Robotics Part Suppliers
Robot kits, Electronic and Mechanical Components, Tools.
We buy most of the components for our robots from the following suppliers and can recommend each one. Nearly all the components for Maisie, the javelin thrower, Victoria/Robocop, Elizabeth, Al-one, Cruella and Cycler were bought from these suppliers.
1. Mondo-tronics Robot Store. Robot kits, electronic circuits, geared motors, radio controlled models and accessories, toys, books, muscle wire, microcontroller boards. www.robotstore.com.
2. Milford Instruments. Microcontrollers, robot arms, animated heads, biped and six-legged walkers, motor driver boards, stepper motor driver boards, servo motor driver boards, ultrasonic ranging modules. www.milinst.com.
3. RS Components. Electrical, electronic and mechanical components. Their seven volume catalogue is 135mm thick listing 130,000 products. The catalogue is also on CD-ROM and on-line. They have 26,000 data sheets available on line. http://rswww.com.
4. Maplin Electronics. The UK’s largest chain of electronic specialist stores. Their 25mm thick 1100 page catalogue lists 20,000 electronic products and components and their 58 stores around the UK. They also offer on-line and telephone ordering. They stock project kits, motors, electronic components, boxes, books, tools. www.maplin.co.uk.
5. CPC. Their 52mm thick 2,425 page catalogue lists 90,000 electronic components, batteries, books, motors, sensors and transducrs, tools, kits, modules etc. It is available on CD-ROM and on-line. www.cpc.co.uk.
6. Farnell. One of the world’s largest distributors of industrial, mechanical, electrical and electronic products. They stock over 100,000 products. Their six volume catalogue is over 120mm thick and is available on CD-ROM. They will post small orders to individuals who pay by credit card. www.farnell.com
7. Rapid Electronics. Their 875 page catalogue is 25mm thick with 28,000 competitively priced products including; batteries, motors, hardware, pneumatics, sensors and transducers, tools, technical books. They have no minimum order value. www.rapidelectronics.co.uk.
8. Commotion. A mail order company that sells Science and Technology products to schools, colleges and the public. They sell small robotic components such as motors, gearboxes, wheels, plastic gears, construction materials, etc. www.commotiongroup.com.
9. EMA Model Supplies Ltd. Unit 2, Shepperton Business Park, Govett Avenue, Shepperton, TW17 8BA. 01932 228 228. Plastic ABS and Perspex specialists. Round and square tube, I section rod, sheet, welding solvent, metal mesh, architectural model mouldings. Sadly they don’t have a website but they have a very good catalogue. emashepp@aol.com.
10. W.L. Cooke (Precision Tools Ltd.) Wangey Road, Chadwell Heath, Romford, Essex RM6 4BW. A first rate tool shop that also stocks steel and aluminium rod, tube, angle, and sheet, nuts and bolts. Adam Clark, the ace robot builder and web site designer, and I both buy tools and materials from here.
11. Dangerous Machines. Adam Clark’s website from which he sells books, tools, radio control (RC) interfaces, RC receiver simulators, RC relay motor drivers, motor suppressor assemblies etc. intended mainly for Robot Wars robots. www.dmachine.tv.
12. Ripmax Plc. The UK’s largest wholesale importers and distributor of radio control models and systems. They have a good catalogue (modellers handbook) at £3.99 available from model shops. www.ripmax.com.
13. Team Delta. Suppliers of radio control interfaces for motors, RC switch interfaces, electronic motor speed controllers, motors, mounts, bearings etc mainly intended for combat robots. www.teamdelta.com.
14. W. Hobby Ltd. Hobby’s Knights Hill Square, London, SE27 0HH. 0208 761 4244. Publishes a 284 page annual/catalogue at £2.95. A supplier to hobby shops. Only around 10 pages are of interest to robot builders but the catalogue is still a good resource. Sells kits, tools, materials, books www.hobby.uk.com.
15. Mikes Models. 3-5 Brockwell Road, Kingstanding, Birmingham, B44 9PE. 0121 360 4521. A first class model shop specialising in radio control systems, servos and components.
www.mikes-models.co.uk.
