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I’ve got a few links I’d like to highlight for people who are into tinkering and mechanical stuff. If you are a tinkering hobbyist you know how frustrating it can be to find exactly what you need, except the store that sells it has a 1000$ minimum order, or the part is only available in 10,000 unit pallets. Thats fine if you are a big company, not so useful for individuals. So here are a few links to places that have good stuff at reasonable prices, and no or low minimum order requirements.

* “Small Parts”:http://www.smallparts.com – This shop bills itself as “the hardware store for researchers and developers,” which is an accurate description. They sell everything from nuts and bolts (made out of boring old steel, or fun things like stainless, titanium or nylon), to various types of tubing and raw metals, to tools like pana-vices and tweezers of all types. Basically they offer all the high precision, odd material stuff you won’t find at a regular hardware store. No minimum order!
* “eMachineShop”:http://www.emachineshop.com – This online machine shop has their own CAD software (Windows only, unfortunately) that allows you to design a part (or import an already designed part in DXF format, a popular cross software CAD format), and then submit it to their server, and have it machined for you in whatever quantity you desire. You choose the materials, finishes, packaging and everything else, the program’s intelligent software calculates the cost and lead time for your project, and then bills your credit card when you submit the order. The process if very fast, and reasonably priced. Cost for one-offs is pretty high, but the price drops dramatically at more than 10 units, which is still a decent number for the serious hobbyist. The software is a basic but very flexible CAD program, and its ability to import DXF files means that if you are already familiar with SolidWorks or AutoCAD or something, you can continue to use it, and just export files to the eMachineShop software. The intelligent software is great for people who have never done machining before, as it will check your design for you and make suggestions for easier or cheaper machining, or let you know if you part is impossible to machine. No minimum order, but the price breaks are dramatic if you buy more than one item.
* “ExpressPCB”:http://www.expresspcb.com – In the same vein as eMachineShop, ExpressPCB is a company that offers free software that allows you to design a schematic and a printed circuit board for your electronics project, and then, from within the program, get an automated price quote, and make your purchase. The whole process if very fast due to the complete automation of the system. Prices are reasonable, and they offer good deals on ‘mini boards’, which are 2.5″ X 3.8″ boards, three for 51$, which is a good package for hobbyists for whom exact size is not very important. They do one, two, three and four layer boards with screen printing, plated through holes, and other professional features. I’ve seen boards they have produced, and they are always top quality at a reasonable price, and fast turn around. The free software (again, Windows only, boo) is good CAD software for doing schematic drawing and PCB design (I use it for my designs even when I’m not using their service), and the software imports and exports a few common formats, so you aren’t locked into their software forever. No minimum order, but again, prices decrease fast the more you buy.
* “American Science and Surplus”:http://www.sciplus.com – No hobbyist link list would be complete without the bestest surplus dealer ever. American Science and Surplus (or ASS, as I like to call it), buys up large quantities of everything from motors, to lenses, to lab materials to household items to toys to god knows what else. Their website is pretty well layed out, and the descriptions of the items are classic. You can actually entertain youself for hours by reading their clever descriptions of items, humorous titles, and hilarious self deprecation. Clearly they understand their audience. Shipping is fast, products are cheap, and while much of it is low quality surplus, they always reflect that fairly in the price. And if you are looking for something special like microscopes or tools, they sometimes have amazing deals on quality equipment. ASS does have a modest 10$ minimum order, but you should have no trouble reaching this value with all their cool stuff.
* “Harbor Freight Tools”:http://www.harborfreight.com – Harbor Freight Tools is a tool company that sells hardware and tools, like drill presses, pneumatic equipment, circular saws, and the like. Most of it is cheap Chinese made stuff, but again, the quality is fairly reflected in the price. For someone who isn’t going to use their drill press every day, it doesn’t make sense to buy a 400$ awesome press. I got a drill press for 40$ that is great for the price, and an amazing value. It might not hold up to daily use in a professional shop, but my biweekly drilling doesn’t slow it down at all, since 40$ was all I could afford, its better than no drill press! If you need a specialty tool for occasional use, you can probably get a great price on it from Harbor Freight. No minimum order, but watch out for high shipping costs due to heavy tools. Check to see if they have a retail shop in your area! Note, if you see a great sale price on the website, print the page out and take it with you to the retail shop, sometimes the shops don’t have the most recent pricing on their items, but they will honor the pricing on the webpage as long as you bring in the printout! I bought a 40 foot silver tarp there and I saved over 60$ because I brought in the webpage printout, they had no knowledge of the low sale price in the retail shop, but the did honor the webpage price.
* “All Electronics”:http://www.allelectronics.com – If you need a special electronic component it makes sense to go to a shop like “Mouser”:http://www.mouser.com or “DigiKey”:http://www.digikey but if you just need some LEDs, or cheap pots, or sockets or something, a surplus electronics outlet makes more sense. Why pay 5$ each for a pot that matches all your exact specs when you could pay 1.25$ for a pot that is basically what you need. They don’t have everything, but they have a lot of stuff, so before you go to a fancier electronics outlet, check out All Electronics, and see if they have what you need, or something close enough, at a much lower price. They also have good prices on PCB etching supplies if you make your own boards and need raw ferric chloride or cheap copper clad boards. No minimum order!
* “Online Metals”:http://www.onlinemetals.com – Online Metals is a shop that sells raw metal products, such as sheet, tube, rod, etc. They have a wide range of materials, good prices, and their website calculates price for cut-to-size and cut-to-length items. No more waiting three days to hear back on your cut to size price quote, the webpage does it automatically. If you need a certain length of rod, or size of sheet, their prices are very reasonable, and they have no minimum order. They sell some of the same stuff as Small Parts, listed above, but the fact that you don’t need a special price quote for cut items means if you are just buying raw materials, you’ll get faster turn around from Online Metals. They also have a good website with excellent information, as well as the ability to display sizes in gauge, inches or millimeters depending on your needs.
* “Online Plumbing Supply”:http://plumbingsupply.com/ – Sometimes you just need some big copper fittings, or weird valves, or something else that your local Home Despot doesn’t carry. So where do you go for strange plumbing supplies? Online Plumbing Supply, of course. They have very low prices, tons of stuff, a decent website, and good information about their products. This is a good place to go for all those strange little fittings you might need. No minimum order.
* “eBay.com”:http://www.ebay.com – Yes, eBay. You can find people selling all sorts of horrible crap all over the place, but amongst the plush dolls, the collectible beer cans and the kangaroo scrotums, you can find some good deals on materials or tools. Make sure you know what you are getting, and understand that used items may be damaged, and new items may be surplus from weird places, and not work exactly like you expect. Check the seller’s feedback carefully, and if a deal seems too good to be true, it probably is. Someone might be trying to screw you, so be careful. Also, read descriptions very carefully, and make sure you understand their payment options and shipping costs (sometimes a cheap item may have very high shipping and handling!), and if something about the deal looks fishy, pass it up. There is no such thing as a once-in-a-lifetime deal on eBay, if something is up this week, it will be up again next week. With all these warnings though, know that with care, you can find some interesting and useful items. In recent days I bought new brake pads for my scooter, a surplus vertical deflection amplifier plugin for my Tektronix oscilloscope (at about .03% of its MSRP), and a big handful of PIC microcontrollers, all at very low prices. I’ve only been screwed once on eBay, and it was for an 11$ auto manual, so I don’t feel so bad about it.

Well, I hope this helps some of you tinkerers, and if anyone else has a supplier they think would go well in this list, let me know, and I’ll put it up!

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