Thursday, December 6, 2012

Tuning up your Band Saw Machine

Having problems with your band saw machine? Blades don’t last, like you think they are supposed to? Are they breaking on you? Getting crooked cuts?

Well at Bi-Metal Industrial Products Inc., we can help you, but there is a condition. You need to be using one of our excellent band saw blade products. Our LENOX band saw blades, offer a free service on your machine as long as you are using our product and or have tried 3 of our GTO trials (band saw blade trial). The free service consists of approximately 2 hours of a LENOX trained band saw machine technician to look over your machine. They check the overall health of your machine and comes with a comprehensive report on the condition of it. They also (if they can) tweak your machine for optimum blade performance. They are the only band saw blade company to offers this service. We want to keep you happy with our excellent products. Call us, if you want to get on board. For more info on LENOX see http://www.lenoxtools.com/pages/Category.aspx?category=BAND+SAW+BLADES


Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the crew at Bi-Metal.

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Oh Where or Where did Summer Go??????
Winter is upon us again. It just seemed like a short summer as everyone except the machine shops were very busy.
We at Bi-Metal have been busy ourselves, aligning with big warehouses so we can offer more products to our loyal customers. It was a good move as we have had some good sales but it hasn’t been as much as we thought.
We know it takes time for people to realize that donuts don’t make the order. Sure we deliver most items at lightning speed also but we take the time to make sure when you receive the items that they are correct and to check if there are any other items that might be required. We give this personal service to each and every client. Sometimes it is a thankless job doing the deliveries as people that wanted to meet with someone from our institution and we arrive there and the personnel reneges on seeing us. Oh well their loss.
It’s another season as we can tell. When in the mail, over the fax and emails we get requests from clients and some none clients to contribute to seasonal functions for their employees???? Think about it, businesses, asking for freebees. Hahhhhh????? We give to charities, when the time is right to the less fortunate. We look after our own employees. That is what businesses do. Not have someone else look after their most valued people. Enough said thanks for tuning in.

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Computers Good and Bad

We must say computers are the accountant’s best friend. We like them too, when these things work right.
The other day one machine all of a sudden came up with a warning that anti-virus program is out of date. Wow, this was on our main machine we use as our server. We do all our IT work ourselves so the investigation began. Were we connected right, was it us or our internet provider, etc. Well a half hour went by and still no clue. We decided to phone the internet provider. After hanging on the telephone line for 40 minutes yup it was them. Nice. They had decided that they were changing their virus provider. No email to us or any other warning was given. Well then, more fun came. We had to go to site to download new software. Well I don’t understand how these programmers can’t make it simple. We press the download button. Why all the questions? Do you want it here? Do you want to continue? and so on. Then they give you a registration # that is 30 digits long, 30 digits????  Why???? So you have to write this down in case something goes wrong. So you press the continue button again. The program now it checks if it is compatible to your machine, is your machine certified, etc. again the long wait. By this time it’s been almost 2 hours since we started. Finally it says it ready to download new program wonderful. We press continue again. It runs a green line across the screen and all of a sudden it says you have to restart the machine. Okay we are thinking we are going to be done. NOT. It does its restart and the machine restarts again. At least the programs have figured out how to restart the computer so you don’t have to push the button. But now you have to reenter passwords, etc. Then another box comes up to continue, oh man. This goes on two more times. Finally it is done. It has been 3 hours total time since we started for this one machine. 3 hours of downtime. Gezzzz but this is still faster than calling a techy. One machine down and 2 more to go, wonderful. Well at least we can run the others at the same time.
Now back to the good the accountants are happy again.
If you have any questions please feel free to contact us via email info@bimetalinc.com phone 780-440-4002 or drop on by 5804-82 Avenue Edmonton.

