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A huge advantage of McMaster I didn't see enumerated is the 3D models - for nearly every fastener, and for certain other products, you can instantly grab a 3D m

A huge advantage of McMaster I didn't see enumerated is the 3D models - for nearly every fastener, and for certain other products, you can instantly grab a 3D model and bring it right into your CAD design. As far as I know no one else offers this, definitely not at the scale McMaster's dataset offers. An annoyance of McMaster I didn't see enumerated is how they don't show you the shipping cost until after transaction is complete. That's fine for my day job when I'm not paying, but when I order stuff for home projects I generally would like to know how much it costs to ship say, an 8 foot piece of steel tubing, before I click submit order. EDIT: they updated this apparently! See user Certified's comment below.

Oxidation 4y ago
And the file you download is the file you need. You don't have to mess about with zip files containing one file.
techplex 4y ago
I've heard you can contact support to get a shipping quote before placing your order.
- blamazon 4y ago
  Their phone support is excellent, I will say. Still, to call for a ship quote is a bit of a faff that feels intentionally anachronistic.
  - dieselgate 4y ago
    Seriously - how many "large" stores can you just call up and actually not have to wait on hold to talk to someone who is helpful, kind, and knowledgeable? Mcmaster is great at what they do
    - blamazon 4y ago
      Heck, forget the phone, I had an extended job once across the street from the New Jersey McMaster warehouse (Robbinsville Twnship) and you can go in there to get the same treatment. We spent A LOT of money on same day parts.
- spinningarrow 4y ago
  That makes its absence even more strange - presumably then they should be able to expose that functionality to the user?
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - hadlock 4y ago
    Shipping is a Hard Problem, especially when dealing with large volume (bigger than UPS, usually strapped to a pallet) objects, and/or very dense objects (cartons of metal nuts and bolts). You still need to call your freight person and get a quote directly from the carrier over the phone. Low density LTL (less than truckload) is a pretty known quantity and delivering to a known business (like Walmart warehouses) with a loading dock is easy. Delivering two pallet loads of high density metal to a single story engineering office in an office park with no facilities to service an 18-wheeler (let alone allow one to enter/maneuver) is another thing entirely.
- loeg 4y ago
  Yes, although it's no longer necessary -- shipping costs are reflected at checkout now.
yardie 4y ago
The shipping always killed it for me. I started ordering fasteners through the office. It's basically the same whether you order an envelope or a pallet.
Certified 4y ago
"An annoyance of McMaster I didn't see enumerated is how they don't show you the shipping cost until after transaction is complete." I use McMaster daily and can see the shipping cost in two places when viewing my cart. The lines above the Place Order button on the top right side of the screen has Merchandise ####.## Shipping ##.## Total $####.## In the same bar below that is tax and directly below that you can click Delivery Method and it also displays the cost for each delivery speed. Maybe if you are set up with an account that is Net-30 this is hidden, but it certainly shows up for me when set to process the transaction by credit card.
- blamazon 4y ago
  You're right and I'm wrong! There it is, plain as day. That's fascinating. I guess they updated this and I didn't notice.
  - loeg 4y ago
    It was fairly recent.
LeifCarrotson 4y ago
> As far as I know no one else offers this, definitely not at the scale McMaster's dataset offers. As an industrial engineer, most of my vendors offer this. I can get 3D CAD for robot arms, grippers, IO blocks, motors, cameras, enclosures, valves, cylinders, and just about everything else that goes in my machines. However, you're right that these don't have the same scale that McMaster does; they're selling the huge variety of nuts and bolts that bring these separate vendors together. One of the underrated parts of this kind of CAD offering is that you can test out 3D printed parts directly from their CAD. Not sure if you're accurately understanding their otherwise very helpful documentation on the gear modulus of that thousand dollar hardened, ground steel rack-and-pinion? Download the step file and print it in a few bucks of PLA. No, it won't actually be strong enough to move that 3-ton casting even once, but you can trivially check that the meshing works as you expect.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- daveguy 4y ago
  > No, it won't actually be strong enough to move that 3-ton casting even once, but you can trivially check that the meshing works as you expect. This is the opposite of what I have found. I wouldn't use 3D printed parts for any sort of interfacing / tolerance check because pla usually prints > 0.2mm out of spec. But, maybe you have a better 3d printer or I misunderstood exactly how you use it. Do you have a 3d printer that can made dimensionally accurate parts? Or would you mind clarifying the use case?
  - LeifCarrotson 4y ago
    No, it's typically ~0.4mm out of tolerance. Perhaps gear meshing was a bad example requiring higher tolerances. You'd not be able to set the depth to a tolerance of a few microns, but you'd know if you were off by a factor of 2 due to confusion calculating diametral pitch vs OD. We most recently used it to check timing belt compatibility, whether the belt could be installed over the pulley using the very limited travel available in the belt tensioner, or whether we needed a pulley with smaller flanges or a different way to adjust and change belts. Trying to figure out in CAD whether you could stretch a belt over the pulley, or slip the pulley over the shaft while the belt was pre-installed, is pretty difficult. Printing it and proving that it was easy cost $2 and reduced risk a lot.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
loeg 4y ago
They started showing shipping costs a few years ago. It was also my main complaint.
- Robotbeat 4y ago
  That’s it, then. McMaster-Carr is perfect. (Too bad my organization’s procurement has become completely screwed up in the last 2-3 years…)
tbran 4y ago
I can also confirm that shipping is calculated before the transaction is complete, so you'll know what you're paying. I'll add that the shipping was super fast for my most recent order (next day) even though part of it came from 1/3 of the way across the US.

