Perusing the Wayback Machine, I came across this old sticky that looked like a good resource. Original contributors were HTRN, Siress, Walking_Target, y0da900, splattttttt, PAINTBALL GUY 3, tjd10684, and punisher068 (no, not that punisher)
Everything below is all copied and only cleaned up with editing, reformatting, and the occasional editor's note. Descriptions were written by the original posters and do not constitute an endorsement by me or by mcarterbrown.com
I (HTRN) was thinking, a good idea would be a general resource thread, with links for materials, general parts, tools, etc, for those of us that tinker with guns. I'm not talking about parts for specific guns, but stuff used to make custom guns.
McMaster Carr - one of the big names in industrial supply, carries a huge assortment of stuff, including raw materials(aluminum, brass copper steel), parts like orings and SOC screws, and enough wierd stuff to keep you up for days. EVERYBODY should have this in their favorites Menu.
MSC - the book to go to when you need endmills (or milling machines!), drills taps, inserts, etc. Quite possibly the biggest metalworking supplier in the world.
Travers - another metal working supply
Microfasteners - Every kind of screw under the sun - they have sizes down to 0-80.
Solenoid City - supplier for solenoids (NOT solenoid valves!), perfect for making your own MQ like valves.
Clippard - makes probably 90% of the brass cocker rams out there, if you need a pneumatic ram, they probably have you covered.
SMC - is one of the major companies that supply Solenoid valves to the Paintball industry(They supply the solenoid valves for the E2 for example). They also make rams as well.
Humphrey - another big manufacturer of solenoid valves for paintball.
Skinner valves (div. of Parker) - another major solenoid valve maker.
Duracoat - one of the most popular non ano finishs for paintball guns.
Caswell Plating - one of the few sources for small quantities of Ano dye and sealer, I personally wouldn't bother with their kits, as you can improvise most of the equipment much cheaper.
All Electronics - Suppliers of useful, cheap components. Some are common, some are not.
Mouser - Most, if not all, electronic parts can be found here! Prices are usually a bit high, though. Make up for it with bulk orders of hard to find items.
Digi-Key - Everything else. Seriously.
Numrich Gun Parts Corp - Great place to find stocks and perhaps some sight components and/or scopes
Online Metals - raw materials (metals and plastics). Aluminum is typically slightly cheaper here than McMaster-Carr; Delrin is usually slightly more.
Airsoldier - How this list got more than 2 posts deep without airsoldier linked perplexes me. (Editor's Note: ASP stocks all kinds of bits including solenoids, his own products, and assorted miscellany)
Grizzly - Metal and wood working. Again, not always top grade stuff, lots of Chinese imports (9x20 lathes for example), but the price to stuff included ratio is better here than an identical machine at most other places. They have decent sales on cheaper tools too. You usually get what you pay for, but when you pay for what you can afford, grizzly and enco (Editor's Note: no more enco; see below) have decent deals for the money.
Valley Instrument - High, and low pressure, liquid filled gauges.
Metal Supermarkets - Really, any sort of metal you want.
Poweraire - good prices and assortment of fittings, tubing, etc... Browse their documentation section, there are a lot of good books in there, and lots of ways to find part numbers you can order from them that have no other way of being found easily on the website. (Editor's Note: appears to have been absorbed by Coast Pneumatics. "Poweraire" is now something very different, try here instead)
Parker O-ring design manual - The bible of o-ring and seal design.
U.S. Composites, Inc. - for casting supplies maybe for custom grips and resin for vacuum forming carbon fiber
Composite Envisions - lots of unique types of carbon fiber and carbon blends
Pneumadyne - if clippard dont have it (Editor's Note: *siiiiigh*) odds are this place does
VXB Bearings - never buy overpriced trigger bearings again this is where they come from.
Wholesale Tool - this place is like enco or mcmaster sometimes they're cheaper, sometimes not--just another place to try.
KG Industries - like durakote but better. Goes on thinner1-2 mills and is more chemical resistant.
Miniature Solenoids - manufacturer of clapper selonoids and other good stuff. (Editor's Note: appears to have been absorbed by Johnson Electric)
LittleMachineShop.com - this place has all kinds of replacement parts for hobby mills and lathes as well as CNC kits for x2 mills.
CNC Machinists Cookbook - another good machining site. As a side note I (tjd10684) use the speed and feed calculator from this site to figure the speeds and feed for my mill
John-Tom Engine Plans - Heres a site I (punisher068) found for replica gun plans,ordered a MG42 plan myself,thinking I may use my flipped Ion breech by tjd and drummag for this one
The following companies were on the original list but appear to be defunct with no apparent successor:
J&L - another metalworking supplier, smaller than MSC, but usually cheaper.
