Vendor Listing - Who would you add?
 

We are hosting a new team night, and want to include a list of good FIRST team vendors for the teams to take with them.

Here is a start - what others would you add for build season materials?
(please include the website if you can)

AndyMark - www.andymark.com (about everything)
Innovationfirst - IFI Robotics - www.ifirobotics.com (wheels, sprockets, speed controllers)
McMaster-Carr - www.mcmaster.com (about anything)
Small Parts - www.smallparts.com (about anything)
Banebots - www.banebots.com (motors, gearboxes)
Automation Direct - www.automationdirect.com (pneumatics)
Team 221 - www.team221.com (drive systems, chassis systems)

Re: Vendor Listing - Who would you add?
 

I've put together a pretty good list I'd like to think.

http://www.atomicrobotics.com/resour...rts-suppliers/

One Stop Shops

• McMaster-Carr – Offer a collection of mechanical, electrical, and utility hardware not usually located from a single source and specialize in next day delivery
• Motion Industries – Distributor of industrial MRO parts
• MSC Industrial Supply – One of the largest industrial equipment distributors in the world
• Harbor Freight – Low cost tools and equipment

Power Transmission

• AndyMark Inc. – An official supplier to the FIRST Kit of Parts
• SDP-SI - SDP-SI provides quality gears, bearings, pulleys, and other mechanical parts
• WM Berg – Precision gears, sprockets, pulleys, gearboxes, and bearings
• Small Parts – Provide gears, pulleys, and various other items
• BaneBots – A competition robotics parts supplier that provides several FRC Kit parts
• Colson Caster – Colson makes caster wheels that are excellent high-performance robot wheels
• Team 221 – Performance robotics drive systems
• Robot MarketPlace – A competition robotics parts supplier
• Browning Gears – Gear supplier
• Martin Sprocket & Gears – Power transmission supplier
• Boston Gear – Precision gear manufacturer
• Gates – Belts and pulleys

Raw Materials

• McMaster-Carr – Offer a collection of mechanical, electrical, and utility hardware not usually located from a single source and specialize in next day delivery

Hardware

• Fastenal – Sell screws, threaded rods, nuts, and various other fasteners and hardware

Electronics/Sensors

• Mouser Electronics – Mouser is an electronic component wholesaler.
• Digi-Key – Digi-Key is an electronic component wholesaler
• Innovation FIRST – The old official supplier of the FIRST Robot Controller, Operator Interface, Victor Speed Controller, Spike Relay, and other FRC Kit parts. Currently still provide the best speed controllers and sell wheels as well
• eStop Robotics – Provider of various small electronics components
• Anderson Power- Quick connect electronics terminals

Pneumatics

• Bimba – Pneumatics tanks and actuators
• Clippard – Pneumatics supplies, tanks and actuators
• Festo – Pneumatic tanks, actuators, valves, solenoids
• SMC Corp.- Pneumatics manufacturer
• Pneuaire – Plastic pneumatics tanks

Re: Vendor Listing - Who would you add?
 

onlinemetals.com
metalsdepot.com

Re: Vendor Listing - Who would you add?
 

I would also add that McMaster really IS your one stop shop for everything under the sun.

Want something they don't sell? Call them up, tell them what it is, and they'll find it for you. Could be as simple as we want widget xyz-1234-abc from some other vendor. They'll find it for you and sell it to you at a very very small premium. Or maybe you want a certain type of gear/bearing, but you don't know the model number or vendor it comes from. They'll find you that too and they'll do it darn quick.

They will bend over backwards to satisfy you in nearly every way. The only exception I've found is that they absolutely will not provide material certs (this makes sense) or the suppliers of their material (this is unfortunate).

Re: Vendor Listing - Who would you add?
 

Unless i missed it, what about National Instruments?

Re: Vendor Listing - Who would you add?
 

Fastenal

Fastenal carries so much more than screws and bolts now, they are getting closer to McMaster and Grainger all the time.

Re: Vendor Listing - Who would you add?
 

I had one experience with this one. I was looking to purchase something of a specific brand from them, and they wouldn't tell me what brand of the item they sold. However, they did let me play the guessing game of "Is it this brand?" "No" "Is it this other brand?" .... It was rather silly, but I got what I wanted in the end.

Aside from one other time when they were out of stock on something I REALLY needed, and then charged me to have it shipped from another warehouse, when they said they had it in stock all along, McMaster has been very good.

Aside from giving a nice big free book, I dislike MSC. Their website is terrible, and that's the primary reason I won't order from them. Also, when I called them for a quote on something (because no one in industry pays list price from MSC) there was no one available who could help me, and no one ever returned my call. I think I've ordered from MSC once ever.

