Misumi order question

Extrusions/Tubing/Hinges/Etc.

Misumi order question

Postby pjeran » Wed Nov 21, 2012 9:22 pm

Getting ready for a bigger than 2.0 build and was going to order lengths of the 20x20mm extrusion. For the best price, they come in 4000mm lengths. Not quite a UPS parcel size. I can't get a quote/rough estimate/guess out of Misumi, and was wondering if anyone has ordered the long lengths and what shipping costs were like.

Last thing I want is to try and save some $$ ordering the long lengths and then pay more in shipping than the cost of the material. I hate it when that happens...

Thanks,

Paul
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Re: Misumi order question

Postby kbob » Thu Nov 22, 2012 8:19 am

A friend of mine ordered the 4000mm size. Misumi would not ship them any way but by truck. The shipping price he was quoted was in the hundreds of dollars. He ended up in limbo, unable to cancel the order, unwilling to pay the shipping. He's in the US. Overseas would probably be worse.
Bob
"If you didn't code it, it will never own you." (-:
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Re: Misumi order question

Postby neogeek » Thu Nov 22, 2012 3:43 pm

<that guy here>
It all starts with an email (after the order) saying there was a problem with my "order".
I call Customer Service at Misumi US.
They want to know what trucking company is going to pickup my order. You can understand my shock and confusion at this point. I had ordered some T-Slot nuts and those arrived a few days after ordering for a few bucks UPS. So, what's wrong with my other item in that order?

Misumi rep conceded that this is a known problem for them. Their website lets you order a length and shipping method that the shipper (UPS) wont do. She added that "they" have complained back to headquarters (Japan) and they don't seem to care to change the website.

So my aluminum is at their dock. They wont by their own policy even cut/bend/break the lengths in half to get them the proper shipping size. She insists that my only option is to get a trucking (flat bed truck) to pick up and deliver to me.

I let them know I won't be doing that, and that I consider the order canceled. If they have a better idea she can haver her manager call me.
I then cancel my credit card. My bank wont let me block a specific vendor, my other option was to let the charge go through then dispute the charge considering their website is tantamount to fraud I am pretty sure I would win but Misumi wont charge until they get the product on the to shipper so they can add that charge.
I then move on with life, I ordered my frame parts cut and tapped by someone else that knows how to deal with that flavor of crazy.

TLDR; Call Misumi customer service and have them help you place the order and they will quote you the shipping prices that they can in reality do.
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Re: Misumi order question

Postby roberlin » Fri Nov 23, 2012 5:11 am

I ordered the 4000mm 2020 "deal" one time.

Didn't get any warning about shipping issues (I had been keeping an eye out since I was quite curious how they could ship it for the quoted 7 bucks) until they invoiced me for an extra $150. I called them 5 minutes after the invoice and they said it was too late to cancel, and that the order was already en route. They did end up crediting me the money after a couple more calls, but they sort of acted like it was my fault and warned me not to do it again (when really they just need to fix the quoter). They couldn't even give me a number for the max extrusion length they would ship without going freight.

It was an unsatisfying experience, but they do seem to have the best prices by a significant margin, so I'm not about to quit using them because of it.
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Re: Misumi order question

Postby bobt » Mon Nov 26, 2012 9:43 pm

Guys - when ordering 4000mm of extrusion do you realize what the size of the item you are ordering is????? 4000mm = 157+ inches of material or 13+ feet of material. UPS and Fedex cannot handle this without special charges so it goes by truck. This may be something that has been overlooked.

Bob Teeter
"What Box"
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Re: Misumi order question

Postby enmity » Mon Nov 26, 2012 10:24 pm

I do agree that there' is a problem with their automated ordering system, I had ordered the Misumi parts for my Ord bot build and used their online service. The price was correct around 33 bucks with the shipping around 7 dollars. I placed the order and a hold was put on my credit card 8 times which upset me, it was the weekend so I had to wait until Monday morning to get it all straightened out.
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Re: Misumi order question

Postby pjeran » Tue Nov 27, 2012 6:34 pm

Thanks for all the input.

I did realize that I was talking about ordering 13'+ sticks of material. I was hoping that they could provide at least a ball park of what the freight was going to be. Given the significant discount of ordering the long lengths, even if freight was in the $100 range, it might still be more cost effective.