Small Parts - a company that specializes in well, small parts - they carry stuff like Orings and small coil springs. (Editor's Note: the old link just forwards you to Amazon now)
enco - Mostly metalworking stuff. Not always the best quality, but usually good enough when it's what fits in the budget. (Editor's Note: Acquired by MSC in 2016)
mini-lathe.com - once you caught the machining bug this place has lots of info on how to get started and get the most out of your mini lathe and mill
Everything below is all copied and only cleaned up with editing, reformatting, and the occasional editor's note. Descriptions were written by the original posters and do not constitute an endorsement by me or by mcarterbrown.com
I (HTRN) was thinking, a good idea would be a general resource thread, with links for materials, general parts, tools, etc, for those of us that tinker with guns. I'm not talking about parts for specific guns, but stuff used to make custom guns.
McMaster Carr - one of the big names in industrial supply, carries a huge assortment of stuff, including raw materials(aluminum, brass copper steel), parts like orings and SOC screws, and enough wierd stuff to keep you up for days. EVERYBODY should have this in their favorites Menu.
MSC - the book to go to when you need endmills (or milling machines!), drills taps, inserts, etc. Quite possibly the biggest metalworking supplier in the world.
Travers - another metal working supply
Microfasteners - Every kind of screw under the sun - they have sizes down to 0-80.
Solenoid City - supplier for solenoids (NOT solenoid valves!), perfect for making your own MQ like valves.
Clippard - makes probably 90% of the brass cocker rams out there, if you need a pneumatic ram, they probably have you covered.
SMC - is one of the major companies that supply Solenoid valves to the Paintball industry(They supply the solenoid valves for the E2 for example). They also make rams as well.
Humphrey - another big manufacturer of solenoid valves for paintball.
Skinner valves (div. of Parker) - another major solenoid valve maker.
Duracoat - one of the most popular non ano finishs for paintball guns.
Caswell Plating - one of the few sources for small quantities of Ano dye and sealer, I personally wouldn't bother with their kits, as you can improvise most of the equipment much cheaper.
All Electronics - Suppliers of useful, cheap components. Some are common, some are not.
Mouser - Most, if not all, electronic parts can be found here! Prices are usually a bit high, though. Make up for it with bulk orders of hard to find items.
Digi-Key - Everything else. Seriously.
Numrich Gun Parts Corp - Great place to find stocks and perhaps some sight components and/or scopes
Online Metals - raw materials (metals and plastics). Aluminum is typically slightly cheaper here than McMaster-Carr; Delrin is usually slightly more.
Airsoldier - How this list got more than 2 posts deep without airsoldier linked perplexes me. (Editor's Note: ASP stocks all kinds of bits including solenoids, his own products, and assorted miscellany)
Grizzly - Metal and wood working. Again, not always top grade stuff, lots of Chinese imports (9x20 lathes for example), but the price to stuff included ratio is better here than an identical machine at most other places. They have decent sales on cheaper tools too. You usually get what you pay for, but when you pay for what you can afford, grizzly and enco (Editor's Note: no more enco; see below) have decent deals for the money.
Valley Instrument - High, and low pressure, liquid filled gauges.
Metal Supermarkets - Really, any sort of metal you want.
Poweraire - good prices and assortment of fittings, tubing, etc... Browse their documentation section, there are a lot of good books in there, and lots of ways to find part numbers you can order from them that have no other way of being found easily on the website. (Editor's Note: appears to have been absorbed by Coast Pneumatics. "Poweraire" is now something very different, try here instead)
Parker O-ring design manual - The bible of o-ring and seal design.
U.S. Composites, Inc. - for casting supplies maybe for custom grips and resin for vacuum forming carbon fiber
Composite Envisions - lots of unique types of carbon fiber and carbon blends
Pneumadyne - if clippard dont have it (Editor's Note: *siiiiigh*) odds are this place does
VXB Bearings - never buy overpriced trigger bearings again this is where they come from.
Wholesale Tool - this place is like enco or mcmaster sometimes they're cheaper, sometimes not--just another place to try.
KG Industries - like durakote but better. Goes on thinner1-2 mills and is more chemical resistant.
Miniature Solenoids - manufacturer of clapper selonoids and other good stuff. (Editor's Note: appears to have been absorbed by Johnson Electric)
LittleMachineShop.com - this place has all kinds of replacement parts for hobby mills and lathes as well as CNC kits for x2 mills.
CNC Machinists Cookbook - another good machining site. As a side note I (tjd10684) use the speed and feed calculator from this site to figure the speeds and feed for my mill
John-Tom Engine Plans - Heres a site I (punisher068) found for replica gun plans,ordered a MG42 plan myself,thinking I may use my flipped Ion breech by tjd and drummag for this one
The following companies were on the original list but appear to be defunct with no apparent successor:
J&L - another metalworking supplier, smaller than MSC, but usually cheaper.
Small Parts - a company that specializes in well, small parts - they carry stuff like Orings and small coil springs. (Editor's Note: the old link just forwards you to Amazon now)
enco - Mostly metalworking stuff. Not always the best quality, but usually good enough when it's what fits in the budget. (Editor's Note: Acquired by MSC in 2016)
mini-lathe.com - once you caught the machining bug this place has lots of info on how to get started and get the most out of your mini lathe and mill
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