Canadian Suppliers?

McMaster Carr let me place a big order online before e-mailing me to let me know they don't ship to Canada. (That might be something useful to put on your website, guys!) Anyway, now I am looking for suppliers that will ship the belts and steel bars to Canada. Any suggestions?

www.sdp-si.com for belt,
your local yellow pages steel supplier for steel bars.

Good luck. The McMaster Carr stuff drives me up the wall too.

I too rue the day McMaster stopped shipping to Canada.

I ordered some belts and pulleys from sdp-si.com, they work fine, but were pretty expensive, the shipping was expensive, and the brokerage fees were expensive too. I'd love to find a Canadian source for MXL belts and pulleys, or anything that would work.

As for other Canadian suppliers, I found Metal Supermarket usually has stock of 5/16" stainless rod, which works for 8mm smooth rod. I've been getting M8 threaded rod from Fastenal here in Vancouver; they usually need to order in larger quantities, but it's usually pretty fast. I also get all my metric nuts and bolts there. I'm quite happy that Mendel uses fewer types of bolts, btw - that makes life a bit easier.

Also, if you need electronics, Makerbot is my favorite, but if they're out Digikey is pretty good. They ship to Canada for $10 if you order from digikey.ca, and no brokerage fees. Mouser sent me 50 pages of customs forms detailing every single resistor, cap and chip I ordered for a Darwin, and the brokerage fees cost almost as much as the parts, so I'd stay away from them if you're in Canada.

We should put up a page on the Wiki regarding Canadian suppliers. I had a look at the Builders Wiki, but I wasn't sure exactly where to stick it. There's a section in the Mendel BOM regarding suppliers, but this might be more general than just Mendel parts.

Hmm...

[objects.reprap.org]

Wade, would you like to clean that up?

> Wade, would you like to clean that up?

Hmm Sebastian, it's a wiki, why don't YOU clean it up.

1) Because I'm quoting him, and I wanted to acknowledge that fact. Also, he's done a lot of research which he can plug into it.
2) Because people aren't in the mode of using the wiki, and I like to gently guide people into a practice of doing so.
3) Because I've got a metric crapload of procrastinated work to do on the wiki, include more systematic stuff, and I don't have the time to polish every wiki page into a tiny glowing gem.

Quote

it's a wiki, why don't YOU clean it up.

Generally, bickering about this and correcting eachothers' behavior is quite silly compared to building up useful knowledge and research on the wiki.

More generally, are there any pages you guys consider to be lacking or absent?

Sorry, was just picking on you.

If the wiki needs work, why not post your todo list here, I could likely do some of it.

Or possibly a link off the 1st page of the wiki with things that need TLC...

Again sorry, didn't feel like I was bickering.

My teammate Bing recently emailed McMaster to ask about their policy, which they stated as thus:

"We will ship to the University of British Columbia, but we do not ship to individuals in Canada.

If your order is associated with the University, feel free to contact us or place an order by any of the following methods:

We ship to British Columbia in 1-2 days from our Ohio facility. Shipping is based on weight, and we cover any brokerage costs."

(We are ordering through our university).

I am not entirely sure what motivated their decision to stop shipping to Canadian individuals. But consider placing an order through an institution, if you can.

Jacob

Wade, Could you list the part numbers of the belts and pulleys you picked up at SDP/SI? I tried printing out one of the 8-tooth pulleys and it looks pretty bad. The OD on my stepper motor shafts is 0.196" so I guess that I am looking for 0.2" ID on the pulleys...

William, I added the part number for the Darwin Z pulley I used from SDP-SI to that wiki page, but if you're using a 0.196" shaft (not the 1/4" Darwin Nema 23 shafts), I'm guessing you are looking for Mendel pulleys for a Nema 17 stepper. For Mendel, I'm using some cheap MXL 20 tooth pulleys that Bing, Mo and Jacob sent from China; I don't know the actual supplier.

You basically need pulleys that match your belts and stepper shafts. I went with MXL 20 tooth pulleys and belt, which works out to 0.1 mm resolution when half stepping a 200 step motor. I do need to order the continuous belt for the Mendel; I'll update the page when I find a particular part number. That's the sort of info that should probably go in the Mendel BOM though, or at least a separate page for Canadian part numbers. MXL pulleys have a 0.080" tooth pitch, so a 10 tooth 5 mm pitch pulley would be similar.

BTW, Erik posted a new toothed pulley design on thingiverse that's parametric, but for now I'm using metal pulleys, at least until I get a few more machines running smoothly.

Wade

Thanks, everyone for the information!

++ on SDP -- I got MXL and HTD belt and pulleys from them. Metal bits from brafasco/CTF/Canadian Tire/Metal Supermarket/ a surprisingly helpful automotive specialty shop on Dundas West.

I've also heard that Jacob's Hardware carries a lot of odd bits and pieces.

You might add ULTIMACHINE.COM for PLA filament and SOLARBOTICS for extruder motors and Arduino stuff.