Re: Vendor Listing - Who would you add?
 

send you a printed catalog. I have a really old one that I inherited and plan to will to someone when I die. Sometimes I just like to flip through the pages of a catalog when I'm not sure exactly what it is I'm looking for. Their website is outstanding though. I think their old website was better but maybe that's just me.

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http://www.usabearingsandbelts.com/ Place for cheap bearings

Re: Vendor Listing - Who would you add?
 

Parker has franchise stores... if you need pneumatic fittings fast...

Re: Vendor Listing - Who would you add?
 

Hansen Hobbies for custom PWM connectors.
http://www.hansenhobbies.com/products/connectors/


US Digital (phone call them and order)
http://www.usdigital.com/products/en...emental/rotary

Surplus Center (bulk chain) in spools
http://www.surpluscenter.com/

Re: Vendor Listing - Who would you add?
 

Add to Electronics/Sensors Sparkfun.

http://www.sparkfun.com/

Re: Vendor Listing - Who would you add?
 

Good selection of wire in all gages relevant to FRC. Also sells Anderson Power Products items, including PowerPoles and a REALLY CHEAP AND USEFUL crimp tool:

• powerwerx.com - www.powerwerx.com

Bumper Fabric (the good stuff - 1000 Denier Cordura Plus blah blah blah):

• American Home & Habitat - www.ahh.biz

Re: Vendor Listing - Who would you add?
 

And they might have the best shipping on the face of the planet, 18hrs. incredible. We placed an order around noon one day, it was waiting for us when we got to the shop the next day.

Re: Vendor Listing - Who would you add?
 

Cross The Road Electronics - Battery beak, 2CAN, & some other electronics

Re: Vendor Listing - Who would you add?
 

And as soon as the website is up, WestCoast Products LLC for power transmission.

Re: Vendor Listing - Who would you add?
 

Dave will have a different take on this than us, as the lengths that McMaster went to to NOT give him a catalog are quite extensive, but we've been randomly mailed catalogs without requesting them (on an account linked to NASA). At one point we had 4 catalogs.

Re: Vendor Listing - Who would you add?
 

Old Trail Fabric Outlet: http://www.oldtrailfabric.com/servlet/StoreFront
They've had FRC bumper fabric packages the past two years.

http://www.poolcenter.com/
If you live in a cold weather area and forgot to buy pool noodles during the summer, you can probably get them from Pool Center.

If you think other teams might be interested in screen printing their shirts, I have some useful links for that too but that might be a pretty small segment.

Re: Vendor Listing - Who would you add?
 

Here is an updated word document that compiles these companies. The file includes the names and web sites and hopefully the links work.

I added the websites so that a team could work from a printed copy if needed.

Thanks for all of the inputs and please advise any errors or omissions.

Re: Vendor Listing - Who would you add?
 

Anymore we should update with for this year?

Re: Vendor Listing - Who would you add?
 

One electronics supplier that's not here is Jameco Electronics (http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/sto...01& langId=-1) and Bulk Wire (http://www.bulkwire.com/default.html). Also in the SF Bay Area, Tap Plastics (tapplastics.com) is a great local resource for plastics. A supplier that we've used for breakout boards to DB-9 and DB-15 cables is Winford Electronics (www.winford.com), but that was a special order, but they may be willing to work with the FIRST community on a larger scale.

EDIT: Forgot pololu for PWM cables (twisted cables!)

Re: Vendor Listing - Who would you add?
 

for michigan teams (or teams that want to pay for shipping), http://terminalsupplyco.com/products...talog_pdf.aspx
they have terminals, tooling, fasteners, wire, battery pigtails, etc.

Re: Vendor Listing - Who would you add?
 

[Disclaimer – this is a promo for our team’s sponsor. We are eternally indebted to them and would like to make folks aware of what they have to offer. I’m doubly indebted since they hired me last year! Wahoo!]


AutomationDirect is one of the best kept secrets in FIRST. They have over 13,000 automation parts IN STOCK, excellent prices and best of all they ship SAME DAY.

AND they gave every FIRST Team a $20 voucher for 2013 (expires April 27th 2013).

2-day shipping is FREE if you spend over $49 (over and above the $20 voucher, of course), otherwise it is a flat $6 for ground shipping (voucher can’t be used for shipping, only parts).

AutomationDirect is in GA so southeastern teams can get orders NEXT DAY – if the order is placed before 6:00pm EST. That means even West Coast teams can get their order in two days!

