From: doug metzler <doug.metzler@gmail.com>
To: Microcontroller discussion list - Public. <piclist@mit.edu>
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Date: Sun, 9 Feb 2020 12:37:15 -0800
Subject: Re: [EE]:: What do you wish you had known before you started with
	Electronics.
Thread-Topic: [EE]:: What do you wish you had known before you started with
	Electronics.
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I went through three phases.

The first was the Zombie Apocalypse phase (I call it that now but it was
long before zombies were a thing) where I wanted to have every part on hand
in case I needed to hack together something and had no access to the
outside world.  So I bought a lot of generic components that seemed useful,
like the 40 series CMOS, transistors, diodes, etc.  I still have virtually
all of them.

The second phase was the Lab Buildup phase, where for every project I
worked on I bought the quantity of parts at which the first Digi-Key
discount took place, usually quantity 10, so I'd have them on hand for
future projects.  I have a *lot* of components on hand that I'll never
use.  I've been sneaking these components into the lab at work.

The current phase, called Finally I Learned" is the phase where I only buy
enough components for the project at hand and only in the quantity needed
unless there's a good chance I'll blow one of them up, in which I get an
extra.

That said a full complement of SMT caps and resistors has served me
incredibly well.  When I start a new project I don't even bother to check
to see if I have the R's and C's in stock because I know I do.

There's a great quote I saw somewhere recently:  All that stuff used to be
money, and all that money used to be time.

DougM



On Sun, Feb 9, 2020 at 11:41 AM Don Kuenz <mail@crcomp.net> wrote:

>
> BillW wrote:
>
> > There was always a "thing" about "build up your parts stash."  I'm goin=
g
> > to say: use some restraint.
> > I disassembled trash, dumpster-dived at companies where I worked, bough=
t
> > from surplus houses and eBay and similar when something that looked use=
d
> > went on sale, utilized various vendors' "free sample" programs, and sav=
ed
> > stuff.
> >
> > Now, 40-odd years later, I have a pretty huge stash of possibly
> non-working,
> > mostly obsolete, not-very useful components, ranging from various passi=
ve
> > components in odd values (might have been more useful in analog or
> radio) to
> > microcontrollers that I probably don't really want to use (anyone want
> some
> > OTP PIC16C57 chips?  Maybe some Fairchild ACE controllers?  4-bit OTP
> Toshiba
> > parts?) to several-generations-old FPGA chips theoretically worth $1000
> each.
> > LEDs in various colors that were painfully bright in their day, but no
> longer
> > impressive.  A wide variety of AC, DC, Stepper, and three-phase motors
> and a
> > collection of fans.  Undocumented displays.  Wire Wrap panels.  AC
> Transformers.
> > Bleh.  It doesn't help that the world went all SMT, and tech moves
> fast...
> >
> > I feel like a hoarder (I probably AM a hoarder.)  The worst part is tha=
t
> the
> > quantities are wrong; I sort-of bought with the idea that "I'll use a
> lot of
> > these; maybe I'll make a general-purpose project that I can sell."  So =
I
> > generally have way more than "personal use" quantities, but not really
> "production
> > quantities", and of types that I probably couldn't even buy more of.
> And I
> > realized at some point that I have very little interest in selling
> anything.
> > At best I'd like to publish designs that other people can build (which
> means -
> > no obsolete unobtainium parts!)
> >
> > Sigh.  It's never been a financial problem, but I wish I had spent more
> > money on fewer, but more immediately usable parts, kits, and projects.
> >
> > Things that HAVE proven useful:  1k resistors.  10k resistors.  3mm
> > indicator LEDs.  "Bypass caps" of various sizes.  A  quantity of genera=
l
> > purpose transistors.  "Free samples" that I can use nearly immediately.
> > A bench top power supply and several cheap multimeters.
>
> It took me awhile to understand that it's OK to own and operate more
> than one multimeter at a time.
>
> My stash was properly weeded out about ten years ago. And now it's
> regularly policed to eliminate obsolete junk.
>
> This guy's stash is therapeutic in the sense that it makes me feel that
> my own packrat behavior isn't extreme at all:
>
> EEVblog #737 - World's Biggest Collection Of Electronics Components
> https://youtu.be/x8nbHYOc8ns?t=3D740
>
> --
> Don Kuenz KB7RPU
> There was a young lady named Bright Whose speed was far faster than light=
;
> She set out one day In a relative way And returned on the previous night.
>
> --
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>
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