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Good Electronic Supply's Sites, Everyone Come On In! :P

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I just discoverd Sparkfun.com. Their selection isn't that big but they have some really cool stuff for great prices. I haven't heard of $19 2.5GHz wireless transeivers anywhere else. They also have really cheap GPS receivers and GSM modems. They do have a fairly good selection of kits for AVR, PIC and Philips small ARM processors.
 
bmcculla said:
I just discoverd Sparkfun.com. Their selection isn't that big but they have some really cool stuff for great prices. I haven't heard of $19 2.5GHz wireless transeivers anywhere else. They also have really cheap GPS receivers and GSM modems. They do have a fairly good selection of kits for AVR, PIC and Philips small ARM processors.

Not bad... I saw their site a while ago, but I didn't look at it much. They do have some good stuff. Serial LCDs aren't cheap, but they have very nice prices for them!

ARM micros? Those are what the Nintendo Gameboy Advances use I believe... two of them. I didn't think ARMs could be found anywhere, though I didn't look either. :p
 
For many years I used www.maplin.co.uk sadly like Radio Shack they really have gone downhill over the last few years.

These days Radio Spares , www.rswww.com is where I go for the common items. For many years they were trade only but have relented now. Plus it's a world wide group with divisions across the globe.

www.pcwcomponentcentre.co.uk a new spin off from the PCworld / Dixons group looks promising for computer hardware.
 
TalkingElectronics.com

Ordered some stuff off TalkingElectronics.com in Australia about 3 weeks ago just got it today, cant say im that delighted with the time it took to get here but the parts all look up to standard and the quality is neat and tidy.
 
have good luck with

I like to order from www.glitchbuster.com Randy dosn't have a lot but dose have good prices on Pic's

I used to order from www.futurlec.com but they are slowwwwwwwww
very slow and my last order they missed a couple of things i really needed,
I emailed them and they said they would credit my bank account. not even a oh sorry. and I guess 23 days is there average turn around time. Ha 23 days
only took em one day to get to the bank.

I also like to order from www.web-tronics.com they have a good selection of pcb making stuff and a ok selection of parts too with good prices.

did I mention furturlec was slowwwwwwwwwwww. ha ha I am not happy with them people.

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Holy ****! When did Sparkfun start making PCBs?! Did you guys see it? They're offering custom PCBs with ALL the goods, for only $2.50 per square inch! **broken link removed** Check them out.

Pricing:

Custom PCBs for $2.50 a square inch

Shipping and handling free! (US Only)

Delivery in 10-14 days

We can not help you with any design questions

We cut and paste your design exactly as is - no touchups

PCB Specifications:

High quality FR-4 Material 0.062" - 1oz. copper

2-layer boards

White Silkscreen both sides

Green Solder mask both sides

Minimum 8mil traces

Minimum 8mil spacing

Minimum hole size 20mil (0.5mm)

Maximum hole size 750mil

No limit on the number of vias

No limit on pads or components

Multiple designs, multiple copies are allowed!

Boards are routed (not v-scored or sheared) to border

Any size up to 10x15", measured in inch increments

Minimum size 1"x1"


There doesn't seem to be any catches. I've been trying to find a good price on PCB fabbers for a long time now. I'll be using them. :D

Rain


Edit: Whoo hoo!!! My 400th post! :lol:
 
That is NOT bad. Pity they don't do 31mil, then I would use them for my high frequency RF proto's as well.
 
Beware!!

www.futurlec.com does not have a phone number.

I had a problem with my order and I could not reach them because I could not find a phone number in their web site. I e-mail them and they never responded.

In addition, they store your credit card in their files, making you more vulnerable to credit card fraud.

Their low prices come at a cost.

Please make sure you buy from a store with a valid phone number, avoid futurlec.com
 
Looking for a manufacturer for laser product

I'm looking for the manufacturer of a laser product that Radio Shack sells (or did a year ago) that is called the Ultra-Thin Laser Pointer. I have an idea for a new laser product that is very similar in design (but not usage) to that and believe that if I could locate that manufacturer, it could save me R & D time.

Thanks for any direction or advice.
 
