Still waiting for a 5.0 roller block crankshaft I ordered from Ebay with a Western union money order 15 years ago, guess its not coming, LOL.
I'm w/ you on deregulation! We need protections from businesses.. they don't need protection from us!
BUT, I think you're wrong about this particular topic.. The issue is regulation.. The CC companies and banks are required by the government to have good insurance. And the insurance pays them back 100% for their losses from theft. They have no requirements of any kind other than turning in a dollar amount. So, why bother investigating the crime when they'll simply get the money back anyway.
(Sorry for the OT, but I've got a friend who's a VP at a big bank and we recently had this conversation when my CC got stolen)
Sockets? Check.
Power Transformer? Check.
OPTs? Check.
Chassis material and fasteners? Check.
Now for the Mouser order and the PC board (it may be later this week though as I couldn't make it to the Post Office this morning). Still thinking up ideas for a chassis design - something tasteful, but functional.
In the interest of heeding the advice in notes 3, 4 and 6, I'm going ahead and adding four heat sink insulator kits while I'm at it, just in case.
Power Transformer? Check.
OPTs? Check.
Chassis material and fasteners? Check.
Now for the Mouser order and the PC board (it may be later this week though as I couldn't make it to the Post Office this morning). Still thinking up ideas for a chassis design - something tasteful, but functional.
In the interest of heeding the advice in notes 3, 4 and 6, I'm going ahead and adding four heat sink insulator kits while I'm at it, just in case.
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Don't intend to push, but any closer to a decision on a circuit board parts kit?
I don't know for sure yet, but given my recent experience ordering parts, it's not going to work.
I have been getting parts from Mouser for over 20 years. They have always been reasonable in their shipping charges, but the recent parts order for TSE-II parts was ridiculous. I put most of the small parts, caps resistors, semiconductors, etc for 4 boards into my shopping cart. The parts total was about $250. The ground shipping was over $58. I had to start taking stuff out of the shopping cart to reduce the shipping. It stayed at $58 until removing two capacitors made it drop to $35, at which point I placed the order.
I know all the shipping companies including the USPS recently raised their rates, but $58 for a box of small parts, all of which would easily fit into the $12 flat rate box from USPS. The step function from $35 to $58 says they are not charging actual shipping charges any longer.
The box was clearly marked 4 pounds. It would cost me $16.45 to mail that same box back to them.....WTF Mouser?
I have been asked why I never bundled transformers with my parts kits. The reason is that the customer has to pay for shipping twice. This mey be the deal breaker for me ever doing parts kits again. I'll need to carefully price everything in different quantities from all the major parts distributors before making the final decision, but at $58 for SOME of the part for 4 boards already puts me at a $14.50 per board disadvantage, so it doesn't look good.
I have been getting parts from Mouser for over 20 years. They have always been reasonable in their shipping charges, but the recent parts order for TSE-II parts was ridiculous. I put most of the small parts, caps resistors, semiconductors, etc for 4 boards into my shopping cart. The parts total was about $250. The ground shipping was over $58. I had to start taking stuff out of the shopping cart to reduce the shipping. It stayed at $58 until removing two capacitors made it drop to $35, at which point I placed the order.
I know all the shipping companies including the USPS recently raised their rates, but $58 for a box of small parts, all of which would easily fit into the $12 flat rate box from USPS. The step function from $35 to $58 says they are not charging actual shipping charges any longer.
The box was clearly marked 4 pounds. It would cost me $16.45 to mail that same box back to them.....WTF Mouser?
I have been asked why I never bundled transformers with my parts kits. The reason is that the customer has to pay for shipping twice. This mey be the deal breaker for me ever doing parts kits again. I'll need to carefully price everything in different quantities from all the major parts distributors before making the final decision, but at $58 for SOME of the part for 4 boards already puts me at a $14.50 per board disadvantage, so it doesn't look good.
They are not listed on my web site yet, but they can be ordered by sending me payment via Paypal to tech at tubelab dot com. Put that into normal email form.
The boards are USD $40 each and shipping for 1 to 4 boards is $8 in the US, and $15 international. Make sure that Paypal has your correct address and state that you want the TSE-II board in the comments box.
Digikey's prices are usually a bit higher than Mouser's for identical items from the same manufacturer. When I lived in Florida that made it a no-brainer. Mouser was closer, and cheaper.
It seems that all of my Digikey orders now go through Fargo ND which is probably the closest USPS hub, since everything here goes through Pittsburgh. Transit times from Mouser or Digikey are about the same.
I just ordered a few resistors and other small stuff that I forgot for the TSE-II build ups I need to do. There were several hundred small SMD semiconductors for another project included as well. I made identical shopping carts for the same orders from both companies, but even with the slightly higher shipping Mouser was still cheaper. This time Mouser did not offer USPS shipping, but Fedex 2 day was $9 while USPS from Digikey was $8.
The oddity here was the pricing for the semiconductors. It's cheaper to buy 100 SMD transistors from Mouser than to buy 25 of the same Nexperia parts from Digikey.
When I have some time I'll sit down and price a complete BOM with shipping from both places and go from there. The prices in the BOM spread sheet might not all be current, since some of them reflect the price I actually paid for the parts when I last bought them. Some have been here for a while, and some were bought in quantity. I tried to update as many as I could, but probably missed some. The tube sockets get counted in the totals, and do not come from either place. I also get parts from Allied, Newark, Avnet, and a couple others if the price is right.
It seems that all of my Digikey orders now go through Fargo ND which is probably the closest USPS hub, since everything here goes through Pittsburgh. Transit times from Mouser or Digikey are about the same.
I just ordered a few resistors and other small stuff that I forgot for the TSE-II build ups I need to do. There were several hundred small SMD semiconductors for another project included as well. I made identical shopping carts for the same orders from both companies, but even with the slightly higher shipping Mouser was still cheaper. This time Mouser did not offer USPS shipping, but Fedex 2 day was $9 while USPS from Digikey was $8.
The oddity here was the pricing for the semiconductors. It's cheaper to buy 100 SMD transistors from Mouser than to buy 25 of the same Nexperia parts from Digikey.
When I have some time I'll sit down and price a complete BOM with shipping from both places and go from there. The prices in the BOM spread sheet might not all be current, since some of them reflect the price I actually paid for the parts when I last bought them. Some have been here for a while, and some were bought in quantity. I tried to update as many as I could, but probably missed some. The tube sockets get counted in the totals, and do not come from either place. I also get parts from Allied, Newark, Avnet, and a couple others if the price is right.
Agreed, but I'm perfectly content to let George take care of first things first. He has a lot on his plate from the sound of things, and I'm sure he'll get to it in due time.
That said, I don't believe stuffing the TSEII will be fundamentally different from the original TSE. What I did when placing my Mouser order was take advantage of the Customer Part Number feature. That way when I receive the boards, populating it'll be a no-brainer using the silkscreened graphics - provided, of course, that I pay attention to the updates George has provided here.
That said, I don't believe stuffing the TSEII will be fundamentally different from the original TSE. What I did when placing my Mouser order was take advantage of the Customer Part Number feature. That way when I receive the boards, populating it'll be a no-brainer using the silkscreened graphics - provided, of course, that I pay attention to the updates George has provided here.