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/diy/ - Do It Yourself

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46055 No.46055 [Reply] [Original]

Britfag here, So I'm starting doing tons of shit involving /diy/ and wanted to get into electronics. but I don't know where the fuck to go, you americans get radioshack, and as far as I'm aware britain get fuck all.

Any suggestions?

>> No.46057

Ebay, everything else is a ripoff. Unless you pay like $50 for shipping.

>> No.46068

Try looking for local owned electronics stores. You could just google electronics store near [postal code, city]

Don't do a lot of electronics myself and always found the trip to a local place worth it since they know what they're talking about and can help me out.

>> No.46070

>>46057
What he said.

Also, don't be envious of Radio Shack, it's been useless for over 15 years now. All they do is sell cellphones and discounted reject batteries now.

>> No.46072
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46072

In germany we have several stores , but also several internet shops, which are usually cheaper. There must be at lest some of them in britatin...

>> No.46080

>>46055
and that shit is expensive as fuck. Fuck radio shack!

>> No.46082

Best bet is Maplins mate, loads of electronic stuff

>> No.46084

>>46055

Try T2 http://www.t2retail.co.uk/

From their site: "T2 evolved after the closure of the Tandy store chain back in 2001. This left many customers without access to a Personal Electrical products supplier that invested the time to stock those hard to find items that the RadioShack brand was famous for.. The answer is provided by T2 Enterprises Ltd through the T2 Retail website which has become a major electronics and accessories supplier online.

As the customer base grew, demand for RadioShack brand products became very clear as the High Street stores ignored those key accessory areas. So T2, responded by becoming the importer of RadioShack brand products for the UK. The response from customers via Mail Order has been tremendous; suddenly there was easy access at competitive prices to a wide range of unique RadioShack products."

>> No.46088

>>46082
>>46082
>>46082
Fuck yeah Maplins!
Just a 10 min. walk to any transistor or cap...etc I want, so no shipping if there's one near you.

>> No.46090

>>46082

What he said. Maplins is a great store, although they are kinda hard to find. Only about a third of the highstreets near me have one.

>> No.46094

Hate to look like a troll, but Maplin kinda sucks, unless you can't wait for something to be delivered.

PROTIP: http://uk.farnell.com has always served me well. £20 minimum order tho. If you live in leeds you can go there IRL and get around it by paying cash.

>> No.46105

Rapid electronics.

Maplin don't know shit, I went in for nichrome wire and they were like 'dude wut?' and then they had no idea what i was talking about and i said 'fixed resistance filament wire?' and then they searched their database and they couldn't find it.

Other electrical stores in the UK are mostly industrial suppliers who only sell like 22m of cable and electric sockets for builders and sparkies so they aint got no idea about a 7408 chip or even what a 555 timer is. So yeah, Rapid Electronics.

>> No.46124

http://cpc.farnell.com/

>> No.46145

>maplins
WTFAMIREADING.jpg

maplins is a high street store for idiots without an internet connection, ridiculously overpriced on virtually everything. go price a single led and you'll see what i'm talking about.

futurlec.com - US based but very cheap (inc the shipping) and well stocked - particularly microcontrollers

dealextreme.com - HK based but again very cheap, not as wide a stock range. takes 1-2 weeks for till arrival

otherwise there's a plethora of UK based e-tailors kitted out with the arduino range and all the other bits and pieces. google it.

>> No.46152

If you happen to live near London, try Tottenham Court Road. There are a nice cluster of electronic shops on that strip.

But online shopping is still cheaper.

>> No.46205

>>46084
>>46082
>>46145
Yes! thanks guys! I'll try em out tomorrow when I get the chance!

>> No.46212

dood
Buy form wholesale china direct stores online. Same quality as radioshack or other hobby stores but cheaper, plus you can buy them in bulk. Chances are you will be buying the same thing but without the label on it. That is if you buy from the right reseller. Some companies sell junk. It might be helpful to read some store reviews on their electronics quality.

>> No.46265

>>46055
Here, OP, and anyone else that can use them:

Links to all the electronics components manufacturers and distributors I've compiled over the years. Copy and paste text into Notepad or similar, save as an HTML file.

http://pastebin.com/1BRydMAp

>> No.46292

i usually buy components from mouser
http://www.mouser.com/
dunno about shipping outside of america but it says they have worldwide locations so it shouldn't be bad

>> No.46309

Radio Shack fucking sucks. I only ever go there when I need something NAOW and have to settle for whatever excuse for a component they are selling.

>> No.47319

get yourself a digikey catalog and go nuts.

>> No.47992

>>47319
Digikey really suck from the UK. £20 for the privilege of ordering from them? Even before you get in to shipping and import tax? Fuck that.

>> No.48005

RS Components. Bloody great service and professional as fuck, and although they cater mainly to industrialists, they're always happy to deliver stuff to small buyers.