smaerd
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Posts: 1262
Registered: 23-1-2010
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Mood: hmm...
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Tinkering suppliers
Not sure what else to call this. I see a lot of people using lego rigs and other such. Which is great it's readily available easily modifiable etc. I
think with the advent of hobbyist robotics there are so many ways to go about building things. We may all benefit by sharing suppliers for places that
will ship to individuals in small or larger quantities at fair costs.
Before anyone shouts and says "this isn't chemistry or biology, etc!", that may be true from a direct stand-point. Lately, many of us are working on
DIY analytical instruments, automated processes, etc.
Servocity.com - has a lot of nice odds and ends. Interesting supports and such. I was specifically impressed with their Aluminum channels both
cost-wise and the accompanying mounts etc. Wish I knew about this when I was doing my roto-vap project(see what I mean here http://www.servocity.com/html/1__bore_round_pillow_block__53...).
http://www.servocity.com/html/aluminum_channel.html
Amazonsupply.com - pretty decent selection of odds and ends but often overly priced. May be useful in a pinch.
SDP/SI - Lots of pulleys, gears, bearings, fasteners, etc. From affordable decent quality materials to high price higher end stuff. Wide selection.
https://sdp-si.com/eStore/Catalog/Group/347
Adafruit - very nice hobbyist electronics outlet. Sure some things are a bit over-priced but their micro-controllers and array of goods is pretty
reasonable.
https://www.adafruit.com/
http://www.superbrightleds.com/ - granted not as cheap as many places but they do have a decent selection of LED's and actually provide some
technical data for them.
off-topic:
I don't mean to pitch but if anyone knows of places that sell specific diameter bare metal rod for pulley drives or simple ways to put pulley drives
together feel free to PM me or post below  .
on topic:
Looking forward to hearing about some more good suppliers!
[Edited on 23-5-2013 by smaerd]
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watson.fawkes
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As always, check McMaster-Carr. More drill rod and shafting than you'll need. Also the pulleys, and the belts, and whatever else mechanical you need. Prices can be
a bit better elsewhere (if you want to spend the time), but you can't beat the service and will have a hard time beating the shipping.
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Morgan
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I buy from these guys from time to time, mostly from the raw materials category. I think MSC is their parent company. I have the MSC big book which
has more stuff but usually higher prices.
http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INSRHM
http://www.mscdirect.com/
[Edited on 25-5-2013 by Morgan]
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chemcam
Hazard to Others
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Mood: I will be gone until mid-september, on a work contract.
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For very low prices on microelectronic items check out www.jameco.com that's where I do most of my business and have for many years.
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12AX7
Post Harlot
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Mood: informative
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Adafruit goes along in my mind with Sparkfun. Assorted electrical and robotic stuff, hobbyist-blogosphere material.
For just electronic components, Mouser and Digikey are pretty much go-to. Like McMaster, they're somewhat expensive, but they have everything at your
fingertips.
Tim
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dontasker
Harmless
Posts: 40
Registered: 19-12-2012
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Mood: Plopping
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www.allelectronics.com
www.goldmine-elec.com
Both are similar and have amazing prices. Goldmine has some unique items like gieger tubes and yag laser rods.
If you can wait the month or two it will take to ship:
WWW.dx.com
They started offering more parts and microcontroller supplies. Used to be a source of very cheap lasets (often underpowered or with such high infrared
output that they could be fun, but not too safe or reliable). Unfortunatly for people in the USA, FDA has banned import of lasers pointers with
>5mw output.
I'll add more as I think of them.
Forgive my spelling... I'm using my phone and i have to disable my autocorect if I want to avoid further awkard messages sent to my family.
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dontasker
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Obviously, these are mostly for US residents.
www.harborfreight.com
Tools and stuff. Junk, but so cheap you can afford to break a few.
www.element14.com
A branch of Newark that is more geared towards hobbyists and developers. They have some connections with Adafruit and also have forums.
www.sciplus.com
Super cheap. Some good stuff.
www.grainger.com
More for industrial and large business supply. Sales to small groups or individuals are often not worth it. Might be worth it if you did a group buy.
As always, check local surplus companies. Some businesses will auction off pallets of stuff for next to nothing.
Universities are another good source of low prices on very expensive equipment and parts.
Various state and government agencies may have auctions.
http://www.repairfaq.org/REPAIR/
and
www.repairfaq.org
Great lists. A bunch is outdated, but some is maintained or still valid.
http://mightyohm.com/wiki/resources:surplus
Small-ish list, but some nice places are listed.
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smaerd
International Hazard
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Registered: 23-1-2010
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Mood: hmm...
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Just made an order from this webstore as they had very good prices on bearings and shaft collars. Other webstores geared towards hobbiests and
robotics people had the same materials for I don't know 3x the cost.
http://www.usabearingsandbelts.com/m7/100740--fr188-zz-fr188...
Shipped quickly. Everything as expected, reasonable shipping.
Thanks for the mcmaster carr tip they had just what I needed.
I can also now vouch for servocity shipping quickly. Again a bit over priced but what can ya do.
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smaerd
International Hazard
Posts: 1262
Registered: 23-1-2010
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Mood: hmm...
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Found an excellent supplier site for linear motion type projects.
http://www.makeblock.cc/
Definitely worth looking into!
Check out their thread drive pack - http://www.makeblock.cc/thread-drive-pack/ very reasonable. edit - ahhh it doesn't come with all of the beams and things pictured. So maybe it's
not as reasonable as I thought but at least it's all on one spot without having to look around.
[Edited on 1-2-2014 by smaerd]
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hyfalcon
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I've always found their component prices to be better than most.
http://futurlec.com/
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IrC
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Mood: Discovering
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Good places to find useful items:
http://www.surplusshed.com/ Optics
http://www.surplussales.com/ Misc
http://www.bgmicro.com/ Electronic
http://www.alltronics.com/ Electronic
http://www.sciplus.com/ Hobby - Science
https://www.fairradio.com/ Electronic Military Surplus
http://www.rfparts.com/ Electronic - RF
"Science is the belief in the ignorance of the experts" Richard Feynman
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smaerd
International Hazard
Posts: 1262
Registered: 23-1-2010
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Mood: hmm...
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Found a pretty good supplier for those 1-5W LED's, drivers, etc.
http://www.ledsupply.com/
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WGTR
National Hazard
Posts: 971
Registered: 29-9-2013
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Build your own circuit boards:
http://www.thinktink.com
Their prices and service have always been good for me, and they sell supplies that are hard to find elsewhere (like short rolls of dry photo film).
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Metacelsus
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Registered: 26-12-2012
Location: Boston, MA
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Mood: Double, double, toil and trouble
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http://www.oshpark.com is my preferred custom circuit board fabricator. It's reasonably priced, and can do stuff (like double sided boards with
solder mask and silkscreen) that I can't do myself.
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Texium
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Thread Moved
21-11-2023 at 14:06 |
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