Sticker shock on metric nuts and bolts at Home Depot in the USA!

[Bryon Miller]

I am looking for M5x16mm bolts and nuts with a hex screw top.  I found them at Home Depot, but these prices can't be right, they just can't be.  There must be a source on affordable metric sized nuts and bolts for US customers.

At Home Depot in Tucson Az, 1x bolt at m5x16mm is .90 cents!  The nut is $1.20.  I'm sorry, but that is highway robbery.  Were these forged out of material from an asteroid?!   My father was an electrical wholeseller and he needed to source parts for his clients, he says that metric nuts and bolts of those sizes used to be 7 to 10 cents years ago.  Are these outrageous home depot prices what I should expect to pay now?  I'm going to go to the south side of town and ask around in the industrial plants down there, I'm sure they would know where I might find these in my city.

[Ethan Dicks]

On Wed, Jan 8, 2014 at 11:45 AM, Bryon Miller <falk...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I am looking for M5x16mm bolts and nuts with a hex screw top. I found them
> at Home Depot, but these prices can't be right, they just can't be. There
> must be a source on affordable metric sized nuts and bolts for US customers.

There are and they aren't the "big box" retailers.

If you can wait for mail-order, there's McMaster-Carr and other
sources. If you need retail, check for places in your town like
Fastenal.

> At Home Depot in Tucson Az, 1x bolt at m5x16mm is .90 cents! The nut is
> $1.20. I'm sorry, but that is highway robbery.

Agreed.

> Were these forged out of material from an asteroid?!

No, they were fabricated to work with devices that were designed by
people who know how to count to 10. There's a huge anti-metric bias
in the US, and this is profiteering by it.

> My father was an electrical wholeseller and he
> needed to source parts for his clients, he says that metric nuts and bolts
> of those sizes used to be 7 to 10 cents years ago.

They still are, wholesale. I pay $0.03 for small M3 hex-socket cap
screws and $0.0015 for M3 nuts. M5 costs a little more.

> Are these outrageous
> home depot prices what I should expect to pay now?

Only if you go to Home Depot or Lowe's or Menards, etc.

> I'm going to go to the
> south side of town and ask around in the industrial plants down there, I'm
> sure they would know where I might find these in my city.

Good plan.

I live in Central Ohio and we have Fastenal and a local shop called
Columbus Fastener. They carry metric and imperial at equivalent
prices (i.e., M3 don't cost a lot more than 4-40) in pan head, flat
head, socket cap, etc styles, in zinc finish, black finish, stainless,
etc. You have to buy by the box (usually 100), but $3 for a box of
100 M3 bolts is a lot better than 4 M3 bolts for a $1 baggie on a peg.
I did a Sells Mendel build a while back. $60 for *all* the threaded
materials, M8 rods, M8, M4, and M3 nuts, bolts, washers, etc. (a
*lot* more parts than a Prusa Mendel, so $60 is quite good)... and
they *stocked* 100% of the BOM. It was all there for pickup two hours
after I called them.

-ethan

[flackmonkey]

way off topic for this forum.  but I always buy stuff like this from Grainger.  They should have a local store.
http://www.grainger.com/product/Hex-Cap-Screw-6AU75?s_pp=false

[Bryon Miller]

Thanks for the quick reply.  I just went down to the south side of town and stopped in a shop there.  They actually just gave me some nuts and bolts in those sizes, that was very nice of them.  They referred me to Fastenel for local just like you but they said if I order from McMaster-Carr just like you suggested that I could get a better price.  They said I could try Harbor Freight also but said they wouldn't use them because of low quality parts.

[Eighty]

I just want to make sure I understand the economics of this discussion...
So you drove across town, spent probably $5-$10 in gas, put a couple dozen miles on your car, spent at least an hour doing so...to save 80 cents?
I think Home Depot is looking like a bargain now. There's something to be said for convenience.

[Bryon Miller]

I drove to the southside of town which is aprox 3 miles from me.  I have a car that gets excellent gas milage.  I was educated on where to go as opposed to driving all over town to save 80 cents on a transaction.  NOW I have a few hardware stores that don't rip you off when you just need a few bolts or nuts in metric size.  I also have an online source to get bulk orders for even less.  On top of that, the shop I spoke to had the sizes that I needed on hand and were kind enough to just give them to me.  Home Depot is not a bargain, They charged 90 cents for a bolt, Other sources in town on average charged about 27 cents a piece.  The nut is what made no sense at all, Home Depot wanted $1.20 for that tiny nut!  They're sold elsewhere in town for .10 cents a piece.  I'm glad I spent a very small amount of time driving to the southside of the city I live in to ask a simple question from a very helpful shop owner.  They gave me valuable information.

[Jetguy]

Not to start a war but I see both sides of the equation here.

Typical home user needs 2 screws and 2 nuts EVER for the next 3 years- they roll down to the local hardware store and by 2 pre-packaged and expensive screws and nuts but don;t drive all over town and avoid buying a larger quantity.

Going to specialized places is not a good value for them

 

Non-typical Hobby user is ALWAYS building projects and if you have a 3D printer, obviously you are building stuff and at some point will need bins full of hardware. Buying pre-packaged hardware is insane, you'll spend a small fortune.

This is where finding locations that sell in bulk pay off.

 

Again, I see both sides and we could debate all day if the home user shouldn't also buy in bulk, eventually seeing a return on investement later when they need 2 more.

 

I've been doing mail order hardware via Amazon and using my prime it's a middle ground. The only downside is most hardware takes days, if not weeks and months to get for the cheapest price. Sometimes, I need that project right now and ACE Hardware serves me best, but it's all what is local to you. There is no one shoe fits all solution.

[Joseph Chiu]

Try buying a resistor at Radio Shack!  $1.50 for a pack of 5!  (http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062349)

I can buy 5 for 3 cents...   Well, ok, I can buy 5,000 for $24.  (http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/CF14JT47K0/CF14JT47K0TR-ND/1741444)

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[yournam...@yahoo.com]

I find this whole conversation hilarious. You got a handful of free hardware, yet you spent how much on your printer and filament?

[Eighty]

Bryon,
I didn't mean to poke you in the eye...just having a little fun.
That said, I do both. When I need a large quantity of fasteners, I usually order online. But a one-off item, especially in a pinch, warrants a trip to Home Depot. I consider my time to be pretty valuable, so I'd only drive across town if I were saving over $100 for something. Of course, "across town" where I live can mean over an hour each way.