Not Cheap enough....

[slurp]

I'm always looking for ways of making my projects cheaper... the PICaxe was an excellent step, I still use PICs from time to time (the PICkit 2 is great) but not so easy to explain in terms of programming...

It seem that there are a lot of expensive solutions out there to sensor problems but also some incredibly low cost versions hidden away. Similarly H-Bridge options, when you're trying to get the most out of your battery and maintain torque/speed.

At the moment I'm just not getting enough of it down on paper (or online more to the point).

Number One Tip, choose carefully and use as few suppliers as possible - lower postal prices can offset marginally higher delivery costs.

Close Running Tip, when getting started and looking for tools keep an eye on Aldi, Netto and Lidl you might find some good value.

Anyone got some good ideas or circuit pointers?

regards,
colin

 

[Jeremy Leach]

My best tip would be to ask for free samples whenever they are available, or even be bold and ask the supplier anyway if they aren't mentioned !

Also plan ahead and buy in bulk as much as you can sensibly afford. I'm only a hobbyist here, but have realised the sense in building up stocks of common things. There's nothing more frustrating than being mid-construction then messing up a component and having to wait days for replacements.

In the UK Maplin do 'lucky bags' of components which I've found quite good.

Also, I'm sure many people will say to strip old electronic gear of components - which sometimes is worth the effort and can make savings.

As for tools - a traditional view is that you should invest in the best quality tools you can afford, but I know a number of die-hard people who have recently changed their minds on this as common tools are so cheap and disposable.


Edited by - jeremy leach on 16/04/2007 09:57:09

 

[Rickharris]

Always roam the supermarkets looking for project cases, they can be found containing other things - e.g. I made some garden lights from the container of Malteaser chocolate drink - Worked great.

Investigate how you can use plastic bottles (PET or PVC) to vacuum form or injection mould other shapes - we have experimented with blowing small drinks bottles into a plaster mould to make spheres 9some variable success).

Often commercial products can be found in the "pound" shop that release useful components.

Rapidonline for electronics are, as they say, RAPID - they also provide a comprehensive catalogue for free and have a good online shop.

TEP.org's shop at <A href='http://www.tep.org.uk/Frames/_f_trweb.html' Target=_Blank>External Web Link</a> despite being an educational organissation will deal with and send product to a home address. They have many unusual products at often very low cost - example bearings at 30P each!

 

[Dippy]

I agree with you jeremy.

<i>&quot;...but I know a number of die-hard people who have recently changed their minds on this as common tools are so cheap and disposable.&quot; </i>
These are usually the people who in the next sentence tell us how environmentally responsible they are!
I agree, buy the best tools you can, look after them, and never lend them to anyone!

 

[demonicpicaxeguy]

at your local electronics store eg(jaycar/dicksmith) see if you can get a frequent buyers discount
i get a staff discount at my local dicksmith but my puschases of resistors capacitors etc roughly equate to %80 of their total sales in that asle the real pain of it is that a large amount of the dick smith stores have been given the option of getting out of all the component sales so it's now a case of selling off what they have in stock
which at the moment isn't much most of the component drawers are empty ,it's actaully quite sad to a point that there aren't many local students doing much electronics wise

as for tools you'll be suprised how much punishment some of them can take ,one of my neightbours has a gmc generator he paid $299 for at the local hardware shop it's been dropped off the ute twice it's been left in a basement that got flooded ( we blasted compressed air through the crankcase ,carby and into the cylinder gave it some new oil and it still runs

yet the one his boss purchased because his went fine failed after 30 hours of running

Edited by - demonicpicaxeguy on 16/04/2007 11:08:40

 

[hippy]

Car boot / garage sales are a good source of salvageable components at low cost, and a 'skip dive' shouldn't be frowned upon although local laws should be observed ( or sneak up Ninja-like - just kidding, occifer ).

Cildren's toys can often be very cheap and those with lots of LED's, connectors, switches etc can be excellent value. I find pro-equipment, multi-layer boards, harder to get stuff unsoldered from.

My current PC is a $4 USD Celeron 1GHz !

 

[manuka]

Is that including the mains plug and lead? They run to a few quid now alone with the stellar price of copper!

 

[hippy]

No, that was just the motherboard plus CPU. An ATX case and PSU cost twice that, but also a re-cycled lump.

There's always a risk that things won't work ( always check for bulged caps ) and accept that expensive thing are sold cheap often for a very good reason and tolerate that you will get 'ripped-off' and people can lie when they say things work. Buy as if broken then your hopes and faith in humanity aren't destroyed, and you can be pleasantly surprised with the last laugh. That M/B had a faulty video which cut out after a few hours, but a plug-in PCI cured that.

My theory has been that if it keeps me occupied and entertained longer than the same beer would for that price then I've lost nothing even if it doesn't work at the end of the day

I've probably spent $100's but have $K's of useful kit I've kept or passed on. I use a $3K ICSA certified firewall with all the bells and whistles which cost 20c because someone erased the flash so it was dead and 'useless'. That took a lot of effort to make work and some lateral thinking to get round the security clearance needed to get firmware, but well worth it.

The moral is, there are bargains to be had ( always check the real-rubbish boxes ), one man's worthless junk is another's manna. If you think you might get something to work then what's there to lose ? Just don't spend more than you are prepared to throw down the drain. The only thing I've had zero success in is buying / fixing scopes ... of course if I had one to start with ;-)

 

[slurp]

Considering budget tools, I feel that many of the big brands have got to the point where their products aren't always that great, or rather not necessarily better than anything else. A lot of my budget tools have lasted well, mainly 'cos I try to look after them.

I don't skip dive often but did get a laptop and nice pin board that way. Both where fine once dry!

My wife thought I was crazy stripping the video recorder before skipping what I didn't want... nice LED display, various Caps, transistors and of course the parts for an IR bump detection circuit.

Seeing the gear that gathers at our local tip I keep wondering if I should as for some bits. Locally there's a &quot;Freecycle&quot; mailing list where offers and wants are placed.

Maxim, Microchip and Fairchild have all been good for samples ) and I find Farnell reasonably priced for stock items, tho' you've got to spend &#163;20+vat to reach minimum order.

Ebay is worth a look, time to time you'll see packages of components at good prices - often shipped from Hong Kong. When it's low value you'll come under the duty level - details are here www.hmrc.gov.uk

Ebay was also where I got my 20MHz Dual trace oscilloscope for &#163;20... I bought cheap Velloman probes from Farnell, the power cord was saved from an old PC.

regards,
colin

 

[Rickharris]

Always strip - mind that why I have a VW alternator, front lights, rear lights and cooling fan in my garage loft - and no VW golf any more. Still the cooling fan makes a great dynamo - may just make that wind generator to drive my garden lights yet.