I live in a remote area and will be setting up a small lab for personal experimentation with both analog and digital circuits of no predetermined type. As a retiree, my budget is limited. So I would prefer not to make any unnecessary mistakes.
Since I am putting in a single large order with Digikey, for the above purpose, could I have some advice on what would be the most generally useful DIP IC's (excluding micros) for such an environment?
Much thanks,
James Foreman
What exactly are you building?
We are looking into dices bonding on DIPs, would you be interested in doing it for us.
As alternative to DigiKey, you may want to see what Jameco and Futurlec carry. Their prices are often lower than DigiKey. However, Digikey carries a much larger selection than the other two. As for chips, it depends on what you want to do. I find it easier to use a CPLD than to use a bunch of TTL/CMOS logic chips. CPLDs are still available in PLCC-44 packages which fit into PLCC-44 sockets, and programming cables are cheap. I also use RAMs, EEPROMs, UARTS and buffer chips such as 74LS245 and 74LS125 (CMOS versions as well). The non-digital chips I use are RS-232 drivers/receivers and 555 timers. I haven't used OP-AMPS in ages, so I don't have any advice on those. Don't forget mundane parts such as caps, resistors, and connectors. HTH
-Dave Pollum
Maybe get a bunch of all the basics or, nor, xor, and, nand, inverter and buffer Get some latches too.. (Also get diodes and transistors to make gate equivalents.)
Cmos 555's are handy too. Those suckers seem to slip into lots of my app's... No wonder it was the first production IC....
And... Op amps that approach the ideal op amp model. ex: low offset, rail to rail, quick and stable.. D from BC
How remote is it? Antarctica? Can't you budget for an order every week or two?
Best regards, Spehro Pefhany
-- "it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward" speff@interlog.com Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.com
It used to be pretty simple to select a range of TTL or CMOS basic logic gates (inverters, OR, NOR, AND, NAND, XOR, D-FlipFlops, 2-4 and 3-8 decoders, octal latches, etc.) These are still solid building blocks, and you can get them in all sorts of "flavors", such as LS, HC, HCT, AHCT, etc. There are also various counters and display drivers that are useful, and other more specialized chips. There is also a wide range of analog ICs, but you can't go wrong with a few LM324 or TL084 quad op amps, LM356 dual op amps, and an assortment of voltage regulators. Much depends on what you are interested in building. If you have some specific projects in mind, the choices can be narrowed down.
Another option is eBay. You might find someone's entire stock of assorted TTL and CMOS, and analog ICs, for very low cost, and maybe including a cabinet. Also, check out a HamFest. It may be worth the cost of travel to pick up a lot of components and equipment inexpensively.
I have a lot of surplus components I could send you. I'd be glad to find a good home for them for the cost of packing and shipping. I can email you a list of what I have. Some parts are also listed on my website
Good luck,
Paul
That was my first thought. Let Digikey et. al. carry the inventory. Order as needed, subject to the minimum order ands shipping cost constraints.
lm555,7555, lm324, 4060, lm339, tl071, tl074, lm3915,
you may want to add some more cmos logic to that... if you're going to use micros add some shift registers to use as port multipliers, if not some logic and flip-flops may be handy.
a 4070 can be real handy as there's no efficient way to make an XOR with discretes. nands nors and inverters can be handy too.
Bye. Jasen
Hello James,
I'm really familiar with that low budget thing, so let me tell you, a large Digikey order while convenient is not the cheapest way to go. Mouser is usually a little cheaper. You'd get by even cheaper by googling for some surplus parts outlets as someone else has already suggested. If you take your time and look around you can find some really good prices. Some to checkout in the US might be BG micro, Marlin P Jones, Jameco, Hosfelt, MECI, etc.
It's really hard to say for sure without knowing where your interests might be, but here's a list of some basic stuff that I wouldn't want to be without.
DISCRETE: 2N3904/2N3906 or equiv general purpose NPN/PNP transistors. You'll need more NPNs then PNPs. 2N3055/2N2955 or equiv NPN/PNP power transistors MPF102, 2N5458 JFETs 2N7000 or equiv low power mosfet IRFXXX power mosfets - whatever you can find cheap with the voltage/current ratings you might need 1N914 or equiv low power silicon signal diodes 1N40xx or quiv 1A rectifier diodes, IN54xx if you want 3A 1N34 or equiv germanium detector diodes 1N5817 etc Schottky diodes Maybe some 5v, 9v, 12v zener diodes Various LEDs, gotta have lights Various varactors if you find a deal on them.
ANALOG: Some 3 teminal regulators 317T, 317L - adjustable 1A and .1A 7805, 7812, and 78L05 - 5v and 12v 1A and 5v .1A Some Opamps LM358, TL082, Tl084 etc Comparators LM339, LM393 etc Audio Amp LM386 audio porwer amp 1/2W or so Driver arrays ULN2003 etc Logic compatible driver for relays, small steppers etc Timer LM555/LM556 Can be used as an astable or monostable Misc: NE/SA602 VHF Mixer/Osc 74HC4046 PLL can be used for lots of stuff
As far as digital goes, I'd pick a logic family and try to stick with it as much as possible The old 45XX series aren't too fast, but aren't real finicky on a breadboard either, or maybe the 74HCxxx series for a little more speed. See if you can find a copy of Don Lancasters CMOS or TTL cookbook and get some of the chips that he provides data for. That would be a good selection.
