Info/Hardware Resources
From CCHS
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[edit] Hardware Resources
This page provides basic information on places to get your hands on hardware and tools, including a short comment on notable items a supplier provides. We've grouped the suppliers under major categories of interest, so you may see the same supplier listed under more than one category. The lists are provided in alphabetical order to aid navigation and management. If you are editing this page, please help us manage the content by including additional entries in sequence, local suppliers first, followed by overseas and in alphabetical order.
If you cannot find what you are looking for here, want more information on where to find a specific item, or are interested in recommendations from the group members regarding a specific supplier, please see the discussion page or search for or post your question to the mailing list.
[edit] Arduino Boards and Shields
| Supplier | Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Australian Robotics | Canberra, ACT | Arduino starter kits and a range of boards, shields and associated gear. Both "official" Arduino and compatible custom designs. Australian distributors for various brands including: Emartee, Freetronics, Modern device, SeeedStudio, Sparkfun. |
| Freetronics | Melbourne, VIC | Custom design Arduino compatible boards and shields. Notable items: PoE (Power over Ethernet), Wireless shield, Practical Arduino (Book). |
| Littlebird Electronics | Sydney, NSW | Arduino starter kits and a range of boards, shields and associated gear. Both "official" Arduino and compatible custom designs. Australian distributors for various brands including: async_labs, Freetronics, Modern device, SeeedStudio, Sparkfun. |
| Ocean Controls | Seaford, VIC | Arduino starter kits and a range of boards, shields and associated gear. Both "official" Arduino and compatible custom designs. Australian distributor for various brands including: Freetronics, Sparkfun. Notable items: Relayduino |
| RobotGear | Perth, WA | Arduino boards, shields and associated gear. Both "official" Arduino and compatible custom designs. Australian distributors for various brands including: Freetronics, Pololu, Solarbotics, Sparkfun, WingShield Industries. Notable Items: Pololu platforms, Screwshield. |
| Adafruit Industries | New York, US | "official" Arduino and custom design Arduino compatible boards, shields, kits and PCB's. Notable items: Motor Shield, Protoshield Ethernet shield, Mintyboost kit, MONOCHRON Clock kit |
| DF Robot | Shanghai, China | "official" Arduino and custom compatbile boards and shields. Notable items: Arduino clones, Romeo-All in one Controller, Power Shield. |
| Evil Mad Science | California, US | Custom design Arduino compatible boards, shields and kits. Notable items: Diavolino, Simple Atmega breakout boards, Interactive LED panels |
| Liquidware | Massachusetts, US | Custom design Arduino compatible boards and shields. Notable items: Illuminato:Genesis, Touchscreen shield, Antipasto Arduino IDE |
| Modern Device | Rhode Island, US | Custom design Arduino compatible boards and shields. Notable items: BBB (Bare Bones Board), JeeNode Wireless Arduino, Synthesizer, Wind sensor |
| Sparkfun | Colorado, US | Large range of Arduino boards, shields and associated gear. Notable Items: Arduino Starter Kits, Arduino Pro, LilyPad Arduino, Ardupilot, Xbee modules |
| Toys Down Under | Maylands, US | Arduino starter kits and a range of boards, shields and associated gear. Both "official" Arduino and compatible custom designs. Australian distributor for various brands including: Adafruit, async_labs, Freetronics, Sparkfun. Notable items: LCD Backpack boards, |
[edit] Electronics components
| Supplier | Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Altronics | Melbourne, Sydney, Perth | Similar to Jaycar, wide range of things, they sell a few interesting things Jaycar doesn’t. |
| Digikey | Sydney, NSW | ... |
| Dontronics | Melbourne, Vic | Sell a lot of interesting goodies including XBee RF comms modules, FTDI chips and cables, little OLED screens, amongst other things. |
| Electronic Connections | Beaconsfield, Vic | A Jaycar and Altronics reseller |
| Element14 (formerly Farnell) | World wide. Warehouses in Sydney, Singapore, Malaysia, UK and US. | Not always the cheapest option, but they stock a lot of stuff and shipping is free. |
| Futurlec | NSW and World wide. | Large selection of all kinds of electronic components, from small level stuff (resistors, caps, etc) to full development boards. Shipping is cheap. |
| Jaycar | Australia wide | Quite a number of stores and carries a lot of basic components and parts. |
| Mouser | World wide. AU ships out of Thailand. | ... |
| Oatley Electronics | Oatley NSW | Occasionally they stock a few interesting odds and ends, they sell industry surplus stuff mostly, so they have a constantly evolving range of stock. |
| Oretronics | Clayton, Victoria | |
| Rockby | Clayton, Vic | Surplus components. Random and varied range of stuff. |
| RS Components | Aus wide | |
| Crystalfontz | Washington, US | Huge range of component LCDs for virtually any application. For virtually any combination of size/colour/characters/interface you can imagine, they will have it. |
- Note
- FindChips and Octopart are both good resources for finding sources of parts. Put in a partial chip number, and they’ll list suppliers and prices.
