Ecocast plate

[cncJim]

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to ask your experiences with ecocast aluminium plate.

I bought a piece and one side is perfect but the other has all sorts of marks all over it. I can post pics a bit later.

Their website says "precision machined on both faces" which I read as both side should be perfect but they have just told me that only one side is guaranteed to be good.

What do you guys think?

Thanks,
Jim

[JAZZCNC]

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to ask your experiences with ecocast aluminium plate.

I bought a piece and one side is perfect but the other has all sorts of marks all over it. I can post pics a bit later.

Their website says "precision machined on both faces" which I read as both side should be perfect but they have just told me that only one side is guaranteed to be good.

What do you guys think?

Thanks,
Jim

That's BULL SHIT Jim should be perfect on both sides. Should have also had protective film on both sides.

[cncJim]

That's BULL SHIT Jim should be perfect on both sides. Should have also had protective film on both sides.

Well to be fair it did have protective film on both sides, and both sides have been machined but these are the pics:-

17788177891779017791

You can see in the first pic one side is perfect, but the other has these marks/dents across the entire 900mm length.

[Boyan Silyavski]

Take that piece and http://www.sherv.net/cm/emoticons/fighting/spank.gif and then http://www.sherv.net/cm/emoticons/fighting/ass-kicking.gif

[JAZZCNC]

Completely unacceptable that Jim. Those are gouges not marks and would need something quite heavy to make them.

[m_c]

Can I take a guess the supplier has 'warehouse' in the name?

Given the BS I got when they decided to substitute my last order, followed by ignoring emails, and the person who'd have to deal with the problem mysteriously never being in when phoned and never phoning back, I now refuse to deal with them.

I've still got 20 metres of round bar lying in the workshop as a reminder, which I've got no use for, because you can't make a 15mm diameter part out of 9/16" bar, which is apparently a perfect substitution for 16mm...

[spluppit]

There inst an issue with a supplier sending a bit of material that marked up providing they inform you first so you can say 'yea or nay' to accepting it. Tooling plate is after all exactly that 'for tooling' as such it is often visual if both sides can be seen and customers expect to see tooling looking neat tidy and professional, so it at least looks like its been made by someone who knows what he is doing and take some pride in their work. Something like that piece of plate does not look professional.

If i was doing a job where that was visual it would be rejected straight away, unless they had shown me and i had accepted the damage previously. The only way i would accept that is if its a base plate and one side is down and i know the customer would also accept it. If i was was in any doubt then back it goes because, ultimately if a customer rejected a job because of second rate material, i would have to foot the bill for new material and doing the job again and it could be part of something costing several thousand.

They have parmed you with a bit of second rate material. Being in the trade i have seen it all before and had all the arguments before (and won! lol). If this did come from one of the online places as mentioned, a lot of you guys buying tooling plate should look at proper industrial suppliers or get one of the guys like me on here to order it for you and get it delivered direct from supplier. Some of the prices i see on these online places like warehouse can be horrendous and you are often charged way over the odds.

Good luck and i hope you get it sorted.

[mekanik]

Spluppit
That's a very kind gesture, does your supplier do North West England (Barrow in Furness Area)
Regards
Mike

[cncJim]

Thanks everyone.

Well the latest is that they have offered to refund the postage cost (£15) but still the response of "tooling plate is only suppose to be good on one side" and "guaranteed one good face".

I am tempted to take the offer and be done with it. Is was about £20 difference between the 6082 and the ecocast so I could look at it as I'm getting one side ground for £5?

I can use the piece as I only needed a single good face for mounting rails to anyway but I just don't like the feeling of being ripped off.

I think in the future I will not use them again and instead do as spluppit says, find a local industrial supplier. Now I know more about what to ask for and what to expect, it seems less of a daunting task.

Can anyone recommend a supplier in the Reading area, or one that delivers nationally (at a reasonable price!)?

Thanks again,

Jim

[Neale]

I haven't bought from them but I have had MIC6 tooling plate from Blackburns recommended to me (after I had bought Ecocast from AW although mine was ok) and they have a branch in Reading.

[Jonathan]

So we've established that this is aluminium warehouse behaving improperly? If so, I recommend quoting their terms and conditions back to them. Have a look at section 15 in particular:



15.1 If you receive Goods which do not match those that you ordered, unless accompanied by an explanatory note detailing the changes, stating reasons for the changes and setting out your options, you should contact us within 10 days to arrange collection and return. AluminiumWarehouse.co.uk is responsible for paying shipment costs.
15.2 If any Goods you have purchased have faults when they are delivered to you, you should contact AluminiumWarehouse.co.uk within 28 days to arrange collection and return.AluminiumWarehouse.co.uk is responsible for paying shipment costs. Goods must be returned in their original condition with all packaging and documentation. Upon receipt of the returned Goods, the price of the Goods, as paid by you, will be refunded to you through the payment method used by you when purchasing the Goods.


As I see it, both of those points and possibly some others apply to you, so if you are not happy with their current offer, I would try and be firm with them. State that their policy is to allow returns for faulty items. Hopefully that overrides the "Due to the bespoke nature of cut to size products they are non-returnable" note that is given when you add the item to basket.

Even if you're not too concerned about the scratches, I think it's still worth making a point as otherwise they may continue to do this and upset people to whom it does matter.

Personally I use ASC Metals, or the university stores.

[cncJim]

I haven't bought from them but I have had MIC6 tooling plate from Blackburns recommended to me (after I had bought Ecocast from AW although mine was ok) and they have a branch in Reading.

Thanks Neale - I just spoke to them to get an idea of how the prices stack up. The guy I spoke to was great, they didn't have the 20mm mic6 plate available but they did have 7/8 inch (22.2mm) which could be ready in a couple of days (cut off site and delivered to branch). Cost wise it was around £7 more expensive than the 20mm EcoCast. Big plus for me are that I could collect (and not pay the £15 delivery charge) and check it first.
I know who I will be buying my next order from.

Also, there is a lot of info about on the properties of MIC6 on the internet. I cant seem to find much about EcoCast?


So we've established that this is aluminium warehouse behaving improperly? If so, I recommend quoting their terms and conditions back to them. Have a look at section 15 in particular...

Thanks for the info Jonathan. I am generally crap at complaining about things so having the ammo ready to use makes it far easier!

I think in this case as the crap finish on one side doesn't impact me using it I will take the £15 refund and be done with it. The time spent faffing around to get the piece sent back as well as being home to receive the new piece (assuming they agreed to take it back and send new) doesn't seem worth it to me.

Thanks everyone,

Jim

[John S]

Just recently Smiths Metals which are a UK chain have been beating ASC hands down on price.
Might just be worth a phone call.

In my case 12mm brass bar in qty of 10's but bear in mind this price difference is also on 1's, just that I needed 10.

ASC was £17 83 per bar
Smiths was £11.87

Last year I was paying £30 per bar in singles from ASC but some metals have gone down in price.