Sounds like there were two cases where the full 4000mm stick was shipped out with between $150 and $170 in freight charges.

I will have to run the numbers to see if this is still a better deal. I am looking at ordering between 7-8 sticks for my next build.

Thanks again for at least giving me a place to start.
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Re: Misumi order question

Postby bdring » Tue Nov 27, 2012 8:24 pm

Misumi does a really good job of cutting to length. It is hard to match their precision and cut quality. I usually have them cut all pieces to length then order 1 or 2 long pieces just in case.
Bart
"If you didn't build it, you will never own it."
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Re: Misumi order question

Postby Liberty4Ever » Wed Nov 28, 2012 7:25 pm

I just designed the frame for my custom laser build. I did a comparison of McMaster-Carr and Misumi, on a much smaller structural frame project - the frame to support the tool rack for my CNC milling machine conversion. IMO....

McMaster-Carr is more expensive on extruded aluminum framing supplies. My very simple little project was about $190 from McMaster-Carr and about $150 from Misumi, although the Misumi version had a 45 degree bracket instead of the clever adjustable angle bracket, but the Misumi version included a significant number of extra slide-in nuts for future projects. Those are goofy expensive at McMaster-Carr. They sell them in packs of four, including the screws. I found Misumi's ordering system to be goofy. It's impossible to find anything on their website. I was able to find the relevant part of the online PDF of their printed catalog and browsing that was a lot easier. Still not convenient, but I could actually assemble an order that way. It was laborious, because the PDF had no links and I can't copy text out of the PDF, so I had to memorize a part number, click over to another browser tab, and type it in to the Misumi parts ordering page.

Misumi does offer a lot more options than McMaster-Carr. If you want something weird, Misumi is generally a better place to find it. They offer black anodized extrusion, for example. More options is a mixed blessing. My frame is fairly simple, and a lot of the Misumi options looked the same and I had a hard time knowing which part I wanted. Shopping is a lot easier at McMaster-Carr. I'm cheap, but I was leaning toward ordering aluminum extrusion framing materials from McMaster-Carr, because the Misumi ordering process was killing too many brain cells. I don't want to make a list, submit a request for quote, get the quote, order it, wait a week for them to ship my stuff and another week to receive it. That's exactly what happened with my ORD Bot parts order from Misumi. McMaster-Carr ships orders placed by 6PM the same day and I have it the next day for a very reasonable UPS Ground shipping charge. I love that.

I've decided to use 1.25" square fiberglass tubing from McMaster-Carr for the frame on my laser. It's about one third the cost of aluminum extrusion, considering the expensive fasteners for the extruded aluminum. For more details on this material and my decision to use it, check out my laser build log.

http://www.buildlog.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=1506&p=15105#p15105

I did encounter the same UPS VS Freight issue when deciding which fiberglass tubing to order. I could get 24 of the 5' lengths (MC#8548K42) via UPS, or I could get 12 of the 10' lengths by motor freight. The 10 foot pieces were about $40 cheaper, but the trucking freight was $105 to the local depot where I'd pick it up, as opposed to $26 by UPS to my door. It's a little more complicated, as I'd get a better yield with less scrap when cutting from the longer pieces, but I think I'd have enough either way. I'd just have more good pieces left over for the next little project if I started with the ten foot pieces. I decided to go with the shorter pieces by UPS, because I didn't feel like dealing with a trucking company. UPS is a known quantity.

It was nice being able to call McMaster-Carr and get a shipping quote for both options in about a minute. Contrast that with the Misumi quote and surprise process. Ugh. Misumi extrusion is less expensive, but there is such a thing as a false savings. I decided that my brain cells are more valuable than spending a couple of hours saving a few dollars with Misumi. If their order process was as convenient as McMaster-Carr and they had cheap next day delivery, I'd be ordering a lot of stuff from Misumi. Then again, if my grandmother had wheels, she'd be a wagon.
Apparently, I didn't build that! :-)
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Re: Misumi order question

Postby bdring » Wed Nov 28, 2012 7:48 pm

The best part of the Misumi web site is the "beta" extrusion browser.

http://www.misumiusa.com/CategoryImages ... owser.html

If you select an extrusion, all the accessories for that size are filtered on the right side.

The worst part is the order system. I find it easiest to write down the numbers, enter them into a quote, then convert the quote to an order.

beta_search.jpg
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