The Resources Thread of Glory

Since less experienced teams seem to be coming here more often for info, I thought I'd assemble a list of online resources for most of the major resources available that are either necessary or helpful for designing and building battlebots.

General Resources - Good for all Levels of Experience

McMaster-Carr [Mechanical Parts & Raw Materials]
McMaster-Carr sells a wide range of products, from tools to safety equipment to raw materials. You'll find almost anything you need here for structural components.

The Robot Marketplace [All Internal Components]
The Robot Marketplace sells basically all the different categories of parts used in battlebots, but most people seem to go there for electronic components and drive motors.

Hobby King [Batteries, {Weapon} Motors, Speed Controllers]
Hobby King is a supplier of RC vehicle parts. Most of their prices are fairly reasonable.

Speedy Metals [Raw Materials]
Speedy Metals sells raw materials, primarily stock metal. Their prices are generally better than McMaster-Carr.

Online Metals [Raw Materials]
Online Metals is very similar to Speedy Metals, but they also sell some composite materials (like high density plastics & carbon fiber).

FingerTech Robotics [Antweight & Beetleweight Parts]
FingerTech Robotics sells parts for very small robots. A good place to look for Antweight or Beetleweight parts (primarily motors, speed controllers, and batteries).

SparkFun Electronics [Electronics]
SparkFun sells electronic components for DIY projects. Some of their small components are very well suited to battlebots, like their Batteries and some of their Motors.

BaneBots Robot Parts [Drive System Parts for smaller Battlebots]
BaneBots sells drive motors, gearboxes, speed controllers, and wheels suitable for more lightweight robots (I would guess most of their products work best in robots no heavier than 30 lbs).

Student Autodesk Software [Free CAD software for Students]
One of the primary flavors of CAD software on the market. I personally use Autodesk Inventor, and it's similar enough to SolidWorks that after learning one you can switch to the next in about a day or two of fiddling around. Go here if your school does not supply student email addresses.

eMachineShop [Machining Services and 2D CAD software]
Don't have fancy machines? Have no experience with CAD programs? Not a problem! eMachineShop offers both machining services and a free 2D CAD program that works with their services. (I recommend using this for bulk orders though, as pricing can be steep)

Big Blue Saw [Waterjet/laser cutting services]
Big Blue Saw will waterjet almost any part for you which they are physically able to make with their machines. They accept a few filetypes (DXF, PNG, or GIF) as templates, or you can make a template with their online 2D CAD program. See their site for more details on what materials they offer, or ask them about using a different material than what they usually offer.

High-Level Resources - Not Recommended for Beginners

How to Make Your Own Miniature Electric Hub Motor [DIY Brushless Outrunner Guide]
Charles Guan's renowned guide on the design and assembly of brushless outrunner motors. Be sure to check the links he refers to both throughout the guide and at the end.

Go Brushless [Weapon Motors & Speed Controllers]
Go Brushless offers almost anything you could possibly want as far as DIY brushless motors go, at least up to a certain size. They also have helpful winding diagrams and other instructions for making your motors.

Open Melt - Open Source Melty Brain [How to make a Melty]
In-depth details on the control systems, design and calibration of Melty-style full body spinners.

Research Tools

MakeItFrom.com [Material Comparison Tool]
Compare materials across a wide set of properties.

Wolfram Alpha [General Information Source & Calculation Tool]
Performs calculations, unit conversions, and gives material properties.

emachineshop is good for printing off parts to scale and using it as a stencil when you dont have fancy tools

SolidWorks For Industrial Design [SolidWorks Tutorials]
This is a great website for people who are beginning to use Solidworks or maybe veterans who just don't know how to use a particular feature. They provide video tutorials on just about everything and the website is run by instructors at San Francisco State University, but you don't need a login or account to view the public content.