I met a friendly seller on AliExpress who is willing to go find the parts I ask for from Taobao and package them up.
As an example, the solder paste dispenser Solder Paste dispenser - Call for donations, he has offered to ship it by DHL (3-7 day delivery) for $82 USD. The cost of the dispenser is $35, and I think $50 for international express shipment is reasonable. Obviously, the more parts we buy, the better the shipping rate will be.
Personally, I think that if I can add a second solder paste dispenser to the order for an extra $40-$50, I’m going to do it.
In addition, I don’t have to deal with a language barrier as the seller I met from AliExpress has decent english.
Anybody else interested in adding items to the order?
@TomKeddie you have the most experience with shopping from Taobao that I know. What is your opinion? Does this sound like a decent deal?
I say fine, seems like you’ve had enough conatct to trust them. I guess ypu can pay them with alipay?
The only reservation would be if you can wait until June, I’ll bring one back in my luggage.
BTW see if they can do slower shipping. China is a weird place, everyone is in such a hurry, the concept of slow is odd. I used a thing call SAL which is supposed to go by sea for part of the trip. Was the same speed as DHL but cheaper.
If you’re willing to get some quotes, it might be a good idea to grab Piccolo hardware, too.
Here’s the quote from McMaster Carr for 15 sets of hardware plus spares:
That’s USD and not including shipping. Fastenal (locally) was over double that price.
The gotcha here is that most of the hardware we need are low-profile socket heads and low-profile/jam nuts. They cost a fair amount more. I’ve already tried regular nuts, and they don’t fit into the Piccolo parts at all.
Has anyone tried pacific fasteners?
I’m in for another dispenser, if the pricing is as indicated above.
I’ll throw money into the hat for one after trying it out yesterday.
I’ve never been there, I’ll check it out early next week.
Take cash and sense of humour, it’s an odd place (they take cards but cash works better).
Cost for small orders at Pacific Fasteners seems to depend on who you get at the counter and their mood…
Make sure you have cash cuz sometimes they will just give it to you for the $5.00 minimum cash purchase rather than write up the bill for $10.00…
they have philips heads and counter sink stuff that are lower profile than regular socket heads, but they don’t have actual low profile socket head screws.
