The Cut2Size Angle

We’re taking some time off this week to spend with friends and family, and reflect on all the things we’re thankful for (we hope you will too).  Specifically, Cut2SizeMetals.com will be closed Thursday November 25th and Friday November 26th.  That means, though, if you have an order you want shipped this week, we need to receive it by noon central time on Wednesday November 24th.  If it is a little later than that, call us at 812.429.1634 and we will do what we can to ship on Wednesday.

For orders between Wednesday afternoon and Monday morning, these will ship out on the next business day we are open, which is Monday November 29th. Thanks to all our customers for your business, and Happy Thanksgiving to all!

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[Editor's Note:  I asked Todd McGehee to give us a wrap up of the Ryan's season as a Junior Drag Racer.   Below are his comments.  -- Andy]

We are very proud to have been able to share our first year of Junior Drag Racing  with Cut2Sizemetals.com! Although our racing season has now come to a close, we have many memories of the past summer to carry us through the long cold winter!! This has been a racing season like no other for me! For the first time in 17 years, I never made a pass down the track in my car, but instead was able to be the proud father standing behind my son’s car watching him go down the track, much as my father did when I started racing.  It is truly a feeling like no other!! And, although I’ve butted my head against the wall many times trying to figure out how to tune one of these contrary one cylinder methanol burning ”beasts”, I couldn’t be prouder of the results!! We raced at 4 different tracks in Indiana and Kentucky with Ryan bringing home 6 trophies  for semi-finalist or better, including a win, which we had been told was next to impossible in the beginners 12.90 class. I can’t say enough for the group of kids and their families that race in the NHRA Junior Drag Racing League!! I think the most important thing that Ryan gained this season, were the friends he has made! We’d like to thank our friends and Cut2SizeMetals.com customers, Mat Wright’s BRC Racecrafts and Chris Gish for helping us put Ryan’s car together. Also, Lisa and Jon Spindler at IYF Graphics.com and Dragtopia.com for the awesome vinyl wrap on Ryan’s car and the photos taken to remember our first season!

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We often get to work with artists here at Cut2SizeMetals.com, and it is an exciting challenge.  A number of our projects have involved aluminum plate and stainless steel plate; you can see them here and here.  Like the POD sculpture in Portland,  here is another piece we ran across in our travels.

This bronze lady is seated in front of the Institut Hongrois de Paris (Hungarian Institute of Paris),  and was sculptured by Hungary’s own Andras Lapis.  Although not on a major thoroughfare, we were surprised how many others have stumbled across it while visiting Paris.  It is known as Sous le Chapeau, or Under the Hat, and we had to be quite close before we realized it wasn’t an actual woman,  so painstakingly was it sculpted.  Enjoy!

The bronze sculpture Sous le Chapeau (Under the hat) by Andras Lapis.

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My order was small but you handled it professionally and promptly.  You guys do exactly what you advertise.  Thank you!  Luther R.

Thank for the compliment Luther!  That’s the experience we want our customers to have every time they buy metal online, or call us for custom fabrication.  Quality, a fair price, and speedy metal delivery have been our trademarks for over 25 years in metal sales, and over 60 years in custom fabrication.  Thanks to Luther and all our customers for continued support and repeat business!

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Ryan in Cut2SizeMetals.com Dragster

Well, we raced at US 60 dragway in Hardinsburg, Ky on Friday night and Ryan got another semifinals trophy. He certainly drew a lot of attention! It was a late night with the frist round of eliminations starting at 8:00 pm and we didn’t get home until 1:30 this morning. The new motor ran like a charm and the driver was on his game too! It’s nice to be back in the groove like we were earlier this summer!

Ryan with his Semifinal Trophy

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We’ve collected quite a few rave reviews from customers over the past year, and so we’re starting a new category here at the Cut2Size Angle: Customer Reviews.  Happy customer stories are like dark chocolate to us.  We want to fully enjoy each one, so we’ll dole them out here occasionally to remind ourselves why we do what we do.

Hi Ken,
I just wanted to let you know that I received the parts that I ordered and they are excellent! I appreciate the quick turnaround as well. I may have some more business for you in the future.

