General question about ordering parts for projects

[mikepukmel]

Hi All,
i hope you're all safe and doing well.

So I have a few small projects to build. Finishing up another amp project, but also, building a preamp and a couple of guitar effects pedals. I have put 3 BOM's into a cart at one of the big electronics distributors. I started this task late last fall, Early winter (Nov, Dec). The problem is that there are always a few parts on back order, some several months out.

So I put off the order, cleared the cart, started again a few months later, and a few different parts are on back order. And so it goes. There will be a lull about April 30th, about 10 days from now.

It find it really tough to build part of a project, wait 3 months for 2 switches, then complete the project! These are such small projects, like 25 or 30 bucks for an effects pedal, if I choose "wait till all parts available" I think i will never get the kit. If I ship now, and send back order later, it might cost me another 3 shipping charges, each time another 8.00 or 9.00 for a few parts that came in.

My question is: for you all buying stuff for projects, how do you handle this?

Thanks!
All quiet in MA.

[mozz]

I think Mouser only charges the original shipping? Not sure. Have you tried Tayda for pedal parts?

[Justin Thomas]

I'll second Tayda.

Justin

[Chuck H]

And to add...

I use to suffer the back order thing with Mouser all the time. Because you didn't always know there was a back order until after your stuff was shipped! It was good time if you had a schedule to keep. Now I just select an alternative part. There's almost always an alternative to the part you originally wanted. I've often though that it would be a good adjunct to any electronics search engine to have an automatic list of parts that are like the one you wanted that's on back order. I can't imagine the man hours it would take though. Half the time I'm not even sure whomever logged the enormous amount of part numbers even knows what the part is.

[nosaj]

I think Mouser only charges the original shipping? Not sure. Have you tried Tayda for pedal parts?

They also sell pcb, enclosures, knobs, everything for effectspedals Tayda that is , If your building pedals they will have so many things you will order, I don't find it uncommom to get 200 250 pcs from them, because I'll order things like 10 or 15 of each, which really helps when you just want to throw something together as you;ll already have it.

nosaj

[Enzo]

I used Mouser for decades. I ALWAYS checked stock before ordering. It tells you how many they have on hand of each part right on the page. In fact I also always check teh "in stock" box. If I am looking for an XYZ123, it does me no good if they have zero in stock. And as Chuck said there is almost always an alternative. The next higher voltage in a cap, or the 105 instead of 85 cap. Or for that matter many caps could be lower voltage in a lot of circuits. Relays? For projects I can use most anything, they only get iffy it I want them to fit a footprint on some amp I am repairing. SWitches? There are a million.

[mikepukmel]

Thanks everyone! I heard the name before but never ordered from Tadya, will try them out.

Thanks re Mouser, yeah that's been my goto for as little as I do buy, except the odd stuff that is more 'guitar amp' world stuff.
That's the circle Ive been in. Their system is pretty nice, as you mentioned it shows how many on hand and on order if its back ordered.

I wish i knew enough to swap out parts. if its something easy like a resistor, i can do it. Switches, too many dimensions. Transistors, Im mostly lost. I know that I can find another one with 3 pins, but so many specs.

Thanks will try Tadya, and also have to learn more "stuff" to swap parts. Thanks for the tip on higher voltage cap etc.

[Chuck H]

I used Mouser for decades. I ALWAYS checked stock before ordering. It tells you how many they have on hand of each part right on the page. In fact I also always check teh "in stock" box.

Absolutely check the "in stock" box every time. And my reference to having trouble with back orders goes back to a time before the internet. Back when their paper catalog was the size of a comic book and for a little while thereafter. The guy you gave your order to on the phone or via fax didn't check stock and confirm it for you. They would often just send what they had and the first time you knew about the back order was when your stuff arrived and everything wasn't there. This on line shopping with availability indicated is something we take for granted now, but it would have seemed like a miracle back in the day.

[Enzo]

Oh a four inch thick catalog four times a year. I loved that catalog. I could leaf through the section for something I wanted and pick it visually.

[Chuck H]

Oh a four inch thick catalog four times a year. I loved that catalog. I could leaf through the section for something I wanted and pick it visually.

Heck yeah! It seemed wasteful to just throw them out so I ended up with so many I could have bricked up a small structure. I had to tell them to stop sending them. I would order a new catalog once a year. The first year I did that they put me back on the list and I had to cancel again when they sent me another catalog in three months.

[nosaj]

Heck yeah! It seemed wasteful to just throw them out so I ended up with so many I could have bricked up a small structure. I had to tell them to stop sending them. I would order a new catalog once a year. The first year I did that they put me back on the list and I had to cancel again when they sent me another catalog in three months.

You can always save em for TP.

nosaj

[Enzo]

And these days, we would.

By the way, my local store has had TP in stock the last three days running. And in the afternoon even.

They used to send me two, one for me and one for my business partner. And yes, four times a year. I hated to throw them out, so I gave the older ones to local guys that came by looking for parts or advice. "Here, kid, every part imaginable is in this book."

[nosaj]

And these days, we would.

By the way, my local store has had TP in stock the last three days running. And in the afternoon even.

They used to send me two, one for me and one for my business partner. And yes, four times a year. I hated to throw them out, so I gave the older ones to local guys that came by looking for parts or advice. "Here, kid, every part imaginable is in this book."

We're getting back to almost normal here cleaning materials are still sparse though.
nosaj

[mikepukmel]

Maybe its the temporary covid19 stock depletion, but the past two orders, I check the "in stock, ships N now" ... and couple of parts didn't make the order they ran out between the time I submitted the order, and it was kitted. *** Similar topic, we drove to pick up our son from NY few weeks ago, near a month now, trek across MA, through NY, On the way back, the usual stream of tractor trailers was gone from route 90, and most conspicuous, not a single tractor trailer merging onto 90 from 84. All that freight, scary.

[MichaelNuzum]

My experience is that Mouser covers the shipping charge if something is back ordered. So if you have a bill of materials, just order it all at once (assuming missing parts are back ordered, not obsolete and no longer available), they will send the missing parts to you when they come in at no extra charge. Kinda sucks when you want everything at once, but it saves you paying two or three separate shipping charges trying to only order what's in stock at that moment.

I too have had great experiences with Tayda for pedal oriented parts, especially if you need large quantities. Very cheap prices for enclosures, pots, knobs, etc.

Another great supplier for oddball, vintage and one off parts, in addition to the normal pots, switches, enclosures, etc for pedals is Small Bear Electronics.

Both Tayda and Small Bear are good at listing stock, so I haven't had experience with how they handle back orders/ multiple shipments.