Price of Aluminum. WOW!!!

[Kirk T]

This has been haunting me since I saw it last Saturday (11-26-11) while visiting Clarksville AR over Thanksgiving we went in an Atwoods store. They had the little racks with small pieces of metal stock for sale. 3' lengths or 18"X24" sheets. Now I know this is probably the most expensive way you will see metal priced but what I saw seemed way out of line. They had sheets of Bright Tread Aluminum 1/8" thick about 18"X 24" priced at $70.00 pr sheet.! Has aluminum gone up in price that much or are thy just out rite gouging the public???

[Lothlorian]

Aluminum has gone up. Aluminum is very abundant on this earth and it must be the energy costs that cause it to go up.

Brian

[dznf0g]

Gouging, I think.

When I was at JC last month, they had aluminum tread that they use in some new model (maybe Eddie Bauer....not sure). These scraps were maybe 2X4' for $3 and maybe 1.5 X 3' for $2.

[nilesrob]

I just bought a sheet of metal, probably 1/16" in a sheet 24" x 36" (used it for our refrigerator) and it cost us about $20 per sheet at Home Depot. I didn't check out aluminum prices because I needed something for magnets.

[Wabbiteer]

Since Atwoods was "Open Thanksgiving Day 8:00 am - 6:00 pm" if I'd needed diamond plate to get home for Thanksgiving would've been the only way they'd ever get my Dollar!

No clue if this applies to Atwoods Ranch and Home, but generally vendors carrying any small quantity of fabricated metals add in their expected & real losses - say shipping / handling damages, warehouse damage, store damage & 'shrinkage'... Its always been like that, the Bosses' kid runs the forklift truck into a skid of sheet metal guess who pays for it, likewise if that hourly clerk slips some out the back for their buddies hobby project... blah blah blah.

[dwightdi]

Scrap price of aluminum is $.40 per pound. Sometimes you can find a piece of scrap around a recycler that will meet your needs and cost you just their markup. I sold $30 worth to them last week.

[sandlapper]

I can vouch for the high cost of aluminum. Use it in my flag pole holders. It ain't cheap.
Think how much a scrapped Airstream might be worth!

[perryg114]

Diamond plate aluminum is high priced. You are paying for the redeck shine factor. Diamond plate is going to be about the highest price per pound you will find. Local welding supply places will have the best price.

Perry

[Bill M.]

try pricing expanded aluminum.

[FreshAir]

Wow, I'm glad that I asked for the 4'x14' sheet that was my street side. I had scraped it 3 years ago and had it replaced. I've used a little of it for 'little' projects. The rivet holes are not a problem...I just fill'em with a rivet whether I needed the rivet there or not.
Neil

[zedex]

I sell 1/8 aluminum checker plate for $7.05 per square foot. Truth be told, steel is more expensive than aluminum. In my shop, that 18 x 24 chunk would cost you $21.15.
Those 18 x 24 pieces were more than likely crops from fab shops that would have no use for pieces that size.

[Frank's Trailer Works]

Originally Posted by sandlapper

Think how much a scrapped Airstream might be worth!

The math does not add up. To sell it for $.40/ lbs it must be clean. So if you gutted a shell to bare metal. At this point you have at least 10 hours in it, and that is being VERY conservative, allowing for just destruction with total abandon. You then have to load it and drive it to the scrap yard. Now you have at least 20 hours in it, if not double that, I am being VERY conservative about the time this takes. A 26 foot shell is about 500lbs in aluminum, thats shell, belly, windows frames, and any aluminum you came up with during destruction. I am going to go real nuts and say you were able to gather 800 pounds. At $.40 that is only $320. The steel sells for .10/ pound. The frame, axles, rims(after you spend the effort to remove the rubber) will net you about 1200 pounds. A fairly dismal return at $120. There are two fairly big money makers remaining however, the copper and the wire. Clean "A" copper sells for $2.20 a pound right now(it was $3.40 a few weeks ago). In the trailer you will collect about 50 pounds of clean copper. You will need to remove every fitting and every joint. Once it is all clean, you will get about $110. The fittings, valves, and joints are called mixed copper and brass. It all go for a $.60/lbs and you will render about 15 pounds of that stuff for a take of about $9.00. All the insulated wire has a value also. I do not recall what it pays, but a 5 gallon paint bucket stuffed full is about $20. You will haul out two of those for a take of about $40. So what does this all come to? $479. You will still need to dispose of the wood and insulation and it has taken you 15 trips in your F150, but man you got cash money in your pocket!

[Road Ruler]

I have a piece of aluminum plate 12'x8"x5/8"thick. It must weigh 70lbs. Wondering what it is worth at today's prices??

[Frank's Trailer Works]

70 x $.40= $28.00

[edglenn]

I don't know if you have Metal Supermarket's where you are.
They're a nationwide outfit.
I recently bought a 48"x96" aluminum sheet, cut into several pieces, for around $80.00
I buy a lot from them.

[Kirk T]

What does the aluminum in a new belly pan cost?

[wahoonc]

Aluminum prices are all over the place at the moment. In the original post it borders on gouging IHMO, I suspect in part due to small quantities and small sizes.

We buy a variety of different types of sheet metal stock at the company I work for. Current price for a sheet of painted .040 aluminum is running in the $80 range, that price will change quickly for thicker sheets, different alloy or coatings depending on what you want. The diamond embossed polished or chrome plated (yes they chrome plate aluminum) is going to be near the top of the price list for a variety of reasons, demand and production availability. I was working earlier this year at a plant that produces the diamond plate...they had a 4 month back log of orders when I was there in October.

Aaron

[wahoonc]

Originally Posted by Kirk T

What does the aluminum in a new belly pan cost?

What are you using? My 1975 uses 3004 .024 stock last time I checked pricing it was going to cost me about $500 for materials. However the market has changed and 3004 is not as readily available. Haven't bothered to update the quote. But a sheet of something similar currently sells for ~$150 and I would probably need 3-4 sheets.

The other trick is getting the sizes you need, in most cases you will end up having to piece things together.

Aaron

[Kirk T]

I'll have to do a little research to be able to say what aluminum sheet I need. Probably try to go back with what was there or as close as possible.

[Kirk T]

Through the years I've bought and sold a lot of copper. Some years ago while at a large scrap yard I Wichita KS selling a load of copper I bought 15 or so pcs of bright tread crops about 2'X4' for scrap price, wast much 3 or 4 bucks pr sheet. When I saw that little piece in Atwoods priced at $70.00 I had a sinking heart thinking I would have to pay some ridiculous price for belly pan and other needed aluminum sheet. You all have eased my concern considerably.