No place to buy electronic components. - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: BeBuLamar
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 03, 2021, 03:32:14 pm
content: If you need a diode, a transistor, a capacitor or a resistor you could always go to Radio Shack and until last year perhaps Fry's in the USA but now there is no place to buy stuff like that. You always have to buy online which is fine but if you're experimenting something and find that you need a 1K resistor what are you going to do?

author: rstofer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 03, 2021, 04:02:21 pm
content: You're going to have an inventory of parts. Jameco.com has a lot of component assortments and some even include a cabinet. Search by component and perhaps tack on 'assortment'.I can't imagine not having a 2N3904/5 or 1N914 let along not having drawers full of resistors. I usually buy resistors/capacitors in blocks of 100.One time I needed 0.1 ufd SMD capacitors so I bought an entire reel of 4000. I won't run out of those - ever!

author: Stray Electron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 03, 2021, 04:02:48 pm
content: Buy an assortment of basic components and keep them on hand. Also I frequent several surplus stores and buy surplus test stations and salvage parts from those. Most of the TSs that I buy were built for the US Gov, NASA or US mil contractors and always use very high grade US made components. I also get a ton of VERY nice hardware out of those!Look for ham fests in your area. I also find reels of new unused parts in the surplus stores and hamfests and I have boxes of those around. Some reels have a wide range of parts on them and it only takes a couple of minutes with an ohm meter to go through them and find a resister that I can use. Unfortunately reels of leaded, not SMD, parts are getting had to find.All of the Radio Shacks in this area closed probably 15 years ago.It would help if you'd post of your location then someone might could recommend some specific sources.

author: bsfeechannel
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 03, 2021, 04:03:48 pm
content: I've been stashing components for a few years now. At least, the jelly bean ones.

author: Stray Electron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 03, 2021, 04:08:59 pm
content: Check out Electronics Goldmine. You can buy a lot of interesting components there. Some of their assembled items can be disassembled and will yield some good parts.As Rstofer sugggested, you can often buy bags or reels of 100s some parts than what it would cost you to buy a few individual items at a place like TRS.

author: Avelino Sampaio
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 03, 2021, 04:21:08 pm
content: Nowadays a stock is needed or you will give up the profession/hobby. And not to get lost with the organization, I was forced to develop an inventory control application. I have 1,000 items in stock and I haven't even started investing in SMDs yet. I provide the stock application, in this topic below.https://www.eevblog.com/forum/projects/a-small-(open-source)-inventory-control-application-using-ms-access/msg3639178/#msg3639178

author: NorthernWing
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: November 03, 2021, 04:41:23 pm
content: Yep, what everyone else said - I roll a lot of $5-50 PCBs from JLCPCB and get passives from LCSC (same company), and every time I order components from them I'll grab a few thousand of them... an entire reel of the 1206 RoyalOhm/Uni-Royal 1% resistors I like (https://lcsc.com/product-detail/Chip-Resistor-Surface-Mount_UNI-ROYAL-Uniroyal-Elec-1206W4F1001T5E_C52199.html) is $13/5000 or 3/10 of a cent each for a lifetime supply.I'd highly recommend investing in a label printer too, unless you have a good way of keeping inventory

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 03, 2021, 05:07:48 pm
content: Even 30 years ago Radio Shack almost never had the specific part I needed. You just have to try to plan ahead and order stuff, keep multiple projects going at once so you can work on something else while you wait for parts.

author: Alex Eisenhut
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 03, 2021, 05:11:45 pm
content: For SMT parts you can stuff one of thesehttps://www.ebay.ca/itm/193947258396?hash=item2d28284e1c:g:Ft4AAOxy4dNS51Kbhandy little booklets. Of course, parts not included.

author: bdunham7
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 03, 2021, 05:20:56 pm
content: Quote from: BeBuLamar on November 03, 2021, 03:32:14 pmNot everyone was near a Fry's when they were open and even in the glory days of yesteryear, not everyone was close enough to a Radio Shack to be able to drop in for a 1K resistor. Times change, and although small local electronics stores with parts are no longer common, the availability of components in general (present shortages aside) is orders of magnitude faster and easier in the internet age than it was decades ago. That and the retail store model would be almost impossible these days because the much greater number of parts in use.https://www.amazon.com/EDGELEC-Resistor-Tolerance-Multiple-Resistance/dp/B07QG1V4YL/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=1k+resistor&qid=1635959582&sr=8-4

author: David Hess
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 03, 2021, 06:27:56 pm
content: Look for a local electronics store other than Radio Shack, although many have closed recently because of COVID restrictions.Even if you can buy resistors in ones and two locally, it is seldom cost effective. Even when Radio Shack was around I never bought from them.

