Parts suppliers

[Cwiiis]

Another recommendation for jlpcb - I've printed a bunch of boards with them now and they've always come out great. Even their cheapest delivery seems much faster now than it used to be, for whatever reason.

https://www.lcsc.com/
I've only used them once so far, so can't say how good or not they are, but if they have the stock, the prices seem excellent and they don't have unreasonable postage costs without a minimum order size, which is nice for hobby stuff. Connected to jlpcb I think, so presumably trustworthy?

[rubber_jonnie]

Nice list @exxos, very useful.

Another site I've used in the UK is Cricklewood Electronics

They don't have everything, but they are quite reasonably priced and delivery is usually quick. UK only though.

I'm not a fan of DigiKey after I placed orders on the 'UK' site, but they were fulfilled out of America, happened a couple of times.

For all of the main sites accessible in the UK, postage is usually excessive unless you have a big order, and I generally don't. I keep a lot of stuff in stock, but only really need to order when I'm fixing something specific that needs a part I don't have.

If you have the patience and time to work it out, there are good suppliers on ebay (I'm UK based) if you're looking for small quantities, but it's best to work out your favoured suppliers yourself, because it'll vary depending on location.

[exxos]

Another site I've used in the UK is Cricklewood Electronics

Also http://esr.co.uk/shop/index.html I used a lot back in the day. I used cricklewoodelectronics a lot in the past as well.

I'm not a fan of DigiKey after I placed orders on the 'UK' site, but they were fulfilled out of America, happened a couple of times.

We used to use a lot in the past many many many years ago. But then my account would never let me login despite endless hours emailing them. In the end they told me to sign up again. Which I did, only the same thing happened again.. And again..

The always want to know what I'm using the parts for no matter what I wrote it was never acceptable!! It made it practically impossible to order from them.

I also contacted them for a quote on parts which they gave me. I went to pay for them and then they denied all knowledge of the quote. So it was a colossal waste of my time. In the end I just totally gave up with them. Just on totally dysfunctional company IMO.

For all of the main sites accessible in the UK, postage is usually excessive unless you have a big order, and I generally don't. I keep a lot of stuff in stock, but only really need to order when I'm fixing something specific that needs a part I don't have.

Yep costs near £6 to post a small box in the UK now. At least with RM. But thats a whole other epic load of drama.

If you have the patience and time to work it out, there are good suppliers on ebay (I'm UK based) if you're looking for small quantities, but it's best to work out your favoured suppliers yourself, because it'll vary depending on location.

I tend to avoid eBay as much as possible for well-known reasons. But I purchased the other things like a 1mm printer nozzle and other stuff , as I just don't have the time to wade through hundreds of sites looking for the stuff just for a one-off purchase .

I only really buy from mouser these days. They are the only ones that seem to sell a lot of stuff these days and actually have it in stock. I used to use Farnell a lot, but just got so sick and tired of them messing with the website, which has been broken for at least 15 years now, claiming they have parts in stock when they don't, sending me the wrong bits, paid for postage, minimum orders, huge price hikes.. They used to be a fantastic company back in the day.

For hobbyists who just want one-offs and are prepared to wait and look around etc, then fair enough, just about anywhere may be able to assist.

Though for me these days, I just want a single supplier to deal with. One I can just submit multiple parts and know they will deliver. Sometimes I will try and split some stuff and order from Rapid. Though they don't have much selection other than really generic parts and all the extra time involved generally isn't worth the offset of the cost saving anyway.

[stephen_usher]

Re: UK suppliers.

Both RS and Farnell are getting worse and worse.

For through-hole components, including passives, RS has hardly any stock and if it is then it could be held in the EU which you only know after your order. If it is then the "next day delivery" becomes a week or more as it's not even guaranteed to dispatch when the order said it would be. They've also hiked the minimum order for free delivery from £20 to £50.

Farnell have added extra charges on top of delivery, including a large handling charge and another, which I've forgotten the name of now. Delivery can now be far, far more than the cost of the components if you buy less than about £30's worth of stuff. I avoid them unless RS doesn't have the stock.

Mouser is good, even though their warehouse is in Texas, USA, with delivery within a week a reasonable (often cheaper than RS & Farnell) delivery charges.

I've never had issues with PCBWay for PCBs, though others here have had problems. I'm not sure their component installation service is very good or good value but their PCBs are good in my experience.