Here are the most popular items Teams order:

Safety Glasses – starting at $2.75
Safety Gloves
Pneumatics Tubing – and they have lots of colors and even have the stretchy coils in single and double tube forms
- Fittings
- Accessories
- Cylinders – including the pancake style and dual rod cylinders
Wire Duct – to keep your wiring neat and organized
Wiring Crip Lugs and tools
Wire Ties
Ethernet Cables
Pressure Gauges and digital gauges
Tools
Sensors – Prox sensors in particular (make sure you buy the NPN flavor for easy connection…)
Wire

So, grab your voucher from the KOP (It looks like a 20 dollar bill) and follow the instructions CAREFULLY – it is a TWO step process.

Then start here: www.Automationdirect.com/FIRSTVoucher

Re: Vendor Listing - Who would you add?
 

We are a big fan of Grainger. www.grainger.com

In fact, we have a rep that set us up with an account so we get a discount, don't pay shipping, and have it setup with a bar-code ordering system.

They provide you with the scanner and labels and when you need to order stuff you simply scan it and it orders it.

You can also input quantities of an item and have it setup so when you are critically low on a part it will automatically order it for your team.

Re: Vendor Listing - Who would you add?
 

I second AutomationDirect.com - they are very good.

http://www.Automation4less.com is good for the mid-tier quality linear bearings and rails.

http://www.VXB.com sells a truly massive number of ball bearings as well as supported and unsupported linear rod and linear bearings/bushings. They are easily the cheapest source I know of for linear bearings.

http://www.servocity.com sells tons of great bits and bobs for building robots or anything servo related. They sell gears that attach to servo hubs as well as servo sprockets and linkages. Very useful to check them out if you are using servos for anything.

http://www.hobbyking.com dirt cheap supplier of anything RC. This is useful because RC vehicles use really excellent silicon wire that's slinky as all get out. Very good stuff. They also sell everything you need to make your own PWM cables of any length - spools of the 3-conductor wire along with connectors and crimp tools. I also think RC connectors (like the XT60) are much superior to Anderson Power Poles for the price.

http://www.trossenrobotics.com - good place for sensors and robot electronics.

http://us.misumi-ec.com/ - Misumi is a great supplier of many things but they have a MASSIVE amount of great 8020-style extrusion that's cut to length. I prefer them to 8020 due to the number and variety of fittings and brackets they have combined with the great price. They are kinda like Automation4Less or AutomationDirect in what they sell otherwise. This search tool is the key to finding their extrusion: http://www.misumiusa.com/CategoryIma...n-Browser.html

There are tons more, but this is all I have off the top of my head.

-Mike

Re: Vendor Listing - Who would you add?
 

Thanks for all the kind words about AutomationDirect.com on this thread and others!

Just a quick note to remind teams that this year's $30 voucher expires in a few days. Take advantage while you can...

It is a paper voucher that was in your black tote this year. You must have the voucher in-hand while ordering for the unique code provided AND the instructions. Orders are shipped same-day if you order by 6:00pm EST. Flat rate ($6) shipping on orders under $49 - OR - FREE two-day shipping on larger orders.

And good luck to those of you in St. Louis!

Chip
Tech Marketing
AutomationDirect.com

PS: @Chris Fultz - would you consider adding Automation Direct to the Sensors and Tools categories on your otherwise excellent list ;-) Also, we like to think we are 'closely associated'. We've been putting parts or vouchers in the KOP for years, and we sponsor/mentor many local teams and our local regional.

Re: Vendor Listing - Who would you add?
 

I second online metals - Take them over McMaster anyday. McMaster is a all-in-one wonder at the cost of higher prices, for raw metals online metals is fantastic.

Protip if you spend over 100$ on online metals, you get 10% off. Additional 10% off if you enter coupon code "CutAway"

EDIT: Just saw the post dates..

Re: Vendor Listing - Who would you add?
 

Online metals is just great. As an east coast team I got a little scared seeing that they were based out of Seattle it would take a while to ship across the country. However, when we ordered it came in within 2 days from some storehouse in Pittsburgh or somewhere.

Great selection for a great price.

Probably good that you dug up this thread anyways. It could use a good updating.

Re: Vendor Listing - Who would you add?
 

Re: Vendor Listing - Who would you add?
 

Some people before have mentioned IFI, but I think a seperate entry should be for www.vexpro.com

They have just about everything. They have had trouble the 2 years they have been around with parts being out of stock; but that is just because they are so good, and priced exceptionally well. They just had no possible way to predict the market accurately to prepare for this season. Next season I am sure they will be ready.

They also (while in stock) have parts ready in a jiffy. Vex HQ (Greenville TX) is just down the road from us, and with a mentor working elsewhere in Greenville, we order stuff at noon, and he picks it up on his way home- You cant beat 5 hour delivery! XD

Re: Vendor Listing - Who would you add?
 

Thanks for all of the suggestions... We use many of these, but there are a lot of "new to me" ones on the list.