Often finding the materials or tools for a project takes longer than actually doing the project. In Australia, this is even more so. This page is an effort to try to help Australian hobby metalwork enthusiasts find tools or materials. I will add comments and supplier details as I learn them. Rating is subjective and based on website, customer service, quality, product range.
Please contact me with any additions or comments on any of these suppliers.
The Recomendations section lists different things you might be looking for and recommended suppliers to look at.
One option when looking for anything is to check eBay Australia for tools and material, and your local scrap merchant or metal recycling places for raw materials. But remember that you may not (in the latter case, probably will not) know what quality material you will find, and arbitrary alloys may machine very poorly when compared to free machinging materials.
Also, for expensive tools, remember to check outside Australia, places like Little Machine Shop in the USA or Chronos in the UK may have what you are looking for, and may be cheaper even after allowing for shipping, especially if your need is not urgent.
Also, there are many hardware stores that sell basic tools and things like drill presses and such - this site will not be a general hardware store listing. If the store does not sell things that are specific to lathes, mills, or metal casting, it likely will not be listed here.
This section will be filled out in more detail over time as people contact me or I learn things.
| What | Recommended Supplier |
|---|---|
| Books | E. & J. Winter |
| Lathes/Mills | Hare & Forbes has a wide range of equipment. |
| Locomotives | Model Engineering Supplies, E. & J. Winter |
| Metals |
offcuts-galore on OZtion has some. Local scrap or metal merchants. |
| Steam Fittings | Model Engineering Supplies, E. & J. Winter, HobbyMechanics |
| Small Parts | Small Parts & Bearings has a wide range of all sorts of bits and pieces. |
Below is a list of suppliers who sell materials useful to hobby metalworking.
| Name | Location | Rating | Comments | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AAA Aluminium | Clayton, Melbourne | ? | ? | Cut to length, sell in small quantities, good prices. |
| Automation Direct | Various | Yes | ? | Drives, PLCs, motion control. |
| Bits of Steel Supplies | Brisbane North | No | ? | Wide range of steel products, plus aluminium and stainless. Good helpful service for DIY. |
| Bob Young Frame Supplies | Melbourne | No | ? | Small offcuts of steel and aluminium sheet and tube available. 19 Graham Road Clayton South 3169. Phone 01 9548 3477. |
| Capral | Various | No | ? | Aluminium. |
| Carba-Tec | Various | Yes | 7 | Wide range of tools and machines for metalwork and woodwork. |
| Classic Fasteners | Welland, SA | Yes | ? | Large range of fasteners. Nuts, Bolts, Washers, Spanners, Taps & Dies Recoil, Loctite, Tenax, Veltax |
| Consolidated Plastics & Epoxy | QLD | ? | ? | Many kinds of plastics |
| Consilium Designs | UK | Yes | ? | Sells Polymorph, a Low temperature (60C) mouldable plastic, and other useful bits |
| Cutting Tools Australia | Kirrawee, NSW | ? | ? | Quality cutting tools. |
| Di Candilo Steel City | Bayswater, Perth | ? | ? | Mild steel - they will cut to size or you can go out into the shed and buy scrap for $1.00 a Kg or offcuts at a reduce price. |
| E. & J. Winter | Medowie NSW | Yes | 7 | Big range of plans and castings for locomotives and engines. Big range of boiler fittings, imperial fasteners (BA series). Big range of books. Big range of material. Big range of taps & dies, drills/mills, O-rings, etc. |
| E-PLAS | Various | No | ? | All plastics including Delrin, PE, PVC, etc. |
