A ThyssenKrupp Materials, NA Company

Online Metals Blog

Point. Click. Metal.

Archive for March, 2009

Great questions people…

Tuesday, March 31st, 2009

Occasionally, a customer will call in and ask a question that stumps us. It’s not a super technical, you should be asking an engineer question. It’s just a detail question, that requires us to pull out our rulers, tape measures, and in this case, a blue highlighter.

Today’s Question was:
“What is the radius on your A36 Square Tube?” (1 in x .065 wall.)

Good one!

Now, I probably could’ve busted out the graphing calculator, and given exact numbers…but who am I kidding. I don’t do math. I married a nerd, and he does the math.

So what do I do? I take pictures!

For this one, I inked the edge with my blue highlighter, and pressed it to the paper. The quarter’s just a size reference.

Pretty cool.

Thanks for calling in Millard. I hope the pictures help, and I’m excited to hear more about your truck project. Send pictures, so we can post them to our Customer Projects Page!

MetalDhruker Announcement…

Thursday, March 26th, 2009


Are you tired of placing an order with your favorite metal vendor, (OnlineMetals.com) then having to wait for-evah for it to arrive? Tired of those mad dashes to the door in your 12 year old bathrobe, only to spend 5 minutes questioning the delivery man’s muffled laughter over Sharpie messages that your friends left on your forehead the night before?

Well friends, TOIL NO LONGER. OnlineMetals is proud to introduce the MetalDhruker. The only device that allows you to place an order for metal and plastic online and have it delivered instantly.

As this picture shows, Freemasons have had this technology for centuries! It was only after the release of National Treasure 1 and 2 that mainstream society learned of the government plot to keep it hidden.

Upon its release, the OnlineMetals scientists set out to make the technology available to mass market consumers. Our early efforts were met with abject failure, as each prototype would create a different type of ravioli…but that was it. Then for a while, it would produce paper, but who wants that to come out of a printer!?!

Regardless, it made for a very confusing time, and many, many tequila shots were taken in order to help us figure this problem out. Unfortunately, the tequila kind of dulled our brains a little bit, and we let the project lapse. We did however acquire a pretty strong taste for the worm.

Then we found out from Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), that the internet is a series of tubes, and that somehow trucking was involved:

“And again, the Internet is not something that you just dump something on. It’s not a big truck. It’s a series of tubes. And if you don’t understand, those tubes can be filled and if they are filled, when you put your message in, it gets in line and it’s going to be delayed by anyone that puts into that tube enormous amounts of material, enormous amounts of material.”

At that moment, we realized that we were going about it the wrong way and thinking of the internet as a truck. We’re just metals people, so we understand trucks. We have trucks. They’re miniature trucks, that we keep around the office to play with when we’re not drooling too much, but ANYWAY, the solution just kind of “clicked” into our heads.

(You see what we did there? It “clicked”, and our motto is “Point. Click. Metal.” ) OK fine, it was really impressive to us during the tequila haze.

Anyway, we have the tubes! …and now we’ve found a way to send metal down those tubes, straight to your device. Need your material anodized? No problem. With our special “Anodization Button,” you can print anodized material.

Even better, we’ve now discovered a source for that rarest of materials, UnObtanium. Need an impossible mix of properties? You’re not alone. With the unobtanium pack, you can print mobius curves in just a few short minutes. (Just be careful, we put a piece of corkscrewed bronze right through the test lab’s wall the other day. Wasn’t pretty!)

Directions for use: The MetalDhruker is extremely user friendly. Shop at the OnlineMetals website using our handy dandy built in monitor, or simply fax an order to yourself, scan it into the MetalDhruker, and GO!

Did you order the wrong thing? NO PROBLEM! Use the optional “tree hugger approved” metal recycling attachment, which puts your unwanted materials right back into the system. (A 72% restocking fee will automatically be debited from your checking account.)

Utilizing at least 5 different levels of pseudoscience, the OnlineMetals team has created a seamless internal operation that will produce metallic results every time!
Even though we’re still in Beta (we think that the hand crank may have to go in the next model year), we think it is close enough to completion that we can release it to the world.
So ORDER NOW!

*Please note that since it is our device, we assert licensing rights to anything you invent as a result of using the MetalDhruker. We also assert that we are not responsible for damages that may or may not result from using the MetalDhruker, either for its intended purpose or for whatever else your gigantic brains cook up. The *MetalDhruker is a registered trademark of OnlineMetals.com, and its subsidiaries, associates, affiliates, second cousins, and otherwise. Products created using the MetalDhruker could be fatal if swallowed, and should not be taken if you are pregnant, nursing, or may become pregnant. (Especially if you’re a guy.) Please consult your doctor, lawyer, and/or babysitter before using any part of the MetalDhruker. Some restrictions may apply.


(Thanks for reading. We hope you got a laugh out of it. Please use discount code APRILFOOLS for 10% off your next order.)

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Leaf Robot…

Thursday, March 26th, 2009

We’re becoming a pretty popular resource for Robotics Groups and hobbyists worldwide, and OnlineMetals couldn’t be more excited about that fact. No, really. We love the variety of applications our metals and plastics are used for.

Some things are machined into engine parts, used as supports, build into cars, and so on. But how often does that metal become an integral part of a super awesome AI robot.

Take the LEAF family of robots. I was excited about these things before I knew they were made with our materials!

