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Comment by Mistletoe | Hacker News Reader

Maybe your customers or employer would like you to save 2, 3, 5, 10x the price…

My memories of McMaster from doing my hobbies is that it is outrageously expensive.

Not at all. My rate is very high, so saving a day of my time saves them way more. The burn rate on some of these projects is hundreds of thousands, millions a day. Saving time when your on the critical path (as mechanical design typically is) is worth that much. Once the design is finished there is a whole army of manufacturing engineers and sourcing folks that can drive the cost down. That's not the niche that mcmaster fills.

If it's a commonly used item, it would be much more efficient to pay an entry level CAD guy to draw up a parametric screw part. Add in toolsolids of all the subtracts that the component will do (taps, CBore, clearance), and supplier call outs. It starts to become efficient.

But that's all already done for you in the mcmaster add in for solidworks.

Ah, that may be the key. (I do not use solidworks).

Have you done what you suggested before?

In my experience, the overhead of what you suggest is significant. Leading and instructing an employee or subcontractor, dealing with learning curves, etc. It sounds nice, but the logic in the GP comment is sound (i.e. that spending 2x or 3x the price for what you get can be worth it in most cases).

I use it everyday. It works very well. Just being able to easily switch screw sizes and having all of the taps/c'bores readjust is worth it.

Just tell the project manager that you're adding a day to the critical path for every screw needed, and he'll send you back to McMaster Carr.

Tried that, management still insisted I get all of it from Fastenal, great pricing and they have an online catalogue, but ffs it takes a week to get stuff in.

This is an example of bad management, I'd be happy to tell them

For like a $.5 part from McMaster? Are you on drugs?

McMaster is "expensive" but it isn't like they are charging a crazy amount of money. They are just expensive.

I still use them over randos tho bc I know I'm going to get what I ordered. I never did not, but if I did, I'd have the correct part maybe even same day.

The cost of the part doesn't matter. The cost of my time does.

For common components, I need a parametric part so that I can instantly change the length, size or type. If my M12 becomes an M16, I want all the taps and C'Bores to adjust without any further input from myself.

For more expensive parts, it's nice to have a homegrown parametric part to minimize potential missorders.

Drawing up a component is quick, sure. Measuring and specifying is not as quick and easy, and you won't necessarily have appropriate metrology equipment or trained personnel on site.

A fair price for an electrical resistor is roughly $0.02 - $0.08, depending on what you are ordering. Buying it from McMaster will probably cost you $0.12 - $0.50.

Not every component is this trivially inexpensive, but we are working in a price range where it's very much worth paying the high McMaster prices. Let them hire the entry level CAD guy and spread the cost across many more prototypes than your company will make.

When you refine the product for mass production, then it is worth shaving pennies.

Honestly, not really. They want the project done sooner, and McMaster is a means to that end. The supply chain team can find a better longer term vendor later.

For production quantities, sure, nobody in their right mind would source from McMaster Carr (or Grainger, or any similar company,) but for their niche, they have a solid value proposition: they’ll get you small quantities of anything they carry incredibly quickly. For maintenance and repair (their primary market) or prototyping, that can be incredibly valuable.

Exactly!

Time is money and buying from McMaster has always been faster and easier than any other site. I also have yet to get an incorrect item.

I have had an incorrect CAD model from them. (Which they fixed when I brought it to their notice). Once burned, twice shy.

This would be an immediate positive in my book. Most the bug reports I upstream to vendors go nowhere. Getting in contact with someone who can actually fix the problem, instead of just papering over it? Completely negates any downside from the original problem, in my book.

Really, I hear nothing back from a large majority of my bug reports. It must be around 3/4 are ignore or get a template response with no solution. Solving the problem is amazing. We all make mistakes, we don’t all fix them.

It depends on what you need. For basic metric nuts and bolts it seems to be the same price as a local hardware store but I don’t have to leave my office to buy the stuff.

They also have the weird stuff the local hardware stores don't, and usually it's higher quality.

You are, people ignore how much their time costs when they start "saving" money all the time.

Nahh, postage is $12.99; I can save that by driving 5 hours each way tomorrow to collect it - unlike you wasteful people who stupidly pay the postage and have it arrive the next morning /s

Looks like an opportunity to make something as delightful and lower the prices.

I am thinking instead of low price free would be great. They can stick on some extra ads on stuff they would be selling.

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