I haven’t been doing that great a job of keeping up the Dag Diary lately, mostly because all of the entries would read “Mercury Pot design research & Polishing research”. In spite of all the well meaning advice to “pick a lane” and “just jump in” I seem to still be wedded to the slow and careful approach. Alas, we are who we are. I tend to think in terms of full scale systems and it can make progress slow. Fortunately for me I enjoy the process.

I did come across a new (to me) resource this weekend that I thought I would share. It is an outfit in Los Angeles, CA, USA called McMaster Carr Supply Company. This is a company of great utility for anyone who builds anything. They claim to carry 480,000 products and after spending some time on their website I believe it. Hardware, Tools, Fittings, Raw Materials – the list goes on. What really sets these guys apart is that they completely “get” the web. Their interface cleverly assists you in finding items – even when you don’t know what you are looking for. Their choice engine lets you pick and choose between various specifications until you narrow down exactly what you need. Prices seem fairly reasonable and ordering is straightforward. Even if you are not in the US and don’t want to pay international shipping, this place is a treasure house of information when researching materials.

I seldom enthuse about merchants of any kind, but this one deserves it Many items even come with technical drawings showing exact dimensions in addition to the specification list. If you didn’t know about these guys check them out. If you did know, how come you didn’t tell me about them sooner?

In the meantime I will continue with the polishing plan and thinking about mercury pots.  In the polishing world I did decide to go Random Orbital with a final hand polish, but I am still trying do decide on a specific set of polishing compounds and my approach to holding and manipulating the plates. If (when!) I decide, you will be the first to know.  Happy Dag’ing.

Oh and P.S. I did get a little further on repairing the fume hood.