Adam Savage Nerds Out Over the McMaster-Carr Catalog @donttrythis
I have long been a parts catalog freak so I can appreciate Adam Savage’s deep nerding over the McMaster-Carr catalog. Every maker likely at least knows of it and those who don’t actually have a print copy likely covet one.
I like that he also gives a shout-out to the Graingers, Micro-Mark, and Small Parts catalogs, three others that are beloved by many makers.
Personal Note:
Here’s a bit about my own catalog obsession. When I was a teen, I used to play a little game with myself some weekends. I’d set an imaginary budget for doing a camper conversion of a Ford Econoline van (my dream vehicle at the time). I’d first look in the classifieds and find a decent-sounding van for sale. I’d subtract that from my budget. With the money left over, I’d go through the JC Whitney car parts catalog and spec out all of the parts I’d need to build out my dream camper. Good times! I’d often do the same thing with the Estes and Centuri rocketry catalogs. To this day, one of my favorite aspects of a project is specing and ordering the parts.
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
