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Documentation:IGENSuggestedVendors

From UBC Wiki

Useful for all IGEN project courses (230/330/430).

List of Suggested Vendors, Tools, Equipment, and Sources of Information.

Add and comment on this based on your own experiences (team membership, co-op work experiences, etc)

Suggested Vendors

Mechanical Parts

  • McMaster-Carr May not ship to a private Canadian address (Min 20USD shipping, won't give actual amount until shipped). May ship to UBC IGEN, c/o Jon, who can forward the package to you.
  • Misumi
  • MakerLabs Useful place in Vancouver that can machine and make a lot of different things for you, useful for final prototypes.
  • LeeSpring Stock spring components in many sizes, often cheaper than McMaster-Carr. Can also do custom designs.
  • New-Line All your hose and fitting needs, fast pick-up and local shipping
  • Green Line Based in surrey - they'll have anything New Line doesn't have

Mechatronics Parts

  • Automation Direct Automation parts. Can ship to Canadian address.
  • Igus Bearings, slides, screws, cables, materials. They also provide samples of their products if requested.
  • OpenBuilds Automation components for building linear motion systems. (See Maker Parts)

Electronics Components

Stores with an actual storefront in the Lower Mainland

Tools

  • LeeValley Local supplier of various tools, equipment, and hardware.
  • Busy Bee Tools
  • KMS Tools

Manufacturers

Multi-Service

  • 3D Hubs Network of manufacturing services for machining, 3D printing, and injection molding.
  • ProtoLabs Rapid manufacturing services for machining, sheet metal, 3D printing, and injection molding.
  • Zen Digital 3D Printing, Laser Cutting, UV Printing, and Graphics Printing. (offers student discount)

3D Printing

Electronics

  • JLCPCB Great option for 2,4,6 layer boards. Low cost. Quick turn around. Maximum is 6 layers no flexible PCBs. Offers duty pre-paid as an option to minimize unknown costs on ordering.
  • PCBWay Great option for 2+ layers. Low cost. Slightly quicker than JLCPCB but a slightly higher cost. Much higher 6 layer costs.
  • OSHPARK Excellent option. Great range of options. A little longer delivery but excellent quality.

Machining

  • Viking Profiles Local manufacturer providing quick turnaround watjet, lasercut, plasmacut, and CNC router parts.

Software

The following software is available through your program or available for free personal use.

Mechanical Design

  • SolidWorks Parametric 3D Modeling tool. Available as a student.
  • Fusion 360 Parametric 3D Modeling tool. Free for student and personal use. Storage defaults to cloud based, but can store offline.
  • TinkerCAD 3D Modeling tool. Free for anyone to use. (More graphical, non-parametric)

Electrical Design and Simulation

  • KiCAD Circuit schematics and PCB design software. Free to use.
  • Altium Designer Circuit schematics and PCB design software. Available for free to students in the program.
  • LTSpice Schematic capture and circuit analysis and simulation tool.
  • TinkerCAD Circuit Simulation Circuit schematics, components, wiring and simulation.
  • Wavedrom Create beautiful waveform, timing diagram, and logic symbol images using text markup. Free, open source. PC and web version.
  • Tracespace.io Live online Gerber (PCB Design files) viewer. Use for confirmation of file outputs before submitting for production.

Software Development

  • Anaconda Open-source distribution of Python development packages.
  • Visual Studio Code Free, open source tool for code creation and editing.
  • Notepad++ Free text editing tool for code.
  • GitLab Online revision control storage for software projects. Includes support for continuous integration and code testing.
  • GitHub Online revision control storage for software projects.
  • JetBrains Software development tools with IDEs catered towards many different languages. Free for students.

Software Wireframe / Mock-Up / Prototype Development

  • Figma Used by more and more students for developing fast and easy-to-change software prototype front-ends and to collaborate on projects
  • Marvel App relatively easy and popular
  • InVision
  • Fluid UI

Graphics Design

  • Inkscape Vector graphics program similar to Adobe Illustrator.
  • GIMP Graphics program similar to Adobe Photoshop.
  • Photoshop Graphics editing program.

Survey and Data Collection

  • Qualtrics (via UBC login) - this tool can be used to create very useful surveys and circulate worldwide to gather information. Most surveys done by UBC and APSC are created and administered through Qualtrics, and is free for student use.

Tools and Equipment

The following hand-tools and bench equipment can be useful.

Mechanical

  • Safety glasses
  • Pliers
  • Calipers
  • Scribe
  • Squares
  • Clamps
  • Hand drill
  • Wrenches
  • Allen keys

Electronics

  • Wire Cutters
  • Wire Strippers
  • Ferrule Crimp Tool
  • Power Supply
  • Oscilloscope
  • Soldering Iron
  • Tweezers
  • Hot-air Reflow Station

Sources of Information

3D Model Sources

Electronics Related (Schematics, PCB Design, PCB Layout, Fabrication Processes)

Design for Manufacture Tips:

Recommend watching this video before starting your first design. Not all of these tips will make sense right away but they'll be invaluable as you continue through your design.

Altium Designer:

Altium for Beginners Tutorial Series by Robert Feranec. Excellent series, may want to skip the detailed part creation and return to it after he comes more of the overall process.

KiCAD:

Great introduction video covering design of a simple board through the complete process using KiCAD.

PCB Factory Tours:

For those that are interested here are two videos walking through the full PCB fabrication process. Both are similar but show some aspects of the process in more detail or up close.

General Tutorials

YouTube Channels

Textbooks

  • Machinery's Handbook
  • The Art of Electronics
  • Practical Electronics for Inventors
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