Another chunk of time, gone. I felt like I wasn’t productive at all, just floundering around in Google’s sea of information, but getting nowhere. After hopping back and forth between options a few times, I reluctantly entered my credit card information, as if I was admitting defeat. You see, I just purchased an electric stepper motor for my project for $20. You probably think I’m paranoid. You’re right. But let me explain why.
I am obsessed with trying to be a responsible consumer – don’t get me wrong, I’m quite far from perfect. But I try to buy local, support vendors and manufacturers doing the right thing, and don’t mind paying a little more for that.
Now, one thing I learned from this printer project – it’s hard to find information on electronic component manufacturers. The vendors I’ve dealt with so far have been great – Adafruit, MakerFarm, Home Depot, etc. But man, trying to learn about the products themselves and how they’re made is tough. The electronic components industry, I’ve learned, seems to use a lot of cool, yet sketchy, materials and chemicals in the manufacturing process. Thankfully we’ve got things like RoHS certification and California Proposition 65 to help support responsible suppliers (these things basically let us know how safe materials are) – but the trick is to find those suppliers at the general consumer level!
All that time I spent searching, I was looking for manufacturer information – I wanted to verify that at least the manufacturer tried to show they cared about social and environmental responsibility, and also that there were no toxic chemicals like lead in the motor. (If you think that’s ridiculous – I just purchased polyethylene tube that had a “lead-free” claim on it. Am I missing something here? Is there leaded polyethylene somewhere out there? I was confused.) I ended up just finding two motors that really qualified for what I needed in terms of size, voltage, and current, and, despite the lack of information and other options, chose the more “local” supplier (who is in Colorado, rather than the other in New York).
What do you think – is there a market and opportunity for responsibly-sourced and environmentally-friendly electrical components like the market for organic and non-GMO foods? Is this already being done somewhere? (If so, please let me know!)
If ___________, then venture. 