Online Vendors with Cool Tools for Builders? 30
fwc asks: "I've been using ExpressPCB for quite a while to make smaller printed circuit boards various projects. They provide a free (beer) schematic capture and PCB layout software which makes it very easy to design your board and order it online. There are of course other vendors that do this for PCB's as well, along with vendors which make stencils for Surface mount devices, Front Panels and foam inserts for plastic cases. Recently a friend told me about eMachineShop which has a very cool design tool which allows you design, price, and order almost anything a machine shop can build - brackets, gears, molded products, etc. - and out of almost every material you can imagine. What other cool resources of a similar nature are out there?"
Re:FP? (Score:1)
Yes, you now owe me $0.39 for every person who reads your post!
emachine (Score:1)
Re:emachine (Score:3, Informative)
Re:emachine (Score:2)
Looks like this could be one of those great threads where lots of people thank eachother for telling them about some cool yet unknown manufacturing company.
Re:emachine (Score:2)
Re:emachine (Score:1)
marketing (Score:2)
Re:marketing (Score:3, Informative)
Re:marketing (Score:2)
Re:marketing (Score:2)
Re:marketing (Score:2)
It doesn't cost millions to design a laptop casing but it can cost a couple thousand. If you're spending millions you're doing something very wrong. Other than that you can use mostly existing electronics to build the laptop so it's not that big of an investment. A mini-
Big Blue Saw (Score:5, Informative)
This is the Trend of Things (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:This is the Trend of Things (Score:2)
Re:This is the Trend of Things (Score:2)
Never been much of a trekkie, but aren't replicators from Stargate-SG1?
Re:whoa! (Score:2)
Results 1 - 10 of about 881 for "stainless steel dildo".
the 'teachers pet' sounds extra nice....
Laser Etching (Score:3, Informative)
Resources for Makers/Builders/hightech DIYers (Score:5, Informative)
Some (hobby) groups to consider looking towards for ideas and help include: woodworkers, metalworkers (hobbyists using micromills and mini-lathes from TaigTools and Sherline, etc.), model railroads, model aircrafts (static and RC), robotics, amateur radio (ham), 2600, LUGs, and Artist Run Centres/Communities
Random list of some I use or know of:
Make magazine http://www.makezine.com/ [makezine.com]
Instructables http://www.instructables.com/ [instructables.com]
ARRL http://www.arrl.org/ [arrl.org]
http://www.sparkfun.com/ [sparkfun.com] (check out their tutorials)
http://www.fpga4fun.com/ [fpga4fun.com] / http://www.knjn.com/ [knjn.com]
QRP-L http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/qrp-l/>
GQRP http://www.gqrp.com/ [gqrp.com]
http://www.pololu.com/ [pololu.com] (cheap stencils laser cut, e.g. 3x4 for $32)
http://www.diyaudio.com/ [diyaudio.com]
http://www.digikey.com/ [digikey.com] (if you're still buying electronics from Radio Shack, get these 3 catalogs now!)
http://www.mouser.com/ [mouser.com]
http://www.jameco.com/ [jameco.com]
the ton of various surplus/NOS dealers online
http://www.frontpanelexpress.com/ [frontpanelexpress.com]
http://www.seattlerobotics.org/ [seattlerobotics.org]
http://www.chibots.org/index.php [chibots.org]
DorkBot
http://eyebeam.org/production/production.php?page
MIT CBA FAB http://fab.cba.mit.edu/ [mit.edu]
http://www.leevalley.com/ [leevalley.com]
http://www.smallparts.com/ [smallparts.com]
http://www.danssmallpartsandkits.net/ [danssmallp...ndkits.net]
http://www.wmberg.com/ [wmberg.com]
http://www.acklandsgrainger.com/ [acklandsgrainger.com]
http://www.grainger.com/ [grainger.com]
http://www.onlinemetals.com/ [onlinemetals.com]
http://www.amqrp.com/ [amqrp.com]
http://www.princessauto.com/ [princessauto.com]
http://www.sherline.com/ [sherline.com]
http://www.taigtools.com/ [taigtools.com]
Re:Resources for Makers/Builders/hightech DIYers (Score:2)
finally... (Score:1)
Services outside the US? (Score:2, Insightful)
One step above - low cost plastic injection molds (Score:3, Informative)
Re:One step above - low cost plastic injection mol (Score:2)
Re:One step above - low cost plastic injection mol (Score:2)
Re:One step above - low cost plastic injection mol (Score:1)
Lead Times (Score:1)
Emachineshop looks like a really awesome and reasonably-priced service, although some of our customers have complained that their quoted lead times are way too long. Perhaps it's because business is going really well for them, so they have more customers than they can handle in a timely manner.
We do plastic injection molding [chinaforge.com] in China, but we often machine metal or plastic prototypes for our customers as well. Lead times for prototypes are often as short as 5 days, plus 2-3 days to ship to the customer by
ExpressPCb or PCBExpress (Score:1)
We have both.
Have a look at http://pcb123.com/ [pcb123.com].
For more stuff look at free CAD tools in the market:
For Windows:
- http://www.freebyte.com/cad/cad.htm#2D3DCADSystems
For Linux:
- http://www.tech-edv.co.at/lunix/CADlinks.html/ [tech-edv.co.at]