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

My kid says: "I want to be an inventor when I grow up".

I shudder and say "no, you want to be an engineer, get paid to invent
stuff that actually works, and not have to take it in the shorts when
the marketing concept was all screwed up".

He hasn't seen the light yet, but if he wants us to pay for his room and
board after he's 18 he's gonna have to be going to school taking
something that may someday help him to get a job. It helps that I
listed all the talents you need to be an "inventor" and pointed out that
they are all taught in engineering schools.

--

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