EMRFD Message Archive 6050

Message Date From Subject
6050 2011-04-06 11:55:37 dnorbury Good sources for parts?
I haven't had time to do much building for years so I've sort of lost track of the best suppliers for various kinds of electronic components - transistors, ICs, RF devices, passives, etc. I'd appreciate your thoughts.

Dave
KD6A
6051 2011-04-06 12:05:57 Gary Re: Good sources for parts?
W8DIZs 'place is always worth a look, especially for 'roids
http://kitsandparts.com/

Gary W4GNS


Subject: [emrfd] Good sources for parts?



I haven't had time to do much building for years so I've sort of lost track of the best suppliers for various kinds of electronic components - transistors, ICs, RF devices, passives, etc. I'd appreciate your thoughts.

Dave
KD6A





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
6052 2011-04-06 12:20:23 Tim Re: Good sources for parts?
The web has really made a big change in parts availability the past couple years. It used to be that hams favored the companies like Poly Paks etc. that sold floor sweepings because the real distributors didn't want to bother with onesies-twosies, but today the big mail-order distributors all have a web presence and sell in both small and large quantities direct to hams.

Mouser is my favorite all-around source. They even have an excellent selection of ferrite toroids and binocular cores. Buy a whole bag of 2643002402.

Iron powder toroids can come from http://www.amidoncorp.com/ or http://www.kitsandparts.com/toroids.php - stock up on T37 and T50 in 2 and 6 mix for sure.

For some of the more specialty stuff, be sure to look at the vendors being cited the past few years (with part numbers and websites) in the parts lists of QST constructi
6053 2011-04-06 12:26:15 dave Re: Good sources for parts?
Dave:
Mouser, Digikey, Newark, MiniCircuitLabs.

Dave - WB6DHW
<http://wb6dhw.com>

6054 2011-04-06 12:47:55 David LeVan Re: Good sources for parts?
one good source is to request free samples from Texas Instruments





________________________________
6055 2011-04-06 13:00:46 popmedkoh Re: Good sources for parts?
6056 2011-04-06 13:08:45 Tim Re: Good sources for parts?
Allied and Newark have done fine by me with many orders (both big and small) over the past few years. Their search engines are definitely subpar compared to Mouser and Digikey but they stock some stuff more deeply.

I only remember one shipping surprise that involved drop-shipping... but I think that all the vendors will drop-ship the heavy items because it actually saves money in the end. (Albeit confusingly for someone who thinks they know where the order is coming from.) I can't say I noticed that Allied shipping rates for UPS were any different than what Mouser charges for UPS.

6057 2011-04-06 13:13:03 dave Re: Good sources for parts?
Dave:
Also, you can order "free" samples from On-Semi. They charge $11.00 per
order for shipping are handling. But, you can order quite a few parts for that
amount. URL's for my previous message follow:

<http://www.onsemi.com>
<http://www.mouser.com/>
<http://www.digikey.com/>
<http://www.newark.com/>
<http://www.futureelectronics.com>
<http://www.minicircuits.com/>

Dave - WB6DHW
<http://wb6dhw.com>

6058 2011-04-06 13:22:47 dave Re: Good sources for parts?
I have ordered from both Allied and Newark. There shipping from UPS is
similar to others. If ordering from Newark, make sure it is coming from the
USA. If it is from Farnel, there is a $20 extra fee. I like Mouser and Digikey
as they are usually cheaper than Newark and I can order via priority mail, which
is half the cost and takes half as long to this location(rural north-central
Idaho).

Dave - WB6DHW
<http://wb6dhw.com>


6059 2011-04-06 13:28:03 Juan Carlos Berbe... Re: Good sources for parts?
Hi fellows
I found here the lowest price in some components like 16F268, IRF510,
Mc1496, etc, S & H is around USD$8.00
please check it out.

AVNET

http://avnetexpress.avnet.com/store/em/EMController?langId=-1&storeId=500201&catalogId=500201&action=home

Jc WJ6C/exCO6BG

2011/4/6 dave <dave@wb6dhw.com>

>
>
> I have ordered from both Allied and Newark. There shipping from UPS is
> similar to others. If ordering from Newark, make sure it is coming from the
>
> USA. If it is from Farnel, there is a $20 extra fee. I like Mouser and
> Digikey
> as they are usually cheaper than Newark and I can order via priority mail,
> which
> is half the cost and takes half as long to this location(rural
> north-central
> Idaho).
>
>
> Dave - WB6DHW
> <http://wb6dhw.com>
>
>
6061 2011-04-06 20:23:52 Mike Dinolfo Re: Good sources for parts?
Add to the list: Dan's Small Parts
(http://www.danssmallpartsandkits.net/) Dan's Small Parts has a lot of
surplus parts of interest to experimenters & hams.

