Misumi (http://misumiusa.com) is good and I would also recommend Stock
Drive Products (http://www.sdp-si.com/index.asp) for gears, pulleys,
couplings, etc...

Besides those, Mcmaster Carr (mcmaster.com) is pretty much one of the
best sources for off-the-shelf odds and ends. Best website I've ever
used, incredible customer service, and they ship stuff out lighning
fast (I once placed an order @ 4PM and got the part the next morning...
and that was with Ground shipping).


oldjag wrote:
Check out Mitsumi; they have a large range of semi-standard quick ship
parts which they customise various features for small addtional charges
:)


Grant Erwin wrote:
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.

I'm not an inventor. But I often buy a bewildering array of small to medium
metal things. I have a milling machine and a lathe and use them a fair amount,
and I can say that in my experience very little that I do is standard. I do tend
to work with what's out there, like angle iron, plate, pipe, tube or flat bar,
but I doubt you're going to be able to find standard shapes like you want.
You'll probably have to either figure out how to make them, or pay people to
make them for you. And most shops stay the hell away from inventors, so don't
let on that's what you are. They tend to have very vague specifications, and
really want a boatload of engineering thrown in for free, and tend to have
little money and zero credit, and are often living in their sister's garage.

GWE