[TriEmbed] McMaster Carr is in a class of their own

[Pete Soper]

Dear Triembeders,  Twenty five years ago when I finally pursued a life long goal of getting into amateur radio some of my "ham" buddies who had more loose change than me uttered two words any time the subject of obtaining a fastener or raw construction material came up: McMaster Carr.  Fast forward to earlier this year when I decided to become active with the hobby again (albeit with a single HF band and limiting myself to "low power", defined in most contest rules as up to 100 watts). Anyway, I'm preparing to make a series of custom yagi antennas, and if you want these to "stay in the air" for more than a few months before turning into lumps of corrosion, you stay away from the inexpensive but metalurgically challenged stuff at Home Depot or Lowes. For instance, even just saying "stainless steel is the last word" only buys you X years of trouble free service, but if you want to solve for X and ensure it's a large number, you look for a stainless called "316". But I digress.  For all these years I'd always had one excuse or the other to go to HD or Lowes, order somebody's pig in a poke off Ebay, etc. But this time I've been systematic. I found 120 SS 316 hose clamps through Amazon, but some very specific size U bolts were pure unobtainium until I remembered McMaster Carr. You know that scene in "The Matrix" when Neo needs some weapons and a set of endless rows of shelves of stuff is conjured instantly? That's what the McM web site is like. If you can imagine it and it is not a full custom thing, that thing is there. This is only a slight exaggeration (and I haven't seen evidence of gaps in their inventory yet).   But the real reason I'm writing is about the ordering and fulfillment process. It is, in my opinion, light years ahead of Bezo's wildest dreams. Amazon is a sparse matrix, and not just sparse, but mercurial to a sometimes maddening degree (and I'm of course talking pre-catastrophe).  With my two orders so far,  not only is it close to "one click", the fulfillment is rocket sled fast. They don't offer me endless, dynamic choices and offers of points or money for this or that one: there is no choice unless, I guess, if I dig in and click around, call them, etc. Instead, similar to with some electronics distributors, the final shipping (and tax and tarrif) details catch up with you later. With McM the stuff simply appears, fast.  And finally, there's the old adage that "you get what you pay for". With McMaster Carr you not only get what you pay for, but you sometimes get the pedigree. Picture my surprise to get the chemical analysis details and photocopies of inspection signatures (yes, multiple) and attestations of the origins and processing history of my item. Say what? I guess these folks serve some very picky customers!  Now I'm sure my first two orders are well within the beginner's luck zone. But all of this has been by way of saying if anybody on this list asks about finding an unusual fastener, piece of sheet aluminum, etc, I have just two words for you. :-)Pete
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