Anyone know of a good, cheap US source for hardware like screws, nuts, standoffs etc. of the appropriate sizes for mounting pcb's, lcd's and the like?
NYC local brick & mortar would be great also.
Thanks.
You can find just about any kind of hardware from McMaster-Carr or Fastenal. I buy a lot of stuff at work from McMaster; their service is excellent, and I can place an order as late as 6pm and receive it the next day (in the DC area).
If you're already buying from them, Digi-Key's prices on 4-40 nuts and screws are good: just buy a bag of 100, and you can get a multi-years supply at 1-2 cents apiece.
Standoffs are problematic: mostly I'm living off the supply I built up when I lived in Silicon Valley, and got them dirt cheap at surplus stores. Buying them new tends to be painful, especially if they're threaded. Your local hardware store may have boxes or bags of 100 screws and nuts that are fairly cheap, but they almost always sell items like spacers out of those bin drawers in onesies at ridiculous prices.
Digi-Key has a good price on some 1/4-in round spacers that are drilled to just the right diameter to run a 4-40 tap through them and make your own threaded ones at about 1/4 or so the cost of buying them already threaded. It's a great deal if you're un(der)employed and willing to trade labor for saving cash.
Ran
MSC Direct and McMaster Carr.
(* jcl *)
Thanks to all for the suggestions. I really like the McMaster-Carr and Fastenal sites, it's easy to see what you are buying.
McMaster Carr also has excellent service. Ground shipping from McMaster usually
arrives at my house the next day! Has never been longer than two days.
Don't count out MSC Direct. Same excellent service. They were a lot less money for
some of the #2 aluminum and nylon hardware I use.
(* jcl *)