PASSIVES: Lots of .1uf, .01uf, .001uf mono ceramic or disk caps
1uf, 10uf, 100uf, 1000uf electrolytics and a few of the higher values like 4700uf or 10000uf maybe some 1uf and 10uf tantalum caps.Maybe a couple small speakers and piezo beepers
A few resistor assortments 10ohm to 10Mgeg 1/4W 5% will cover most needs Some 1k 10k 100k, and 1Meg pots
I realize that you said no micros, but don't overlook them. They open up a lot of areas that just aren't very practical using discrete logic. Personally I use Atmel AVR and Pic micros.
OTHER STUFF: You will want to get a "Proto board" or breadboard and build or buy a bench power supply.
Don't scrimp too much on a decent soldering iron either. A Weller is hard to beat, but not that cheapie $39 one they make. Get one with an adjustable and controlled temperature.
A scope is really nice, but a bit pricey. If there's any way, get yourself one. Even a cheap one is better than nothing.
Good Luck in your new endeavor.
Mike
"As we survey all the evidence, the thought insistently arises that some supernatural agency - or, rather, Agency - must be involved. Is it possible that suddenly, without intending to, we have stumbled upon scientific proof of the existence of a Supreme Being? Was it God who stepped in and so providentially crafted the cosmos for our benefit?" George Greenstein - Astrophysicist
Doing anything with switching power supplies will appreciate TL494 or KA7500 or one of the UC3842 series ('42 is commonest, '43 is lower voltage, '44 and '45 are respectively the same but half duty cycle). Along those lines, BJTs like TIPs and 3055-ish stuff for linear supplies, and MOSFETs from IRF540 to
820 or so, to IRFP's and IRFZ's into the high power or high amp (respectively) sorts of things.I think you can get assortments of CMOS and TTL logic chips, for the digital workings. A handful of NANDs, NORs, NOTs (normal and open collector) and various other choice items (like flip-flops, counters, mux/demux, etc.).
And if you want to get specialist (meaning, it's kind of like an electronic fetish, but interesting rather than disgusting ;o) ), you could even get things like 12AX7's and 6V6's, and the various iron to use them.
Tim
-- "Librarians are hiding something." - Steven Colbert Website @
I agree with using Digikey or others as you need the parts, though buying a tube of parts on ebay if the deal is good is appropriate. The part has to be common and less than say 20% of Digikey. That is, make a "lifetime" buy, though I've been amazed how often I exhausted my lifetime buys. ;-) For instance, I wouldn't turn down a deal on a rail of OP27, LT1028, LDOs, etc.
As I get more and more into projects, I find I order larger and larger quantities of whatever part I happen to need, just for stock. Need a
2.2K resistor? Buy 50 of them, you'll use them eventually. One of the guys in our local group has gotten up to the reel stage, and a digikey reel of popular sizes can be as low as $20-30.
Also if you are sure you will only need a few resistors of a specific value buy one of those kits of a range of values. This will cover you when you change your mind.
Yup. Now that I've standardized on 0603 parts, I've ordered the "E12" kit from vakits, so that I've got a range of values to play with. Then I order a project-specific amount once I've decided on the specific values I need.
Suggest you plan what you want to do, before obtaining parts.
Electronic design is not shopping.
RL
An alternative point of view is to recycle parts off scrap boards, This is especially easy with SMD parts, Our local recycling foundation has ex PC boards, printers, modems, and all manner of other consumer bits for 50c to maybe $3. Yesterday they had printers for free, as the "printer mountain" was getting pretty high.
Anyway, strip out the boards, and wearing a heat-proof glove on one hand, I blast the board with a paint stripper gun, when all the solder is shimmering, rap the board sharply on the bench, and about 75% just fall off. Some areas will need a repeat.
For thru-hole parts a different approach is better. support the edge of the PCB is a vice, blast the solder side with the paint stripper, and then pull the parts out with a dental pick or needle-nose pliers.
The hardest part is sorting them out. However, I have never found a bad part yet. I would not want to use these parts for a proper job, but they are fine for experimenting and messing about.
Generally, one builds up a 'junk box' of used or surplus parts, and that's the kind of thing you wouuld benefit from. There are grab-bag suppliers like
that sell bags of unsorted/semisorted DIPs; items #G13876 and #G15287 and such will give you (if nothing else) a few moments of discovery (oh, THAT'S what this does!).
Another moment of discovery will be (in my experience) is that looking in a junk pile takes more time than ordering the parts online. (Neglecting courier time.) D from BC
Sometimes when I end up with a dead project, I put everything into a "body bag". :) D from BC
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