So we are not going to talk about fast food today, but some of my favorite electronic stores for hobbyist electronics.
I have started to accumulate my collection but it definitely is a slow process. First off, I have to secretly hide my purchases so my wife cannot see the amount of new stuff I am buying. Secondly, I am starting to already run out of room. I plan to someday build a larger lab, but for now it is two folding tables. I use one as my rework / teardown station and the other as my debug station.
When I was in college I could visit the Radio Shack or our school's EE lab and buy all the discrete components I needed (This also explains why my designs were so simple). One of my first projects was to create a stopwatch using standard logic parts. I was able to source all the components right from the Radio Shack next to my apartment. Now, as box stores have declined, I have noticed that the number of electronic stores carrying parts has also been on the decline. Radio Shack still has the sliding shelves of components but the inventory is never as plentiful and the variety is never as diverse as what it once was. Perhaps my perception is skewed because my interests have also moved to more complicated parts that would not be able to be purchased there anyways.
On one of my recent trips to Texas, I went with a friend to a store I wish we had in Wisconsin - Fry's Electronics. For those of you that don't have one in your area, I highly suggest a field trip to a local store near you. I felt overwhelmed, excited, and wish I had more time to spend navigating the aisles of components. So if Fry's is reading this post, please keep me posted if you plan to build in Wisconsin because you definitely have a customer.
Today the majority of my components are sourced from the web. I use AvnetExpress for all my components and evaluation kits. I also have been known to hang out on Ebay and look for that great mega-deal (like the 10000 piece resistor packs). For other design tools and supplies I have used Amazon and SparkFun. Are there any other good sites I should be checking out?
I love Fry's as well. They have them in California as well. Crazy store. Have you been to American Science and Surplus in Greenfield. They have a constantly changing source of supply so you never know what you will get, but it will always be interesting.
ReplyDeleteAddress: 6901 W. Oklahoma
Latitude: 42.9883308
Longitude: -87.9990234
p.s. I hope your wife doesn't read this... she's pretty smart and you're just asking for trouble.
I have been to American Science and Surplus. It is definitely a fun store. I wish they had more electronics stuff.
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