List of good suppliers

[GasSavers_maximilian]

Internet searches can often give you what you want, but I still have a list of online suppliers for projects that I specifically check out. I'm always looking for new ones, so if anybody's got a few that'd be great. Here are some I frequent:

Ebay (you never know...)
H&R Surplus - surplus electronics & some mechanical
American Science & Surplus - surplus electronics & some mechanical
Marlin P. Jones & Assoc. - electronics & some mechanical
Surplus Center - mechanical surplus, fair amount of hydraulics and pneumatics
Grizzly Industrial - tools
McMaster Carr (can be expensive, depending) - industrial supply
Grainger (can also be expensive) - industrial supply
Harbor Freight Tools - cheap tools (check if retail store near you)
JTS Machinery - metalworking supplies

More links from posts on this thread:

From dkjones96:
The Electronic Goldmine - electronics & some mechanical stuff
Markertek - cable & connectors
CableOrganizer.com - sleeves
Mouser - specific electronic parts
Digi-Key - even more specific electronic parts
Futurlec - miniboards for Interface boards, isolated dc motor control, LED displays, also components and PCB supplies

From Jay2TheRescue:
All Electronics - electronics & some mechanical
MCM Electronics - electronics

From bowtieguy:
Northern Tools and Equipment - Tools mostly
Pat's Small Engine Parts Plus
Online Boot Store

From RoadWarrior (in Canada):
Forest City Surplus - Camping related surplus & misc
Princess Auto - auto related surplus

C&H Sales was good, but they shut down. I had good places for RC car servos and micro-controllers, but seem to have lost the links when I migrated from my old computer. In fact I lost all my supplier links, but was able to recall the ones above.

[dkjones96]

For general electronics parts and stocking up I frequent The Electronic Goldmine. They have some interesting stuff. They do have a minimum order amount on there of $10 and shipping added in there makes it where you are spending about $20 each time but their assortments are WAY worth it. I get the small electronics surprise box and it takes me a good few hours to sort through all the resistors, capacitors, and other stuff in there.

For cable supplies(cable and connectors) I visit Markertek. For sleeves I go to http://cableorganizer.com/. Since ALL of my cables are hand made they tend to get a lot of business from me.

For my specific electronics parts I use Mouser. At times they don't have what I need and I end up at Digi-Key but I don't like that I can't order 11 SMD resistors from them because they make you order SMD stuff like that in sets of 10.

[GasSavers_maximilian]

Some places have grab bags that really are lousy, so that's good to know.

[dkjones96]

The large surprise box has more actual item in it then components. I got 6 hardcore reduction gear boxes (gotta be in the 750-1500:1 ratio), a synchronous timing motor, a 120v water pump, and some other crazy things. I prefer the smaller box.

[GasSavers_maximilian]

Friend of mine got a 50lb surprise box from someplace (wish I could recall) and it had lots and lots of old computer cards, RAM, and stuff like that. Pretty much completely worthless.

[dkjones96]

Gross, I could see a box like that being full of old ISA 256k Trident video cards, 30-pin simms, and 486 SX25 chips.

[theholycow]

I liked ISA 256k Trident video cars, 30-pin simms, and 486 SX25 chips. That was fun hardware to work with.

[GasSavers_maximilian]

If it hadn't gone to the dump already, the lot of it would be yours!

The Electronic Goldmine is fantastic! My will to resist is just barely holding out, but the next time I actually need something, I'm going to pad the order like there's no tomorrow.

[dkjones96]

It's so easy to add a few 20 cent things here and $2 things there and end up with a $75 order at that place. My first order from them was intended to be only $30 and it more than doubled that by the time I was done. However, I don't think I'll need to buy an LED ever again! lol

[dkjones96]

Originally Posted by theholycow

I liked ISA 256k Trident video cars, 30-pin simms, and 486 SX25 chips. That was fun hardware to work with.

It's expensive hardware now. Most if it is because everyone thinks that 'vintage' computer hardware means it's worth more, which I think has gotten the price up to a point that it takes just as much to load a 486 with 32mb of ram that it does to load my Dell at home with 4GB. Just go to ebay and do a search for 8086. It's stupid.

Plus, gold is more like $1000 an ounce now instead of the $200 it was back when they made those thick, solid gold processor pins so people have been harvesting them like crazy.