If you think putting all the information in a single location is "spoon feeding" then we should get rid of all the directories, write-ups and hell, even this forum. Because their purpose is the same: Bring information together to make it more accessible.
Writeups aim to teach people. This directory, while useful for replication, is not instructive at all. There's no mention of why certain products are chosen instead of others, or how we are supposed to fit 1/8"x1/4" tubing into a push-button valve whose openings are threaded for 10-32 UNF pipe thread (either just glue it in or get a tube fitting adapter to convert 1/8" ID tubing or 1/4" OD tubing, depending on barbed or compression fitting, into 10-32 thread).
Now, the OP started this thread under the presumption that most people have difficulty browsing mcmaster for the parts they want, not that we should have a bullet list of assorted products, which, without more description of what the items are and how they interact, promotes imitation rather than innovation. To address the problem OP identified, I did a short video tutorial on McMaster:
Edited by Zorn's Lemma, 24 December 2009 - 10:07 PM.