Where I live, Digikey is worshipped as the saviour of prototype design programs. They do so many things so very well, that their premium price is considered fair. For example:
- if their online engine says they have stock, then they actually do have stock (amazing)
- you can easily and quickly choose parts by price, function and availability using their search engine. I think its a pretty good search engine.
- they carry a good selection of parts suited to design and manufacturing of electronics goods. This is a breath of fresh air where I live because local suppliers do not stock anything that is not in demand by the repair and installation trades. And other online suppliers don't do the other things as well as digikey.
- They charge a low price for shipping. Consider that I live in Canada and the border is always a pain in the a-- for any US supplier, but Digikey.ca always delivers on time and without hassle for one low shipping price. This borders on the miraculous for us out in the hinterlands.
- I can order stuff late in the afternoon and it gets delivered to my door by the next morning! I've ordered many many times and they have never failed. This is also somewhat miraculous when compared to most other suppliers. This, combined with their low shipping cost means I can design one day and build the next without costing me more than a few minutes online. Wow.
- yes, they have a service charge for small orders, but I seldom order stuff for less than their minimum so this doesn't bother me.

I have designed stuff for may years, long before the advent of the fax machine, never mind the internet, and I appreciate the speed and convenience of online parts buying, but I especially appreciate a company who can tell you exactly what they have, how much it costs, will provide the data sheet at the touch of a button, and most importantly who can absolutely get it to me the next morning. Digikey is the leader and I don't mind paying them a few pennies extra for such service.
 
maplin used to be good, when you could walk into the shop, speak to a technical person and buy any of the electronic components in their catalogue.

now it's like toys R us with a resistor pack.

I was moaning to the sales person about their lack of stock, when an older assistant walked past, and said to him "yeah, in the old days we had loads more components and none of this other rubbish...."

used to be really good for those emergancy builds;)
 
I agree about glitchbusters...not much stock..but very reasonable PIC prices

Great shipping via first class mail from ALL electronics in California...to my home in NY.....TWO days....very reasonable prices...good stuff...happy with what I got.

TERRIBLE shipping from JDR MICRODEVICES in California to my house....
1 tube of chips....maby 30 inches long....weighs almost nothing....shipped via
UPS....took SEVEN days to get here.....UPS surface shipping..........
By the time the IC's got here....I was PISSED OFF.

Both orders to ALL and JDR placed within one hr of each other

UPS left my entire retirement plan savings check lying in a snowbank
alongside my driveway.

Do yourselves a big flavor.....stay away from UPS.

You guys make me laugh...you're so right about...Radio Shack....last
time I walked into RS and asked for a FET...all I got was a blank stare.

Thanks DEAN for your list I hv to chk a lot of those places out...some of
them sound great.

Anybody know where I can get a version of MPLAB...like around 7.0
...7.1....7.2 besides MICROCHIP????....Digikey doesnt hv it.
MICROCHIP USED to help out hobbiests like me....NOT ANYMORE.
A $5 handling charge and a $9 FED EX charge...then I tried to get their
2006 technical library upgrade CD roms....same thing.......
A year ago they sent me a Mid Range Ref Manual....no charge....
boy have they changed....

If you are looking for good, basic books about programming
PIC microcontrollers..checkout Dave Bensons website:
www.sq-1.com
Yes, the books are expensive...but they are worth every penny

Thanks all for posting these sites....this is great....Art
 
Indeed, UPS sucks.

My dad's a professional illustrator and they've broken paintings in half...

They left my neighbor's new computer parts out in the snow a couple years ago...I saw them sitting in the middle of the driveway with two inches of snow on them.

And as for Radio Shack, ugh. I can pay 2USD for a .1uf cap or I can just order a hundred online...
 
This is an excellent resource thread! Going to have to bookmark this one.

Here are a few I use. I buy from Mouser most of the time unless they don't have it but it's already been listed. Here are links to a couple I haven't seen listed yet that I have used.

https://www.circuitspecialists.com
Good all around electronics store. Local for me (Mesa, AZ) which I why I used them in the first place. Have a few nice kits for a good price.

https://www.galco.com
Industrial electronics parts. I've only purchased specialized parts from them like large diodes and SCR's for large industrial equipment. I'm sure they have many other items, check em out!
 
Mplab Dnld

Thanks Nigel.....I wish it was that easy....with my dial-up internet
connection it would take at least 2.5 hrs to dnld MPLAB.
Last time I checked, it was around 32Megabytes
A cd rom would be much more faster and convient for me.
Guess I'll stay with V6.3
Art
 
ajc said:
Thanks Nigel.....I wish it was that easy....with my dial-up internet
connection it would take at least 2.5 hrs to dnld MPLAB.
Last time I checked, it was around 32Megabytes
A cd rom would be much more faster and convient for me.
Guess I'll stay with V6.3
Art

Surely you must know someone with broadband?, ask them to download it for you and stick it on CD. Or just leave it downloading while you go out for a beer!.
 
I buy from futurlec the best prices anywhere, takes a longggggggggg time to get the order. In Canada the prices are from 4 to 12 times higher we really get screwed here does any one know a good place here????
 
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