Also, I have to "second the motion" about Digikey, Mouser, and Newark- I
have placed many orders with them in the past, and I continue to be
amazed at their high quality of service.

But the thing that really impresses me about all of these vendors, big
and small, is their willingness to do business with me. I might be
ordering sub-dozen quantities of 1/4 watt resistors (at pennies a pop)
and similar low-profit-margin items, but they generally are shipped and
arrive as ordered and without complaint. There must be a significant
number of employees who do this kind of work strictly for the
satisfaction of serving the experimenter/ham/geek population, and we're
fortunate that they exist.

[and in case anyone wonders- I have no financial interest in any of
these companies.]

Mike Dinolfo N4MWP
6063 2011-04-06 23:21:34 popmedkoh Re: Good sources for parts?
> Also, I have to "second the motion" about Digikey, Mouser, and Newark- I
> have placed many orders with them in the past, and I continue to be
> amazed at their high quality of service.
>
> But the thing that really impresses me about all of these vendors, big
> and small, is their willingness to do business with me. I might be
> ordering sub-dozen quantities of 1/4 watt resistors (at pennies a pop)
> and similar low-profit-margin items, but they generally are shipped and
> arrive as ordered and without complaint. There must be a significant
> number of employees who do this kind of work strictly for the
> satisfaction of serving the experimenter/ham/geek population, and we're
> fortunate that they exist.
...
> Mike Dinolfo N4MWP
>

For many components, I suspect that the pick and pack procedure at the larger distributors is highly automated and that few human hands touch the order. With a high volume of small orders, one could see making a profit with a handling fee for orders under $25-say, but wait! Digikey did away with handling fees and has no minimum order allegedly to compete with Mouser (hooray for competition!) Further, if you read their terms and conditions http://dkc1.digikey.com/us/en/MKT/TERMS.HTML it's stated that they will pay for postage and insurance if a check or money order accompanies the order! I interpret this to mean that you could order 2 pcs. of 1N4148 diodes for 28 cents total and so long as you send a check, that's the price delivered to your door! Can't make a profit on that but the goodwill as they say is priceless and when your project creates a demand for 10,000+ power MOSFETs you'll remember them. Hats off to all of the distributors mentioned!

David KE1LY
6065 2011-04-07 01:50:39 Nick Re: Good sources for parts?
Hi,

I think it is much easier for US experimenters to get components, because there  are both small and big distributors in US and the shipping cost to US (I guess) must be small.

Despite the fact that I live in Greece the cost of components here is so high that  I prefer US distributors when I can ,and here is my list of preferences (this may be of interest for non US experimenters):

http://www.kitsandparts.com/ for toroid packs and some parts. So far, the toroids prices are the lowest I have found. (I have not tried amidoncorp though)

http://www.dipmicro.com/ for discrete parts (capacitors, resistors etc) (no minimum order, no minimum quantities, very good prices and very reasonable shipping cost)
http://www.sparkfun.com/ for microprocessor-oriented projects (pic,AVR,rotary encoders,LCD etc)

Dan's small parts does not work for me, because the ordering procedure
for international orders is very complicated (which translates to time
and cost)

I have never ordered from Mouser because the last time I checked the shipping cost to Greece was high and in order to get free shipping the minium order was 70  USD.

Digikey has an enormous variety, no minimum quantities in most all of the components, no minimum order. the prices are very good but for international orders this might result in an awfull experience (if you are interested in my experiences please read after the end of the email!!!)

Farnell has also a big variety, but in most of the common components (e.g. resistors, capacitors) there may be a minimum quantity of 50 pcs. In their European shop that I used, (and I do not know if they do the same everywhere) when the order is placed the VAT and shipping cost are not included. So after the order is processed VAT and shipping is added automatically (that is , your credit card is charged extra money after the order has been placed).

Other common component source for me is   http://www.ges.cz/en/?inc=homepage&cur=EUR%c2%a0 where I can find most of the common components. very good prices , fast and resonable shipping ( I am not sure what would be the cost for shipping to US)

Some times I have used also ebay to find some online shops for common components (resistors, capacitors, 2N3904 etc) thath I needed to stock for simple projects.

During the past I was also using the option to order samples from ATMEL,Analog Devices and National Semiconductors. I haven't used it for ages because from some time on, some of those companies stopped providing samples unless you are a student (your email address belongs to a university domain). Maybe this has changed.


73,Nick, SV1DJG



"MY EXPERIENCES DURING COMPONENT SOURCING FOR A HOMEBREW PROJECT"


I would like to share with you some (fun?) experiences I gained during
the last 6 months regarding components availability,pricing and
ordering!

