Hello all,
Where do you all source your materials for assembling parts that you’ve printed. Is there a source that you use that really stands out? I am looking for Bolts and Nuts that I can design into my 3D projects
In SketchUP there’s a tool that allows one to remove/trim a 3D object from another. So I’d love to be able to use a STL of the parts (may have to design the Nuts&Bolts or possibly download the STL from the supplier) to allow for hopefully perfectly flush fits
McMaster Carr is great, but it’s in the US so there’s exchange and usually a heft delivery fee. But they have the best selection. Grainger Canada is also an option. But of course, 3D Printing Canada has a selection as well.
If you are looking for the CAD files for nuts and bolts McMaster Carr is your answer, Everything they sell they have a CAD diagram for. Fusion has the plugin right in the designer but I’m sure you can get the plugin for anything.
As for the physical nuts and bolt, 3DPC carry mostly everything from 2.5mm up to 8mm in size and in lengths from 6mm up to 55mm.
Threaded Inserts are also really useful if you have a soldering iron, all you have to do is design a properly sized hole and then use the iron to melt the threaded insert. I was skeptical at first but since switching, it’s been very easy to integrate bolts and nuts into my builds.
& I will need to get some stainless steel nozzles for printing CF-Nylon, wish I knew right off the top of my head how to get the right ones for my machine (CraftBot Flow IDEX)
Is McMaster Carr shipping to Canada again? They stopped years ago and cancelled my account because I couldn’t buy from them. I use Spae Naur for most of what I could get from them.
Yes, MMC ships to Canada. I’ve got an account through work (in Toronto) and we get stuff delivered all the time. The only thing might be that you can’t create a personal/non-commercial account. So if you’re workplace is cool with it, you might just have to use your work address and info when setting up an account.
I orders from MMC at work and by the time the Purchase Order is issued most of the times I gets it in 3 days! These guys are faster then Amazon!! LOL One order got to me that fast that I thought they parachuted the items to our company!!
I never tried to order for me at home so I cant say if they would but for commercial with an account 2 thumbs up!!
Oh, no we had a corporate account with them too, they cancelled it in 2005 and wrote that they were only keeping a few Canadian accounts and basically the rest of you can get stuffed. We were ordering about 2k a month from them at the time I have a file right here from a machine we were making and all the hardware was ordered from them. Also we used to order parts from them to drop ship into our US customers that didn’t even have to ship to Canada and they couldn’t tell us why they wouldn’t sell to us in that case either. There was defiantly something fishy about it. I know some of my other suppliers couldn’t order from them either or had orders in process cancelled.
that’s brutal, I’ve order a couple of things personally a couple of years ago and got them, shocked that all of a sudden they are cutting out the Canadian market.
I’m starting to plan a “makers toolkit” of sorts, and I’m looking to include M3 hex screws/nuts, some ball bearings and some pneumatic fittings. Still wondering what else I should get.
The fittings I’ll get from 3DP, but the other parts I’ll get from amazon since I can get a kit for the screws for about 25$ or so.
I’d love to hear what other people are stocking in their “maker toolkit”
When I found out that 3DPC carried metric bolts, I stocked up on sizes I’ve been running out of. It’s a pity they don’t sell them in small boxes. I wonder how they receive them? In packages of 1000 perhaps? Anyway, I kind of felt bad for whomever had to individually count out 20 washers and hand-write it on the ziploc bag. I had originally ordered all my metric parts from China in kits, but you know how kits go; there are always parts you use far more often and you run out of one part while other compartments are still full, hence you never buy a kit again. You end up just restocking compartments, but some of these small metric screws are really hard to find. I’m glad I now have a source.
I wish someone sold a bits kit. M2-M8 10mm-55mm washers nuts, bowden tube, fittings, selection of T nuts, selection of common jst connectors and pins, insert nuts, maybe some wire selections. All the kit for 3d printer people common bits you encounter needing for a printer or generally making things with one.
