Elektor_Mag_-_January-February_2021

lektor January & February 2021 37

selection of bright LEDs at the well-known wholesalers is rather

poor and that is why I occasionally place an order via eBay.

Normally I keep the websites of four or so suppliers open in different

tabs in my browser. Whoever offers a component in the quantity

I desire, at the best price, has my business. Because it is not likely

that one supplier has everything in stock that I need, I usually end

up with orders from at least three different suppliers. Consequently

a parade of delivery vans turns up a few days later at my door. And

then you get the jealous looks from the neighbour across the road

who thinks that nearly every day is Christmas over here. Quite

what he would do with a few thousand MOSFETs is anyone’s guess.

It also worthwhile to take a good look at the price break for bulk

purchases. These normally encourage you to buy much more than

you were intending. This has resulted in some strange pricing

outcomes on more than one occasion. I have encountered that

one hundred pieces of an IC came to the exact same price as 50

pieces. I’ve come to the conclusion that free components really

do exist!

200556-04

nent is I use a spreadsheet. The advantage of

this system is that components do not need to

be sorted. The box with microcontrollers can be

located next to a box with screws. You can also

easily move components around and empty

locations can be reused for something else.

The spreadsheet is not really the optimal
approach but, unfortunately, I have not
yet found an affordable and more suitable
software solution. Additionally, there is
always something that is not quite right. Now
I actually spend more time on the booking-in
and booking-out of components and retriev-
ing them from these boxes than populating
and reflowing my circuit boards. Naturally I sometimes forget to
book something in or out with the result that some orders still go
wrong. Perhaps the chaos was not so bad after all. However, it is
now much quicker to pass on the stock levels at the end of the year
to our ‘bean counter’ — at least that is an improvement.

Part ordering for dummies
For improved ‘heap forming’ you obviously require components
and then preferably different ones in large quantities. To be honest,
I haven’t been to a classic electronics shop in years and these days I
order everything online from the well-known wholesalers. Price is
obviously important. However, I nevertheless recommend that, for
critical components and semiconductors, you refrain from using
suppliers in the Far East. Also, for reasons unknown to me, the

[1] Bob Pease, ‘Whats All This Messy Office Stuff Anyhow?’: https://bit.ly/39AxMHx

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Questions or Comments?

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Contributors

Text and photos: Ilse Joostens

Translation: Arthur de Beun

Editing: Stuart Cording

Layout: Giel Dols

This system works quite well in practice.