McMaster-Carr/Grainger Alternative 6

[dalegoldston]

Looking for an alternative to McMaster-Carr and Grainger. Anyone have some they would like to share. My company no longer allows me to use these guys.

Thanks
Dale

Thanks
Dale

 

[MintJulep]

MSC

https://www.mscdirect.com/

 

[ornerynorsk]

Won't let you use McMaster or Grainger??? What kind of monsters do you work for???

It all depends on what you're looking for. Zoro is pretty good.

It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all.

 

[handleman]

Seems odd... Why is that?
What do you need? If you need machine components (shafts, locating pins, bearings, etc) and like metric, Misumi is great.

 

[dalegoldston]

I need manufacturers part numbers not suppliers part numbers. Has to do with DFARS requirements. McMaster does not provide sources from where they buy stuff. McMaster is such a good all around place to find things, looking for the next great site.

Thanks
Dale

 

[drawoh]

dalegoldston,

You may have to find McMaster Carr's sources. For example, they order their toggle clamps from De-Sta-Co. I have seen McMaster Carr catalogues lying around. I have never opened one. You can search Google almost as easily as you can search McMaster Carr's website.

--
JHG

 

[JStephen]

In the past, I have found that in many cases, if you can find the stuff outside of McMaster-Carr, it will be cheaper. If you buy a lot of the same items, that's the way to go. The beauty of McMaster-Carr is that it keeps you from chasing all over creation trying to find items. Spending $100 worth of time to locate a $10 part and all that.

The local hardware store, Lowe's or Home Depot for items they carry.

Most of our alternatives are more specialized- so we have people we buy pipe from, other people we buy plate from, etc.

 

[racookpe1978]

Fastenal is a reliable source. Available for pickup from the local stores, or by delivery to your address.

 

[Sparweb]

Try impressing your overlords with aerospace hardware:
Genuine Aircraft Hardware

STF

 

[3DDave]

Have you asked McMaster Carr for that info? By my experience they will help in such things; they seem like the best run of the online suppliers (NewEgg used to be similarly good - then it got sold. Sniff.)

I haven't had maker's part numbers work well either. I ordered a small gear box from a long-time maker of small gear boxes. It apparently arrived on a Friday and the shop guys were in over the weekend to install it on a handling fixture. Monday I hear complaints about the engineering, but "they made it fit." Before ordering or even using it in the design, I had called the company who made it to ensure it was in stock and still good. I looked at their catalog and it looked like I wanted, with a cast body with four mounting tabs. I went the factory. It had no tabs - nada. So I called up to ask and they said - Oh, you need to order the mounting feet, an option not in the catalog. Apparently they changed the design, kept the old number for the new configuration and called it good. &*$$#$@#$%!'s

I also had an LED supplier mess with me - years after the gearbox and I'm still cautious. So I go to the LED website for a panel mount LED. It has a suffix for color. I call them - is this a panel mount and will this suffix get this color? Yes and Yes comes the answer. Off to purchasing goes the design. Get a call from purchasing - the number is wrong. I ask how is the number wrong; they say the website gives a different number. Search the website for the other number (feel mild stroke coming on on different pages they have the same item listed with different numbers. Call the LED maker again - both numbers work; they are just changing all the numbers and the website has not caught up. @#^&*^@#%&^!@#^@&!'s This was fixed by calling procurement and saying it's all good and biting my tongue that they didn't call the supplier before dumping on me.

In contrast, McMaster-Carr only bruised me once - ordered 4 casters from them. They arrive. Three of one color tire and one of another color. It's for a deliverable test cart so functionally, no problem, but still. For some reason it seems like the pivot locking method was different on one of the same three color tires. I'm thinking - how big a box of these do they have in their warehouse that it's too hard to find a set of four? Since tire color wasn't an option ... Like JStephen said, it becomes $100 worth of phone calls to get a $10 part.

 

[CWB1]

Why not try purchasing from the manufacturers directly? I suspect that is what your company's trying to push you toward. Smaller companies tend to have less capable purchasing depts and are forced to go to the industrial distributors like this, but bigger companies with more capable purchasing depts usually go directly to the manufacturer for a much better deal IME.

 

[TheTick]

I’m fairly certain Fastenal can provide necessary documentation.

 

[Tmoose]

McMaster Carr has willingly shared manufacturer info with me a few times.

Yes, their prices can usually be beat even on identical items, but in my cheap skate experience their selection and especially availability and delivery can not.

If you are buying fasteners you care about you may find that their quality is also excellent. That is not the case for Home Depot, Lowes, or even many industrial suppliers. Fastenal excepted, who sometimes has different "quality" levels, like name brand, Fastenal approved, and no-name, but their pricing can be quite high for the good stuff.

 

[TheTick]

Sounds like your employer need to establish relationships with some supply firm reps.

 

[dalegoldston]

I appreciate the replies, I hesitate to give out too much info about where I work and the whys of the issue. It does make it harder to find parts and place orders. But more or less I'm just whining.

Thanks
Dale

 

[grunt58]

I agree if you ask McMaster will usually supply manufacturer information. You have to ask though. They do tend to be more expensive; I call them the Amazon of industrial components. Pay slightly more for the ease of searching their site and quick delivery.

 

[FACS]

Ah yes, I was a Contractor once for the government, so I feel your pain.

Overlook the "non-answers" you are getting in here. Many engineers need to offer opinions instead of answering the actual request.
I found that there is no real substitute for those types of suppliers. (McMaster... etc) Your best bet is to "Thomas Register" type of sourcing. Search the internet for the OEM suppliers. It's a lot to go through, but those contracts can pay off. The government wants to know where the merchandise comes from, so when your company quotes the jobs, they have more hoops to jump through than you even know about. Your pain is actually pale compared to the other people that work there.

Do your best.

 

[TheTick]

Well, that's enough martyrdom to last me through a decade of Good Fridays.

 

[Alpacahontas]

Use this search engine to identify the manufacturer and distributors using McMaster and Grainer P#. It's pretty easy to sign up, they'll send you an email within a day. In my experience a lot of the plastic parts are not searchable, but other than that it works great.

If anyone else knows of a source search engine that is more inclusive than this one then please let me know. I'm in the same situation as the Dale up there.

Source-search.com

 

[thebard3]

If my employer was worried about who I purchased this type of goods from, then I would suggest that they hire a buyer(which we have). I understand why the care, but I design control systems, It is not my job to seek the best pricing for hardware. The vendors take the managers to lunch, not me.

Brad Waybright

It's all okay as long as it's okay.