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Happy Times Here At Bi-Metal!!!
September 15 2012 or there about, we began promote our 400,000 item alliance with SCN. So far things have been going really well. We began with one order the first week then a few the next and now things are beginning to pick up as our clients realize all the products that we have access to. I’m excited.
Check us out at www.bimetalinc.com  or come to our office at 5804 – 82 Avenue, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Check out some of the new products we have available www.scnindustrial.com   
If you have any questions please feel free to call our office 780-440-4002

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Busy, Busy with NEW PRODUCTS
PHEW we have been busy the last 2 weeks trying to launch our new products. It can be as many as 400,000 NEW PRODUCTS thanks to a contact in southern Alberta and a northern Alberta relationship. We think we will be a far better company for it. We are all excited here at Bi-Metal Industrial Products Inc. as we can begin to compete with the big boys in this business and it is already paying off. Now all we need to do is market ourselves better. There is a plan which is going to begin in November and by the beginning of 2013 we will be fresh. Fingers crossed.
Now for the long awaited, test reviews for our new line of inserts and machine tools hardware.




We would like to thank Kier at TRI-LAD Fittings for his input.




















We would like to thank Willy at C.L.A.C for his input.


We would like to thank Joe at Global Machine for his input.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Working Fun
Don’t you just love days when things go good? WE DO at Bi-Metal Industrial Products Inc. We cherish the times when we have customers who have problems, and then as they leave our facility satisfied and happy, it really makes our day. We begin to brag about our experiences to the rest of our team, which at that time makes the rest of us feel good too. We grow more and more confident in our products and knowledge that we can share with others again and again.
It is surprising how much people grow in knowledge and expertise over years of learning. Yes we learn new things every day whether it is with new and/or old products. It is here that we can share our experiences.
 Ilia who is getting close to her first anniversary with Bi-Metal is becoming a very knowledgeable person about our products and services. If she has no idea about what she is asked about she will ask customers to hang tight for an answer and she does search around for any answer to a customer’s inquiry. She seems to have a 99% success rate at helping the person’s question. She is usually is the first person you speak to when you call our facility. She has learnt a great deal with Bi-Metal and loves to pass on her knowledge.
Brenda is just a small brute force in the back shop. She does all the grunt work. Customers have little understanding of all the work that goes into welding band saw blades. She handles these blades from ¼” to 1-1/2” at any length like a pro. She is a pro.  She is also the person who picks and sorts customer orders getting them ready for delivery.  She can also help customers with their blade predicaments.
Sitting silent at his desk Tuesday thru Thursdays is our money man Paul. We don’t hear much from him but he is always there to help out. He is the only original founder of Bi-Metal left in this business.
Now, I’m (Peter) the last but not least member of the Bi-Metal team. This is what I do, help everyone else, like our cliental and team to get their missions done each day. Doing sales is a great at the end of the day when everyone feels we have done the best we could do. A little visiting with our cliental and team, then the deliveries keeps me going.
With the TEAM we have, we are ready for most anything and we really have to thank our cliental for helping us.

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Doing things economically, just ME and a thought????

First just an update on some of trial products. This was one of our diamond discs we had sent out. It was our diamond general purpose depressed center grinding disc 5” x 5/8-11type 29 disc (see review below). We sent it to a welding fabrication shop which does a lot oilfield and industrial welding work. Here is the tester’s feedback.
Thanks again to Jim and Steve at Steelhead Fab for the input!!!

Now on to my thoughts for this week...

Isn’t it nice to save money on things we buy? Yes it sure is, but do you really put thought behind what we buy, besides thinking about the great deal we have gotten. Nope, I don’t really think a lot of people do. This is a ME world and no one really thinks of the other portion of the world. This is also true in the business world now where businesses just buy the cheapest items to stay competitive to the next guy. This causes havoc throughout the world as the third world countries can produce cheapy stuff which can be substandard stuff. We crave for the cheapy stuff and ME to sometimes. When we just go into a cheapy bargain store. You can smell the cheapness, that smell of plastic, makes me almost gag. But we buy it anyways thus throwing a fellow neighbor in our country out of work. Many parts of North America are in this situation right now and it will follow here soon too, even though we are in rich Alberta while going strong with what I think is a false boom for the next few years yet. I have been through some shops lately that are starving for work since June. September is upon us now and expectations are high as the winter drilling season approaches. Everyone is expecting an increase in work (ME and my expectations are there too) which may be true but just remember our thriftiness is going to catch up to us in jobs, etc. Meanwhile the red Asian communist world is just sitting back, probably rubbing their hands together as they are becoming the power houses of the world now. I remember when I was in high school (39 years ago), our social studies classes had talked about the invasion of the communist world, not just buy force but buy economics. Well the Russians fell which at that time seem the biggest threat but I can’t remember if we ever talked about the Asians. We probably never thought that they would be the ones economically although we thought they would over run us with their population (which is also happening). While we falter just watching them grow, we plan to sell them our riches for cheap, while a couple of provinces over and states to the south us are trying to grapple with the years past of the cheapy buying  frenzy at large box stores and so on selling the cheapy stuff. It just goes on and on. Is everyone hoping that if we get our pipelines to the destinations that someday we will have cheapy fuel prices????  Maybe I have put a thought in your minds but I don’t think it will register for many. It’s just ME and a cheapy thought.


