Re: History of bulk electronic components suppliers

Salmon Egg <salmonegg@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
news:C1F4A71F.614BA%salmonegg@xxxxxxxxxxxxx:

...it is virtually impossible to
buy simple chemicals such as acids.

The UK is far more locked down than the US. While I could buy a small
amount of H2SO4 with a motorcycle baterry, it is the ONLY way I can do it,
a few tens of millilitres at a time with a waste of hard-to-recycle plastic
and lead as waste.

Fortunately, a bit of invention (and good advice) got me the isopropanol
and acetone I need for optics assembly cleaning. I gave up on the idea of
home anodising because the few places that would sell what I needed are
only allowed to sell complete kits here (at exorbitant prices). It's so
ruthless that even these will go out of business very soon, once people
realise they can never privately buy the acid needed to re-stock their
original investment.

There are one or two chemical shops online in the UK, but they offer stuff
almost exclusively useful to those who want to make explosives! I
researched their names (and associated names found in conjunction) and
found more than one forum of amatuer chemists occasionally discussing them.
The general consensus is that such sites are fronts designed to hook the
stupid would-be bomber. Their owners certainly never answered any question
of mine, which they would if they'd had any real intention and ability to
sell the stuff.

We do live in increasingly paranoid times. I'm not sure how, or even IF,
thius can explain the lack of hobby electronics sales. Maybe it can. A lot
of the public is becoming increasingly frightened of science in general.
.

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