After my visit to their website, I knew I had to get in touch with Alex, to see if he knew about us. He did, and had this to say in his reply:

“I think that Online Metals is a great place to get those specialty materials that are impossible to find locally; like the 2×1 inch rectangular thin wall aluminum tubing used for the sensor support structure on the top of my robot Rocky 2.”

He also invited OnlineMetals customers to visit his site, leafproject.org.

There you’ll find; pictures, videos, a project history, and instructions on how to start building your own leaf bot.
Oh, you’ll find a link to OnlineMetals there too…and we’re honored!

Happy Building!

Let there be tile!!!

Thursday, March 26th, 2009


I was finally able to sneak out into the warehouse, and steal a variety of sizes and shapes of Stainless and Copper Tile. I took photos, put some in our will call display case, and did some comparative analysis.
Here’s the newest information about our METAL TILES!!! Enjoy.

Tiles consist of shaped metal sheet on Rhinoboard™ fiber cement backerboard.

The Stainless tiles are covered with a white, peel off protective film. (Pictured below.)The Copper tiles have an opaque blue film.
So you can tell the two apart!

Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) are available upon request.

(This is a 2×2 PLAIN finish tile on a 6×6 2CS finish tile. The texture was a lot deeper and more defined than I’d thought. It’s cool looking.)



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We do it, because we live it!

Sunday, March 22nd, 2009

Ok, so I’m Amber, the Marketing Director. You may feel like you know me because I post all the time.

Well, I’m not sure if you know just how cheap I am. I’m a bargain shopper, A customer service NUT, and I notice when price does or doesn’t = value.

So, I have 2 floor lamps. Paid almost nothing for them. They’re great. The glass bowl thingie broke on one of them, and so I ventured out to find a replacement.

What I learned…is that it’s almost always less expensive to buy a new lamp than it is to buy the part to fix your existing lamp! WTF!!! (F in this case means Fluff. No profanity…)

Anyway, how can that be? How can the few few stores that even carry an “IES Reflector Bowl” justify an upwards of $200 for the darn thing? Yes, there are different price points for a variety of styles and colors…but come on…it’s GLASS! And the one I saw was PINK FROSTED GLASS! I love pink…but that thing was fugly, and definitely not worth a C note or two!

How is this rant relevant to OLM? Well…as I mentioned, I’m cheap, and I appreciate customer service.
OLM is a place that caters to that personality. (As well as my love of jeans and 4 legged coworkers)

OnlineMetals believes in taking care of the customer…and offering single pieces, custom cuts, and a number of other ways for people to save money on exactly what they want and no more.

We want to find good service and great value out in the world, so we make darn sure to offer it here!

We also take great pride in geniuses customers like these who take our small quantity metals and plastics…and use them to fix what they’ve got. Instead of just buying something newer.

Consider this an official OLM solute to you guys!

Carpet Shampooer Attachment Repair

The Home Made Barrel Vise

Tool Inserts

A CUSTOM Backhoe attachment!

…and more.

Not too much longer, people…

Saturday, March 21st, 2009

Oh man. Word has gotten out about our newest product. Some of the employees told their friends, who told their friends, who put it up on the internet, and now our will call area is a mess

We have literally, TENS of people lined up in front of our warehouse, waiting for these bad boys to go on sale…and I just know that they’re going to fly off the shelves.

It’s strange, because it means that our warehouse will be really really busy…getting unbusy.

Ugh…stress levels are rising, but so are inventory levels in anticipation of the launch. It’s less than a week away. Give or take a day or 6.

So check back often for more information. We’ll have “Official Product Launch” information at our homepage.

Da Vinci’s Workshop…

Thursday, March 19th, 2009

As you know, OnlineMetals doesn’t offer curved cuts. We can cut in straight lines…and that’s about it.

So when our local customers ask for a suggestion on where to cut their material, we send them over to see our friend Kurt at
Da Vinci’s Workshop.

He’s got an Esab “Hydro Saber” water jet cutter that will cut just about any shape that you can imagine!

…and according to the customers we’ve referred, watching the machine work, and talking to Kurt are just as enjoyable as the end piece!

So check them out.

Build your own Blarney Stone…

Tuesday, March 17th, 2009

OK, so the OnlineMetals team is having a debate. Winner gets a lifetime supply of GREEN BEER!
(Oh yeah!!!) The debate started with a question: Can someone build an entire, lifesize
Blarney Stone out of OnlineMetals materials.

OK, well, yeah. We’re sure that it CAN be done…but would anyone want to!?!

We don’t know, so we’re putting it out there to you. We’ve all settled on our own personal, expected completion dates…so now it’s up to some creative OLMER to go out and build it, send the pictures back to us, and declare a winner.

Then, it’s up to that winner to get totally blotto, and start dancing around in his hunt for the pot of gold.

…and I guess if no one’s willing to do it, then the OLM team will just have to settle on wishing everyone out there a VERY VERY HAPPY St. PATRICKS DAY! Have fun, and stay safe.

Stainless Steel Backsplashes…

Monday, March 16th, 2009

Here are the different Backsplash patterns we offer:
1NA

1RL

3″ Quilt, 4″ Quilt

6SL

CheckerBoard

Diagonal

Diamond

Harlequin

Mosaic

Non Directional

Plain

Random Swirl

Square

Coming Soon…

Sunday, March 15th, 2009

The biggest product launch in OLM history.
Coming in late March.
Stay tuned.


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