Phenolic Handles

Maybe this outfit?

Interesting. Working back from that link found two items that would work, and are cheaper than McMaster. When I did a straight search of their site earlier I got nothing close.

That's really strange. I found Zoro on eBay a few years ago and have bought dozens of things because they had the lowest prices. Free shipping over $50 and if you have a smaller order, just $5 to ship, including 6' sections of allthread. I wonder if their website is priced differently than their eBay sales.

I just tried the website and picked the first odd thing which came to my brain, feather duster. 7 hits, no strays. So I tried something I was sure they didn't have, feather picker. 0 hits, no strays, so I'm obviously not getting the stray crap you have seen. I have argued over that at the Home Depot site and, I think, McMaster, though.

The long life of inserts pleases me, too. Plastic threads usually don't last beyond a couple R&Rs.

I put an extra ceramic knob on my portable BBQ lid and found that the insert was glued in. Though it hasn't fallen off, maybe a phenolic handle is in my future, too.

Not being rich, I always shop around for the best value. eBay, Amazon, Zoro, McMaster, Enco (now MSC, $$), and maybe HD. Quite often, I find a better version of what I was looking for at a lower price than I'd hoped.

How are their shipping prices? This is the first I've heard of this company.

I wonder how many of those red phenolic knobs they sell at 2-4x the price.

Essentra is the company that bought Reid Supply.

Yeah, with all vendors you have to check price on each item.

I am down to pulling handles off my own molds for customer molds, so I went ahead and ordered 100 from McMaster, but I may order a few sample pieces from Essentra and see how they compare for next time.

Kind of late... but did you try asking McMaster for a better deal on that quantity?

The impression I've gotten here is that they may work with you if you call and ask. Especially since you've found another source that may be slightly less expensive.

I'll be ordering more in the future, so I can always ask next time.

alibaba? ("Billions of items and a search engine that sucks")

I've not had good luck with Alibaba either, but I have bought a couple things using Aliexpress. I didn't remember to check either one this time around.

I used to work at a place where every mechanical engineer had this big catalog on his desk that was handles and shoulder screws and knobs and whatnot from cover to cover. Now if I need something, I can't find it. It's very frustrating. Fortunately, I mostly do circuit design and I DO know where to find that stuff (except for connectors and switches -- and that's everyone's bugaboo).

I got lots of hits on an ixquick search with the keywords "industrial hardware phenolic handles". Amazon, of all places, has them -- you might be able to track back from there to someone who'll sell in bulk.

I KNOW THAT FEELING. I grew up in a rural area, and my dad owned the local hardware store. We also had the grocery store next door, and our work shops were out back of the grocery store. When I was working on something and needed a part or a tool I'd just walk over to the hardware store and get what I needed. Now I live in town, and often I drive, call, and web surf all over town and nobody has that part or tool I need. That part or tool that I know exactly where it used to be on the shelf in my dad's little old country hardware store.

Yeah, the electronics suppliers have done a decent job of staying up with the times making it easy for us to find the part we need on-line. Well. except for Radio Shack which has become no better than a pop-up cell phone store.

I did check Amazon, but didn't take the time to contact any of the sellers to ask questions.

Might want to add Fastenall to that list. Rarely cheapest for just one or two, but if you need a bunch of something they will try hard to be your supplier.

Place I used to work for used a lot of (generic) Destaco 341 clamps and we negotiated the price down to $13 from the then $20 buying a dozen at a time. Real ones were about $25 then... Ouch! Up to $35 at Granger today.

Glad I am no longer there! A bad day at my current job is better than a good one there.

I forgot about Fastenal. I buy fill in nuts and bolts from them once in a while, but only if Copperstate is out and I have to have it today. Fastenal's biggest claim to fame for that stuff is at least they are cheaper than Lowes or Home Depot. LOL.

I did give a local salesman with them my email address and a list of pins, machine screws, and misc hardware I buy all the time, but I never heard back from him. I know their listed price on all of it was a couple times the price at Copperstate. On the other hand Ramon at Copperstate and I always talk about fishing when I drop by to get a couple boxes of something.

Anyway, thanks for mentioning them. Maybe a call to their corporate office to see about some pricing is in order.

I saw that they had a price discount at quantity 10. I would think that some more discounts at 100, 250, 500... wouldn't be out of line...

Amazon lists brass insert knobs from "Essentra Components (formerly Reid Supply)".

I buy a lot from Amazon to minimize the exposure of my credit card. They seems more like a flea market selling closeouts and overruns than a reliable long-term supplier. Several items I bought are no longer available and the parameters of electronic components suggest they came from the out-of-spec bins on the tester, for example a batch of

I recently tested an old Radio Shack "25A 50V" rectifier bridge. The number on the part corresponded to 600V PRV and it tested over 900V. Maybe a good one snuck in by accident?

-jsw

That polymer clay I mentioned for taking gear tooth impressions is actually uncured PVC resin and was originally developed to replace phenolic, which contains formaldehyde. I bought a brick to experiment with its mechanical and electrical properties.

-jsw

The problem is Amazon has bought some of the companies that they used to sell for. Then they killed off products that weren't high movers and raised the price on others. On top of that they have gone around some resellers buying from their sources in higher volume and undercut them. I used to buy my mold alignment pins from Small Parts (500-1000 at a time) through Amazon until Amazon bought them and raised the price. I asked my screw vendor (Copperstate) to price them for me, and it was a much better price, so I guess their mercenary business practices served me well in that case.

They had an Ebay-esque feel for a while, but more and more the reliable repeat products are being carried directly by Amazon. (Prime) Ebay has actually tried to be more like Amazon used to be supporting commercial resellers and kind of snubbing buyers and one off sellers.

LOL

But Amazon is so damned convenient. I biy far more of my onesy twosy parts from Amazon than I do from, say Digikey or Newark. The prices are OK, the shipping is usually free with Prime, and I often can get same-day delivery.

I agree, though, that they have f'd up the small parts offerings.

Even more handy, though, was the place I worked last summer. The hardware racks in their parts room was automatically restocked by Grainger. Can't beat that for convenience.

I used to (in the early - mid 80s) buy Murata piezo transducers from Radio shack. Their retail price was lower than the 5,000 piece price from Murata for the same part number.