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William J Turkel

List of Suppliers

  • MAKE magazine’s list of tool and supply catalogs
  • 3M. Plastics, adhesives; retroreflective tape reflects IR for video tracking.
  • 8020 Garage Sale on Ebay. Modular t-slot aluminum framing surplus.
  • ABACOM. RF-to-serial modules.
  • Acroname. Sensors (esp. ranging), motors.
  • Acrylics.ca (Victoria BC). Plastics and plastic fabrication.
  • Active Electronics (Mississauga, ON). Electronics tools and components. Very slow for online orders.
  • Active Surplus (Toronto ON). Surplus, including electronics components.
  • AEI Components. LCDs, cameras, DVD players, video accessories.
  • Aetna Felt. Industrial felts.
  • Allegro Micro. Motor drivers, shift registers, ICs.
  • All Battery. Batteries and solar cells.
  • All Electronics. Surplus.
  • Alumilite. Casting resins.
  • Amazing Magnets. Rare earth magnets in many shapes.
  • Analog Devices. Accelerometers, digital pots, A-to-D converters, special-purpose ICs.
  • A-One Counterparts (London ON). Electronic components. 962 Leathorne St., just off Adelaide near Commissioners.
  • Ascension Tech. Precision 6 DOF motion trackers for VR.
  • Atlas Machinery Supply (Toronto ON). Sherline, Starrett, etc.
  • Basic Micro. Basic Atom Pro24 microcontroller.
  • Bekaert. Conductive textiles and yarns.
  • Black Box. Protocol converter boxes.
  • Block EMF. Conductive fabrics, conductive fabric tapes, conductive hook-and-loop.
  • Boss Tools (Canada). Discount tools.
  • Brightec. High quality glow-in-the-dark inkjet paper.
  • CanaKit. Electronics kits.
  • Cermetek. Modem and network interface ICs.
  • Color Change Corporation. Thermochromic dyes and photochromic inks; sells small quantity sample packs.
  • Chromatic Technologies. Thermochromic, photochromic, and photoluminescent inks.
  • Color Kinetics. LED-based spotlights and architectural lighting.
  • Container Store. Flexible magnetic strips, containers for organizing supplies and components.
  • Coolight. Sells electroluminescent (EL) wire by the foot, LEDs, sequencers, inverters, kits.
  • D-Link. USB, Ethernet, serial, Bluetooth converters; wireless Ethernet cameras.
  • Dazian Fabrics. Flame-retardant, wide fabrics.
  • DeSerres (Mississauga ON) Art supplies, including masonite, large pieces of corrugated plastic and foamcore.
  • Digi-Key and Digi-Key Canada. Electronics components. Very fast for online orders.
  • Dynalloy. Manufacturers of flexinol shape memory alloy (muscle wire); kits and wire by the foot.
  • Earth LCD. LCD panels.
  • Edirol. Video mixers and video control products.
  • Edmund Scientific. Kits, equipment, supplies and other teaching resources.
  • Educational Innovations. Science education stuff including UV-sensitive beads, ferrofluids, ferromagnetic putty, neodymium magnets, liquid crystal, memory wire, polyethylene oxide gel, sodium polyacrylate, heat sensitive paper, etc.
  • E-Lab Digital Engineering (formerly FerretTronics). Motor control chips, including servo motor controller chip and two-stepper motor X-Y plotter chip. The latter doesn’t seem to be available.
  • Electronic Goldmine. Surplus.
  • Elm Electronics. Specialty ICs including LANC-to-RS232 converter.
  • Elmwood Magic. Magic supplies.
  • Elo TouchSystems. Computer touch screens.
  • Elwire. Electroluminescent wire and drivers. Sells in large batches only (?)
  • Embroider This!. Photochromic embroidery thread.
  • Fastech. Hook-and-loop (i.e., velcro) including conductive.
  • Fastenal (GTA, London ON). Two locations in London: 500 Clarke Rd., and 1398 Wellington Rd. Has a variety of metal supplies, including M8 threaded rod.
  • Felt People. Decorative and industrial felts.
  • Fiber Optic Store. Spools of clear fiber optic filament.
  • Fine Silver Products. Shieldex conductive fabrics, yarns, zipper tapes.
  • FlexSolarCells. Flexible solar cells and panels.
  • Focus Enhancements. Analog and digital video products.
  • Glow Products (Canada). Electroluminescent wire.
  • Great Hobbies (Canada). RC vehicles and supplies, servos.
  • Happ Controls. Pushbuttons, joysticks, coin slots, vending machine and arcade devices.
  • Harrison Instruments Minimum Theremin 101 kit.
  • HB Inexpensive LEDs from China, slow shipping.
  • Highly Electric Photoelectric switches and intrusion detection systems.
  • HVW Technologies (Calgary AB) Arduinos and other electronics.
  • IBVA Technologies Brain wave sensors.
  • Images SI, Inc. Flex sensors, FSRs and other common sensors.
  • Imprintables Heat transfer materials for vinyl cutters.
  • Infusion Systems I-Cube high-level MIDI system.
  • Jameco Electronics components.
  • Johnston Industrial Plastics (Toronto ON) Plastics of all kinds.
  • K & S Engineering Hobby metals.
  • Kits R Us Kits and inexpensive PIC programmers.
  • Kopin Very small LEDs.
  • Laird Plastics (Toronto ON) Acrylic in any form; foamcore.
  • LamĂ© Lifesaver Conductive thread with low resistivity.
  • Lantronix Embedded net controllers.
  • LDB LLC Photochromic inks and powders, photoluminescent inks, magnetic inks.
  • LED Effects Super bright LEDs.