So far, I've purchased from

- Fastenal (lots of locations across Canada): metric fasteners and threaded rod
- Metal Supermarkets (Ontario): 5/16 drill rod
- SDP/SI (US): belts and pulleys
- Interinar Electronics (US): steppers
- Big Bearing Store (US): bearings

I haven't tried to find sources for the extruder stuff yet, and I am waiting for MakerBot to stock the version 3 electronics again.

For Arduino stuff, sensors, etc. I usually order from Solarbotics or RobotShop.ca

For electronic components, DigiKey.ca (or Jameco in the US, but that is more hassle).

Big Bearing Store unaccountably dropped my order for bearings, so I had to get them from VXB instead. It took a while, but they eventually arrived:

[www.vxb.com]

I am also in Canada and planning to build mcwire to bootstrap mendel. I am stuck at the sourcing materials stage until makerbot restocks the stepper drivers. I have found all of the structural components of mcwire at Acklands Grainger, although its really hard to find. Its under Material Handling.

Acklands Grainger plumbing section

They also have a lot of other stuff you might need like fasteners, threaded rod, etc.

For robotics and electronics I have used, and liked HVW technologies. Lots of arduino stuff, unfortunately no reprap specific boards or stepper motors though. They are partnered with Solarobitcs but have a better website.

I am looking for a good supplier of stepper motors, if anyone has any ideas. I have read on this forum that Kysan has a depot in Vancouver but can find no mention of Canadian distribution on their website. Also for mcwire, I am having a hard time finding the aluminum parts online but I'm sure I will find them when I go do my shopping.

P.S. I think I will take a crack at adding these links to the wiki page Sebastian mentioned earlier in this thread.

spaztik, if you know of a Kysan depot in Vancouver, I'd love to hear about it. I had to order in some 5 kg*cm Kysan Nema 17 steppers in from China, and it took almost 2 months. I do have a couple extra, send me a pm if you want any. They have flats on the shafts, so they aren't great for the standard extruder design, but I've been playing with a geared extruder that might work out. Photo of it here:

Geared Extruder Photo

Oh great looking gears..

What is the extruder resolution going to be with thos?

---

Bodge It [reprap.org]
=======================================

---

BIQ Sanguinololu SD LCD board	BIQ Stepcon	BIQ Opto Endstop
BIQ Heater Block PCB	BIQ Extruder Peek clamp replacement	BIQ Huxley Seedling
BIQ Sanguinololu mounting	BIQ standalone Sanguinololu or Ramps mounting	Print It Stick It Cut it

My rep strap: [repstrapbertha.blogspot.com]

Buy the bits from B&Q pipestrap [diyrepstrap.blogspot.com]
How to Build a Darwin without any Rep Rap Parts [repstrapdarwin.blogspot.com]
Web Site [www.takeaway3dtech.com]

Could the Canadians that have bought mendal/darwin/reprap parts, please list the parts that they bought, the place that they bought them, the product number at that place, and the price?

Eg.

'mendal part' "Princess Auto" 'princess auto part #' 'price'

If nothing else, post scanned-in copies of your receipts for the parts, with all personal information removed from the scanned-in images.

I'm starting to look for Canadian sources for parts, and it would save me (and other Canadians) a bunch of time, if the guys that have already done the work, would document what they've found out.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/23/2010 06:12PM by FredWalter.

i think that it may be a good idea to start a forum or a wiki page for canadian suppliers or at least ones that will ship to canada

---

[mike-mack.blogspot.com]

I've got some brief notes up at [[Canada/Suppliers]]
[objects.reprap.org]

You're welcome to log in and edit them.

i have tried to edit a wiki before i am not very good at it.

---

[mike-mack.blogspot.com]

Keep at it, and it gets so easy even I figured out how to do it eventually. Try stuff, click "preview", and then post. If it is too tricky, just add raw text and then try to figure out how to tidy it another day, or the next passing wiki-fiddler will instinctively tidy it.

Hi Everyone,

I am wondering who is the best supplier for the Belts. I can see that everyone is ordering from sdp-si, so can anyone please provide me with part number for the belts. Do I really need to order the pulleys from them too. Aren't those pulleys already printed in the RP list??

Thanks

for my pulleys i was just going to use a bearing and a couple of washers.

but that would be good we do not have one listed for the Canadian suppliers wiki page yet.

---

[mike-mack.blogspot.com]

That Ohio McMaster facility is pretty much in my backyard. If you want to order from McMaster and have it shipped to MakerGear (shipping costs $5.00 and arrives next day) we could put a shipping label on it and forward it...assuming it is a low volume, we are not responsible for shipments and don't get tech support calls

Let me know if this is of interest and I'll look into it...

Rick

that would be great if you did that but i think it could be troublesome though. i think you might just be better off to carry some of there stuff in your online store.

---

[mike-mack.blogspot.com]