| eBay Australia | - | Yes | Mixed | Many different people sell many different things. Good range. Ozmestore has a large range. shirestainless has a range of nuts and bolts. |
| EdCon Steel | NSW | Yes | ? | Large range of various metals, generally large sizes. Many varieties of Steel, Stainless, Brass, Bronze, Copper, Chrome, etc. |
| Engineering Tools Australia | Internet | Yes | ? | Drills, milling tools, lathe tools, lathes, reamers, etc. |
| Fiora Machinery | Perth, WA | ? | 8 |
Big range of Lathes, Mills, CNC, Bandsaws, etc. Big range of tools and accessories. Appears to be a reseller for Hare & Forbes. |
| geofftools | eBay | ? | ? | Range of tools and accessories. |
| George Weston & Sons | Brisbane, QLD | ? | ? | Range of brass, copper and bronze. Very helpful staff. |
| George White | Clayton, Melbourne | ? | ? | Cut to length, sell in small quantities, good prices. Aluminium, Brass, Copper, Various Bronzes |
| General Tools | Adelaide, SA | ? | ? |
Big range of Lathes, Mills, CNC, Bandsaws, etc. Big range of taps & dies, drills/mills, etc. Range of milling and measuring accessories. Range of hand and power tools. Appears to be a reseller for Hare & Forbes. |
| Hare & Forbes | Bris, Melb, Perth, Syd | Yes | 7 |
Very big range of Lathes, Mills, Accessories. Mediocre website. Free catalog. |
| Hi-speed Tooling | Perth | No | 8 | Good service, convenient and reasonable prices. No lathes though. |
| HobbyMechanics | Brisbane, Qld | Yes | ? |
Big range of steam fittings. Big range of material. Big range of taps & dies, drills/mills, etc. Books, Balls, Plans, Rivets, Fasteners. |
| K2 Engineering Supplies | Perth, WA | ? | ? |
Range of tools & accessories. Poor website. |
| Light Spars of Australia | Vic | ? | ? | Good size ally tube and others. He also has imperial sizes. Quite Helpful. Phone (03) 95554622. |
| LPR Toolmakers | Vic | Yes | ? | Range of tools & accessories. |
| McJING Tools | Sydney, NSW | ? | ? |
Range of taps & dies, mills/drills, collets, etc. Poor website (starts good, then gets errors). People occasionally have problems with incorrectly supplied items, but they seem to always work things out. |
| Mick Moyle’s | Sydney, NSW | Yes | ? |
Nice Metric to Imperial and Drill Tapping website indexes. Big range of taps & dies, mills/drills, collets, chasers, reamers, chucks, etc. Poor website. |
| Minature Steam | Montrose, Melbourne | Yes | ? | friendly place with a wide range of stuff Tools, raw materials, fasteners as well as their main business of steam engine bits and peices. Hard-to-find items like BA screws and 45% silver solder. Model Boats (Static & R/C). Good website. Sherline Lathes, Mills, etc. |
| Model Engineering Supplies | Tullamarine, Vic | Yes | 7 | Big range, good service, reasonable prices. Pricelist separate from otherwise reasonable website. Big range of taps & dies, drills/mills, etc. Big range of steam accessories. Big range of materials. Locomotive drawins and castings. |
| ozmestore | eBay | Yes | ? | Range of tools including lathes, mills, and accessories.
Reports indicate mostly good prices, but occasional quality issues and diffculty contacting them. |
| Robert Cameron | Burswood, WA | No | ? |
Aluminium Plate. They will cut plate to any size, but it is not cheap. |
| RS Components | Various | Yes | ? | Huge range of everything. Expensive. |
| Searle Fasteners | Perth, WA | No | ? | Huge range of nuts and bolts. Good prices. |
| Shaw Machinery | Brisbane, Qld | ? | ? |
Range of Lathes, Mills, Bandsaws, other heavy machines. Small range of tools and accessories. |
| Small Parts & Bearings | Brisbane, Qld | Yes | ? | Big range of bearings. Big range of small parts (screws, nuts, balls, belts, bushings, couplings, fasteners, gears). |
| SteelSolutions Australia | Melbourne | No | ? | Range of steel. Very good. |
| Stock Springs | Somerton, Vic | Yes | ? | Compressiong and Tension Springs. |