Electronic hobbiest's black hole

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SY said:
Here I am, living near the high tech capitol of the world, and I have to spend this morning driving nearly two hours each way to buy some resistors and perf board. Radio Shack is useless- the ones around here have nearly zero parts in stock, they really only sell cell phones and batteries- and the independent electronics shops have all gone belly up.

Electronics construction is a rapidly dying avocation.

ha ha thats funny radio shack does seem to specialize in cell phones and batteries. Luckily out here if you ask for some perf board they wont have a clue what your talking about but manage to pull some out of the back. I've noticed some Shacks actually have a designated section for diy and others dont.
 
Pittsburgh is just as bad. Theres one store for electronics parts and it just recently moved across town. Sure theres radio shack but I'm not paying 2 bucks for a 50 cent LM317. You think this crumbling city of old folks would have lots of surplus or salvage yards but keep thinking...
 
davesaudio said:
Dude- one word
DIGIKEY

order the parts in the early afternoon
get them the next morning

They are great for a medium sized project, but if your looking for a handful of parts its not really worth it.

"A $6.50 handling charge is added to your order if the subtotal is less than $32.50." +$8 flat rate shipping.

edit: www.dipmicro.com (good site check it out), used to offer a digikey group buy service. But it would only run once a week. I suspect it was too much effort with too little profit to keep it going (only a 10% handling fee, and shipping was basically at cost).
 
roddyama said:
What you need is a trip to Japan.:D

Ahkihabara is the cure for what ails you.

I was kind of disappointed with Akiba. I visited a bunch of electronics parts places, but saw very little in the way of digital audio bits, and what there was cost more than from Digikey. It's still a mind-blowing place to wander around. And the Akiba Maid Deli was cool.

Digikey's shipping charge isn't nothing, but it isn't that much more than I can spend on gas driving around town for an afternoon. And you don't get stuck with brokerage charges from UP$ or the $5 handling fee from the post office.
 
dangus said:
Digikey's shipping charge isn't nothing, but it isn't that much more than I can spend on gas driving around town for an afternoon. And you don't get stuck with brokerage charges from UP$ or the $5 handling fee from the post office.
Digikey ships purolator and any duties/taxes are included in the price on the website (just make sure you click the canadian flag).

UPS I agree is horrible, but I have never had any issues with digikey and paying any additional fees.
 
I went into Maplin in Hammersmith last Sunday. There was a guy who wanted a replacement resistor. Two goons behind the "specialist Components" desk said "the chap who knows about resistors only works during the week".

I took hold of the resistor, opened the catalogue and read off the value from the page.

Beggars belief really.

Maplin are a waste of time now. I think they have even stopped stocking any toroidal transformers now. Rapid do them at a good price though.
 
Puffin said:
Maplin are a waste of time now. I think they have even stopped stocking any toroidal transformers now. Rapid do them at a good price though.

I always really enjoy looking up products on their website only to find that they they don't stock them in any stores except Croydon!!
Maplin gets a bad press, not least because they are quite expensive but who else sells what we need on the high street? I fear that they may go the same way as Radio Shack (Tandy).

Martin.
 
Sonusthree said:
Maplin gets a bad press, not least because they are quite expensive but who else sells what we need on the high street?

Would that they were. My nearest Maplin shops (Barnsley and Doncaster) are both "superstores" on retail parks well outside easy walking distance of the town centre. The only real advantage of Maplins is that I can buy wire and cable by the metre.
 
