Best Canadian places for electronic parts, bits and pieces?

[Seven]

I need to order a handful of molex crimp ends, connectors, plugs, resisters, diodes, and stuff like that. The common things you find in pinball machines that are not pinball specific.

I was going to order some things from AliExpress but all that stuff comes from China, different vendors, and sometimes you don't see things for a month or more.

Do you guys know of a good Canadian vendor for these things?

 

[mwong168]

I normally order from https://www.greatplainselectronics.com

If you want Canadian supplier check out http://www.digikey.ca

 

[dnewman]

Second that vote for digikey.ca

Fastest shipping I've experienced in a long time!!!

 

[eh97ac]

digikey.ca ==>$8 shipping for anything under $200. Last week I ordered at 5:30 PM EST, received the package the next day at 1 PM.
greatplainselectronics.com for everything else except NVRAM
nvram.weebly.com for NVRAM, Andrew is great to deal with!

 

[mitch_a]

I use sayal for alot of stuff as they are just down the street from me in cambridge. They might not have evrything but what they do have is priced good and local.

 

[Fifty]

Digikey if you want to pay low shipping and pay in CDN dollars. They usually have everything. If you can't find it, then you aren't using the correct search terms. Their shipping is so quick sometimes I'm still be entering my credit card number and the doorbell will ring.

 

[Seven]

Holy crap. Digikey was exactly what I was looking for. Thanks.

We have a couple of electronic shops in Vancouver, but its a two hour drive there and back from my house. Finding what I need involves staring at a wall of little ziplock bags. It is great if I really need something that day, but a shopping list of items turns into a day long event.

 

[Menace]

Is Digikey still only charging $8? I just ordered two small parts from them last week and the min shipping charge was $20!

D

 

[Fifty]

$8 is the standard for small parts. I was thinking of picking up a $9 magnetizer ( http://www.digikey.ca/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail&itemSeq=189031235&uq=635900018867169772) and shipping for the part is still only $8. I'm not sure why you would have been charged $20. Are you sure you were not on Digikey.com???

Seven, if you are having difficulties locating a part I often go directly to the manufacturers website and pull the part number from there. Then I input that number into Digikey search. Digikey is great in that respect. They have the stock part numbers and then use their own on top of that.

 

[eh97ac]

Ordered last week for $8.

 

[brad808]

I've placed probably 5 orders with digikey since new years (I know I know combine orders but I couldn't for some of these). Each order was $8 shipping and I received the parts the next day. Some of the orders were even as late as 9pm! That goes well above my expectations!

 

[Seven]

Seven, if you are having difficulties locating a part I often go directly to the manufacturers website and pull the part number from there. Then I input that number into Digikey search. Digikey is great in that respect. They have the stock part numbers and then use their own on top of that.

Yeah, I was having a problem tracking down a few things. I managed to figure it out though. I love their search feature. It's like the one at Mouser.

I also like the prompts to change the amount of pieces to save money.

"You've ordered 30 pieces, you'll save 17 cents if you order 50."

The one thing I couldn't find were the machine pin strips for IC sockets. I ordered a few CD4543BE to try and rebuild some old Stern displays. I thought I'd try the socket strips but couldn't locate them - so I just ordered the regular sockets for them.

Oh, and shipping was $8 until I passed the $200 mark. Then it was free.

 

[Fifty]

Shipping from .com is different. It's always been $8 for Canada as far as I know.

You mean these?
https://www.digikey.ca/product-detail/en/D01-9973242/952-1938-ND/3727905

 

[spiroagnew]

Ordered yesterday, shipped from Winnipeg last night. At my door via FedEx before noon today. Digikey is pretty terrific.

 

[Seven]

You mean these?
https://www.digikey.ca/product-detail/en/D01-9973242/952-1938-ND/3727905

Yup. That's what I was trying to find. Thanks.

They are expensive little buggers. I'll have to dig around for non-gold ones. At least I know how to search for them now.

 

[Menace]

Yeah, try and stay away from the gold contact versions unless the IC's you're installing are also gold contacts. Mating dissimilar metals is not recommended as they will oxidize over time. This has been your daily PSA.

D

 

[Fifty]

Ordered yesterday, shipped from Winnipeg last night. At my door via FedEx before noon today. Digikey is pretty terrific.

That looks like my past order. I wonder how many Turficon pins they sell to pinheads in a month?

Yeah, try and stay away from the gold contact versions unless the IC's you're installing are also gold contacts. Mating dissimilar metals is not recommended as they will oxidize over time. This has been your daily PSA.

D

Those were the best I could find. There really isn't a lot of gold on them. Just in the center pin and even then it's lacking. The tin ones are even more expensive. I don't know why.

 

[Seven]

Well, I don't know what's going on with my order. I placed it Tuesday night. Got a tracking number within a few hours. Package was leaving Grand Forks North Dakota en-route to Vancouver. Suspected arrival time was today around noon. I just checked the tracking. The package arrived in Memphis Tennessee at 11:55 PM. At 12:57 is was labeled "in transit" and there is no estimated delivery date.

Bummer.

I get it. Shit happens. I guess they can't do super fast shipping every time. Let's hope it arrives by Friday so can wrap up the Meteor machine this weekend.

 

[Menace]

I find that when this happens the carriers blame it all on weather issues, even if it's not.

D

 

[Seven]

Tracking says it arrived in town this morning, has been sorted, and is on the truck for delivery. There must have been some method to the madness.

I've been to North Dakota. I don't blame the package for wanting to catch the first ride out of town - even it is was in the opposite direction.