Anybody buy misc. hardware online?
 

I'd love to go to my local Ace harware or homedepot, but they have a very limited selection of smaller hardware, almost no metric hardware, maybe 5 kinds of small metric hardware, and nothing that I really need....lol.

So I was wondering if anybody knows of a decent place to buy hardware online? I don't want to buy the hobby hardware, as the price is ramped up 10x what it would cost at a hardware store.

I'm mainly looking for stuff like bearing and gear shims, small machine thread screws and coarse thread screws (3-5mm), hex head would be most desirable, small nuts for the screws (insert joke here about small nuts), etc, etc.

There might not be a place online....and I'm not looking to buy boxes of screws...more like 4-10 of the item, which makes places online hard to find.

Thanks guys.

the best thing I've found is to go on RCT and PM the guys that are selling/sold everything... I bought tons of random boxes filled with screws/bearings/shims/parts for cheap...

thats actually some pretty good advice, I'll have to give it a try.

Here are a few suggestions,

http://www.rtlfasteners.com/
http://www.boltdepot.com/metric-socket-products.aspx
http://www.fastenal.com/web/home.ex

These were suggestions from other member found while I was looking into this same topic recently. I have no experience with any of these companies yet.

Nick

www.mcmaster.com for all my hardware needs. They have everything and then some. From screws to raw alloy sheet, if they don't have it, you probably don't need it.

Definitely a good idea. I've been building up a nice assortment of hardware since I started the hobby and it's been invaluable. Nothing worse than having to stop dead in the middle of a project just because you're missing a few screws. Lately I have been using Bolt Depot and I've been very pleased there. Good selection, fair prices, fast shipping. They allow you to buy 1 screw, a whole box, or anything in between.

I also check on Ebay chop-shops for the screw sets from various RC kits. You can usually get some pretty good assortments for cheap. I download the manual for the vehicle and flip through it to get an idea of what types and sizes are included.

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...3/P1030438.jpg

+1 for Bolt Depot. :yes:

http://www.rtlfasteners.com/

is great, quick shipping and good quality

I don't usually worry about quick shipping so much as cheap cheap cheap shipping, haha.
Thanks for the suggestions, didn't know many people would buy hardware online, guess I'm not alone.

+1 what Texas said, Mcmaster. Got a bag of 50 o-rings for my hyper 10SC for $7, better quality than the stock ones, they last much longer. Ofna wants to sell you all the diff gears for 20-30 bucks just to get 2 o-rings.

I'm surprised that no one said Tony's Screws yet: http://www.tonysscrews.com/

They have very nice high strength screws. :intello:

Hitting up the various forums and ebay for lots of screws, etc is the way to go. I have a ton (literally) of rc related hardware and I have never purchased any of it from a fastener seller. Just too expensive, IMO.

I generally use mcmaster but do need to sort through the several bowls of misc screws I now have... or maybe just sell them to you LOL

I think lots are good for when you are looking to build up your stockpile, but there are times when I need a certain screw (most recently was M4x10 set screws) that really the only option was to buy from a fastener store. And it's still way cheaper than buying a pack of 4 screws from an RC company for $4.

True, I have at least 6 of every screw that goes on any rc, inc all of the weird and wonderful oddball stuff like traxxas servo screws and all of the course thread stuff for hpi...

fastener express is pretty reasonable and have a pretty wide selection of r/c related hardware. They have stainless, black oxide, and anodized aluminum.

I'm liking tony's screws since they have shims....something that I would also like to order and haven't seen elsewhere. One thing that had my stumped is the coarse threaded M3 and M4 screws on my savage....anyone sell them? Seems like they are all machine threaded...would love to get those with a hex head. might just be better off buying a flux/X/XL hardware kit from the ebay and be done....but I really want hex heads! haha.

Thanks for the input so far guys, really great stuff, and it is appreciated a lot.

edit: now that I actually look at the shims and compare them to what I need, I see they are quite thick, and generally too large for use in the savage...hmmm. Know where I can find an online store with good shims and coarse thread hex screws for the savage?