  • Lee Valley Tools (Burlington, London ON) Tools, esp. for woodworking.
  • Lemos International RF, GPS, Bluetooth modules.
  • Less EMF Conductive fabrics, tapes, thread, epoxies, inks, paints, hook-and-loop.
  • Lindsay’s Technical Books good for reprints of older technologies; Gingery books.
  • Linx Technologies Expensive RF modules with error-checking.
  • Liquidware Open source hardware: shields, power backpacks, OLED touchscreens etc. for Arduino.
  • Lumex LEDs.
  • Magic Depot Magic supplies.
  • MagnaMagic Magnetic and chalkboard paints.
  • Marlon P. Jones Associates Surplus.
  • Maxim Signal-conditioning ICs, A-to-D converters, digital pots, TTL-to-RS232 converters, etc.
  • McLogan Supply Screen printing supplies.
  • McMaster-Carr Best source for construction and mechanical hardware… but they don’t ship to individuals in Canada.
  • Mentalism+ Products Bone conduction thumbtip, metal detector, etc.
  • Microchip PIC family of microcontrollers.
  • Micro-Mark: the Small Tools specialists Model, hobby and jeweler’s tools.
  • microEngineering Labs PicBasic Pro programming environment for PIC.
  • Micromint Embedded controllers, phone line interfaces, ICs.
  • Modern Device Company Bare Bones Arduino, Really Bare Bones Arduino, 8×8 LED board.
  • Mouser Electronic components and instruments. Ships to Canada easily.
  • MUTR (UK) Electronic components, kits, smart materials, thermochromic powders and inks, photochromic powders and inks. Good for small orders.
  • NetMedia BX-24 microcontroller module.
  • Nexus Serially controlled switchers for analog video.
  • Nutmeg Woodworking (Toronto ON) Proxxon tools, wood carving.
  • Oakridge Hobbies Clear and fluorescent fiber optics, acrylic sheets, rods.
  • Oncore GPS products of all sorts.
  • OneSource Metal Toronto-area supplier of aluminum, brass, etc. No minimum order.
  • Orchard Supply Hardware Industrial materials.
  • Parallax BASIC Stamp 2 and other microcontroller modules; RF, IR, Bluetooth modules; robotics parts. Good tutorials.
  • PartStore Replacement part superstore.
  • Phidgets (Canada) Physical interface widgets that require a USB connection to a regular multimedia computer.
  • Plastecs Inexpensive solar cells, fiber optics and kits.
  • Polhemus Precision 6 DOF motion trackers for VR.
  • PowerStream Batteries.
  • Quadravox MP3 modules; sound recording and playback devices.
  • Quantum Technologies Capacitive touch sensor ICs.
  • Ramsey Electronics Kits of all kinds; many are sensors or actuators with a little extra circuitry. The SMD1C Stepper Motor Driver kit might be useful but it only drives one motor.
  • Rentron RF, IR modules; home automation; PIC programming. Good tutorials.
  • Risk Reactor UV and phosphorescent pigments and dyes.
  • RobotShop (Canada) Kits, microcontrollers, sensors, etc.
  • Robot Store (Jameco) Muscle wire kits, robot kits.
  • Rockler Woodworking tools and supplies.
  • Rose Brand Fabrics All kinds of fabrics, including front and rear projection in multiple shades from white to black.
  • Sayal Electronics (Burlington, ON; Mississauga ON) Electronics components, kits.
  • SDP/SI Producers Of Off-The-Shelf: Bearings, Gears, Timing Belts, Timing Pulleys, Couplings, Shafts
  • Scott Edwards Electronics Motor control modules; LCD and VFD displays.
  • Sculpture Supply Canada (Toronto ON) distributes Smooth-On mold-making and casting supplies
  • ShapeLock Polymorph plastics.
  • Shieldex Trading Metalized conductive fabrics, yarns, zipper tapes.
  • SkyeTek RFID products.
  • SmallParts The hardware store for researchers and developers.
  • Smarthome Home automation products, including X10.
  • Smooth-On Mold-making and casting materials.
  • SolarActive International Photochromic materials, incl. inks, threads, beads, fabrics.
  • Solarbotics Motors, sensors, solar cells, robot kits.
  • Solar World Solar panels, products, kits.
  • Spark Fun (US) Microcontrollers, break-out boards, etc.
  • Sundance Solar Solar panels, products, kits.
  • Sunshine Discount Crafts Friendly plastic sticks in multiple colors.
  • Super Bright LEDs Including high-flux Piranha LEDs.
  • Sutherland Felt Natural industrial wool felts.
  • Symbol RFID products, bar code scanners.
  • Tang Embroidery machines.
  • Tapeswitch Floor switches in rolls and mats. Approximately $20-25 for foot long ribbon switches. 6×23″ CVP mat switch is $37; 17×23″ CVP mat is $74.
  • Texas Advanced Optoelectronic Solutions Color sensors, light-to-voltage, light-to-frequency converters.
  • Textura Trading Company Industrial yarns, incl. UV, reflective, and steel blends.
  • Union Ink Thermochromic, photochromic, photoluminescent inks, other specialty inks.
  • USCutter Vinyl cutters; sign vinyl rolls ($14 for 24″ x 10′)
  • Vernier scientific sensors for education.
  • VibeLights Sells electroluminescent (EL) wire and tape by the foot.
  • Winbond Electronics Sound recording and playback devices and chips.
  • Wulfden Freeduino (Arduino compatible) kits including some LCD displays.
  • Xecom Phone line interface modules.
  • X-Static Fiber that is 99.9% pure silver.

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