Oxidation 4y ago

And the file you download is the file you need. You don't have to mess about with zip files containing one file.

techplex 4y ago

I've heard you can contact support to get a shipping quote before placing your order.

blamazon 4y ago
Their phone support is excellent, I will say. Still, to call for a ship quote is a bit of a faff that feels intentionally anachronistic.
- dieselgate 4y ago
  Seriously - how many "large" stores can you just call up and actually not have to wait on hold to talk to someone who is helpful, kind, and knowledgeable? Mcmaster is great at what they do
  - blamazon 4y ago
    Heck, forget the phone, I had an extended job once across the street from the New Jersey McMaster warehouse (Robbinsville Twnship) and you can go in there to get the same treatment. We spent A LOT of money on same day parts.
spinningarrow 4y ago
That makes its absence even more strange - presumably then they should be able to expose that functionality to the user?
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- hadlock 4y ago
  Shipping is a Hard Problem, especially when dealing with large volume (bigger than UPS, usually strapped to a pallet) objects, and/or very dense objects (cartons of metal nuts and bolts). You still need to call your freight person and get a quote directly from the carrier over the phone. Low density LTL (less than truckload) is a pretty known quantity and delivering to a known business (like Walmart warehouses) with a loading dock is easy. Delivering two pallet loads of high density metal to a single story engineering office in an office park with no facilities to service an 18-wheeler (let alone allow one to enter/maneuver) is another thing entirely.
loeg 4y ago
Yes, although it's no longer necessary -- shipping costs are reflected at checkout now.

yardie 4y ago

The shipping always killed it for me. I started ordering fasteners through the office. It's basically the same whether you order an envelope or a pallet.

Certified 4y ago

"An annoyance of McMaster I didn't see enumerated is how they don't show you the shipping cost until after transaction is complete." I use McMaster daily and can see the shipping cost in two places when viewing my cart. The lines above the Place Order button on the top right side of the screen has Merchandise ####.## Shipping ##.## Total $####.## In the same bar below that is tax and directly below that you can click Delivery Method and it also displays the cost for each delivery speed. Maybe if you are set up with an account that is Net-30 this is hidden, but it certainly shows up for me when set to process the transaction by credit card.

blamazon 4y ago
You're right and I'm wrong! There it is, plain as day. That's fascinating. I guess they updated this and I didn't notice.
- loeg 4y ago
  It was fairly recent.

LeifCarrotson 4y ago

> As far as I know no one else offers this, definitely not at the scale McMaster's dataset offers. As an industrial engineer, most of my vendors offer this. I can get 3D CAD for robot arms, grippers, IO blocks, motors, cameras, enclosures, valves, cylinders, and just about everything else that goes in my machines. However, you're right that these don't have the same scale that McMaster does; they're selling the huge variety of nuts and bolts that bring these separate vendors together. One of the underrated parts of this kind of CAD offering is that you can test out 3D printed parts directly from their CAD. Not sure if you're accurately understanding their otherwise very helpful documentation on the gear modulus of that thousand dollar hardened, ground steel rack-and-pinion? Download the step file and print it in a few bucks of PLA. No, it won't actually be strong enough to move that 3-ton casting even once, but you can trivially check that the meshing works as you expect.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
daveguy 4y ago
> No, it won't actually be strong enough to move that 3-ton casting even once, but you can trivially check that the meshing works as you expect. This is the opposite of what I have found. I wouldn't use 3D printed parts for any sort of interfacing / tolerance check because pla usually prints > 0.2mm out of spec. But, maybe you have a better 3d printer or I misunderstood exactly how you use it. Do you have a 3d printer that can made dimensionally accurate parts? Or would you mind clarifying the use case?
- LeifCarrotson 4y ago
  No, it's typically ~0.4mm out of tolerance. Perhaps gear meshing was a bad example requiring higher tolerances. You'd not be able to set the depth to a tolerance of a few microns, but you'd know if you were off by a factor of 2 due to confusion calculating diametral pitch vs OD. We most recently used it to check timing belt compatibility, whether the belt could be installed over the pulley using the very limited travel available in the belt tensioner, or whether we needed a pulley with smaller flanges or a different way to adjust and change belts. Trying to figure out in CAD whether you could stretch a belt over the pulley, or slip the pulley over the shaft while the belt was pre-installed, is pretty difficult. Printing it and proving that it was easy cost $2 and reduced risk a lot.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

loeg 4y ago

They started showing shipping costs a few years ago. It was also my main complaint.

Robotbeat 4y ago
That’s it, then. McMaster-Carr is perfect. (Too bad my organization’s procurement has become completely screwed up in the last 2-3 years…)

tbran 4y ago

I can also confirm that shipping is calculated before the transaction is complete, so you'll know what you're paying. I'll add that the shipping was super fast for my most recent order (next day) even though part of it came from 1/3 of the way across the US.