[edit] Mechanical components
| Supplier | Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| All Things Stainless | NSW | Threaded and unthreaded rod, plus other stuff. Deliver aus wide. |
| ASAP Engineering Supplies | 204 Mason St, Newport.
Telephone: (03) 9391-7800 | Nuts, bolts and fasteners |
| Bell Springs | 373 Settlement Road, Thomastown VIC 3074 | Makers of custom springs or reproducing springs. |
| Bolts Nuts Screws Online | Helensvale, QLD | |
| Bunnings | Aus wide | Standard hardware store. Useful if you need generic stuff, but not always cheapest. |
| Cost Less Bolts (Moorabbin/Cheltenham) | 3 Ebden St, Moorabbin, VIC 3189 | Bolts, nuts and related supplies. No web store (unfortunately). |
| Cost Less Bolts (Ringwood) | 13 Molan St, Ringwood, VIC 3134 | Bolts, nuts and related supplies. No web store (unfortunately). |
| CSW Products | 25 Power Rd, Bayswater, VIC 3153 | Springs, Eye bolts, Threaded rod. Will sell in small quantities at the door. |
| Fastener Sales | QLD | Some of their threaded rod is VERY cheap, but some is off the scale (eg: 316 grade steel will be cheaper than 304 in some cases, etc). Worth a look though. |
| Hearns Hobbies | Corner of Swanston and Elizabeth Streets, Melbourne, VIC 3000 | LiPo batteries and connectors … and, of course, lots of RC models ! |
| Home Hardware | Aus wide | Standard hardware store. Useful if you need generic stuff, but not always cheapest. |
| Inter Alloy Steel | Aus Wide | Steel in all sorts of forms. $50 minimum, cheaper over the counter in cash. |
| Keables Pty. Ltd. | 185 A’Beckett Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000 | Nuts, bolts and fasteners. $25 over the counter minimum (from memory) |
| Metro Bolts | 329 Swan Street, Richmond
Telephone: (03) 9429-3099 | Nuts, bolts and fasteners |
| Micro Fasteners Pty. Ltd | 31 - 35 Longview Court, Thomastown, VIC 3074 | Fasteners of all types |
| Mitre 10 | Aus wide | Standard hardware store. Useful if you need generic stuff, but not always cheapest. |
| Newlands Fasteners & Engineering Supplies | 89 Newlands Rd, Coburg North VIC 3058
Telephone: (03) 9354-1461 | Great range of stuff, including less well stocked gauges of rod. |
| Small Parts | USA | The hardware store for researchers and developers (well worth a look) |
| Small Parts and Bearings | Mansfield, QLD | Not related to the store above, but lots of things like bearings and the like. Note: Online version of H.E. Supplies Pty Ltd. |
| Vicstate Industrial Supplies | 479 Victoria St, Brunswick West, VIC, 3055 | Not a lot of stuff on the shelf but a huge range of bearings and bolts out the back. They’ll be friendly and helpful if you know what you are looking for and respect their time, otherwise don’t bother. |
| Whelans Springs | 22 Corporate Bvd, Bayswater, VIC 3153 | Springs, spring parts and wire forms. May need to place a largeish order |
[edit] Construction Materials
While every day materials such as wood or extruded metals are readily sourced from hardware stores and the like, some other materials are harder to find.