Wednesday, August 22, 2012

ALL WORN OUT??
When we take our holidays it is suppose to rejuvenate us but some of us go just as hard so whenn we get back to work we are just as worn out or even more so.
Well some of us do that with our machinery also. At Bi-Metal we can help keeping your most wearing parts last longer. We offer hardsurfacing products and special filler welding rod to fix those hard wear parts. Here is just a small sample of some of the wear resistant products we carry.

 



For more information check this out http://www.eutectic-na.com/

Wednesday, August 8, 2012


Hot Product  Diversification
at Bi-Metal for You
Yes, we have a variety of products available, but first another update to our trial product testing.
The first disc was described to be used for cutting off. It was a flat 6” x .045 disc (see review below). We sent it to a welding fabrication shop which does a lot oilfield and industrial welding work. Here is the tester’s feedback.

The second disc was described to be used for grinding off. It was a flat 6” x 1/4 disc (see review below). We sent it to a welding fabrication shop which does a lot oilfield and industrial welding work. Here is the tester’s feedback.

We thank Kim at Tack Welding Ltd. for their input.
So now we still have another four products we have sent out for testing. If you have any interest in any of our tested products give us a call or email.
Back to Hot Product Diversification 
at Bi-Metal for You
As most people out in the industrial world, we are known for our excellent band saw blade products and service. We are thrilled that everyone knows us for that but some over look the other items, we provide like the Canadian abrasive products, our USA cutting tool line, Swedish welding wires and other Czech welding consumables plus the safety side of things like Canadian and USA gloves, fall protection, visors,  etc.
One exciting offer we are into is a free Thermacut replacement torch suitable for Hypertherm® HPR130/260® systems. ®, HPR130®, HPR260® are the Registered Trademarks of Hypertherm, Inc. Thermacut is in no way affiliated with the above-named manufacturer(s). Call us for info on this offer.
We at Bi-Metal Industrial Products Inc. stand behind all the products we provide and don’t forget the service as we don’t quit with finding a product that satisfies the needs of our customers. 

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Just an update on the blog on Trial Products from July 11, 2013. The second diamond disc was described to be used for grinding hard surfacing. It was a flat 5” x 1/4 disc. We found out that the hub that was giving us some grief could be totally remove thus we could us the standard mount to the grinder which is most cases is more favorable to most users..We again thank Trevor and Brad at Plasma-Tec for their input. The other 2 tests are still under way. Now to this weeks issue.

 Hand Wear Safety

Hand and finger safety is a big issue in the workplace. Finding the right fit and apparel is not an easy thing. The fit has to be right and the fabric has to fit the jobs that are being done. The other day I was at a customer’s location and the person I was with was looking for a glove, to take heat yet nimble enough to put a small nut onto a screw. They told me that one supplier’s catalogue had 50 pages of just gloves. That’s a lot of different gloves. So you see, talk to someone who has the knowledge to find the right pair of gloves for your applications and protect those precious fingers and hands. Remember too that a $1.00 pair of gloves doesn’t always do a great job. They could be a hazard and cost you in the long run.

At Bi-Metal, we can help you with your needs, from neoprene to insulated gloves.

See promo for some special gloves we stock following this blog.
 
       
Bi-Metal representative can further help you at 780-440-4002 or 1-888-440-4002, email info@bimetalinc.com.

We hope the above information is useful.

