Electronic parts in UK

Hi,

I received my boards from the reprap store a few weeks back. I have been trying to order the electrical parts so I can start soldering up my boards, however I am no expert on the electrical side of things so I am finding ordering these parts quite hard. I want to source the parts in the UK so they dont have to be flown half way across the world.

I have started to put together a order at RS components but I have found that a lot of the exact parts are not avaliable through RS. I have tried to work out suitable alternatives, but by the time I has got through half the parts I started to doubt what I had chosen to order was correct.

I then attempted to put together an order at uk Farnell. It has most of the components available but they have to be sent over from America at an extra cost.

How did you guys get the components? Should I just order through mouser in the US to make sure I get the parts that will do the job?

Hi

I'm about to buy all the parts this side of the pond also, I've not fully looked at the list but will do tomorrow or Wednesday it will all come from RS or Farnell from UK stock i.e free delivery I would be happy to send you a copy of the orders, I sort of design electronics for my job so i should be able to ensure any alternatives are electrically correct.

Do you have accounts with both?

I will also be making these parts available via our web site at the end of this week for people who have trouble buying from RS & Farnell, I also intend to make programed PIC's available for people without a programmer.

Ian

Ian,

That sounds great, it would be great to have a copy of your order. I have signed up with rs and farnell user accounts, but was not sure on eithers policy for selling to individuals. Though my work collegues say its not a problem to order from RS its just expensive.

I would be well up for the programmed PIC's. I was going to borrow a friends PIC programmer, but if you could supply the PIC's programmed then that would remove a lot of hassle. Though in the long run I will probably want to get on top of these issues so I can fully understand what I am doing.

Cheers

Keigh

Hi i have just ordered all the parts for the boards from Farnell havnt yet received them but as soon as i do and have checked them i will put up my shopping list.. but ordering from Ian will be the easier choice! especially with the pre programmed bits. Wish i new he was doing this before i ordered but on a short timescale for the project need to make a start asap. (Will def be ordering mouldings and physical parts from Ian as im making my boards)

Worth the wait if you havnt yet started, took me a while to locate all the exact parts and you will have to order some, few parts, from RS who make you buy bulk at a cost when you only need a quantity of a few rather than their minimum of 50. (im not an electrician, more mechanical, so tried to source exact parts unlike Ian)

In total, including the motors, it is costing

Have either of you guy's ever used Rapid? [www.rapidonline.com] They're a lot easier to order most common parts from, although they don't carry everything. But they do have L297s and L298s.

Also, Ian, do you have any copies of the Stepper motor V1.1 board? I was looking to get 3 for my repsrap design. The shipping from the US is quite high (about

From what ive been told + my university uses them as one of their suppliers, they are relatively cheap.. (Rapid) but i just used Farnell as they had nearly all the parts required and perferred getting them as one order.

Update i received the motors from Farnell yesterday after having reserved them on thursday.. suprisingly quick.. just got to wait on the rest of the parts which i ordered seperately on friday.

Shaeeb.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/04/2007 06:30AM by Shaeeb.

Meh, being a student I can't get things from Farnell, they only accept credit cards, and no bank will give em a credit card. ARGGHHH!

Hello

I think farnell will accept Debit cards as well. I use them with a debit card and thay are fine. I'm also a student.

Interesting ,they've always asked me for a credit card, and bounced me the time I tried using a maestro. :/

In that case I can sense an order coming on!

O ryt the problem probably is that you used a maestro card and I used a VISA debit card.

Most of the components I need seam to be avalible from maplin which is where I will be purchasing them from.

Maplin are rather expensive, check out [www.rapidonline.com]. They have a larger range than Maplin and are cheaper, how ever they are mail order only.

I find that Visa debit is not accepted at as many places as meastro. However this may just be strangeness.

Hi Yeah Rapid are usally a lot cheaper than maplin.

Sorry I should have explained myself better I have most of the components availible to me from previous orders. The main components I will have to purchase are the L298N's which appear to be cheaper in maplin. They also appear to be in stock in swindon which is quite close to me.

I went and sampled some l297s a long time ago from ST thinkign they were essentually l293ds. However I soon found out and they were filed away, however it's quite hard gettign samples of the l298s so I think I may follow you there.

Hey Guys,

Sorry for jumping in this conversation - not being from UK I should not be here. Anyway, I saw this list on how to get electronic parts in the UK. Well, I do not know that, but all these parts are basic parts for PCB creation. I simply walked into a electric shop nearby and bought them. I think it is easier then getting annoyed with why your credit card does not work.

If anyone wants to do this, I suggest to print the BOM list on Mouser.com and take it to an electric shop. They will exactly know what you need.

