jump online and become a fan now!

(And if you’re reading this AFTER we’ve made it to 200, become a fan anyway!)

OnlineMetals.com

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No seriously, GO NOW!!!

http://www.facebook.com/OnlineMetals