Also don’t forget to check out our other product promo pages at http://www.bimetalinc.com/promos.htm

Wednesday, July 11, 2012


Trial Products Reports
At Bi-Metal, we do trials on most our products, to see if we really want to introduce these new items to our clientele. When we do this we get to know the positives and negatives of these products. The testers usually focus right away on the cost of the product, even though they don’t pay for them. On great products the costs are usually recovered at the half way point or closer the end of the products lifetime. People that usually complain about costs of new products are not looking at the complete picture. Here are some thoughts that need to be considered when trying something new.
  1. Is it safe? (health wise and injury wise)
  2. Does it have CSA approval? (if required)
  3. Is product environmentally friendly? (Can it be recycled?)
  4. Does it improve labor productivity over present product? (time)
  5. Does the product do the job it was designed for being done just as easy as or better than existing product?
  6. What about damage to product while being used?
We just lately have done or in the middle of some trials on 3 different diamond grinding discs and the new BI-4002 series turning inserts.

The first diamond disc was described to be used for grinding and cutting off. It was a flat 5” x .140 disc (see review below) and is double sided. We sent it to a piping shop which does a lot of pipe welding work. Here is the tester’s feedback.

























We thank Ken and Rusty at Academy Fabrication for their input. They did have some other comments when we picked up the test sheets like “This disc would do really well to cut steel grading and may do a lot better in a steel fabrication place.” Over all down side the surface area on side of disc is only approximately 5/8” deep and for pipe beveling it should be at least 1-1/2” deep.

The second diamond disc was described to be used for grinding hard surfacing. It was a flat 5” x 1/4 disc (see review below) and is double sided. We sent it to a hard surfacing shop which does a lot of specialized oil down hole tooling work. Here is the tester’s feedback.

























We thank Trevor and Brad at Plasma-Tec for their input. They did have some other comments when we picked up the test sheets like “This disc is way better than your competitors but see if you can get the hub attachment redesigned. This is much better than using conventional abrasive stones.” Over all down a good product except hub.

If you have any interest in any of our tested products give us a call or email.

Wednesday, June 27, 2012


Knocking Enhanced Products
The other day when I was doing a sales call on a customer, I was trying to introduce them to an enhanced product. I had gotten relativity a quick “NO” to the suggestion of an alternate product. I asked the person why they weren’t interested and the response was, “we have tried knock offs before and they didn’t work as well as the OEM items.” I apologized to the person (as I do sell some items that are direct copies of off-patented products) but I told this poor soul that it was reengineered and it does a better job than the OEM product. “That can’t be. We don’t use knockoffs here” was the response again. I explained that these items are not knockoffs again and don’t even look the same, but it was to no avail. I was then given the run around how they have a contract to buy the OEM pieces from someone else and it went on and on. The wall was up. I felt really sorry for people like this, as the product, really improves what it does by no less than 25% and it isn’t even made in an eastern country. This happened to be a procurement manager for a large international company. Can you imagine someone throwing away 25% or more of something? Not even trying it. That’s $0.25 of every $1.00 this company is losing out on. I wonder what would happen to this person, if the workers and his superiors found out that their job could be done 25% more efficiently. Oh well , still made a sale selling OEM stuff but its the effectiveness of a product that bugs me, that’s my rant this week.
Now for something different check this out.  http://www.knockingoff.com/

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Fascinating Fastener Tooling
Ever look for a fastening tool and can never find the exact thing that would work so you make up something and it works kind of, then it takes you hours to do the job, but if you had the right item it would have taken 5 minutes. Been there done that.
We found a company that has some real innovative tools for fastening items and that is WERA TOOLS. They have items that are really user friendly, like the screw driver tips that actually grip the screw head or a ratchet, which’s head articulates 180 degrees.
The other innovative ideas they have are sets of different drivers in easy and useful containment holders eg. driver and bit holder.
This is a useful, innovative and excellent product line and is the way to go.
A Bi-Metal representative can further help you at 780-440-4002 or 1-888-440-4002, email info@bimetalinc.com.

We hope the above information is useful.

