Who do get your materials from?

Being new to the industry, I'd love to be able to have a location in the forums, where we keep a list of distributors for laser or woodworking materials. Perhaps with more information with each, like minimum orders, best materials from the place, etc. I've searched the forums for this, but I've been unfruitful on my attempts. Just doing normal internet searches brings up a billion different places, and the top dogs are just because they pay for more marketing and SEOs. I'd rather find the little guy that has better materials, at a good rate.

Here is a good place to start.

Note that Johnson Plastics sponsors three banner ads here and their support has been a big help keeping the lights on. You will also find Trotec Lasers on the list, another company that has been very supportive of SawMill Creek.

We have some great sponsors that have been with us through thick and thin, please patronize these companies first when you are shopping and don't promote their competitors here. We are doing our very best to keep our advertisers, nothing will run them away faster then seeing their competition getting more exposure than they receive.

Are you serious Keith? Can we not say anything positive about anyone besides the sponsors? That kind of censorship will have a major chilling effect on anyone wanting to give an answer to someone looking for information. Where do you draw the line? Do I have to remove any reference to a laser besides Trotec from my signature too? First you take away messaging and now you censor what company we can mention?

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Originally Posted by Keith Outten

Here is a good place to start.

Note that Johnson Plastics sponsors three banner ads here and their support has been a big help keeping the lights on. You will also find Trotec Lasers on the list, another company that has been very supportive of SawMill Creek.

We have some great sponsors that have been with us through thick and thin, please patronize these companies first when you are shopping and don't promote their competitors here. We are doing our very best to keep our advertisers, nothing will run them away faster then seeing their competition getting more exposure than they receive.

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Originally Posted by Keith Outten

Here is a good place to start.

Note that Johnson Plastics sponsors three banner ads here and their support has been a big help keeping the lights on. You will also find Trotec Lasers on the list, another company that has been very supportive of SawMill Creek.

We have some great sponsors that have been with us through thick and thin, please patronize these companies first when you are shopping and don't promote their competitors here. We are doing our very best to keep our advertisers, nothing will run them away faster then seeing their competition getting more exposure than they receive.

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I looked there, but there weren't many companies to look through. There's no reason we couldn't also include anyone in there, as a supplier of materials. Not to mention that many of those companies are not material suppliers.

I do not buy a lot but Johnson Plastics are not far from me and I get fast shipping.

Nothing has changed. Mentioning company names is acceptable as long as posts don't become advertisements. I think everyone here understands the difference. I know an advertisement when I see one.

Daniel, that is our list of Sponsors and yes its a very short list which is why we are being forced to make some changes.

Gary, Contributors still have message and email access here and for the record I DID NOT take away any privileges here. The changes were the result of the majority using advertising blocking. We made a deal in 2005 that access would be free here paid for by advertising. When everyone blocks our advertising then access has to be paid in other ways. I'm simply reacting to what the majority here wants, honestly I'm not a big fan of the changes as they make my life more difficult here.

Daniel, it would be much easier to pass along sources if you gave some specific materials you're looking for.

Like others we use Johnson Plastics when we buy that sort of thing (which is unusual), the're local and we get orders the next day.

We sell a lot of thin plywood and basswood to our students which we get from Bud Nosen Models

Paper products mostly come from Blick Art Materials - They'll ship a ton of chipboard for free.

Solid lumber and sheet goods come from local Industrial Lumber and Plywood - They deliver next day and they go the extra mile to get us .063" MDF!.

Similarly, acrylics and other commodity plastics are probably best sourced locally - we use Crown Plastics.

Good luck!

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Originally Posted by Kevin Groenke

Daniel, it would be much easier to pass along sources if you gave some specific materials you're looking for.

Like others we use Johnson Plastics when we buy that sort of thing (which is unusual), the're local and we get orders the next day.

We sell a lot of thin plywood and basswood to our students which we get from Bud Nosen Models

Paper products mostly come from Blick Art Materials - They'll ship a ton of chipboard for free.

Solid lumber and sheet goods come from local Industrial Lumber and Plywood - They deliver next day and they go the extra mile to get us .063" MDF!.

Similarly, acrylics and other commodity plastics are probably best sourced locally - we use Crown Plastics.

Good luck!

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What a great list to start me off, on my searches! I live in the middle of no where, in the mountains. Not sure I'll be able to find a lot 'local' but I bet SLC has some good companies to look for, as well. Again, thank you!

Gary
You have been a reliable and accurate contributor for years it's unlike you to post total inaccuracies like this.

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Are you serious Keith? Can we not say anything positive about anyone besides the sponsors? That kind of censorship will have a major chilling effect on anyone wanting to give an answer to someone looking for information. Where do you draw the line? Do I have to remove any reference to a laser besides Trotec from my signature too? First you take away messaging and now you censor what company we can mention?

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Franky I think I learn $20 worth of knowledge (at least) every year on here and its worth it to keep it up and running. A very valuable resource for anyone professional or hobbyist.

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Originally Posted by Mike Null

Gary
You have been a reliable and accurate contributor for years it's unlike you to post total inaccuracies like this.

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This post is in response to Keith's reply to the OP and contains one statement and several questions so please tell me what is inaccurate about what I posted Mike.

Gary
Perhaps you should read it again and ask yourself if those were really "questions". I didn't see "censorship" in Keith's statement. He said don't promote; he didn't say you can't mention them.

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Originally Posted by Mike Null

Gary
Perhaps you should read it again and ask yourself if those were really "questions". I didn't see "censorship" in Keith's statement. He said don't promote; he didn't say you can't mention them.

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We are doing our very best to keep our advertisers, nothing will run them away faster then seeing their competition getting more exposure than they receive.

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If that isn't telling us not to mention competitors too often then I don't know what it is...

I got into this once before with either you or Keith, can't remember which, when I mentioned a vendor that had better pricing than Johnson Plastics and I was told by PM to not do that. The post from Keith made me feel the same what that the PM did, that I was being told what I could and couldn't say in a request for a source for materials. Everyone here is looking for the best resources to find the product(s) they are looking for, at the best price possible. If I can't post that Non-Sponsor Company B has a better price than Sponsor Company A, then this is all a waste of time.

Nothing in this world is perfect so there must be compromise and tolerance. When the majority here decided that they preferred free access and wanted advertising to pay the majority of the costs associated with running SawMill Creek we made a decision that had consequences. If you read my posts on the topic during that time period I was dead against advertising but I lost the debate. I knew that at some point advertising would begin to fade away as an option because people get tired of being visibly hammered, case in point cable TV. The addiction to "Free" on the Internet is in jeopardy based on our own actions as our tolerance of advertising decreases.

The key words are compromise, tolerance and possibly more importantly loyalty. We should be loyal to our advertisers, on many online communities I have frequented members promote advertisers, there isn't a need for the Staff or owners to get involved but that's never been the case here. At this point we need to find some kind of balance because we are being forced to do it, its not an option like it has been in the past. Our choice is to either find more advertisers or increase the number of Contributors, either way we must be able to attract and retain the necessary income to pay the bills.

Today I will be paying our bandwidth bill, it is the first time in five years that I will not be able to pay for the year in advance. My sign company is under contract to our bandwidth provider, if it becomes a problem to pay for the bandwidth we consume or any other expenses I will redirect the bandwidth and our server resources in another direction.

We need to take this conversation elsewhere, its way off topic and disrespectful to the OP.