McMaster Carr PLUG IN for ONSHAPE

Seymur_Dadashov

Just want to know if there is a plan to add McMaster Carr plug in to allow for easier import of all their models rather than wasting time downloading and building those libraries manually. Has been a huge waste of time to properly build MMC fasteners for large scale production and track their P/Ns nicely. Fusion 360 has had this plug in for so long and it is a game changer. Hopefully this is implemented sooner than all the beta render, simulation and generative design stuff that is coming out since those are nice to have but don't nearly provide as much value as a proper MMC plugin.

amin_hasani454

This is one of the features I miss from Fusion 360. It was super easy to import MMC parts directly inside the Assembly. I upvoted your request, and hopefully they'll come up with a plugin or Feature Script to connect MMC parts to assembly and BOM. 

Cedar_F

Very much agree - our company spends a lot of time downloading/finding/manually importing McMaster parts to Onshape. An integration would be fantastic to be able to insert directly in the Assembly tab's "Insert" functionality.

I understand that Onshape needs a static model/metadata to use, so one method could be copying and autogenerating a part studio from McMaster.

Bonus: Standard Content mapping from/to McMaster parts.

EvanReese

I'd use this a lot.

MichaelPascoe

Here is the improvement request in case anyone wants to vote for it: 
https://forum.onshape.com/discussion/11353/partner-with-mcmaster-carr-for-mechanical-parts

eric_pesty

I would also contact McMaster about it as it might help getting the interest up on both ends!

I did a while back (using the "contact us" link) and they said they would pass it on to Devs.

bryan_lagrange

I use it nearly everyday.

+1

christian_petty

Last time I contacted MMC they said API access was a paid feature for the full catalog. Maybe they’d be willing to create something like they did for SOLIDWORKS, but it may be difficult to do this without their early support. 

JoeORourke

Definitely include me as someone that would like to see this feature. I did email McMaster-Carr about this and they responded with they'll have their webmaster look at it.

S1mon

Similarly, I had this exchange in July...

To support at McMaster: "Please create an App for Onshape with similar capabilities to the Solidworks add-in."

Response: "Sure thing. Thank you for the feedback. I will share this with our web team for further review."

Lucas_Kuhns

I can't imagine how much of the sales McMaster gets is from them making it so easy for engineers to get CAD models that buying from them becomes the default source for early production of a product. Very impressive and well-deserved for sure.

bryan_lagrange

I asked this question to @Aaron_Magnin about a McMaster Carr plugin. He can better explain the road blocks they are facing with McMaster Carr. While we are on the topic of Apps.....aren't we due a what's new in the App store?

nick_papageorge073

I used fusion for hobby at home for a year a few years back and it had the McMaster integration. I actually preferred browsing the McMaster catalog on my own, in my own browser window, rather than the way fusion did it. Often times when I’m searching for something in McMaster I don’t know exactly what I’m looking for, and will have a few browsers going to compare options, cost, size, etc. 

steve_shubin

Along the lines of what @nick_papageorge073 said, I’ve been looking at stuff from a particular large photo/video store lately

It’s easier for me to find stuff through their browser website, then it is to find things through their app.

So how something is implemented can make a big difference

adrian_vlzkz

We'd pay for this to exist!

S1mon

I've never used the Solidworks McMaster plugin, but I can total imagine a badly implemented tool being more painful than the website. The main interesting thing would be saving some of the overhead of downloading the STEP and uploading the STEP, especially if there are a lot of parts you need. If it optionally downloaded the 2D PDF at the same time, that would be really nice. Setting the metadata such as material(s) could also be advantageous. 

eric_pesty

It would be great if the "actual" website opened in a panel and you could just insert in one step, maybe an option to map some properties in the process.
The most valuable would be if it was managed more like "library" to prevent duplicates

S1mon

Not exactly what we want/need, but a new Chrome extension lets us spin parts in the browser before downloading and even do an AR view on mobile devices.

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/mcmaster-ar/bnffdobmeimicedphbdcibhllollniie

Aaron_Magnin

bryan_lagrange said:

I asked this question to @Aaron_Magnin about a McMaster Carr plugin. He can better explain the road blocks they are facing with McMaster Carr. While we are on the topic of Apps.....aren't we due a what's new in the App store?

Hey Bryan, sorry for the late reply...was on vacation. I believe McMaster is the roadblock when it comes to making integrations, but I know for a fact that hasn't stopped others from building tools. And my role has changed a bit, so "What's New in the App store" may still be coming at some point, but as time permits. Glad one person is missing them! I was going to plug that AR tool, but @S1mon beat me to it! 

michael_zeagler

I've spoken with McMaster reps in the past when they came through on a push to somehow better facilitate robotics companies. It didn't make a ton of sense to me but they somehow wanted to be even more of the retailer of first resort.

They said they basically have a sweatshop of CAD users recreating each part in each platform. If that's the case I'd imagine Onshape is just too much of a dark horse to warrant being included into that system, especially considering it wouldn't mesh with their website. I'd argue that it would be even easier, as they could take all the work and include it in a plug-in with a trivial amount of work, but it's a big ship.

The all-cloud method is clearly superior in this case, but inertia in CAD software is one of the worst in any category.