The Industrial Resource
April 16, 2013 10:06 AM   Subscribe

Do you need some gaskets, but aren't sure where to get the kind you need? Industrial Gasket Resource can help. And it's just one part of The Industrial Resource Network.

The Industrial Resource Network is a collection of directories of companies that manufacture industrial products like bearings, connectors, switches, and valves. Each directory is further subdivided into particular kinds of, e.g., bearings: air bearings, angular contact bearings, Babbitt bearings, ball bearings, etc. Think of it like a decentralized McMaster-Carr.

There are also directories organized by industry such as factory automation and food service. Maybe you're in the market for a chocolate enrobing machine like this Aasted Group Nielsen enrober?
posted by jedicus (25 comments total) 39 users marked this as a favorite
 
Thank you for this amazing gear collection, jedicus. I'll take one of everything, please.
posted by MonkeyToes at 10:14 AM on April 16, 2013 [2 favorites]


Needs moar gaskets!

And by this of course I mean we all can use more!
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 10:21 AM on April 16, 2013


whoa.
posted by anewnadir at 10:26 AM on April 16, 2013


Be forewarned, when I followed the Babbitt bearing link and found that I could get them in aluminum and bronze, all my hackles went up. The data is obviously not going to be available, but I wonder if the strategy of pepsi bluing every nook and cranny of this - linking products that are at best tangentially related to the category in question - is actually rewarded by the marketplace or if it just serves to piss engineers and maintenance people off?
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 10:28 AM on April 16, 2013 [1 favorite]


Someone submit this to Steam Greenlight - now!! (*≧▽≦)
posted by Foci for Analysis at 10:31 AM on April 16, 2013


Interesting. McM-C has always been my go-to, mainly because almost all their products are available in a variety of 2-D and 3-D CAD formats. Find your bolt of choice, drop it in your model.
posted by Mei's lost sandal at 10:36 AM on April 16, 2013


Be forewarned, when I followed the Babbitt bearing link and found that I could get them in aluminum and bronze, all my hackles went up.

I think you misunderstood. If you follow the links to the actual manufacturers' sites, those bearings are bronze or alumninum backed and Babbitt lined.
posted by jedicus at 10:36 AM on April 16, 2013


Mei's lost sandal: Interesting. McM-C has always been my go-to, mainly because almost all their products are available in a variety of 2-D and 3-D CAD formats. Find your bolt of choice, drop it in your model.
Which is doubly interesting because the first thing I thought of was the Thomas Register, although I'm old enough to remember when it was still a set of books that took up several feet of shelf space.
posted by ob1quixote at 10:48 AM on April 16, 2013


I think you misunderstood...

Ooops, you're absolutely right.

I'm so used to seeing very specific Google searches come back with this kind of crap (particularly when looking for chip information) that I just knee-jerk figured this was more of the same. I guess I need to go drink a nice hot cup of tea or something and re-calibrate my cynicism.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 11:23 AM on April 16, 2013


This seems to only cover the US. I unable to find Brafasco (Brampton Fastener Company), whose commercials were a mainstay of Southern Ontario late-night television in the '90s.

For me, the appeal was that the commercials reminded me of some sort of real-life Spatula City!


I may also have been very high for significant portions of that decade.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 11:24 AM on April 16, 2013 [1 favorite]


I came here to declare my unending love for McMaster Carr. I'm glad to see they have been covered below the fold on the FPP.
posted by slogger at 11:27 AM on April 16, 2013


The McMaster-Carr website is a thing of beauty. They seem to have gotten way out in front of most industrial supply vendors in taking on an Amazon-like one-click and your shit is magically at your doorstep approach. They make it so, so easy to find and buy stuff, and the organization and illustration is super professional. I've always wondered what kind of an army keeps their site up to date.
posted by Mei's lost sandal at 11:33 AM on April 16, 2013


Also, my brother-in-law works at Townsen Further Processing. Visiting their R&D facility was one of the squee-inducing moments of my life.
posted by slogger at 11:34 AM on April 16, 2013


I have loved flanges ever since I was a child and saw Arnie put a brick in his briefcase.
posted by surplus at 11:34 AM on April 16, 2013 [1 favorite]


Incidentally, Amazon Supply also an Amazon-like one-click magic website for the industrial supply vertical.
posted by slogger at 11:35 AM on April 16, 2013 [4 favorites]


I used to work at McMaster-Carr (4 years ago). It actually wasn't that many people maintaining the catalog/website. It was about 60 if I recall correctly.

Incidentally, Amazon hired a bunch of my former colleagues at McMaster to set up their MRO website.
posted by nolnacs at 11:40 AM on April 16, 2013 [1 favorite]


Mei's lost sandal: The McMaster-Carr website is a thing of beauty.
Not to be disagreeable, but any public-facing, commercial website that requires Javascript be enabled to show any content at all cannot be a thing a beauty.
posted by ob1quixote at 11:46 AM on April 16, 2013


dunno ob1quixote, I see java as one of the necessary tools to get my days work done. I never think about whether it is or isn't used on a site. Call me naive.
posted by Mei's lost sandal at 12:49 PM on April 16, 2013 [1 favorite]


My tattoo is lifted directly from McMaster-Carr.
posted by poe at 12:56 PM on April 16, 2013 [4 favorites]


Amazon Supply carries exactly one type of titanium bolt. No metric whatsoever. I guess they have a ways to go yet in the industrial supply area.
posted by Mei's lost sandal at 1:01 PM on April 16, 2013


I see Amazon bought SmallParts.
posted by mrbill at 1:37 PM on April 16, 2013


Amazon Supply carries neither Perasan nor quaternary ammonia, so they're pretty much dead to me.

I'm still bitter that, years ago, I interviewed for a position as a taxonomist for industrial supply catalogs and was not hired. I mean, seriously, how many people are there in this world who have an MLIS, four years of experience in taxonomy, and a fucking hobby of reading industrial supply catalogs for fun?
posted by stet at 3:04 PM on April 16, 2013 [1 favorite]


Very cool! Fun art trick : 1/2" cable clamps work great for mounting laser diode modules.
posted by jeffburdges at 3:52 PM on April 16, 2013


I encountered McMaster-Carr for the first time last year when I found their catalogue at my new job in a volume bakery. It is vast and beautiful. I brought an old copy home and my kids leafed through it in amazement at the sheer variety and utility of all the useful stuffs.
posted by Barry B. Palindromer at 11:21 PM on April 16, 2013 [1 favorite]


Let's not forget Grainger. "If you need it fast at twice the price, they have it!"

Poe: excellent tattoo!
posted by gjc at 3:39 AM on April 17, 2013


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