Where to buy metal bits?

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

I need some metal pieces.  The local hardware stores carry a pathetic selection of extruded aluminum and steel, none of which are quite right for what I need.  I called up two machine shops in town, and neither were willing or able to help.  Googling has proven unproductive (maybe I'm not searching for the right terms?). 

I guess what I'm looking for is some sort of mailorder house that sells metal stock in various different shapes and sizes.  Anyone know of such a place?

As an example of the kind of stuff I want, right now what I need is some copper angle iron, about 12" long and at least 1/8" thick.  In the near future, I may need a plate of aluminum, say 16" long by 6" wide by 3/8" thick.  I may also need solid bar of aluminum about 3/4" wide and 8" long.

[Nick1911]

I buy metals from:

http://www.onlinemetals.com/

http://www.speedymetals.com/

and I've heard of:

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/

edit:  I've also heard of this place:

http://www.metalsdepot.com/index.phtml

[thebaldguy]

Most decent sized cities have a metal store; sort of like a lumberyard for metal products. I'm not sure what they're called, but we have several in Minneapolis.

[Bigjake]

http://www.mcmaster.com/

Order a catalogue, if it isn't in McMaster-Carr, it probably doesn't exist.

[never_retreat]

I'll second mcmaster carr.
they carry the other stuff that grainger doesn't have.

[Balog]

If it's not too nosy may I ask what you're doing with it? Sounds interesting.

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

Thanks for the help, fellas.  That's just what I was looking for.

If it's not too nosy may I ask what you're doing with it? Sounds interesting.

I'm building some audio equipment right now.  I need to mount PCBs onto giant heatsinks, and then assemble the heatsink/board units into some sort of chassis or enclosure.

[HankB]

http://www.machinist-materials.com/Direct_sale/Direct-Sales-INDEX.htm   (sell on EBAY)

http://www.metalbythefoot.com/

http://www.asapsource.com/public/index.asp

[Tallpine]

I used to do most of my metal shopping at the junkyard

One of the things that I would buy was holes - really!

I would find bits of scrap with nice round holes 1" to 2" diameter.  I could torch the piece to shape (if necessary) and then weld it to something much easier than I could make a perfect hole.  A lot of these I used for mounting brackets for hydraulic cylinders.