There's not much point in grumbling about it. Electronics retail has collapsed everywhere. The last decent shop hereabouts folded two or three years ago...and was only a ghost of its former self for the preceeding five years or so. They couldn't even be bothered to stock 1k 1/2W resistors. That hook stayed empty so long some wag stuck a comic on it. It was still there when the store closed.
I remember when Lafayette and Radio Shack had plenty of parts and sales folks who actually had hands-on experience. Independent shops were thick upon the ground. Lafayette is long gone and Radio Shack doesn't find it profitable to carry parts any longer because no one builds circuits. Face it. We're a dying breed. Just order things via the web and be glad that you're able to do so. Imagine being in this fix without the web. I keep a couple of shelves of actual print catalogs, but that's because I'm old fashioned and like the feel of paper between my fingers. I freely admit that the online search engines can turn up most parts faster than I can look them up by hand.
I get nearly everything from Mouser and Digikey, with an occasional surplus piece. It works, and the parts are generally better quality than I could buy locally anyway. I buy resistors by the hundred, both for the price break and so I won't run out. Plan ahead and you can make it work.

Grey
 
Question for SY

SY said:
Here I am, living near the high tech capitol of the world, and I have to spend this morning driving nearly two hours each way to buy some resistors and perf board. Radio Shack is useless- the ones around here have nearly zero parts in stock, they really only sell cell phones and batteries- and the independent electronics shops have all gone belly up.

Electronics construction is a rapidly dying avocation.


Hello SY,
What store are you using?

I am fortunate by some luck that there is very nice store - Electronic Plus in San Rafael, very short north from where I live. They have interesting selection of old and new stuff, tubes, full selection of resistors and capacitors. Problem is - they are very expensive. Regardless, I go and I will go there to support them in addition to typical web places. They just recently stopped working on Sundays, but before that it was great - I would go any time when I was not in the city working.

I am sure you now them, but I just wanted to check if you have any other source.

That store still have mom and pop feel, and the business is going well for them. I guess it is that anti - corporate San Francisco guts which I love so much. If anyone else wants to check they also started web service:

http://www.electronicplus.com/About.asp
 
diyAudio Editor
Joined 2001
Paid Member
I made a special trip up to Electronics PLus from Corporate San Francisco, remembering how great they were,

The prices WERE beyond belief. No chance of choosing the brand of components and probably not the construction either. If you wanted a cap they might have one in the size you want- no choice though. A resistor is a resistor to the guy I talked to- not much choice of metal film, or foil , some carbon resistors that they said the tube guys were paying top dollar for. I was making a zen V8 and got the parts needed ( just resistors and caps- I had the output devices) but had to take the one item they had in each value.

I would accept the prices if they had a decent selection, 'cause rent there must be astronomical, Maybe it was the guy helping me...

Disappointing as they DO have the right look!
 
Variac said:
I made a special trip up to Electronics PLus from Corporate San Francisco, remembering how great they were,

The prices WERE beyond belief. No chance of choosing the brand of components and probably not the construction either. If you wanted a cap they might have one in the size you want- no choice though. A resistor is a resistor to the guy I talked to- not much choice of metal film, or foil , some carbon resistors that they said the tube guys were paying top dollar for. I was making a zen V8 and got the parts needed ( just resistors and caps- I had the output devices) but had to take the one item they had in each value.

I would accept the prices if they had a decent selection, 'cause rent there must be astronomical, Maybe it was the guy helping me...

Disappointing as they DO have the right look!

Agreed completely. Not much of a choices but when you need a one resistor to complete your project it is great that you could pick it up. Compared to many places, like the one from the first post - this would be considered haven.
Is there any store in the city or around that you know off?
I ment overall San Francisco area- which Marin belongs too, has that great anti corporate guts, not Marin vs. SF.
 
Hi Frazzled,
I think it's because there's not enough demand for a well-supplied store in that area. I guess that's obvious, but it does suck. In Ottawa there's still a couple of places you can get anything. But Regina, being the provincial capital, you figure there would be a decent place. Maybe there use to be? Anyway if I ever move there, I'll go in business, I'll call my store Electro-depot©!
 
ca.digikey.com

$9 overnight shipping.

We have 5 reasonable electronics stores here in Vancouver, but unless I absolutely NEED a part right away, I can wait till the following day.

It's hard to go to the store for $9. Gas, parking, assuming your time is worth nothing, etc.

best,

-Cam.
 
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