16. Bull Electrical. Unit D, Henfield Business Park, Henfield, Sussex, BN5 9SL. 01273 491 490. Surplus scientific, optical and electronic goods, radio control models, motors, batteries, kits, video components, passive infra-red PIR detectors etc. www.bull-electrical.com.
17. WCN Supplies. The Old Grain Store, Rear of 62 Rumbridge Street, Totton, Southampton, SO40 9DS. 023 8066 0700. Publishes a 12 page catalogue of surplus tools, electronic components, batteries, nuts and bolts, casters, etc. www.wcnsupplies.com.
18. Greenweld. Unit 14, Horndon Business Park, West Horndon, Brentwood, CM13 3XD. Publishes a 32 page catalogue of surplus tools, radio controlled models, mains inverters, batteries and chargers, electronic instruments, books, video components, hardware, etc. www.greenweld.co.uk.
19. 4QD. Makers of electronic speed controllers, joystick interfaces, radio control interfaces, battery voltage indicators. 4QD make (probably) the most popular speed controllers used in Robot Wars. An excellent and very informative website on electric motors and speed controllers. www.4qd.co.uk.
20. Kamikazi Karting. Suppliers of new and second hand karting components eg. wheels, tyres, tubes, sprockets, bearings, axles etc. 65 Gubbins Lane, Harold Wood, Romford, Essex RM3 0BH. 01708 701 220.
21. Reeves Models. 60 Brentwood Road, Romford, Essex, RM1 2EP. 01708 740 522. Suppliers of radio control systems and models, servos, gyros, plastic, brass, aluminium modelling materials, etc.
22. Care & Mobility Ltd. 440 Cranbrook Road, Gants Hill, Ilford, Essex IG2 6LL. Suppliers of wheelchairs, spare parts, wheels, motors, batteries etc. 0208 518 3394.
23. Instruments Direct. Unit 14, Worton Court, Isleworth, TW7 6ER. 0208 560 5678. Importers and distributors of robot kits. www.instrumentsdirect.co.uk.
24. Lynxmotion. Robot kits, robot components and boards. www.lynxmotion.com.
25. MFA/Como Drills. Electric motors, gearboxes, components for model aircraft. Felderland Lane, Worth, Deal, Kent, CT14 0BT. 01304 612 132.
26. Teaching Resources. A company owned by Middlesex University. They publish a 4mm thick 64 page catalogue with books, CDROMS, motors, batteries, electronic components, pneumatics. www.mutr.co.uk.
27. Technobots Ltd. Motors, speed controllers, servos, RC systems, batteries. www.technobots.co.uk.
28. GT Electronics. Motor speed and position (servo) controllers made by George Francis of Chaos 2 fame.
www.gt-electronics.freeserve.co.uk.
29. Triangle Digital Services Ltd. Embedded computers for data logging, CAN bus, multitasking, control systems. Latton Bush Centre, Southern Way, Harlow CM18 7BL. 01279 639 471. www.triangledigital.com.
30. Total Robots Ltd. Robot kits, components, OOPic microcontrollers, brainstem products, beam robots, speech recognition boards. www.totalrobots.com.
The following companies stock useful components but we haven’t bought anything from them.
1. Revolution Education Ltd. Providers of educational and commercial microcontroller PIC and Stamp boards and software. www.rev-ed.co.uk.
2. LeToy. On-line toy shop supplying educational toys, robot kits, books, science toys etc. www.LeToy.co.uk
3. SuperDroid Robots. Autonomous robot projects, OOPic products, RS232 products, sensors. www.superdroidrobots.com.
4. Mark III Robot Store. Autonomous robot components, sensors, wheels, motors, accelerometers, H-bridge driver kits, servos, pyroelectric detectors, Devantech ultrasonic rangefinder, electronic compass, speech synthesisers, etc. www.junun.org.
5. Devantech Ltd. Ultrasonic rangefinders, electronic compasses, speech synthesiser, H-bridge drivers, servos, etc.
www.robot-electronics.co.uk.
6. Cybermarket. On-line electrical goods store with robot kits. www.cybermarket.co.uk.
7. Hitec. Radio control systems and servos and data sheets. www.hitecrcd.com.
8. Basic Micro. Microcontroller boards and development systems. www.basicmicro.com.
9. Parallax Inc. Basic stamp microcontroller boards, robot kits, robot components, servos, books. www.parallax.com. |