For many years I prefered to buy and make kits instead of building something based on a schematic found on a book or magazine.
The reason was that I could simply get to the target fast, cost effectively and without trouble.
Everything was in the package and I did not have to search in local stores to find the components.


This changed radically when I got the EMRFD book, which encouraged me to
approch homebrewing completely differently. I embraced the "go with what you have in hand' principle
 and made a lot of circuits. My intial source of components was eBay shops and various sites that provide common components
(like resistors, capacitors,2N2222,2N3904 etc). 
But not all circuits are based on common components only.


The definition of "common component" for a common Greek electronic shop
stops at 2N3904, maybe even earlier! The common scenario at my place is
that most stores do not stock a lot of components.
In order to built something simple I usually have to visit 4-5 different stores and most of the time I cannot
something. There are a few specialized stores where I can find enough rf components but the prices are quite high.
The
issue
of the prices of course is not unique priviledge of the specialised
stores, it is a universal one! Without refering to the stores names, I
can give you an example, where an electrolytic capacitor of 1uF/16V
costs
an average of 0.9 Euro (1.28 USD) , a J310 costs an average of
2.5 Euro (3.55 USD) (with an extreme case of a store selling it at 4.5
Euros (6.4 USD) !).
A simple  1/4w resistor or a ceramic capacitor
costs 0.4 Euro (0.56 USD) and so on. The troulbe of getting the
components as well as their prices always kept me back from homebrewing.


Recently I decided to experiment and try to design my own receiver, just for the experience of designing something. I tried to keep the components to commonly available, no exotic parts.
Since this was a totaly
new experience for me and I could not have the full picture from the
beggining, I started experimenting by targeting to 2 or 3 stages at a
time but trying to see forward regarding my components needs.
I decided to buy my components from online stores to save money! I could not imagine how much far from reality I was !!!!


First stop : digikey. A lot of components, good prices. I placed an order of
70 USD, shipped immediately with UPS! Upon arriving, UPS requested
additional fees for customs,handling,storage,
and other mangement costs (even for issuing the processing order!!!), that summed up to a fee of 110 Euros (156 USD!) . I contacted digikey support (who responded very quick and was very helpfull) in order to send the order back for refund. We found that this was not the best option because digikey had the right to charge additional costs to get the package back. So,I decided to accept the package and by spending 
a whole day I handled most of the customs procedures myself and reduced the cost to 65 Euros (92 USD). Unfortunate result: No more digikey orders for me!

Next stop: Farnell UK. Shipped from within EU, similar variety, a bit more
expensive, most components have minimum order quantity. so, instead of
the 6-10 resistors I needed from a value, I had to buy 50!
Repeat this for 25 different values and little by little, the cost jumps to 54GBP + 23% VAT + shipping equals
74.61 GBP (120 USD). The things that I did not like, is that during placing the order, VAT and shipping cost are not included in the total amount.  You can select only UPS shipping , which is indeed extremely fast (one day delivery) but the checkout system cannot provide the shipping costs , because it is a  funciton of size and weight and must be calculated after the order is ready. This have as effect that you are going to be charged automatically with the shipping cost and the VAT without having the option to agree or discard them. They have your credit card number and charge it automatically. Another thing that someone should be aware of is that farnell stock some components in US. For orders that contain US stocked components, there is a one time fee of 15 USD (which I never understood what it is for)  and the components will be shipped from US! that means for me, UPS+customs!!!!


Next stop: DIPMicro : they have a good stock with  good prices. They ship with USPS,  fast and with low priced. there is no problem with customs.


Next stop: GESEuro:  big stock although not so specialised (e.g. not many RF components), very good prices, very fast and reasonable shipping (at least within EU).

The cost of the components I was planning to use initialy sums up to 180  EURO (257 USD) . The overhead due to minimum quanitties is an additional 40 EUROS (57 USD) and a total of 92 EUROS (131 USD) for shipping and handling.
Allthese sum up to 312 EUROS (445 USD) ! At this price , if i had not selected to experiment, I could have bought many miniR2 kits, or by adding some more $$ I could buy a  K1 or maybe a K2 and leave experimenting for others!


Just for reference, I would like to point out some large diferences in
prices for some not so common components (not including shipping cost)


                             

AD9834 DDS     
 - DIGIKEY:   9.9 USD  

-  UK FARNELL: 12.35 GBP (+23% VAT +15.95 GPB because the item is stocked in
US (which means it will be shipped from US and I will have to pay
customs !!)) total: 31.2 GBP (49 USD) !!!

- local FARNELL reseller: 21.2 EURO (30.1 USD)

AD8331 ARQZ 
 - DIGIKEY:   9.9 USD  

-  UK FARNELL: 9 GBP (+23% VAT, stocked in EU ) total: 11 GBP (17.6 USD) !!!

