I suspect if a real source is around, no one wants to tell, but I am having a hard time trying to get simple passive components. Melf resistors, Pulse resistant resistors stuff like that. Are there any places selling basic components besides E-Bay?
You didn't mention where you are. Newark has a UK warehouse but I don't know how much they stock. DigiKey runs more toward digital devices as you might guess. All Electronics is a bit strange. I think they're the OddLots of the electronics world but sometimes you get lucky and find something useful at a good price.
Tabby snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@googlegroups.com:
I am sure that even a soldered milf resistor could heat up and reflow its solder and get knocked loose too.
It is easy enough to fashion the leads of an axial leaded carbon comp resositor to attach to a pair of SMD pads. I have done so, in fact. Even done so with HV feedback resistors Protruding lead ends and HV potentials do not always mix well.
We "bump soldered" a lot of parts in the HV sections of our designs. After soldering normally perform quick additions of more solder to form a bead of solder at the node. Cannot do it too slow or it wicks into the hole just as normal. Makes for a less noisy output as well. Corona isn't just a glowing halo.
The glass package is thermally better than epoxies (or used to be) and extremely well sealed against contaminants. Classic diode test: run ten or twenty amps through a 1N4007 until you hear a 'pow' and see smoke. Then put it on a curve tracer. It still works normally (underneath the epoxy, the package was plug-sealed glass). The epoxy is burnt and cracked, though.
MELFs dissipate more for a given footprint and can take a bigger solder fillet which holds them in place better under high vibration, particularly when the solder's weakened at high temperatures, and if potted, there's more body for the potting to hold.
They're also much prettier.
Personally, I find them easier to handle if I have to replace one because there's more to grip, but that's a trivial concern.
But they have been noticeably harder to obtain for a few years.
Q. Were MELFs originally made that way because they're essentially leaded parts without the leads? [It goes full circle - chop open a leaded dipped ceramic capacitor and you'll often find inside a surface mount part with leads soldered/welded on.]
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