Best place to order electronic parts (switches, connectors)

[jhusel]

I am wanting to stock up on some miscellaneous electronic prop supplies. Where do you guys shop for micro switches, connectors, battery holders, etc.

Also curious what is a nice ceramic soldering iron. I am tired of the cheap Radio Shack ones.

Jhusel

 

[tim]

Digi-Key, Mouser, and Jameco are all places that I've used in the past and which have the items you seek. Just be sure to order enough in one go to justify the shipping.

 

[sawduster]

http://www.allelectronics.com/
and
http://www.goldmine-elec.com/

 

[exoray]

Jameco is the most 'hobbiest' friendly (IMO) wide range company out there, their catalog is color with nice pictures as is their website... Mouser and Digikey can be overwhelming for newbies as it's like a big city phone book... Jameco is limited they carry a lot but not the vast array Mouser and Digikey carry but for most it's plenty...

 

[tim]

Here's another "hobbyist friendly" site that I forgot to mention earlier: http://www.mpja.com/. I've also purchased from them in the past with no problems.

 

[jktechwriter]

ACK Industrial Supply in Atlanta is another great source...

http://www.acksupply.com/

What I really like about the team that works there is that they'll go out of their way to find less expensive alternatives for you... I recently needed 100s of feet of 18 gauge wire - one of the techs there showed me some bundled cable at a fraction of the cost where I could extract 400 feet of wire from the single 100 foot run... save me about $150.00 and the wire was the same quality.

Jim