Getting a stock of basic components

Arthur Rhodes wrote in news:R_qdnX2PtOQg0HjYnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com:

I started building my stock up with a kit for a EE class. It had about

40 different components, all in a nice storage case. After that, I added parts as I either took them off circuit boards or got them for a project (Need 1 resistor but they come in packs of 5... that sort of thing.)

Some places sell assortments of components with a range of values that you might want to look in to. You might want to look around, and see what the different parts you think you'll get are worth. IMHO, if the parts are already organized and nicely stored, that's worth quite a bit. It's a pain sorting resistors and capacitors.

Puckdropper

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Wise is the man who attempts to answer his question before asking it.

To email me directly, send a message to puckdropper (at) fastmail.fm

Sounds high. Looked on eBay? Don't forget S&H.

I'd also look at Radio Shack and online retailers.

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You can go to several smaller sites like jameco, all electronics, kitsusa, etc and buy "grab bags" that can get you a pretty resonable stock. They are not necessarily the best way as you never know what your going to get or if they are going to work at all but it can be a relatively cheap way to get started.

You can also buy component "sets" that have a vary broad range of one type of component but these tend to be specific. The best thing to do is get a good idea of what you really need and then shop around for the best price.

Try

Resistors, caps, diodes, uP, voltage regulators, sensors, etc. Very low shipping charges and fast delivery. Located in Colorado.

"Sic hoc legere scis nimium eruditionis habes." (If you can read this, you're overeducated.)

Sounds expensive to me and lucky if you get a 10% utilisation of parts. Strongly suggest before doing anything else, you buy a complete set of 5% resistors. That's maybe 10 of each value from 1ohm to 10Mohms, (about 1000 resistors). No more worries. Nothing worse than having to make a special order for that single '180k' you can't live without. Build up from there.

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Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

Jameco has several "kits" that you may (or may not) find useful. There will almost certainly be some parts you'll never use (anybody use the

1488/1489 pair for RS232 lately?) but it is indeed handy to have a local stock of jellybean parts for when the urge to tinker hits.

They also sell so-called "grab bags" of various flavors but with these you never really know what assortment you're getting. Something like the LED grab bag might be handy, though, for the odd indicator (even, too).

I'd start off with just a good resistor kit, a hand full of general purpose NPNs, a Bag o' LEDs, 0.1 uF caps, and a few MAX232A level converters. Add some canned clocks (less fussy than crystals) of a speed appropriate for your devices.

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Rich Webb   Norfolk, VA

The hard part is knowing what's worth having before you've really done any projects. For example, you might want to have one of those reels of "5 of every value" resistors, but you'll still be disappointed when you build a board with a 7-segment display and need 7 470 ohm resistors for it. Same with caps. For microcontrollers you might need a whole bag of .1u decoupling caps and 22p caps for crystals, but if you need an RF filter you'll want an assortment of almost every small value in C0G/NP0.

I just ordered some SMT kits from vakits.com. They have through-hole as well. If you don't know what you need, you could do worse than order $50 worth of likely looking stuff from them.

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Ben Jackson AD7GD

http://www.ben.com/

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Rikard.

He writes, "I just can't continue to spend the time that "glitchbuster.com" requires."

Sounds like the stock is going, going, soon to be gone...

Jon

I strongly second this approach. I went along for many years with grab-bag assortments and the like, but when I finally broke down and got a full set it was the dawning of a new era. I went whole-hog and got 100 of each 5% value by catching a few bargains, since lots of 100 are/were *much* cheaper per unit than 1s or 10s. But in retrospect 10s would have been just fine. What I soon discovered is that I have "favorite" values like 1K, 10K, 100K that I always use where the precise value isn't critical... like pull-ups, etc. So, when you run low on your initial 10 for any value, buy 100 of that value.

In fact, once you get started, you may want to buy 100s of 1% metal films in your "favorite" values... not that much more money, and you can do neat tricks like R-2R ladder DACs.

Best regards,

Bob Masta D A Q A R T A Data AcQuisition And Real-Time Analysis

Scope, Spectrum, Spectrogram, Signal Generator Science with your sound card!

While not as inexpensive as "grab bags" you could just place a large order to Mouser for exactly what you would like.

-Jeff

I'm pretty much a novice and was wondering the same thing. So far my approach has been that whenever I need few of a cheap component such as a resistor or diode I buy 10 or even 100 of them, as the unit price falls rapidly with quantity, and I'll probably want more in future.

