Electronics > Beginners
From no parts to decent stockpile, best approach?
wizard69:
Buying kits is often a bad idea, it really depends upon the situation. However if you have specific projects in mind buy what is needed, IC wise,for that project plus a few extra. Eventually you will build up a kit that fits your interests. Be careful though or you will do like many of us (see above) and end up with hundreds of parts that never get used.
Now the discussion will be a bit different when it come sot discreets like resistors. A kit or assortment mix can be useful but just try to make sure they are not all high value and limited usefulness resistors. In fact in some cases you will be better off making a bulk purchase of resistors in the common sizes. A complete collection of the EIA standard sizes would be a good thing but just bias the inventory to the more common sizes used in digital systems.
The same thing applies to capacitors though I'd be far less inclined to buy a kit and I would never bother with a kit of electrolytics. Do however buy bypassing caps in a decent quantity.
So no kits of Logic IC's, which in most cases would be a bad idea. Kits of other parts "may" be a good idea. However don't waste you money on a huge upfront investment. If you are starting out; tools, good ones, can be just as important as the material to work with. Or to put it another way you need to find balance and not piss away your budget in any one area.
What do I mean by good tools. Well a decent DMM, a soldering iron that doesn't completely suck and a variety of hand tools. The hand tools would include small screw drivers, electronics side cutters, needle nose pliers, wire strippers, tweezers and soldering heat sinks. You don't need a lot to get started just buy stuff that isn't complete crap. Hand tools can be added to as the need demonstrates itself. The only other niche to fill is work holding tools, a Panavise seems to the the standard here and is certainly worth the investment but you can get by with lesser solutions.
--- Quote from: YurkshireLad on March 06, 2021, 04:52:13 am ---Any suggestions for where to buy a "kit" of logic ICs; AND, OR etc in Canada? I've seen one place selling individual ICs for about C$.95, which isn't too bad.
--- End quote ---
ResR:
I got quite a lot of good parts from Aliexpress recently like LEDs, resistors, CMOS logic jelly beans, I have clock built from these ICs that works over a year now, do watch for reviews before buying, although I once got also CD4017 chips marked and sold as CD4026BE, I have no idea how that much was mixed up.
Also for storage I use Essve Essbox'es I salvaged from job sites, it is in various sizes, you can stack them also._
MikeK:
Chinese suppliers can be a source. All of my resistors from eBay and Aliexpress, however, have steel leads instead of tinned copper (test with magnet). I won't buy that junk anymore.
Calaverasgrande:
Like said above I always order extras for the price break. Within reason though. I have a lot more use for 100K resistors than 2.49k.
My physical sorting is by the much maligned vertical parts bins. I have no problem moving them.
Just do the same as when you move a TV or monitor. Tape a piece of cardboard across it.
Use blue masking tape. Some of them needed two flats.
The tricky part for me is keeping track of inventory.
I have an xlsx with tabs for caps, reistors, semis etc. But I've easily got hundreds of different values now.
In a perfect world I'd keep that up to date, but honestly it is only accurate 3 or 4 times a year.
Did nobody mention Tayda Electronics?
I get great prices and good service from them.
Drawback would be the limited selection. They do not have more esoteric semiconductors or obscure passive component values.
They do kill for standard value 1% metal film resistors and all your 10s and 47s of caps.
Cliff Matthews:
Tayda has been mentioned twice prior. Aqui el buscador vale mucho.. arriba y derecha ;)
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