Here is a suggestion for thin shim material on the cheap: a soda pop, beer or any other typical aluminum drink can is made of .004" coated aluminum. You can make one flat by pulling it over a counter top against the formed curve a couple of times. You also can use 400 grit wet/dry sandpaper to sand off the coating on both sides and reduce the thickness to somewhere between .002" and .003". Just use a sanding block or piece of wood and sand wet to be sure you reduce the thickness evenly. And also, I bought a feeler gauge set at Auto Zone a couple of months ago which had around 15~16 blades and the thinnest was .0015". It cost me $6 with tax and it dawned on me if I ever needed a really thin piece of metal to use as a small shim this might be a good source.
