What is the best place for a hobbiest to buy small amounts of electronic parts? I am looking for an online source where I can place orders for a handful of parts at a time, which does not require $50 or more orders, or charge huge shipping fees. I am also looking mostly for parts for antique tube equipment. My typical order would likely be $20 or less of caps, resistors, and maybe some solder or a tool, and so on.... From what I've seen, Mouser, Digi-Key and Allied seem to be the biggies... But I have to admit that they have so much in their websites that I almost feel overwhelmed. And I hear they have large minimums and shipping, but I never got that far on their websites.... (I have to go to a public WIFI to use those sites, since I only have dialup at home). I know ebay is an option too, but ordering each item separately can be a pain too. I have been out of this hobby for around 40 years and am getting back in, but only working on old tube stuff. I remember this stuff like it was yesterday, but back then, I lived in a city, and there were many "brick" electronics stores nearby. Now, I live in a rural area, and aside from the very limited parts at a Radio Shack, (25 miles away) there are no longer any "brick" stores. Not to mention that much of not most places seem to cater to solid state devices now. [Times have changed a lot]. What (if any) online stores will fit my needs? Maybe its none of these huge stores, but something smaller... Thanks

Mouser Newark DigiKey Fair Radio Surplus Shed (for some things) Mark Oppat At at least half-a-dozen others. You also need to get to Kutztown in the spring, where all sorts of vendors of all sorts of things are all gathered in one place at one time. Peter Wieck Melrose Park, PA

Best place for a hobbiest to buy small amounts of parts?

Feb 21, 2017 45 Replies

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Hul Tytus 9 years ago

Try Jameco. They have a $20 minimum and sell a lot of "pulls" & odd stuff. Almost all are "through hole" devices, which can be handy.

Hul

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Spehro Pefhany 9 years ago

Yes, typical Asian logic and I'm all too familiar with it- if the foreign devil wasn't there the taxi wouldn't have been carrying him, and thus the cyclist wouldn't have been hit.

You can see a smidgeon of that in some of the anti-immigrant rhetoric on this side of the pond.

--sp

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

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gregz 9 years ago

My old list not updated.

formatting link

Greg

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Joe Chisolm 9 years ago

I got a email yesterday that Newark is doing $5 shipping on orders < $49 and free shipping on orders $49 and over. Cavaet is parts must be in a USA warehouse and shipping to a USA address.

Chisolm Republic of Texas

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rickman 9 years ago

From what my friend says, there is no small element of "the money comes from the one most able to pay". We get that here sometimes.

Rick C

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krw 9 years ago

It's called "joint and several liability".

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