More Links that can help you with this topic: http://www-us.wera.de/home_us.html

Also don’t forget to check out our product promo pages at http://www.bimetalinc.com/promos.htm

Wednesday, May 30, 2012


Maintenance
 

Maintenance is one of the least thought of items in most shops. When something breaks down most shops are running around like the image above. Maintenance is a key issue that must be considered when purchasing a piece of equipment.
For instance the other day we were called to take a look at a vise on a machine. When the sales representative arrived he couldn’t believe the mess this machine was in. The machine was sold to the customer in 2006. It looked as if they had never cleaned the machine since new. Metal material scraps and metal filings were heaped all around, in and on the machine. There was just an aisle to get to vise wheel and an aisle to load and unload material into the machine.
The Bi-Metal Representative did not want to annoy the customer so he did some adjustments to the vise to make customer happy, however did mention to them that a good cleaning of machine and surroundings was in order. This situation was not just a maintenance one but a safety issue also. We did some additional help with them, like advice on maintenance and some new parts that were required to get their machine back to a safe state.
   A lot of maintenance issues can be avoided with regular cleaning, oiling and so on. So maybe it is a good idea to check out the manuals in your shop or even at home, to see what preventative measures you can take to prolong the life of your equipment. This helps keep the equipment in good working condition which makes it safer to use by employees and yourself.
  
            A Bi-Metal representative can further help you at 780-440-4002 or 1-888-440-4002, email info@bimetalinc.com.
We hope the above information is useful.
More Links that can help you with this topic: 
                                                            http://www.aplmachine.ab.ca/
Also don’t forget to check out our product promo pages at  http://www.bimetalinc.com/promos.htm

Wednesday, May 16, 2012


Abrasives



Bi-Metal Industrial Products Inc. is a master distributor for ABMAST which is the leading manufacturer of Canadian depressed and cut-off wheels. This is our primary line of abrasives, as we like to promote Canadian establishments.

Products they provide us with are everything from pointed grind stones, wire brushes, sanding pads, discs to diamond cutting wheels.

We have found that ABMAST products are excellent, very comparable and/or are better than their competitor’s products which come from other countries, plus ABMAST products are at a more reasonable cost.

A Bi-Metal representative can further help you at 780-440-4002 or 1-888-440-4002, email info@bimetalinc.com.

We hope the above information is useful.
Also don’t forget to check out our product promo pages at http://www.bimetalinc.com/promos.htm


More Links: http://www.abmast.com/

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Band Saw Blades
       

Through the last 13 years that Bi-Metal Industrial Products Inc. has been in business, we have had a lot of questions about band saw blades and how to run this particular tool on the machines they are designed for. We sell a wide range of blades from small ¼” carbon band saw blades to the large 3” Carbide.

We have found that operator, machine and material in this order have a direct correlation to the success of how a cutting job is going to be.

A lot of shops we have found, never really pay too much attention to the cutting process until something goes hay wire. That’s when we get calls.

The BAND SAW operation is one of the most crucial operations in a machine, fabrication or mill shop because it is the first, operation. If material doesn’t get cut no work can continue on a particular part.

Some planning is required:

1. Type and Size of Material to be cut

2. How many pieces

3. Type of machine

4. Who is cutting material



Today we will look some of the above items.

1. Check and make sure your machine can handle the job. Some machines have a large capacity but not the horse power. Eg. 7” x 12”machine running a 1HP motor with a 3/4” x .035 x --- x 7’9” blade is not capable of cutting a 7” round bar.

2. You need to know the grade, shape, hardness, size and is material to be bundled.

3. Determine the proper number of teeth per inch and tooth form. Here is a simple rule to consider. 3 to 24 teeth on the largest cross section of your work piece and the harder more brittle materials and smaller cross-sections the tooth form raker tooth or skip tooth is more favorable, eg. Mild steel materials.

4. Tooth forms with positive rake are useful for long–chipping and ductile material, eg. Stainless materials.

5. Look at your Cooling lubricant also, is water soluble sufficient or do you need to go to semi or fully synthetic or even a wax.


A Bi-Metal representative can further help you by calling 780-440-4002 or 1-888-440-4002 or email info@bimetalinc.com.

We hope the above information is useful.

More Links: http://www.lenoxtools.com/, http://www.wikus.com/

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

RB32 Magnetic Drill

We at Bi-Metal Industrial Products Inc. have your magnetic drilling solutions which are quick easy and clean. Take a look at this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zv905kX-wc