Thanks!

Dan B., Hawesville, KY

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There is a nice feature on ESMW and Cut2SizeMetals.com on the Courier & Press website.  I am not sure if it will be printed in the newspaper or the Evansville Business Journal magazine, but it is available online by clicking here or on the CourierPress.com logo above.

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Ryan brought home the trophy in the Second Chance Race this weekend, racing for a packed house at Chandler Motorsports Park.  “There were more racers there than anyone had seen in 15 years!” said Todd McGehee, Ryan’s Dad and crew chief.  Although the team was disappointed that no points are awarded for the Second Chance race, Cut2SizeMetals.com was glad to be in the Winner’s Circle.  Good Racing, Ryan; keep it up!

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Ryan gets some TIG welding training

CNC Laser cut rear axle bracket

CNC waterjet cut steering shaft bracket

Finished chassis

Completed car, front view

Completed car, rear view

Engine view

Driver's view

On the track!

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Less than 2 months into our sponsorship of the Cut2SizeMetals.com Jr. Dragster, Ryan McGehee and his team have broken into the Top 10 standings for total points.   His father and crew chief, Todd McGehee, says:

“In all the years I’ve raced, I’ve never kept track of points, but he sure does!

We’re glad you’re keeping track, Ryan, and we’re proud of how you’ve done so far.  You can see how Ryan stacks up against his fellow racers here.

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Cut2SizeMetals.com is pleased to introduce the first member of the Cut2SizeMetals.com racing team – Ryan McGehee!  Ryan competes in the NHRA Jr Drag Racing 8-9 year old, 12.90 racing class.  We received Ryan’s acceptance letter last week (see right), and like us, he is all about immediate delivery.  Ryan turned a semi-final showing over the weekend, and we know he’ll have more victories to report as the season progresses.You can see Ryan’s racing results here.  Congratulations on a great start, Ryan!

We’ll detail the build up of Ryan’s car here soon, especially the aluminum, waterjet, and laser cut parts that make this machine fly.  Until then, click the picture below to check out Ryan and his car.

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As a copper supplier, we can offer you nearly any alloy of copper you need.  We find that the vast majority of customers, though, use alloy 110.

Copper Sheet

Our copper sheet comes in alloy 110, and has a nominal copper composition of 99.90%.  While most sheets of other materials are specified by the thickness, copper sheet is typically ordered by the ounces per square foot.  As you can see from the table below, if you want copper that is .0216″ thick, you would order 16 oz copper sheet.

Rectangular and Square Bar

Rectangular Copper Bar,  Square Copper Bar, and Copper Round are available in the square edge hard drawn Alloy 110 and come in 12′ lengths.They are also known as ETP copper bar or bus bar.

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We are proud to post some pictures of our recent custom work for the new Aria Resort and Casino, in the new City Center development in Las Vegas.  Aria is a central feature of the City Center, with curvilinear glass towers, over 4000 rooms, and 150,000 square feet of casino.  The City Center area encompasses 76 acres, and at $11 billion, is the largest privately financed development in the United States.

The Motif Grills in the first two pictures are polished aluminum with plated cold-rolled steel centers that have been clear-coated.  Outside loops were formed by hand; the inner loops were cut on our vertical router.

The remaining four pictures show the Diffusers laser cut from 11 ga cold-rolled steel.  They were tack-welded together, powder-coated, and assembled in wood frames in the field.

Click any picture below for a larger view.

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We enjoy doing architectural and artistic metal projects (see a few of them here), and so we like to share others we find in our travels.  If you’ve ever been to Powell’s Books in downtown Portland, you’ve seen this stainless steel, titanium, and bronze sculpture by Peter Beeman.  Intended to represent the “infrastructure, energy, and vibrancy of Portland, this sculpture is made complete when a passer-by gives the pendulum a push.”  We couldn’t get it to budge, but it’s still a pretty dramatic addition to a busy downtown intersection.

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Stainless steel cars – pre-DeLorean: Check them out here.