[edit] Fibreglass
If you are just getting started, you are best to get a fibreglass repair kit from an Auto part store. otherwise try the speciality stores. A repair kit will provide you with 0.5 square metres of Fibreglass Matting, 500ml of Resin, 500ml of Acetone for cleanup and 20ml of Catalyst. Also provided is a paintbrush for applying the resin. This will set you back about $50 and contains just about everything you will need.
[edit] Auto Stores
[Autobahn] Good range of fibreglass keys and filling compounds
[edit] Speciality Stores
Barnes: [[1]] Retailer of other materials such as latex and plaster. Also sells various books on different subject.
Feel free to fill in more.
[edit] Tools
| Supplier | Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Belic Tools | Box Hill and Dandenong, VIC | Very large range of tools and accessories. |
| Bunnings | Aus wide | Standard hardware store. Useful if you need generic stuff, but not always cheapest. |
| Cost Less Bolts (Moorabbin/Cheltenham) | 3 Ebden St, Moorabbin, VIC 3189 | Tools and accessories related to bolts and nuts. No web store (unfortunately) |
| Cost Less Bolts (Ringwood) | 13 Molan St, Ringwood, VIC 3134 | Tools and accessories related to bolts and nuts. No web store (unfortunately). |
| Dick Smith | Aus wide | Sadly, these days carrying less and less tools. |
| Home Hardware | Aus wide | Standard hardware store. Useful if you need generic stuff, but not always cheapest. |
| Jaycar | Aus wide | Carry a fair range of electronics tools. |
| McJing Tools | NSW | Engineering and Woodwork tools |
| Mitre 10 | Aus wide | Standard hardware store. Useful if you need generic stuff, but not always cheapest. |
| MyToolStore | QLD | Online sales of Dremel, Proxxon, Bosch, Kincrome, and other tools. Also sells CNC's and mini-lathes. |
| Small Parts and Bearings | Mansfield, QLD | Sells a lot of tool accessories including drill bits, burrs, bits, etc. Note: Online version of H.E. Supplies Pty Ltd. |
- Note
- Many suppliers of electronics and mechanical parts also sell tools, usually related to their field of expertise. It's always worth checking them out, even if only for ideas, as the cost can sometimes be much more expensive.
[edit] Other Resources, Tips and Suggestions
[edit] Datasheets
Datasheet4U - Free online database of data sheets for chips/components.
Datasheet Archive - Online archive of data sheets.
Datasheet Catalog - Free online resource of data sheets for many chips/components. Links to multiple manufacturer spec sheets if available (useful to see differences in manufacturers).
The Giant Internet IC Masturbator - Stupid name, very useful resource. Pin-out info on lots of IC's, all rendered as TEXT - no pics or PDF's.
Pinouts.ru - Handbook of hardware pin-outs, cables schemes and connectors layouts. Great info for interfacing projects to other hardware.
[edit] Free Samples
You can get free samples of a whole range of diodes, transistors, IC’s and other parts from some of the major semiconductor manufacturers. I’ve used OnSemi, Freescale and TI for samples of production pcb parts and prototyping, they are great, you usually get your free delivery within a few days by FedEx or DHL from an overseas automated warehouse.
Most of the available parts are surface mount since that’s the most common nowadays. Some parts you can get free samples of online, some not, so look for the “Sample” link or similar. Some can be bought alongside the free sample parts, I’ve done that before where a MCU or large part has a price on it and the rest are free. It’s good to follow a “use it and don’t abuse it” method, include your technical related company name and as much proper information as you can.
On Semiconductor - so many parts here you’ll be browsing for a while!
- eg. See the Sample link on this little 3V6 Zener - https://www.onsemi.com/PowerSolutions/product.do?id=NZ9F3V6T5G
Texas Instruments - Regular specials on development kits/boards.
More places offer free samples. A google search should turn up a number of places. If you find other resource pages for free electronic component samples, please add links back here.
[edit] Recommendations
See the discussion page, or search for or post questions to the mailing list for discussions on specific parts and suppliers.
