INQUIRES and ORDER INFORMATION

Like all of life's endeavors, "Garbage in - Garbage out".  An inquiry submitted in the right way will avoid mistakes in quoting both price and delivery.  Orders entered correctly and complete = satisfied customers.  Here's a checklist to use when inquiring or ordering stainless steel.

THE GRADE:  Tell us the grade.  Can customer use an alternative, i.e. 304L for 304, 434 for 430, 316L for 316, 439 for 409 or 430.  Don't assume anything.  Product liability, even on overgrading, can cost you your business or your job.  When providing an alternate grade, always get a waiver in writing from your customer.

SPECIFICATION:  We assume ASTM A240 and 480 as a minimum unless you tell us different.  If there's a written specification, send it along to Taunton for a review.

FINISH:  Be specific - 2B, 2D, #3, #4, #8, or "any finish will do".  Samples or any kind of quantitative information is helpful.

GAUGE: Let's say thickness, let's think decimal.  "Gauge" while we all use the term. went out with handmills.  Give us a decimal that covers the full tolerance or nominal +/-; even on sheets.

WIDTH:  What are your tolerances?  By industry standards sheet widths are always -.000 + ASTM 240/480.  This includes blanks 24" and over.  Strip 24" is standard +/- tolerance and .005 is most common.

LENGTH:  Both sheet and strip length tolerances are plus ASTM 240/480 minus, not plus of minus.  If you want +/- you need to communicate that.

EDGE:  A # 3 edge is the most common slit edge.  A #1 edge is round or square produced by filing.  A #5 edge is an approximate square edge produced by rolling or filing after slitting.  A "safety edge" is one produced form a #3 slit edge to enable hand contact or sensitive material contact without inflicting damage or harm.  Edges cab be rolled, skived with tooling or both.

BURR: There are no industry standards for burr although the rule of thumb is 10% of gauge maximum.  A burr should be controlled in slitting to a minimum height and should be consistent through the coil or sheet.  Burr is an issue in sheets or blanks both on the width and length.

QUANTITY:  Tell us what you want and we'll give you the approximate yield from the coil we would apply. +/- 10% is a good rule of thumb for shipping tolerances unless otherwise agreed upon.

COIL SPECS:  Cores or no cores, core thickness and composition, ID's, OD's (prefer 16" to 20" ID's).  Min and max coil weight.

PACKAGING SPECS:  Skid configuration (railroad or cross runner), weight max per skid, paper or plastic shroud, number of coil bands, spacer height between coils.

END USE:  What will you or your customer do with our material.  What is the first operation and how will the metal be fabricated.  This is critical information to provide the best application of steel for the job.