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We were featured in the (very) niche trade magazine Modern Metals in January, along with our software partner Compusource. In addition to seeing a cool shot of our brass round bars, you can read how we worked together to make the website.  If for some reason you’re not a regular subscriber, the article is here.

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The Cross and Flames is one of the many styles available.

We’ve been working with our friends at Old Jim Customs (OJC) on some exciting new custom parts for Harley Davidson motorcycles.  We laser cut their original designs out of aluminum for use in an entirely new product for Harleys: custom frame grills. What is a frame grill?  In the picture to the right, it is the cross and flames you see behind the front wheel.  Another option is the Cigar Skull, also pictured here.   OJC is offering a wide variety of designs, but can also do custom designs if you can’t find exactly what you want.  They also offer head plates and other chrome accessories (coming soon), so if you’ve got a Harley, check them out!

Custom Frame Grill Design - Cigar Skull

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On October 16, 1999, I was in California for a Sheet Metal & Air Conditioning Contractors National Association (SMACNA) convention. At 2:45 in the morning, we were startled awake when our hotel began to swing like a hammock. Forty-five seconds later, it was over.

An off-duty police officer brought water to distribute to a large crowd near the airport.

The next morning we discovered we were about 60 miles from the epicenter of the Hector Mine earthquake, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake felt as far way as Carson City, Nevada. Terrifying as it was, we were in a state where building codes require earthquake resistance, and there was relatively little damage.
The 7.0 magnitude earthquake in Haiti occurred 16 miles from the capital. Many public and governmental buildings have collapsed, and millions in the capital are still without food, water and medical care. Below are two easy ways to help. Please count your blessings and then donate to relief work in Haiti.

My favorite way to help: Partners in Health (PIH) is an organization that focuses on health care for poor around the world. Since they began in Haiti in 1983, they are on the ground there and already helping, but are quickly running out of supplies. You can read the inspiring story of PIH in Tracey Kidder’s Pulitzer prize-winning book Mountains Beyond Mountains. Click this button to donate to Partners in Health:

The easiest way to help: Filling out a few fields feel like too much trouble?  Then text the word HAITI to 90999 to donate $10 to American Red Cross relief for Haiti. (You will receive a message asking you to confirm; hit the reply but and text YES back. On AT&T at least, the text messages appear to be free).

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David F.

Thanks for the question, David! Cast tool and jig plate usually gets a thermal stress relieving treatment that imparts thermal recyclability into the product. Typically, it can be heated repeatedly to temperatures as high as 800°F (427°C) and, when cooled, will return to its original dimension with a minimum of distortion, depending upon the extent of machining.  Without knowing what forces are on your sealer plates, it would be hard to say if the heat resulted in the deformation.  The plate is designed to take some heat, but you may want to check with your aluminum supplier.  Since the composition of cast tool and jig products like MIC6 are proprietary,  they would need to tell you if you particular product could have deformed under these circumstances.

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As an aluminum supplier, we can offer you nearly any alloy of aluminum sheet you need.  We find that the vast majority of customers, though, use 6061-T6 or 3003-H14.  These designations may look cryptic, but they’re really pretty simple.  The first part, the four digit number, is the alloy.  The part after the dash is the temper.  Let’s break these down and look at them separately.

Alloy

The first of the four digits in the alloy indicates what the primary alloying element is.  The chart below list some of the available series.

The second digit can indicate if there are impurity limits or other modifications to the alloying elements. Generally, the third and fourth digits identify the alloy or indicate the purity of the aluminum. In the 2000 through 8000 series, however, the last two of the four digits have no special significance but serve only to identify the different aluminum alloys in the group.

Temper

At Cut2SizeMetals.com, we offer 2 tempers: strain-hardened only (H14 temper) and solution heat-treated and then artificially aged (T6 temper). The number “4″ in H14 means that tensile strength is half way between the O temper and 8 temper, sometimes called half-hard. The combination of the 3003 alloy and the H14 temper makes for a softer, more formable aluminum. The 6061 alloy in the T6 temper is a stronger, stiffer aluminum that is used where strength, and not formability, is important. If you’d like to talk to us about your specific application, give us a call at 812.429.1634.