Online Metals Copper Protobox 10 lb - Assorted Shapes – Pure Copper Sheets, Rods, Plates, Stock Tube, Pellets for Crafts, Jewelry, and Scrap Metal, Random Copper Pieces for DIY and Industrial Projects

A 10‑pound grab bag of copper offcuts sounds like chaos in a carton. In practice, the Protobox has been a surprisingly useful way to keep my shop stocked with workable copper for small builds, tests, and spontaneous ideas. Over a few weeks I used my box for jewelry blanks, heat-spreader prototypes, electroplating experiments, and some brazing practice. It’s not a substitute for specced, cut-to-size material; it’s the box you reach for when you need copper now and can design around what’s in front of you.

What showed up and how it was sorted

My box arrived well-packed and heavy, with the contents bagged and nested to prevent the thinner sheet from getting mangled by heavier chunks. The assortment in my case included:

• Short lengths of round rod and a couple pieces of pipe/tube
• Offcuts of plate and sheet in a range of thicknesses
• A handful of small pellets and nubbins

Weight was a hair over the advertised 10 pounds on my scale. The cuts are exactly what you’d expect from a drop bin: sawed, sheared, or torch-cut ends with occasional burrs, shop marks, and light oxidation. Nothing was unusably damaged; everything just needed the usual cleanup—file, deburr, Scotch-Brite, maybe a quick pickle or acid wash for brightwork.

If you’re chasing a specific cross-section or a particular length, this format will frustrate you. It’s random by design. My mix leaned slightly toward sheet and short rod, with a couple hollow sections. Another box could skew differently. That’s the tradeoff—and part of the appeal—of an assorted pack like this.

Material quality and consistency

The supplier calls it pure copper, and the stock behaved like it. Electrical conductivity was as expected in a quick four-wire measurement compared to known C110 coupons I keep for reference. The pieces work-hardened under hammering as copper should and annealed predictably with a dull red heat followed by water quench. Threads cut cleanly with hand taps when I used proper lubricant, and drilling required the typical attention to chip evacuation that gummy copper demands.

Because these are offcuts, you won’t get heat lot certs or alloy stamps. For most craft, thermal, and experimental uses, that’s fine. For critical electrical components, code-compliant plumbing, or regulated fabrication, you should source certified stock. Consider this a versatile copper cache for general shop use, not a substitute for spec’d material.

Working the assortment

• Jewelry and small crafts: The sheet offcuts became quick pendants and inlay plates. A disc cutter and punch set made fast work of small blanks. A light pickle brought up a consistent finish before patina. Having a few thicknesses on hand was helpful for layered pieces.

• Thermal applications: I machined a couple improvised heat spreaders and a soldering jig base from thicker plate. Copper’s thermal conductivity shines here, and the offcuts were perfect sacrificial stock for trial-and-error layouts. For those building hot plates or heat sinks, flattening the plate with a file and surface plate gets you to a respectable contact finish quickly.

• Electrochemistry: I cut several anodes for copper electroplating baths. The rods and small plates are perfect for experimentation, and the pellets are easy to weigh out for solution preparation or to use as sacrificial anode material. After a light bright dip, they performed as expected.

• Brazing/welding practice: Copper’s high thermal conductivity can be challenging with a torch, which makes small coupons ideal practice material. I had good results with silver-bearing brazing alloys and an aggressive flux. TIG “welding” copper is niche and heat-hungry; for most users, stick to brazing or soldering unless you have the amperage and technique.

• Fixtures and one-offs: Short rod sections became standoffs and soft-faced tooling, and a length of tube turned into a simple ferrule. None of these were planned projects; the material on hand nudged me toward opportunistic builds.

The reality of randomness

The biggest variable is the ratio of solid to hollow stock and the distribution of sizes. If you’re hoping for thick plate and heavy rod, you might open a box with more tube than you wanted. Conversely, a sheet-heavy box can be a windfall for jewelers or anyone who does etching, embossing, or small panels. The pellets are polarizing: indispensable if you cast or run electrochemistry, less exciting if you only want millable chunks.

My advice is simple: buy this only if you can adapt designs to the material you get. If you need a 1/4-inch rod or a 3/16-inch plate in a specific size, order that outright. The Protobox rewards flexibility and penalizes certainty.

Machining and finishing notes

• Cutting: Bandsaw for rod and plate, aviation snips or a shear for thin sheet. Carbide toothed blades handle the gummy nature of copper better than HSS when sawing.

• Drilling and tapping: Use sharp bits, slow-to-moderate speeds, and plenty of cutting fluid. Break chips often. For tapping, go a size larger if your threads aren’t mission-critical; copper can grab and gall.

• Deburring: A V-grinder with a Scotch-Brite wheel, followed by a hand file, cleans up most edges in seconds. Watch for rolled edges on sheared sheet.

• Annealing: If you plan to shape or dome pieces, anneal early and often. Copper hardens quickly under work and softens reliably with heat.

• Cleaning: For a bright finish, a citric acid bath or proprietary pickle solution removes oxide without fuss. Rinse thoroughly to avoid residue that can interfere with soldering or brazing.

Value and what you’re paying for

Buying cut-to-length copper in small quantities is expensive. An assorted box like this spreads your dollars across a variety of sections you might not otherwise keep on hand. I value it for the convenience: always having a chunk of copper within arm’s reach has saved me multiple trips and small orders. On a per-pound basis, it’s typically favorable compared to retail-lengths, though that calculation depends on how much of your box aligns with your use case.

Waste is the hidden cost. If your assortment skews toward shapes you don’t use, you’ll park some of the weight on a shelf. I mitigate this by treating “less desirable” pieces as practice stock for cutting, finish experiments, patina tests, and student projects. In that framing, almost nothing is wasted.

Where it fits—and where it doesn’t

Best suited for:
- Makerspaces, schools, and hobby shops that need a ready pile of copper for learning and prototyping
- Jewelers and metal artists who benefit from varied sheet thicknesses and small chunks
- Tinkerers running plating, etching, or electricity/heat experiments
- Maintenance folks who appreciate having copper on the shelf for ad hoc fixes, shims, and fixtures

Not ideal for:
- Projects requiring certified material or tightly controlled dimensions
- Fabricators who need predictable lengths and uniform sections at scale
- Anyone unwilling to deburr, clean, and occasionally anneal material before use

Minor gripes

• Expect some hollow stock and pellets. If you only want solid bar and plate, this format isn’t for you.
• Edges can be sharp. Gloves and a deburr pass are non-negotiable.
• Surface oxidation varies. It’s cosmetic and fixable but adds prep time.
• No material certs, which is normal for offcuts but worth underscoring.

The bottom line

I like the Protobox because it keeps me building. The assortment isn’t perfect, and it isn’t meant to be. It’s a pragmatic, shop-friendly way to maintain a stash of workable copper when inspiration hits or when a fixture, anode, or heat spreader needs to exist this afternoon, not next week. The material quality has been solid, the mix useful more often than not, and the price-to-flexibility ratio makes sense for a small shop like mine.

Recommendation: I recommend the Protobox to makers, educators, and maintenance-minded users who can design around an assorted mix. You’ll get high-quality copper in a variety of shapes, enough to prototype broadly and learn a lot in the process. If your work hinges on exact sizes or certifications, buy to spec. For everyone else, this is a dependable, economical way to put real copper within reach.