I'd like to ask a related question - are there any component types that it doesn't make sense to over-buy in anticipation of future use? How about electrolytic capacitors - do they have a finite shelf life? Do mechanical components such as switches and relays deteriorate if left on the shelf for a few years? Presumably some kinds of cheap ICs are likely to be superseded by even cheaper and better models in future so it wouldn't make sense to stockpile them. I've got some diodes that have been in storage for 15 years and the leads are mottled and dark rather than shiny - I'm not sure whether I should try to clean them up or just discard them.

Simon inscribed thus:

Depending upon what you want I have bucket loads!

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Best Regards:
                      Baron.

As long as they are normal items no problem.

Not one that matters.

Not really.

anything ROHS rapidly becomes hard to solder, an agressive flux may help.

If you charge them slowly the first time out of storage they'll last decades.

In a damp shed, maybe.

some are keepers like 7805, lm317, 555, lm324 unlikely to get cheaper or be obsoleted.

it's not real hard to clean them up, (steel wool may suffice) it depends how much you value your time. it's probably not worth discarding them until you have replaced them.

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Bye.
   Jasen

I haven't seen folks talking about what I used to do (and it made somewhat more sense, I suppose, then.) That's cannibalizing TVs (I think radios are a little too IC'd up, these days, but most TVs have some parts to snarf in them. Used to go in with a pair of dikes and cut away or work out the parts. Usually can find some nice inductors, capacitors (ceramic and electrolytic), a few transistors (large and small), and various resistors (up to a few watts worth.)

Over-buy the cheap stuff. New 1/4 watt resistors will be about 2-3 cents each -- get a whole range of values at that price. Make it

10-20 of each value. Then you only need to refill the ones you use up, later. Capacitors, I'd look for grab bags specifying large numbers of parts. They will be divided into ceramics in one grab bag, electrolytics in another. But focus on cheap. You can always just buy the polyprops when you actually know you'll need one, so don't bother with pre-buying a wide range of expensive parts like that. Transistors like the 2N3904 and 2N3906 should be in the range of 1 to 3 to maybe 5 cents each. If you can find a bag of 1000 at $10, go for it. It happens sometimes. Otherwise, look for those in as cheap a bag as you can find. They are good transistors. The 2N2222 would be okay, but it usually isn't quite as cheap. Also, you may find some mosfets of the 2N7000/2N7001/2N7002/2N7003 types, but don't pay more than 8-10 cents each. Look for a nickel each.

Other than that, perhaps just buy or find what you need. I usually also get a tube of one of one or two different kinds of cheap micros and keep those around, as well. Of the roughly 18-pin dip variety.

Jon

Hey Arthur I have a basment full of goodies, but don't do that much building... I do want that the other way around, and am working on it by getting rid of a lot of the stuff. Every time you or a friend has an electronic device that goes south, junk it out. I've junked out 30 computers and monitors and as many radios VCRs and copy machines. TV sets are well worth your time too, especially the older ones with through hole parts. A good working TV is worth more to me in parts then in working condition. You can keep your collection managable if you part out the goodies as soon as you get them, and if you don't have the time to take the parts off the circuit boards, then either only take exactly what you think you want off the board, or get a banana box and start saving just the board with the components that you'd like to part out at a later day. Once a week until you have your collection built up to your satisfaction you'll be hauling the empty component cases to the dump or recycling center and as long as there are no hazardus materials in your garbage it should cost you little or nothing to get rid of. My comunity recycling center does not take computers anymore, but them empty shell is really not a computer any more. I'm saving the empty parts boards, many of which still contain parts that i did not want to save for a trip to someone that saves these boards for the prescious metals and he can finish cleaning them up. This of course will take a lot of time and effort on your part, but you'll be doing several things at the same time. Saving a few bucks, recycling environmentally harsh garbage (your part in the green game) and having a collection of components that will probably be used by you eventually. Emagine telling your buddy, yup, this was an old VCR and a Microwave... : ) Hope this gave you an idea or two, I'm sold on the recycling bit, and you can always purchace the components you don't find in the items you junk out. Spending 10 bucks on a project is a lot better then

75... Cheers Bill

I believe R.S.R has a good price on 5% resistors(its what my tech school used in our kits)