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| 3M breadboards for cheap |
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| tooki:
[2023-03-26 edit: Updated URLs and added some info, but left the 2017 pricing info intact, as the price increases are addressed in a followup reply.] So there's a fairly wide consensus on here that 3M breadboards are among the very best, perhaps the best, on the market, discussed in e.g. https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/quality-breadboards-on-ebay/ https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/what-is-so-great-about-3m-breadboards/ https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/quality-breadboards/ Anyway, 2 years ago I bought a single 3M breadboard from a local distributor. The actual item that arrived says "AP PRODUCTS MENTOR, OH" on it. (As do some items on the third page linked above.) A bit of googling seems to indicate that while that company still exists [2023-03-26 edit: it appears A P Products closed in early 2019.] (and lays laid claim to being the inventor of the modern breadboard), it doesn't look like they're still making breadboards, nor have any locations in Ohio. A bit of further googling, however, ends up with an Ohio company called Assembly Specialist, whose products include breadboards. This page contains this nugget: --- Quote ---Bread Boards Popular for protoype building and home hobbies. We offer 7 different size boards, all specifications can be found on our website. These are high quality boards originally produced by AP Products in the 70's and 80's and now owned and proudly produced in the U.S.A.by Assembly Specialist. --- End quote --- And indeed those breadboards look suspiciously identical to the 3M/AP ones -- all the way down to product names ("Super Strip" and "Circuit Strip") and part numbers (e.g. my breadboard, which is a 3M Circuit Strip, part number 923253, vs Assembly Specialist CS253), and errors in the data sheets (that item is erroneously described by both 3M and Assembly Specialist as having 620 tie points in 2x48 rows + buses, but it's actually 610 points on 2x47 rows + buses). So I'd be willing to bet that Assembly Specialist is still the actual OEM making these things for 3M. And they sell direct. And they're incredibly cheap. For example, the 3M 923253 is about $27 on Digi-Key, while the CS253 is under $9 direct from Assembly Specialist. For the gold-plated version, the 3M 923749 is a $121 special-order item from Digi-Key, while the equivalent CS749 direct from Assembly Specialist is $40. :o I'm thinking I may order some from them to see. Figured you all would appreciate knowing about this, too. FYI, they charge $11 shipping in USA, but their Paypal seems to not be set up for international, as it wanted to charge me no shipping at all to Switzerland, which can't possibly be right. For reference, here are the product pages: All 3M breadboard products Assembly Specialists breadboards on baseplates Assembly Specialists bare breadboards 2023-03-26 addition: The Assembly Specialist website used to say the following right on the home page: --- Quote from: https://web.archive.org/web/20041015123514/http://assemblyspecialist.com/ ---With over 20 years of packaging and assembly experience, Assembly Specialist's reputation is built on providing quick, professional and reliable service. We have been a supplier of services & products to companies like 3M for over 18 years. Assembly Specialist is now the owner and supplier of the original AP Products breadboard product line. These are the same high quality products you have been used to for almost 30 years, nothing has changed. We are proud to sell the highest quality products in the market. We are also the owner/supplier of the original AP Products/Aptronics male .100 center header product line. Most standard headers ship the same day, other welded and custom headers ship in less than a week. Once again, these are the highest quality products on the market. --- End quote --- The mention of 3M was struck sometime in 2009, but other than updating "almost 30 years" to "over 40 years", the rest remains basically unchanged. |
| rdl:
I think you've made quite a discovery here. These look to be the real deal and the prices are fantastic. My favorite, the #318 is only 1/3 the cost of the same 3M board from Mouser or Digi-Key. |
| ZeTeX:
They also have the exact jumper links that 3M sells on their site, the same thing but with different logo. but 3M jumper links cost about 47$ in digikey, while it cost 15$ on assemblyspecialist.com. http://www.assemblyspecialist.com/WebStore/jumberWires.html excellent find! now, everybody who want a suggestion for top quality breadboard, I will suggest them this. |
| tooki:
Hey look, I just stumbled (by pure chance!) on hard evidence that it's the correct company (such that we have an uninterrupted corporate chain of custody, so to speak). Look at the test clips on page 12 (PDF page 14) of the Nov 1986 Radio-Electronics. There's 3M and AP Products, clearly associated in a 3M ad. Was 3M just rebadging stuff? Or did they own them as subsidiaries or something, I wonder? Assembly Specialist still makes those things, too. In any case, in non-grocery retail (other than computers and similar complex finished goods), it's standard for the wholesale cost of an item to be no more than 40% of the retail price. This is right along what we are seeing here -- looks like Assembly Specialist is just selling them at wholesale. (Of course, when there's a middleman, you've got them buying at an even larger discount, so Assembly is surely charging more than 3M pays.) Edit: Updated link URL. |
| tooki:
I guess I should place an order for myself before all of eevblog inundates them with orders, hahahaha! :D (It can't be a large company, if their website tells you to contact Mike Such-and-such with questions!) |
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