PartsAmpServiceVendors

Parts and Service Vendors

3D-printing services

• Kemeera, high-tolerance plastic and rubber parts made on Objet printers.
• Shapeways, plastic, ceramic, and metal (including stainless steel and silver) parts.
• QuickParts, 3D-printing, injection molding, and urethane-casting, among other services.

CNC sheet-metal and laser-cutting services

• TLTL laser cutter @ Stanford - good enough for most things 18'x24'x0.25'
• Coherent Inc., supplier of industrial-grade laser-cutters.
• Protocase, cheap and fast sheet-metal prototyping and metal laser-cutting.
• Pololu, online laser-cutting services.
• PRL laser cutters @ Stanford

Local CNC machine shop

• Rapid Prototype Machining, high-tolerance plastic, aluminum, and stainless steel parts.

Machine shops at Stanford

• Product Realization Lab (PRL) usage requires 1.5 hour safety training course + $20/day fee or $x/quarter
• Varian Physics Machine Shop, requires several-week training course. $13/hr fee

Local hardware stores, raw material suppliers

• Palo Alto Ace Hardware
• Home Depot
• Orchard Supply Hardware (OSH)- Great supplier for cheap 1/2" and 3/4" MDF.
• TAP Plastics

Mechanical Components

• Misumi, just about every mechanical component ever made, all customized-to-order.
• McMaster, many mechanical components and general fabrication materials. 2-day shipping non-negotiable.
• SDP-SI (Stock Drive Products/Sterling Instrument), hard-to-find mechanical components.
• Sava Cable, steel cables and teminations/fittings for cable transmissions.
• K&J Magnetics, every size and shape neodymium magnet made.
• VXB, excellent selection of low-cost and hard-to-find ball-bearings.
• Black Diamond Sports, local source of inexpensive skate-bearings (8 x 22 x 7mm) and rollerblade wheels for friction drives.
• Framing- 80/20, industrial erector set.

Electronics for Robotics

• Phidgets, plug-and-play USB motor drivers, sensors, and analog/digital in-out.
• Sparkfun, electronics for robotics. Many plug-and-play motor drivers, sensors, etc.
• Pololu, electronics for robotics. Many plug-and-play motor drivers, sensors, etc.
• US Digital, low-cost optical encoders. Can get 5000 CPR encoders or better.

General Electronics

• Digikey, every electronic component ever made.
• Jameco, many electronic components only 15 minutes away!

Motors

• Maxon Motors, some of the best DC motors ever made.
• Lin Engineering, terrific stepper motors.
• PCB motors, amazing ultrasonic motors for specialty projects.
• Robotic Dynamixel Servo Motors, professional-grade servos.

Computer Aided Design (CAD)

• Solidworks