Canadian Midiboxers

[napierzaza]

I was wondering if there were any Midibox people who live in Canada (especially Ottawa/Montreal) who have extra parts? I've heard of different people who buy extra parts for they box and might want to sell me the extra?? i'd be interested also to see a completed one if possible.

Also I'd like to know the best place for a Canadian to buy the parts

[AndrewMartens]

I have a couple of spare parts around, but they're generally reserved for extra projects already.

I bought my boards from SmashTV (and if I wasn't already well-stocked, would have bought full kits from him).  Any other parts I typically order from Digikey.ca because they will ship overnight if you get your order in by 5:30 PST.  They don't have the cheapest prices around, but they're usually decent and have that quick shipping - and there's no hassles with the border at all, it just shows up.  Other times I have bought stuff from MainElectronics(.com) and RPElectronics(.ca?), but those are both local shops so I go there in person.

[napierzaza]

Okay, but if I were to buy from digikey (seems to be your favorite) in bulk, would it end up being cheaper than smashTV (I'd get te PCBs from him still).

[stryd_one]

Buy from me. I will take payment in the form of syrup from your maple trees. Wow that's good stuff.

Sorry for OT, I had to do it. It was the pancakes, they told me to do it. Wait, they just asked me to do something else...

Ohhh Caaaanaadaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa ..........

;D

[napierzaza]

stryd_one, like all Canadians I produce my own syrup, please tell me how much syrup you need to make a SEQ, SID and FM.

Thanks.

[AndrewMartens]

Okay, but if I were to buy from digikey (seems to be your favorite) in bulk, would it end up being cheaper than smashTV (I'd get te PCBs from him still).

Phew, tough question there.  If you are ordering in bulk - to stock up your parts cabinet, for example - it would probably end up being cheaper (per part) than buying from SmashTV.  The downside is that you end up spending a lot more money now to buy all of those components for future projects.  Alas, I don't have enough spare time to go through an example module and price everything out at Digikey to see what quantity one would need to order to make it cost-effective.  If you're only building a handful of modules and don't need to load up on parts, Smash's prices are quite reasonable. 

Looking back on all the time I spent selecting the correct parts from Digikey, ordering replacements because I wasn't 100% correct, then it definitely would have been worthwhile for me to order the full kits from SmashTV - as I did for my DINx4 module.  Being able to open a shrink-wrapped package - with all your components right there - makes it easy to solder a module together quickly and painlessly.

[th0mas]

I live in Ottawa but you can't have my stuff :D

Seriously, I've had nothing but the best dealing with SmashTV.  Dealing with electronics houses in the states is a bit rougher, sometimes the fees are a lot so try to order as much as possible.  Nothing sucks more than finding out you need one more part from them after an order ships.