wrote:

Are there any amateur inventors here who frequently buy small metal
parts?(Parts that may need little in the way of machining).

I was hoping to get ideas about where to get preferrably standardized
parts that are relatively simple geometric shapes for the projects I'd
like to put together.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

What _kind_ of small standardized parts?

If it's difficult to machine as a one-off, commonly used, and easy to
machine in bulk then yes. In descending order of availability screws,
handles, gears are all available. Anything more specialized is best
obtained by taking a chunk of metal or plastic and removing all the bits
that don't look like what you need. Try:

McMaster-Carr (www.mcmaster.com) tools, various bits
Small Parts, Inc (www.smallparts.com) lots of, well, small parts
WM Berg (google for it) gears, belts, chain

You may also want to look into Herbach & Rademan (google, they're on the
web). They're a surplus place with lots of interesting stuff that you
can prototype with.

There are others, but I don't keep track beyond the above.

--

Tim Wescott
Wescott Design Services
http://www.wescottdesign.com