[rubber_jonnie]

Though for me these days, I just want a single supplier to deal with. One I can just submit multiple parts and know they will deliver. Sometimes I will try and split some stuff and order from Rapid. Though they don't have much selection other than really generic parts and all the extra time involved generally isn't worth the offset of the cost saving anyway.

Given your requirement for parts versus my occasional one off when I don't have something, I can totally understand your need to have a consistent supplier.

I just get tired of the likes of Mouser, Farnell, RS, Digikey etc charging something like £30 for a delivery on parts that cost £5, hence why I have moved to elsewhere and built up about 4 or 5 good suppliers on eBay.

I get components that are properly packaged, and always work as expected. Sure, it's a risk, you could be getting counterfeit parts, but with the sellers I've built up I feel confident I'll get what I order, there's maybe 4 or 5, they never fail, and I don't have to pay £30 delivery on a small order.

I don't mind paying postage at all, but I don't like being ripped off.

[exxos]

For through-hole components, including passives, RS has hardly any stock and if it is then it could be held in the EU which you only know after your order.

I have noticed a decline with RS as well. I think one of the worst annoyances is that they don't tell you upfront that items are out of stock on their website.

Sometimes they had some reasonable "bulk deals" but I cannot remember the last time I purchased anything in bulk from them.

They've also hiked the minimum order for free delivery from £20 to £50.

Similar with Farnell, they don't seem to be interested in small orders any more

Mouser is good, even though their warehouse is in Texas, USA, with delivery within a week a reasonable (often cheaper than RS & Farnell) delivery charges.

Yeah, it is a bit of wait, but I do have a trillion other projects to do while waiting for parts anyway. Overall it is just reliability and then of course, price.

I've never had issues with PCBWay for PCBs, though others here have had problems. I'm not sure their component installation service is very good or good value but their PCBs are good in my experience.

I've moaned about them before. Very good quality boards and assembly from what I have seen. Indeed the failure rate of boards is basically near zero . A lot of PCB houses have more like 40-60% failures. But dealing with them is a total nightmare.

I have started using https://www.elecrow.com/ now. They seem to understand English better and seem to be way more organised and professional than all the other PCB companies I have dealt with in the past. They actually built the DFB1X Falcon boosters.

[exxos]

I just get tired of the likes of Mouser, Farnell, RS, Digikey etc charging something like £30 for a delivery on parts that cost £5...
and I don't have to pay £30 delivery on a small order.
...
I don't mind paying postage at all, but I don't like being ripped off.

Absolutely the same with me.

If I want a one-off chip I would likely end up on eBay. There are even eBay seems to be on a very slow decline.

Most recent items I purchased was of course the 3D printer, Eprom programmer , "faulty" MSI motherboard, Toilet valve washers, Relief Nasal Spray.
All pretty much random items where you could not exactly go to anywhere else to buy the stuff. Postage is generally reasonable as well.

But indeed the minimum orders of the likes of RS / Farnell etc, I'm not going to be £20 in "shipping" just to get a £1 part which they probably don't have in stock anyway.

I am tending to try and move towards buying parts from USA these days. But finding parts compared to China somewhat difficult. As everybody knows, China are going to sell used /counterfeit parts where half of them just simply won't work. But it's still more cost-effective to do that and pay shipping and taxes and buy genuine sourced parts from USA at 10x the price. Nobody is going to pay a extra £80 for a 68000 CPU sourced from USA.

I have tried dealing with companies in India in the past. But in the end I just gave up because they are really bizarre to deal with. Like I would ask for a PCB quote and they would say like "what is your interest in India in buying these components"... "Because I'm sick of dealing with China" ?

Also had bizarre dealing sometimes with UK companies. Granted I can understand it to a point, but some of them just want to go out for a drink and "let's chat".. Like nope, either they going to build my parts or don't. I don't really have the time or patience to mess about like that.

It is why I like JLCPCB. You pretty much just deal with their website and everything is automated and generally efficient.

[rubber_jonnie]

....
It is why I like JLCPCB. You pretty much just deal with their website and everything is automated and generally efficient.

My recent experiences with JLPCB have been excellent I must admit, and also I've bought a surprising amount from AliExpress and have been impressed by the quality, if not the speed of delivery!