I ordered a bunch of parts from Digikey last Saturday, one week ago. All of them showed stock, but the SMD 1NK60Z's only showed 20 some in sock. My order still has not shipped from DK, so yesterday I sent them an email. Part of the reply included " This order is being reviewed. Once the review is complete the order will ship." as of now three of the items on my list including the 1NK60Z's are out of stock, so it looks like the parts I ordered went to someone else. I guess I won't be testing those. I have been buying parts from DK since the DIY computer days in the mid 1970's and this is the first time they have done this.
For those that don't remember the 70's, Digikey started out selling Digital Keyer kits for ham radio use. They also sold surplus parts for ham radio and early DIY 8 bit computers, several years before the TRS-80 and the Apple II.
Sorry to hear, George. I was about to order a couple of transformers and other FETs from them, but during check out I saw they added a mysterious charge called “tarriff” with no explanation. So, I dropped everyelse and ordered just the STQ part.
I had a recent similar experience with DK. I ordered parts that were “in stock” only to find out there was an additional charge because they were coming from a Rochester supplier two weeks later?? DK is changing….. 🙄
The "tariff" is a government mandated fee imposed on all electronic components of Chinese origin. Some vendors clearly state the tariff, some hide it in the cost of the part, and some simply do not comply with the law. That tariff has been increasing every year since it was imposed in 2017.
DK is starting to sell third party parts, especially "maker" parts from Sparkfun, Adafruit and others. If the part is stocked in house, it carries no additional charges. If it is direct shipped from a third party supplier, you may have to pay the shipping from the third party to you. When I ordered the LSK189's there was a 10 piece minimum and I would be responsible for the shipping from Linear Systems to me. One of the shipping choices was free shipping, so that charge was zero. Rochester Electronics deals in older obsolete parts. I have never used them, so I don't know if they are a dealer, rebrander, or a distribution house for third tier parts. DK does not stock Rochester parts, they just forward the order to them.
"Rochester Electronics is the world’s largest continuous source of semiconductors–100% Authorized by over 70 leading semiconductor manufacturers.
As an original manufacturer stocking distributor, Rochester has over 15 billion devices in stock encompassing more than 200,000-part numbers, providing the world’s most extensive range of end-of-life (EOL) semiconductors and broadest range of active semiconductors.
As a licensed semiconductor manufacturer, Rochester has manufactured over 20,000 device types. With over 12 billion die in stock, Rochester has the capability to manufacture over 70,000 device types.
Rochester offers a full range of manufacturing services including Design, Wafer Processing, Assembly, Test, Reliability, and IP Archiving providing single solutions through to full turnkey manufacturing, enabling faster time-to-market."
As an original manufacturer stocking distributor, Rochester has over 15 billion devices in stock encompassing more than 200,000-part numbers, providing the world’s most extensive range of end-of-life (EOL) semiconductors and broadest range of active semiconductors.
As a licensed semiconductor manufacturer, Rochester has manufactured over 20,000 device types. With over 12 billion die in stock, Rochester has the capability to manufacture over 70,000 device types.
Rochester offers a full range of manufacturing services including Design, Wafer Processing, Assembly, Test, Reliability, and IP Archiving providing single solutions through to full turnkey manufacturing, enabling faster time-to-market."
As of this morning my DK order was still unprocessed so I called them and got some answers, and some more questions with no answers, but all 9 line items that I ordered will ship out to me today. They were reserved by the great computer as soon as I submitted the order.
All orders are checked for "compliance" before shipping. This is usually done by the computer. Something in my order triggered a "compliance review" which is done by a human, hence the delay. Oddly I had sent in another order the same day for 25 8 bit PIC chips which was processed and sent out 8 days ago. They are for a future project, but DK only had a few and Mouser had none, so I ordered them while I could get them. This order contained the STN1NK60's and the STQ1N80's, some J109 fets, 4 different values of 1/4 through hole resistors, some 32.768 KHz watch crystals, and some L78L33 voltage regulators. Not exactly rocket science stuff. The girl did ask me twice to verify my shipping address, and if I would be reshipping any of the material out of the country. She wouldn't say what triggered the review, or why it took a week, but the parts should find their way into a Fedex truck tonight. Historically Fedex has been far more unreliable here than DK.
Everything in the DK order other than the fets is for a reverb and effects pedal for a guitar. After they get stuffed into the board, I should be able to fry up some fets.
Wow... didn't know there was any sort of compliance check. Maybe your reputation of blowing things up precedes you.... 
KiCAD schematic done. Now comes the hard part, footprint assignment and layout.
KiCAD schematic done. Now comes the hard part, footprint assignment and layout.
