[TriLUG] [more and more OT]: Hobby Parts for Electronics

[Mike M]

On Thu, Apr 15, 2004 at 02:12:18PM -0400, Jim Ray wrote:
> >      So when Jim calls it "Radio Shaft", I have to agree with
> > him...somewhere down the line, you're gonna get it from them.
> [Jim Ray sez:] I'd say Newark Shaft, Digikey Shaft or Arrow Advantage Shaft
> yet don't think it is as funny or rhymes.
> 
> The bottom line is that unless you are an engineer putting product in
> production and eligible for free samples from distribution, you're looking
> at minimum ordering quantities and high prices.  Newark, Digikey and Arrow
> are well suited for the task.

Talked to a guy today that was looking for transformers for production
board design.  He was not having much luck and was having to endure long lead
times.

Maybe it's because all electronics are being made in Asia now? 
Nobody does hand-built prototypes anymore.  Circuits and boards
are all software until you order a prototype from a custom
fabricator.  I know folks in automated test that provide tools that
eliminate the need to build prototypes until very late in the 
design cycle.  No wonder finding parts is hard to do.
-- 
Mike

Moving forward in pushing back the envelope of the corporate paradigm.