For example:
Custom machined beds plates:
Related:
I’ve had great experiences with xometry’s made-in-China option in terms of pricing, lead time, etc. The order engineers are here in Gaithersburg and they essentially post the work to a ‘job board’ for overseas shops.
I explored Protolabs Network in the context of custom Formlabs prints with a specialized resin:
Thinking about submitting the order as a test to check the quality.
I also came across https://oshwlab.com/, specifically:
There’s a company called Protocase that I’ve had a good experience with in the past. They specialize in sheet metal parts (stuff like custom electronics enclosures) and have a lot of their workflows optimized for doing this and I have found their prices and lead times to be very competitive. They even have an app to generate enclosure for those who don’t want to deal with CAD.
Although they are based in Nova Scotia, they seem to have no issue delivering large/heavy parts at reasonable shipping costs (I think whatever they quote includes shipping).
Apart from specializing in sheet metal manufacturing, they offer a lot of different services. I think I’ve ordered CNC’d parts as well as custom gaskets in the past. I will mention I don’t believe they are as optimized for CNCing as some of the quotes I’ve received in the past have been higher than expected. That being said, their quality is great. After their designers take a look at your design, they will make suggestions/modifications to make sure that part can be manufactured and send it back to you for approval.
I have also had instances in the past where I’ve ordered a part that came in wrong, and they have replaced it for no charge numerous times. I specifically recall one time where there was shared blame on both sides (our instructions were unclear) and they still replaced it at no cost. Maybe it’s also a good note to add that they may do this for higher volume customers and less inclined for an academic lab.
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Not specifically a place where you buy things, but octopart.com is a tool I’ve found useful for electronics. It’s a great electronic parts search engine to compare inventory and costs from various electronics suppliers (digikey, mouser, etc.). Usually if I see a part is out of stock from one supplier, I’ll search for that part number in Octopart to find where else that part can be sourced from.
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For general hardware, mcmaster-carr is a resource I rely on a lot.
PROS
- Wide selection of hardware and is generally well stocked
- Learning resource: They provide custom descriptions for many of their parts. Some of the level of detail they provide is incredible (application notes, material selection, installation tips, etc.). Also important to note that these descriptions are written in plain English for a general audience. Adam Savage talks about this here.
- CAD library - They have a team of engineers just building CAD models. It’s extremely rare for a re-distributor to provide CAD models from different manufacturers. It really helps when building digital twins of physical setups. For Fusion and Solidworks users, they have a direct integration with importing CAD models.
- Next day delivery (it’s pretty reliable)
- Summary of important specs (so there is no need to flip through a datasheet)
- Shopping cart sharing (makes purchasing easier)
- Picture friendly website
- Website speed
CONS
- Paying a premium
- They don’t tell you the manufacturer information. Sometimes you have to order the part, find the manufacturer part number on the physical part/box, and look up the information if you want a datasheet. Although for most instances, all you need to know are certain specifications, which they do a pretty good job at summarizing the important details.
For something specific like optics, pneumatics, electronics, there are probably better resources for off-the shelf parts. But for a general one-stop shopping of off-the-shelf hardware, I think mcmaster-carr is great and superior to its competitors (in my very biased opinion).
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Related:
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