author: cortex_m0
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2021, 01:52:50 am
content: The volumes required for a shop based largely on passive components to be viable is kind of shocking.I figure the base costs of doing business in my city - rent, one clerk, utilities, taxes - would require about US$150,000 in gross margin for the business to break even, i.e. not pay the proprietor anything.If I purchase resistors from a distributor for 1 cent each, and sell them for 10 cents each (probably in bundles of 50), I'd need to sell about 2 million resistors in a year, or 5000 a day.Everyone has been ordering from the mail-order distributors for so long, it's hard to see what competitive advantage a local shop could provide, especially with the kind of markups I think would be needed.The only way to go seems to be selling big ticket items, and have a few components on the side.

author: xrunner
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2021, 01:58:47 am
content: Stock up as others have said. I needed a 4700 uF 25V electrolytic capacitor for a shortwave receiver power supply a few days ago, and I just ordered it from an Ebay seller. It got to me in three days. It's not that bad a wait. But I ordered more than just the one I needed. Now I have more stock of that value to add to my stock of electrolytics I already have on-hand. I just deal with it now - just normal way of doing things these days.

author: CatalinaWOW
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2021, 05:17:28 am
content: Just to beat this horse to death, I am much happier ordering on line than I ever was running down to the local electronics distributor. Even when such things were common and I lived in a hotbed of electronics (southern california) there were real limits to buying from a storefront. There were Radio Shacks within a few miles of just about anywhere, but Radio Shack had very limited selection. If you wanted anything more than small resistors and capacitors or basic active devices you were out of luck. Same thing with switches and connectors. Not a knock on Radio Shack but there are real limits on what a smallish store can stock.When Fry's was a real thing they had much larger stocks and OK prices, but I still found myself leaving without what I wanted surprisingly often. And it was an expedition to get there.There were many distributors and surplus stores around, and it was fun to look around. Sometimes there were great bargains to be found. But these stores tended to operate during daytime business hours and a working guy could only get to them on their limited weekend hours. And again, finding a specific part was as much luck as anything else.Now, buying on line I can find virtually anything I am looking for at very good prices. Delivery times are quick even though I live in the boonies literally hundreds of miles from any concentrated electronic activity. It does reward more thinking instead of just throwing parts in and seeing what happens, but that is generally a good thing.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2021, 05:27:53 am
content: I remember going to Radio Shack when I was a kid and they almost never had everything I needed to build anything. It was rare that I ever got a project working back then because I just couldn't find the parts, I didn't know about the mail order places at the time.

author: Duygu
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: November 05, 2021, 06:54:13 am
content: I think they are now readily available on sites like ebay or amazon. As other friends have said, it may be better to order in bulk from such places and stock up.

author: AndyC_772
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2021, 08:01:34 am
content: Quote from: BeBuLamar on November 03, 2021, 03:32:14 pmHave a lab kit.https://uk.farnell.com/multicomp/mc0603wgje006kit/resistor-kit-0603-e6-5/dp/9332359I keep a few different ones - resistors in through-hole, 0603 and 0402, and capacitors covering a wide range of values and sizes.Also, whenever I buy components I always order slightly more than I need, so over time I build up a small stock of familiar components. Chances are, if I've used something in a project before, I'll have one or two in a box somewhere. (Can't tell you just how useful that's been over the last six months or so!)

author: PerranOak
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2021, 08:02:33 pm
content: I used to love going into Tandy in the mid 70s. I couldn't afford the high-end stuff I wanted then but it was good to browse. Yes, it was a great place to get the odd thing that you'd run out of though.I knew people who used to nick (if you're viewing in America: "steal", "shoplift") from there all the time. Maybe that's why they went bust?

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2021, 08:09:35 pm
content: I'm sure that didn't help, but here Radio Shack turned into mobile phone and crappy RC toy shack and then mobile phones became commodities that you could get anywhere. Radio Shack couldn't really compete anymore, and didn't seem to really try. They missed the whole bandwagon when the Arduino came out and the whole maker movement took off. They could have become the place to go for things like 3D printers, laser cutters, microcontroller dev boards, home automation and all the various modules and widgets you can buy direct from China but they didn't.

author: cortex_m0
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2021, 10:54:32 pm
content: Quote from: james_s on November 05, 2021, 08:09:35 pmI think that would have been too little, too late. RadioShack was a company that had lived since the 1970s on serving a broad market consumer with household equipment like radios, TVs, answering machines, toys and cell phones.Pivoting back to hobbyist "Maker" stuff might have worked, but it would have been a very painful transition that likely would have meant closing most of their stores anyway. I would not expect very many smallish cities - where RadioShack had hundreds, perhaps thousands, of stores - to have enough Big Clive types to do enough business to remain afloat.

