New to Cleveland - west side - recommend Elec.Parts/Compnts store? Beyond RadioShk

[bfdeal]

I'm new to cleveland and I'm having a heck of a time finding an electronics store that stocks lots of electronic components and related gear such as curcuit board repair tools, kits, a wide variety of replacement parts, etc. beyond Radio Shack, which frankly, is rather limited. Web search after web search.

Can anybody just give me their favorites in the area and recommend where locally to get a soldering gun with a needle point tip for tiny circuit work?

 

[Russlk]

Mouser is only as far away as your computer, no minimum charge and fast delivery, and prices are good.

 

[dknguyen]

Go to websites like MG Chemicals or something like that, and look for their vendors in your area. You can find tons of little stores that way near you that you would never have found otherwise (have you tried the yellow pages?)

 

[Papabravo]

It is sad to say, but the thing you are looking for may belong to a bygone era. In much the same way as a hardware store with nuts, bolts, and screws in bins instead of hanging from hooks in plastic bags have become nearly extinct, so too have bricks and mortar electronic stores that sell to experimenters.

To all who bemoan the loss of such establishments, I have one question. Is this a business you would want to start? After you get done paying the rent and utilities, buying the stock, hiring the help a guy walks in and says "I need a .0033 uF 600 WV Orange Dip Capacitor -- ya got one?". You explain that you're just getting started, but he's out the door before you can finish the sentence. Small retail storefronts are no longer economically viable for some things, and small quantities of small cheap electronic parts is one of those things.

 

[mramos1]

Russlk said it all.. Mouser is great.. Use priority mail to ship, it is cheap.

Backups, digikey.com and jameco.com (but expensive),

Also, there is mpja.com.

Surplus, electronic goldmine is good and Alltronics.com

I will tring the MG chemical trick myself, but I doubt there are any around me.

 

[dknguyen]

I just used the MG thing a few days ago- I was looking for some chemical products that aren't carried by Future-Active's brick and mortar store regularily and they wouldn't order unless I ordered at least 10. Ordering the stuff online counts as hazardous so more $$$, especially when I only needed one bottle. I found a small store across the city that actually had some physicall there. Sweet.

I prefer Digikey to Mouser, but only because there's less cross-boarder fees than Mouser. However, Mouser seems to have more items, and some items are half the cost of Digikey.

 

[mramos1]

If you are in the US, Mouser is the better way to go.

Wonder why Mouser charges more to cross the boarder, not like you are that far away? I can see on small orders how that would be important. I try to get little things as well when I order, just to justify shipping.

I tried the glith guys, but never heard anything from them (check spam filters too). So I wound up back at mouser.

 

[dknguyen]

Digikey has some kind of deal with Purolator (which is owned by Canada Post). It also includes the duties in the price on the Canadian website. It still ends up being less unless you buy one of the things where it costs half as much as on Mouser.