I don't get it either, unless they have some insight into my Paypal transactions. I do send my PC boards all over the world and usually use Paypal's shipping service to do so. I also pay DK and Mouser through Paypal. I have never sent boards to Russia, or a few other countries where the customs service is corrupt. The last time I got tubes from the Ukraine was about 10 years ago.Wow... didn't know there was any sort of compliance check. Maybe your reputation of blowing things up precedes you....
I got the usual incorrect email from Fedex last night stating that the parts would be delivered today. This morning they have been to South Dakota, and were now back in Minnesota when last scanned (normal). The delivery date was updated to tomorrow (not likely). I expect them Thursday or Friday, unless they screw up, or the delivery driver refuses to come down our dirt (mud) road. UPS and Fedex trucks don't fare well on the mud road into our place in bad weather, which is expected Saturday. Our mail girl drives a Honda CRV 4WD and there have been three non delivery days this year due to weather. Frozen mud is some really slick stuff especially after partially frozen mud is compressed by the garbage truck then refrozen.
I’m in Davis, CA. Lovely weather here, except we’re surrounded by fields and the pollen has been a problem for me the past few weeks. And of course, fire season will start soon. We had some massive storms late in 2021, nothing since then. Could use a couple more storms. Otherwise, it will be another dry season.
My guess is that maybe something on your order was subject to US Govt. export controls. That seems the most likely explanation for wanting to know if you were going to be reshipping anything out of the country. It's hard to say which one, I agree, none of those items seem particularly cutting edge.
Sometimes it’s not the item per-se that is cutting edge, but the producer that has some specific policy.
Here's a teaser. KiCAD schematic snippet. Starting from the top right side, coming off the transformer secondary, diodes and CRC filtering, followed by a simple zener reg, into the CCS, gain FET, and bottom FET. To the middle right is the LBB110 relay. Still to be tested and configured. Suggestions welcome.
I have managed to kill two entire evenings listening to this: STP30N10F7. Simply astonishing sound. Fellas, this is it.
Every FET I've tried have something to offer. The one above and the 60ZR-AP and 80ZR-AP are the best of the lot.
Every FET I've tried have something to offer. The one above and the 60ZR-AP and 80ZR-AP are the best of the lot.
Here's the Full Monty. As I started laying this out, a few more changes:
1. Removed transformer and added a couple of holes/headers.
2. Added alternate parts for the main gain device and the P-channel follower. So, we can swap in high power and low power parts.
The relay portion has not been tested yet, so don't build that in case someone wants to jump the gun.
Disclaimer: schematic below is not for commercial use without my permission. Not that anyone would be interested 😊.
1. Removed transformer and added a couple of holes/headers.
2. Added alternate parts for the main gain device and the P-channel follower. So, we can swap in high power and low power parts.
The relay portion has not been tested yet, so don't build that in case someone wants to jump the gun.
Disclaimer: schematic below is not for commercial use without my permission. Not that anyone would be interested 😊.
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Question for interested parties: how big a cap do you envision for the input and output? It is the primary determinant of PCB size (and probably cost).
We have 1 MOhm after the input cap, so even 22n would give a -3dB point at 7.23 Hz and a -1dB point at 14.46 Hz.
100nF or even 1 uF can be ok.
As for the output cap, I'd consider another 50k as input impedance of the following stage, so around 20kOhm load.
1 uF would give a -3dB point at 8 Hz and a -1dB point at 16 Hz.
100nF or even 1 uF can be ok.
As for the output cap, I'd consider another 50k as input impedance of the following stage, so around 20kOhm load.
1 uF would give a -3dB point at 8 Hz and a -1dB point at 16 Hz.
Looking good Ra7!
Definitely like the transformer header connection instead of an “onboard” trafo
Cap size….
I wouldn’t sacrifice capacitor real estate just to stay under the 100mm x 100mm pcb size, a batch of 10 boards might cost $13 instead of $5. But being able to properly fit PP film cap is priceless 😊. Also, I like to see the -3dB corner 2Hz or less. I’d like to see input/output capacitor location size to be in the neighborhood of 20mm wide x 30mm long with solder pads at 35mm, 27mm, 22mm and 15mm lead spacing to accommodate different types and capacitance.
Also, Test Points added at key measurement locations for easy probe connections would be a nice feature.
Definitely like the transformer header connection instead of an “onboard” trafo
Cap size….
I wouldn’t sacrifice capacitor real estate just to stay under the 100mm x 100mm pcb size, a batch of 10 boards might cost $13 instead of $5. But being able to properly fit PP film cap is priceless 😊. Also, I like to see the -3dB corner 2Hz or less. I’d like to see input/output capacitor location size to be in the neighborhood of 20mm wide x 30mm long with solder pads at 35mm, 27mm, 22mm and 15mm lead spacing to accommodate different types and capacitance.
Also, Test Points added at key measurement locations for easy probe connections would be a nice feature.