author: CatalinaWOW
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2021, 10:58:28 pm
content: Quote from: james_s on November 05, 2021, 08:09:35 pmRadio Shack America didn't really know what they wanted to be. They started as an electronics hobby shop. When personal computers came along they decided to seriously de-emphasize the electronics hobby stuff and jump into computers big time. They did pretty well until IBM stepped in and took that business over. With Apple collecting anything that the IBM compatible crew left behind there was not much left for Radio Shack. That's when they pivoted to phones and toys. And by the time Arduino and the maker movement came along they were running on fumes and didn't have the financial ability to switch again. Even if they had the vision, which I seriously doubt.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 06, 2021, 12:22:31 am
content: They definitely needed to carry some mobile phones, and they probably should have tried to have a good selection of cables and adapters, that sort of high margin stuff that people will buy. Even back then it would have been hard to survive just selling to hobbyists but they certainly could have done a better job than they did. It could have been a sort of mini-Fry's, but as it was they didn't really do much of anything well.

author: ledtester
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 06, 2021, 02:09:13 am
content: Quote from: BeBuLamar on November 03, 2021, 03:32:14 pmSince you are in the US, try:- Microcenter -- if you are lucky to have one near you- an NTE distributor -- usehttps://www.nteinc.com/2-ways-to-purchase.phpto find a distributor in your state.- if you live in a large metropolitan area there is a good chance it has smaller distributors for situations where you can't wait to order from Mouser or Digikey. Besides google, I found the site usaopps.com which lists government contractors and can lead you to local suppliers. For instance, if you:- go tohttps://www.usaopps.com/government_contractors/- enter "Chicago, IL" for the Location and "resistor" in KEYWORDS, a couple of companies pop upThere happens to be a "surplus store" in my city. They don't carry any regular inventory -- just a lot of random components. Recently, though, they bought out the inventory of another purely electronics surplus store, so they are well-stocked with resistors, caps, transistors, old ICs, ...

author: m3vuv
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 06, 2021, 09:15:01 am
content: the internet is ok untill you get fake knockoff crap!,i mostly buy from uk companys,just recently got some tip 122 darlingtons that have a beta of 80!,pissed me off,used to use maplins but a 40 mile round trip to find all there stock was mostly consumer toys etc,wanted 3x lm 713 ic's they only had 2 in stock!!!.

author: brucehoult
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 06, 2021, 09:46:12 am
content: Here in New Zealand (and Aussie) Dick Smith stoped stocking components maybe 15 years ago, and eventually simply went out of business. But Jaycar are still not bad, and PBTech have some components too.In Moscow "ЧИП и ДИП" (Chip & Dip) has a pretty amazing selection of passive and active components, including 7400 (etc), test equipment etc, all availablewalk-in. The one at Prospect Mira was about 40 minutes walk from me (which I actually did a few times) or 15 minutes by bicycle (in summer) or 10 minutes by Uber or 8 minutes by metro (1 change, plus 25 minutes walking to and from metro stations). The problem with it was it was not cheap. But convenient! And no problem to find a staff member who spoke English.https://www.jaycar.co.nz/https://www.pbtech.co.nz/https://www.chipdip.ru/It's kind of strange that the USA is the place that doesn't have this kind of store any more! I remember Radio Shack already being useless (at least in and near Belmont, near the heart of Silicon Valley) the first time I visited the USA in 1989. But Frys was amazing back then -- in recent years half the shelves are empty and it's very hard to find anything (at least at the one near where I lived in Fremont in 2019)I find that Mouser and Digikey and Amazon deliver to NZ in about a week, so it's pretty easy to get basically anything I want, though not as quickly as when I was in the USA.

author: BeBuLamar
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 06, 2021, 10:13:05 am
content: Quote from: brucehoult on November 06, 2021, 09:46:12 amI think in the USA the stores are going away sooner because Americans like to shop at home.

author: TERRA Operative
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 06, 2021, 11:29:08 am
content: I just head to Akihabara, but that's not an option for most.What I can't find there, I buy a couple from Digikey or Mouser so I have some spare for next time.

