>My question is this:  what is the best way to stock this lab so that I can
>reasonably expect to put together barebones prototypes without having to
buy
>anything?  I'd like to keep cost down if possible, below maybe a couple of
>hundred dollars, but I'd also like to know that within reason, I'll have a
>few of most of the generic parts needed for most projects (i.e., two or
>three types of diodes, two or three types of NPN/PNP/NMOS/PMOS/JFET
>transistors, LED displays and drivers, etc) WITHOUT having to sit down and
>order them individually.  Is there a company that sells a box labelled
>"Random Common Electronic Bits"?

Are you going to use SMD components? If so then you can get books with the
full range (well 10 ohm to 1M) of a specific size component in in resistors,
and similar for ceramic capacitors. It may be possible to get a similar book
of AVX or similar tantalums. It may well be worth getting hold of a digikey,
jameco ... etc rep to see if they have similar items for TH components. The
books are reasonably expensive (in the UK about 130 pounds per book), but do
mean you have a complete selection of values on hand. The ones we use here
for SMD resistors have 50 of each value in the E24 series of 1% or 2%
tolerance. You can then replenish each value as you get close to using them
up, and they are in a handy reference folder, kept neat, tidy and in value
order.

Then select some op-amps, guess for your use you will want a low noise and a
general purpose. Similar for general purpose PNP and NPN transistors.

Most else you should be able to use the various suppliers already mentioned
as overnight JIT suppliers for most things. I have found that by planning
ahead I can usually design on paper (CAD) for a couple of days and get
together a list of bits and then have a reasonable order arrive overnight.
Always order about twice what you immediately need in op-amps transistors
etc to build a stock as you go.

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