- 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.
- Lamé 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.
William J Turkel 