Obsolete Parts

[Tandy]

I have collected quite a few old electronics magazines and books. Call me old fashioned but I quite like building some of these old circuits even though many of them could be done using a single modern IC there is something satisfying about building things from the desecrate components.

The trouble is many of the components are difficult to find. I know there are a few places that have some old stock and you can sometimes pick things up at on ebay or radio rallies etc but these sources are not sustainable in the long run when the parts are gone. Sometimes there are often small companies that still manufacture components that are no longer mainstream.

So this thread is really a question about what parts people know about that are still being made and you were surprised to find. I have been searching for Germanium Transistors and Nixe Tubes but so far have failed to find anyone still producing them.

[German_EE]

For a lot of hard to get parts (mainly semiconductors) I have found that Futurlec are very good. A company in Canada called Sphere sell nixie tubes as New Old Stock, they also sell slide rules for those like me who remember them  As for germanium transistors you need to start hitting Google but it will be a hard search, a Google search for AC128 for example shows an Air Canada flight from Calgary to Toronto 

http://www.futurlec.com/
http://www.sphere.bc.ca/

[Rascal]

I think you might struggle to get many new parts, certainly not a wide selection of parts thats for sure.

I realised this some time ago and consequently spent a number of years stripping out components from new and old equipment

You can find a few suppliers selling NOS but usually never the part you want.

I guess a sustainable source would only be available if demand was great enough. 

[mazurov]

In the states, sellers of old stuff are rarely reasonable. If you want good price look elsewhere. For example, there is a ton of Russian parts on eBay, many with English description containing the word "germanium". Part number starting with 1 or letter "?" also means germanium. Some parts are quite fresh, i.e., less than 5 years old.

Same for Ukraine, Belarus, Bulgaria, and other Warsaw Pact countries.