author: Capernicus
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 06, 2021, 12:19:19 pm
content: If your happy with up to 100 picofarads. you can make your own caps with copper tape, if you need under 3 picofarad's or so you can just twist wire together, works fine, ive had things working like that. (It actually came as a bit of a shock tho, I actually wasn't expecting it to work, but it did.)And with resistors, you can just use metal alloys for them, like in an old school toaster. Nichrome is not the best, or the only way to do it, but I need a bit more experimenting to do before I can really talk about it more, Theres also other kinds of resisting metal alloys that work better suited to whatever task, and they can be hi-watt too.I think it comes off cheaper if you do it, a reel of copper tape is $50 AUD, but it will last you ages, and resistance wire can be 10c a metre, but like I said before, you might want a different metal because that isnt that much resistance, but there is wire that is more resistive than that for sure.If you need conductor-> Carbon ink sells for a really horribly expensive price, but a Kilo of fish tank carbon is high surface area and conductive plus its only ~$10, you can get farads!! with that, supercap wise.Concentrated sulphuric acid can conduct in less than 100 ohms, but probably not a good idea...

author: themadhippy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 06, 2021, 02:45:27 pm
content: Its not just electronics,its almost anything "specialist",and we only have our self to blame as the local small independent just down the road was a bit more expensive than buying online plus we dont need to leave the comfort of our settee as a it will drop through the letterbox.What do you mean the local shops cheaper when you take p+p into account, i'll just fill the order for 1 resistor with stuff i might need to get free p+p,sorted.O bugger i need xyz NOW ,I'll nip down to the local shop,hang on its gone,why?bloody stupid shop don't they realise theirs a market for them, o well i suppose i can order it online and pay £9.99 for next day delivery.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 06, 2021, 05:50:14 pm
content: I was an early adopter of online shopping, it is nice sometimes to have a local option but when it comes down to it I'm not really a people person and I really dislike pushy sales drones. I'm one of those guys that will glance around to spot the salespeople when I walk in the door and take a route to the section I want that results in the least chance of having to interact with one. Of course then in other places when I'm actually looking for someone who works there I can't find anyone.

author: HobGoblyn
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: November 06, 2021, 10:40:45 pm
content: Quote from: themadhippy on November 06, 2021, 02:45:27 pmMaplins was about a 20min journey for me. But 9 times out of 10 they didn’t want what I had in stock (a largish proportion of their display area taken up with RC cars, disco lights and disco mixing desks).I don’t mind a 40 min round trip to support a local store, I don’t mind paying a little extra, but I do object to almost nothing I want in stock, then paying often well over 50% more than RS etc only to have to wait a couple of days and then have another 40 min trip. Whereas at the time I could go home, order from RS, and have it posted through the door the next day with free next day delivery (min order for free delivery didn’t apply at the time).When I bought my TV and my sound system, I went to both Hughes and Richer Sounds, I want to see the product working. Of course some people do this then go and buy online but I don’t.Although, take something simple like a mobile phone case, my wife wanted one, we went into town, everything we could find was the same overpriced cheap thin plastic crap, went home, a thousand more choices on line, had one delivered for 1/2 the price that was 10 times better quality.My other passion is synthesisers. I try to go to my localish specialist music store, but they rarely have a decent selection on display. If I’m buying based on online feedback and no one locally has one for me to play, I’m simply going to buy from the cheapest online reputable dealer I can find.

author: Renate
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 07, 2021, 10:07:35 am
content: MicroCenter in the US is pretty good and one of the last hopes. The DIY section has a bunch of stuff. Their MicroCenter & Inland house brands are good value. A brick and mortar is good for things that you didn't know that you needed.You-Do-It-Electronics in Needham, Massachusetts keeps trucking on with a mix of hobbyist, industrial, surveillance, DJ, lighting...Radio Shack lives on. I've even seen a new franchise open. They carry a mix of stuff including the Steren (Spain?) line of interesting electronic parts. I had to run to my local appliance/music instrument/Radio Shack to grab a few capacitors out of their dying assortment.

author: BeBuLamar
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 08, 2021, 10:43:47 am
content: Quote from: themadhippy on November 06, 2021, 02:45:27 pmMost of the consumers but not me. I always buy local whenever I can, I am willing to pay more. I hate waiting for things to be shipped. I would drive 100miles before I would buy online.

author: Messtechniker
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 08, 2021, 10:51:44 am
content: Been in this situation for years. At the beginning when there was no on-line buying possible, I scavenged many components from electronics waste and then turned more and more to circuit simulation in addition. Which is

author: DennisCA
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: November 08, 2021, 10:55:21 am
content: Quote from: BeBuLamar on November 03, 2021, 03:32:14 pmI am lucky to have a local store near me with a decent selection that I can order online from, I can also pick up and mail them with questions and get a prompt reply. (starelec.fi).