Dumb answers to dumb questions

[Ron Selzer]

back in the 90's when working for Honeywell, the fitters would order in 5/32?, 1/4, 3/8/ 1/2 od copper tubing in 10" sticks. came in a bundle of 250'?. would bend it with special benders. real nice to see a job installed by one of the old guys who could run the tube in, straight, square, level and plumb all the tubes sweeping around the curves. Then they started running EMT and pulling poly inside it. Anheuser Bush Brewery insisted on soft copper coils that were unwound and stretched with a come along x feet which made the soft copper ridged. Think there still is a partial tube hidden away in the garage of 1/4" copper
Ron

[Patty Hann]

Learn something new every day.

Oddly, they also sell "Bendable Copper Tube" in the same sizes, same alloy, and same wall thickness. Different heat treating maybe?

(I've never set foot inside a Hobby Lobby, for reasons I can't/won't discuss here. Other hobby stores are rare here.)

If I avoided all the places with whose politics I disagree, I'd starve, not have any clothes, nor any utilities, not ever buy a car, and certainly wouldn't be able to engage in 90% of my interests.

Be that as it may, one of my Hobby shops I use is in Burbank (which is not really close to you)...Burbank House of Hobbies.
Actually I have never bought metal from them, even tho they carry K&S products.
What they have (which most hardware places do not have, not even most hobby stores in the sizes I needed) is machine screws, nuts and washers in #3 and smaller sizes.

I have hardware (and taps) in size 3,2,1,0, and 00, both coarse and fine thread.
You cannot get those sizes especially 0 and 00 at McMaster or McFeely or Fastenal, only some places online that sell "micro hardware".

Re: Bendable copper.... it has been annealed. So I'm guessing the rigid tubes have not been annealed. (Duh.... my powers of deduction are amazing )

[Cameron Wood]

I think I see part of the problem:

All the K&S tubing I've ever seen is brass, not copper. (I went through a ton of it decades ago, when slot-car racing was still a thing.) Not at all easy to find these days, unless. as you say, you're willing to pay Amazon or (even higher) McMaster-Carr prices.

Not really sure there's even such a thing as non-flexible copper tubing...

I was big into slot cars back then too. Still have brass tubing, rod, etc.. Built frames, rewound motors- it was a hoot. Come to think of it, I still have the box that I took to the track, decals and all- it has electrical fittings in it now.

[Patty Hann]

My response to him would have been, "if the HD stuff works for you and is cheaper, go ahead and buy it there. Goodbye and have a nice day." I wouldn't waste my time trying to justify my price to him.

Actually I think I did say exactly that.... except that instead of "goodbye etc" I closed with, "... go ahead and buy it there and God bless you." :-D

[Ronald Blue]

If there is no phone call I conclude that the "person" is a bot of some sort, especially if their initial inquiry is stated "Is the item still available?" not "Is the plutonium still available?"
That is, the inquiry is very generic with the word "item".

I see your point. I actually had a similar experience last winter. Put an item on FB marketplace and had a response from someone claiming interest. However they requested my phone number. So my response was what area code will you be calling from? Because they were claiming to be from a town 15 miles away but across the state line so different area code. I don't recall why now but something made me suspicious they weren't on the up and up. My request went unanswered and I sold it that afternoon anyway. I've heard of scams that start with phone numbers and I thought verifying where they were going to call from was reasonable.