I’m looking to start keeping hardware for prints that need additional parts to complete them. A Pi case that I printed needed screws that I don’t have on hand and needed to go searching for some.
It got me thinking to keep a container of stuff ready that would get used often, but I don’t really know what to keep on hand. What do you have readily available?
You can only keep so much hardware before it just becomes disorganized. I have a variety of screws and nuts from M2 up to about M6, as well as some Imperial sizes as well. A few different lengths.
I usually don’t bother with threaded inserts too much and instead just tap the plastic itself. Obviously it depends on what the part is being used for.
The reality is that it shouldn’t be a surprise what hardware you need after the print is done because 95% of the stuff I print is stuff that I design myself, so if I know I have 1/4-20 screws that are 1/2" long, then that’s what I will design the part for so I’ll have them ready to go when the print is done.
I’m always torn between metric and imperial hardware because inch sized screws are cheaper and easier to get locally (Home Depot, etc), but metric and imperial are basically equally easy if I get it from Amazon. Then there’s McMaster with the biggest selection but it’s spendy.