Re: Getting a stock of basic components

Simon inscribed thus:

"Arthur Rhodes" <arhodes@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:R_qdnX2PtOQg0HjYnZ2dnUVZ_t2tnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I'm just getting started, hoping to build some things with
microcontrollers. It would be nice to have a good assortment
of basic components on hand, so I don't have to go online and
spend $10 on shipping and wait a week every time I need a resistor.
How do most people acquire a good basic stock of resistors,
capacitors, etc.?

There's a fellow in town who has a set of components organized in
about 8 of those storage boxes with arrays of drawers. There are
something like 25 or 50 each of a couple dozen resistor types, an
assortment of capacitors, and some miscellaneous other stuff, like
dip switches, knobs, IC sockets, etc. The stuff is left over from a
business that built rack mountable electronic devices. The
components probably reflect to some extent the specific boards they
made. For instance, there's a bunch of IC's included, but I assume
they'd probably be very little use to me. He wants $150 for the
lot.

Does the $150 sound reasonable? Is there a better way for me to get
a basic stock of components?

I'm pretty much a novice and was wondering the same thing. So far my
approach has been that whenever I need few of a cheap component such
as a resistor or diode I buy 10 or even 100 of them, as the unit
price falls rapidly with quantity, and I'll probably want more in
future.

I'd like to ask a related question - are there any component types
that it doesn't make sense to over-buy in anticipation of future
use? How about electrolytic capacitors - do they have a finite shelf
life? Do mechanical components such as switches and relays
deteriorate if left on the shelf for
a few years? Presumably some kinds of cheap ICs are likely to be
superseded by even cheaper and better models in future so it
wouldn't make sense to stockpile them. I've got some diodes that
have been in storage for 15 years and the leads are mottled and dark
rather than shiny - I'm not sure whether I should try to clean them
up or just discard them.

Depending upon what you want I have bucket loads!

--
Best Regards:
Baron.
.

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