Jameco

[Bentov]

Hello all,
I've seen Jameco mentioned here a couple of time and I like the selection they have. How is their customer service? Have any of you had any problems with them at all, shipping, missing/wrong items etc...?

One more question for you all. Since I'm really new to electronics, I don't have good collection of components, and I would like like to build up a good base. What do you all think makes more sense.

A) Comming up with a list of circuits and buying just those specific components.

B) Buying a couple of the grab bags they have at Jameco.

I'm leaning towards the grab bags since I would like to have a wide variety of parts to play with. Anyway, just curious, any input would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Bentov

 

[eyevancsu]

Nothing to do with jameco but...

if you want to build up a fairly decent supply of elec components (ie caps, resistors, pots, trimmers, trans, chips and such) you can try to scavenge some parts from anything electronic that you dont longer use. You could look at garage sales and look for cheap parts and so on. Ive even seen people look in trash areas of some electronic stores lookin for these.

regards

ivan

 

[Gene]

I have used Jameco - no problems so I don't know if there customer service is any good. As to parts, I have never bought a grab bag but I would be afraid that I would get 90% junk - maybe some parts w/o id. I do buy extras, though. I make up a list of what I need and add to that. When you see how much all mail order places add for shipping, it may be a good deal to throw in a few more parts - especially if it dosen't add any more to the shipping fee. For instance, I needed about $5 worth of parts and the shipping was another $8. This makes the cost of parts really high. So, I found that I can add another $5 - $10 in parts for the same $8 shipping fee. When you consider that some parts are less than 5 cents, you can get a lot of spares for $10.

As to salvaging, almost every flea market/yard sale has old amps and car radios for a couple of bucks that can be stripped of parts. Put out the word to your friends, people throw out stuff every day.

 

[daviddoria]

yea but usually the leads have been cut so short that the components are hardly usable

 

[Bentov]

Thanks for the replies, I've been going around my apartment trying to get stuff to take apart and salvage the pieces from, but like David said, most of them have really short leads.

I've found some things that I definitly want to build, and I am afraid to get reamed on the s/h, so I guess I'll take Gene's advice. I am going to call/email Jameco though, and see what they have to say about unmarked parts.

Thanks,

Bentov

 

[lavenatti]

Jameco has great customer service, I've had one problem with an order and they fixed it right away. I've place about 50 orders with them over the years both for work and personal use, I do not, however, think the grab bags they offer are worth the shipping, never mind the price of the grab bag. Lots of heavy junk, reject components, sockets with the leads all bent up - junk. I even bought one of those LED bags, again, crappy dim old LEDs, a lot of them were rejects with reversed leads, a few didn't even work.
All the components I've bought were primo otherwise, great prices on resistors.
Oh, don't buy software from them, I got very old versions of the Pic Basic Pro Compiler and Cicuitmaker. Check what version they are selling against whats available on the manufacturers website before ordering.

 

[Bentov]

Ok, it seems the no grab bags wins. Thanks for the input.

Bentov

 

[lavenatti]

Electronic Goldmine had a great "Surprise Box" for $3.00 the last time I ordered from them.
Every time I got one I was surprised to find at least one component I need right away that justified the cost of the whole box.
If they still sell these, it may be a good way to go.

 

[Bentov]

I just checked out Electronics Goldmine. They seem to have a good selection. I'm such a geek thought, I saw the silicon IC wafer, and said, I've got to get one of those

Bentov

 

[lavenatti]

Geek is good!

I look at stuff like that under my microscope.