Hi All. I'm just no getting into electronics again. In the late 80's/early 90's I use to get my parts at RadioShack, but they have next to nothing these days. DigiKey looks nice and cheap, but I'm not making enough of any one project to meet the minimum orders as best as I can tell. I'm looking at Mouser, and may get stuff there. Any good guidance on where a hobbyist should buy/look for parts where he only wants small quantity? I found a guide by searching the forums, but the site was gone. Thanks.
There is no minimum order on Digikey. I just placed an 8 dollar order a few days ago :).
SparkFun is a good place to go.
For the parts I was looking form Digikey would not let me order just 5.
Sometimes there are minimum quantities for a particular part but there are sometimes alternatives - what was it? I really like digikey.
Also, don't hesitate to call them about something like that.
Ebay is suprisingly a fantastic place for components. A lot of chinese vendors on there who sell the components at much lower prices than other vendors, and I haven't had any problems. Also good for hard to get items.
It was a 3.6v zener diode.
Ebay is suprisingly a fantastic place for components. A lot of chinese vendors on there who sell the components at much lower prices than other vendors, and I haven't had any problems. Also good for hard to get items.
Right now it looks like the only place you can go to in order to get small quantities of ATMega168/328 chips; both Digikey and Mouser are out-of-stock, at least until May-July (?) - but there are tons available in China and Asia (check ic2ic.com - compared to Digikey and Mouser - you'll see what I mean).
So, all the drop-shippers in Asia are selling low quantities of these parts - the only problem is that they don't seem to (?) be combining shipping! So, you may be able to get 5 pieces of a 168 for $2.50 each (cheap), but shipping is $5.00 per piece (!!!), which is really, really STUPID.
Of course, I haven't checked with the seller's to see if they will combine shipping, but nothing on any of the item pages indicates that they will do so (small rant: I hate what Ebay has become - I miss bidding on old electronics and such - does anyone have any suggestions on good auction sites run like Ebay used to be, where I can dicker and bid on old electronics items and other garage sale junk? PM me if you do).
But that's just those parts, mainly - and if you are only looking for one or two, maybe the uncombined shipping isn't that bad (still seems like a ripoff, though - I mean, you could probably order 1000 from some supplier off ic2ic if you wanted to, and you wouldn't likely pay even a dollar per to ship them).
I don't know why there is a preference (or market forces?) keeping those chips in Asia (are they doing nothing but churning out Arduinos and other ATMega-based stuff?) - but you can't get them otherwise. It kinda concerns me (I had a small rant here, but I am leaving it off).
Ugh.
Irongeek,
I am not sure where you located, but have you tried finding a local store. I do not live in a big metropolis or anything, but have built up a solid reputation with two local stores that are capable of supplying almost everything but esoteric sensors or CPU's. I couldn't imagine the hassle I would have if I had to E-order all the minor bits I need for every project. It's much nicer to drive a 1/2 mile out of my way on my drive home from work to be greeted by my friend Parm who manages one of those stores. It's a big place; he knows where everything is, can make intelligent recommendations and takes a great interest in my random projects.
The prices are good . . . there are no shipping charges . . . and I can pick up 90% of what I need from IC's (other than CPU's), transistors, capacitors, resistors, switches, enclosures, wire . . . and some of the best PCB protoboards I have every used.
My advice . . . get to know a local supplier then buy local if at all possible.
The prices are good . . .
That's not really my experience when I've tried local sources. The price of particular chip may be 2x-10x the price of online prices. If you only need one item, then it may be worth while. When I order online, I fill out my order with components that I think I may have a need for in the future.
our local shop is that way too, BUT i do understand just like I can tolerate food lion being a bit more expensive on some things vs walmart
I would much rather give the local guy a bit more for the then and now convenience, and I did regularly ... until I moved an hour out, and all of a sudden a trip to the shop was nearly a 3 hour deal
I would love to start a local shop where I live now (where there are no radio shacks and only 1 computer shop), maybe someday soon
@TchnclFl
There is no minimum order on Digikey. I just placed an 8 dollar order a few days ago
What was that, a 2.00 part and 6.00 shipping??? ;D
Seriously though, If you are only looking for a few diodes or something, your best bet is probably radio shack. You may pay a little more for the part, but you don't have to pay all the shipping.
I bought a chip not long ago that cost me 1.95 but cost me almost 6.00 for shipping. :o
This would be a good reason to get a buy/sell/trade area going on the forum. people could set up group buys for certain parts that many people want and get them for a fraction of the cost that one person would pay for a couple pieces.
Dan
Well, a google search of my area (Louisville ky metro), all I've seen is Radio Shack and Peerless.
yea, your further away from the places than I, I am sorta near the KY border but more east of Louisville
you can make a day trip out of it tho, start super early on a saturday morning, hit Randolf & Rice in Nashville before they close on noon and check out ma city ... that I dont live in anymore lol
What was that, a 2.00 part and 6.00 shipping??? Grin
eh they have usps shipping, but they burned me on a tube of 595's since they sent it in a nearly 1 yard long 4x2 box, it was still under 6 bucks but I had to pick it up at the post office
I ended up buying a bunch of stuff from Mouser and SparkFun that I may want to play with some day. For what I see, electronics is a cheap hobby to be in, but expensive to first get into. I also ordered some stuff from DealExtreme that I plan to cannibalize for parts.
What was that, a 2.00 part and 6.00 shipping???
6.07 for the parts, Something like 2.40 for the shipping. I just go with first class. Living in North Carolina, it only takes three days to get from Minnesota to here, so Priority mail (2-4 days) and First Class (3-5 days) are really the same, because I've never had anything arrive in two days.
Looking for female to male break away headers, because I know I suck at soldering and don't want to burn my chips. Wish more vendor used pictures you can see detail in.
I can't find any headers that are breakaway on digikey (surprisingly).
Whenever I need some, I just order them from Modern Device. They have pretty good pricing and their shipping is reasonable.