- local FARNELL reseller: 31.6 EURO (45 USD) !!!


The possibilites that I will not complete the project due to high RnD cost are very large!! But even if i do, I think that I will revert back to kit building.


Thanks for the bandwidth
73,Nick, SV1DJG

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
6067 2011-04-07 03:35:45 victor Re: Good sources for parts?
I recommend Futurlec: http://www.futurlec.com/
and BGmicro - http://www.bgmicro.com/
Both have fast service and really low mail charge (regular mail - no UPS!)
Victor - 4Z4ME
6068 2011-04-07 06:43:43 Craig D. Smith Re: Good sources for parts?
While I normally deal mostly with Mouser, I've had occasion to place small
orders with Allied twice in the past year. I don't recall if the shipping
cost was revealed early in the order process, but do remember that delivery
was super-fast and the shipping cost was reasonable (similar to Mouser).
These were both light in weight and shipped to Colorado.

73 Craig AC0DS


Digikey and Mouser are reliable and their shipping rates are up front and
predictable. Have almost ordered from Allied and Newark as they seem to have
good pricing on small quantities of passives but in my experience they will
not post shipping charges until after you place the order (hopefully this
has changed). Is there anyone who has experience with these 2 vendors and
can shed light on shipping
6069 2011-04-07 07:32:48 RadiosRUs Re: Good sources for parts?
Hi Guys,

As one who occasionally likes to heat up a soldering iron and snort some solder smoke, I too have been looking at sources for parts. Most of the ones I use have been mentioned but I would also like to add to the mix two thoughts.

One thought involves looking at home brewing at one level up and you can readily see common parts emerging such as common values of resistors, you know, the 10 Ohms, 100 Ohms, 10K Ohms with a few 50 Ohms and 220 Ohms and 470 Ohms added for good measure. Bypass caps tend to be 10NF and 100 NF ---lest I forget the 2N3904, 2N3906 and the 2N2222 also the BS170 and the IRF510. A cost effective possible sub for the 2N5109 and 2N3866 is the 2N2219A. So step one involves looking at the distribution of common parts.

Thought two involves shopping in bulk. Jameco Electronics has a deal (as do others) on most values of 1/4 Watt resistors and that is 100 Pieces for $2 for through hole and $1 for 100 pieces SMD types. A $20 bill will add 1000 pieces of the most common values of through hole resistors and a lot more SMD types. All Electronics similarly has some deals on electrolytic capacitors. So by doing step one, selective bulk buys can be made. Typically the shipping rates are a minimum of $7.50 for UPS or priority mail for the 1st pound. So given the types of bulk parts and their weight --lots of parts can be shipped for $7.50.

I have in the works an upcoming article that will publish my list of common parts and how to go about "Filling the Junk Box". Stay tuned.


73's
Pete N6QW

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
6070 2011-04-07 08:01:23 Nick Re: Good sources for parts?
Hi Pete and group,

I am looking forward to reading your article !


I have been buying small lot of components for months, little by little, and I do have a stock of common components, for simple projects, but not for all occasions and not any specialized components !

The fact that I did not plan carefully my project to use only a few values of components (if possible) in order to reduce cost,caused my recent over-the-initial-budget experience.

Nevertheless it  was a learning experience. I think I will do better next time!

73,Nick SV1DJG



________________________________
6075 2011-04-07 16:38:28 john lawson Re: Good sources for parts?
This site has been helpful to me in providing some hard to find parts, As an example, I've used them to grab some 5000 pf feedthru caps as well as other parts carried by the "regular" parts houses that we are all familiar with, but at cheaper prices......John K5IRK
 
http://www.mgs4u.com
 

6080 2011-04-10 01:14:34 drmail377 Re: Good sources for parts?
"Digikey did away with handling fees and has no minimum order allegedly to compete with Mouser (hooray for competition! )"

My fear is that DigiKey buys Mouser then disables the list lowest price button again (it only took them years to enable it after Mouser did).

I work in the satellite communications industry. In recent years one modem manufacturer went out and vacuumed-up all the competiti
6081 2011-04-10 03:21:45 ha5rxz Re: Good sources for parts?
Given that the ultimate owner of Mouser is Warren Buffet via Berkshire Hathaway it is more likely that Mouser could take over Digikey.

HA5RXZ

6083 2011-04-10 04:38:12 Sam Morgan Re: Good sources for parts?
speaking of Digi-Key and Mouser
while looking through my bookmarks,
I ran across this page by Don AE5K
says it was last updated Nov 2008,
so not sure if it's info all still holds true or not....

if someone knows of any changes,
they might drop Don a line so he can update it

GB & 73
K5OAI
Sam Morgan