"Karl Townsend" remove .NOT wrote in
message nk.net...
Both great vendors...

I personally order from McMaster Carr first. (Or J&L if its tooling.) They
have an unbeatable combination of service, selection, service, fair price,
and service. Oh, did I mention they have the world's best service?

If McMaster don't have it, and its a bolt screw etc. then Fastenall.
If McMaster don't have it and its HVAC or electrical then Grainger.

Yeah, McM don't play! Very efficient. MSC as well.

But ito of prices, McMs prices are almost identical, if not a cent or two
higher, to MSC's
Strangely, tho, altho their catalog is smaller (at least by weight!), they
seem to have more "odd" sizes, eg, 1x5 mm dowel pins, whilst MSC *starts* at
3 mm--ditto bearings, etc.
MSC/McM will also try to find odd-er sizes for you. But not always
successfully.

For example, I thought I wanted 1x4 mm dowels. I know a place by me (metric
multistandard, Westchester, NY 800 431 2792--very good comprehensive
resource for "stuff") that had them , but the price was thru the
roof--$17/100 (about 1/4 of one thimble-full), whereas McM is asking about
$7 for the 1x5.
So I asked McM if they could get 1x4--no go; apparently they don't know
about metric multi!
(Turns out I can use the 1x5s, thank gawd...)

Altho their prices are certainly better than Metric Multi's, I'm still not
wild about the prices--the markups are *substantial*, by a factor of 3 in
some cases, as I was able to personally verify.
However, their (MSCs) prices on boxed items, like sheetmetal screws, nuts,
etc. seems far better than HD or yer local hard-on, I mean, hardware store.

Yer local tool supplier likely has accounts w/ MSC/McM, so if you need an
odd small item where the shipping will be greater than the item itself, your
tool supplier can order from them and likely absorb the shipping, as they
probably do this for a bunch of people. Really handy if you do this
regularly, as I do.

Grainger drops the hammer, tho--merciless. Best to find an alternative
source for motors, if you can. ebay is good, yer local rewinding place has
hundreds lying around, scrap yards, etc.

Never heard of Fastenall. Good to know!
----------------------------
Mr. P.V.'d
formerly Droll Troll



Karl