Various mechanical questions about Mendel

I have a few questions about Mendel:

* Is there a better supplier than McMaster Carr?
* Can you use the extruder/skate bearings from the Makerbot website in Mendel?
* Can you use a ballchain belt in Mendel?
* Where's a good place to find 624 bearings? McMaster Carr charges SO MUCH for them!
* Where can you find M5x20 or M4x20 Fender (Mudguard) washers? McMaster Carr only carries M10x20.
* What's a good place to find NEMA 14/ NEMA 17 steppers on the cheap? The best I can find is the Makerbot store (NEMA 17 for ~$15)

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/17/2009 10:42PM by ziplock.

1) Maybe. I check all over the place, Mcmaster carr, fastenall, MSC direct, ebay, local hardware store.
2) those are 608 bearings, so those should work for the 2 608's
3) I think they still need to be fabricated. Ask Vik.
4) www.vxb.com Buy them in 100 ct quantities and share with someone.
5) See #1. Given that M4 and #8 are dimensionally identical for clearance holes, this should work. A little small, but close. [www.mcmaster.com]
6) Makerbot is probably as cheap as you're going to get, but I'm not certain if it's standard footprint. [www.kelinginc.net] has some, but I haven't done the unit conversion to see if its got enough torque. Otherwise anaheim will be your option.

Thanks! I'll be making rounds to HomeDepot and Lowes next weekend.
It also appears that Makerbot DOES have the cheapest steppers online. Awesome!
Oh, and one more question:

Is the Extruder Kit on the Makerbot store compatible with Mendel? (I.E, can I use those parts, plus a few printed ones, to build an extruder for Mendel)