Adam

Actually my general take of Maplin (UK's Radioshack) staff is that they're idiots. They've told me things that were obviously wrong many times over. I'm sure there are some good ones, but I'm yet to meet them.

The main problem is the variable resistor/diodes. As the person above wants to get the right ones, and the UK has different shops, who sell different componants.

Here's my attempt at neatening the parts list up for the V1.1 board, it has Rapid codes so it can all be bought from there, I'll try and do the same for Farnell/RS, and for some of the other boards as well. Any feed back is welcome.

Heh it seems I've made a mistake, anyone know where I can get 0.5 ohm resistors?

I bought everything for generation 1 electronics a few months ago from rapid, i still have a spreadsheet with all the order codes in if it's useful to anyone. The only thing i couldn't get was a 4 pin molex power connector (pc power supply) but i did not ned one anwyas as im using a bench supply.

That would be great. I have sent you a pm with my email address.

Cheers

A couple of people have asked for a copy of my rapid electronics order so i thought i might as well post it here. It is not a perfect order so if anyone orders it would be great to see an edited version we can get perfect for anyone to be able to just use without checking

The following comments just regard what may need to be looked at before ordering (do not use my list as an absolute of what you need):

The file reprap.ods (or reprap.xls if you are using excel, both files
are the same) contains the list of parts taken from the bom, with links
to the bom pages for each part and rapid order codes. 'Quantity
required' is the number of parts needed for the reprap, then 'quantity
to buy' is how many i ordered. This distinction is because some things
come in packs (e.g. resistors) so you only need one pack.

RE rapid do not stock molex power connector:
The 4 pin molex is for power from a pc power supply. When i say bench
power supply, it is actually a pc power supply in a box with lots of
connectors on the front I wouldn't recommend using anything else
other than a pc power supply as they are incredibly cheap and abundant
compared to commercial bench power supplies. I use 4mm plugs on flying
leads and socket to connect to my power supply but getting a molex
connector is ideal as it solders straight into the pcb and plugs into a
pc power supply.

The endstop sensors i bought are 4 pin sensors, reprap uses 5 pin
sensors but rapid do not sell any compatible ones. There is a page on
the wiki somewhere that explains how to use different endstops.

Also, i did not buy the thermistor and i'm not sure if rapid stock a
compatible one.

I also forgot to buy the pins to use with the 2, 3, 4 pin connectors.


Hope this helps,
Stef

Just thought, i should have mentioned that i have build a full set of boards with these parts and they work fine.

Oh a though you can use 2 1ohm Resistors rated at 1 watt in parallel to get the 0.5 ohm sense resistor for the l298. That saves you 5 0.1ohm resistors in series.

I hate electronics!

I have just recieved my boards from RRF in USA and I am now trying to get all the bits for the audrinio boards. Your spreadsheet from rapid electronics helpsloads greenarrow but the search on rapid is awful you type in dip socket and it comes up "Your search does not work"!

Has any one ordered bits for these boards? How do you make sure you have the right components? Am I missing something on their website or should I just phone them?

I have just finished the mechanical assembly thanks to Ians's parts from bits from bytes and it only took 4 hours. Trying to work out the right electrical components has so far taken 6 hours!


By the way I have ordered an audrinio deci something from Ebay for 13 pounds whch seemed pretty cheap and he has 10 lef if anyone is interested.

andy

Try Google site:www.rapidonline.com/ dip socket

I find Google site specific searches nearly always beats their own search.

---

[www.hydraraptor.blogspot.com]

Rapid's search is great for part numbers, damn useless for anything else.

I think I posted up a parts list from rapid with the associated codes in it.

Hi,

Is Arduino decimal a PIC programmer? if not what is the most advisable PIC programmer to buy/make?

Green arrow,

I'm looking to use your shopping list for Rapid. I've noted what you have said already on this thread - is there anything since, you might have ordered or done differently?

Can anyone recommend where to get the 4 pin Molex power connector?

Joe

Hi

The Arduino has an Atmel Micro and has built in hardware and software to enable you to programme it from the PC using USB. Works a treat.

Farnell have a connector part number 148086. Check the picture to make sure that is the one you are after.

Joe, search for 1ohm resistors, two of them in parallel with give you the 0.5 ohms required for the L298 sense resistors. It's easier and cheaper than using the 5 0.1 ohm resistors as green arrow has done...

TheFallen

I'm very much going to be learning on the go. Will it be easy to replace
5x 0.1ohms resistors
- With -
2x 1 ohm resistor in parallel

on the boards I have ordered from store.rrrf.org?

Ian Eagland,

Sorry, your response was a little over my head. Can you confirm if I can use the Arduino (Which I own) as the PIC programmer for the RepRap?

Cheers

Joe