My 'stock' is beginning to get depleted. It is based on the Maplin 0.6w metal film type which they seem to have discontinued. (I used them because most others require you to buy a minimum of 100 of the same value - takes up too much space).
What's the best alternative? It would be nice to get the same make and therefore body colour. ;-)
I've just looked at the latest Maplin catalogue (bought a few days ago), and they still list these resistors (Metal film 0.6 W). Something to keep in mind: I went to their new store in Parkway Road (Camden) to buy some CPU thermal pads. They didn't have any, and said that they had been discontinued. I was told that the Tottenham Court Road branch had 5 left. I went to that branch and bought some from them; and upon enquiring about their discontinuation, I was told that they knew nothing about it.
A couple of years ago I got quite excited about a new microcontroller chip, a very capable Atmel device, if memory serves me correctly. Anyway, strode confidently into the shop, waded over the RC-cars, joy-rider BOOM-boxes, Disco-Dave Decks, etc. to be told, that although these were standard items, each shop had to get "so-many" pre-orders / requests before the shop would be allocated stock... "So sir, would you like to order one?". Sod that.
I'm afraid Maplin has changed for the growing market, and the old days of hobbiest electonics has long gone.
Yes - it's one of the first I looked at. Their MF60 range looks ok - but hasn't the full range I was expecting - it stops at 1 meg. Good value, though.
But it makes sense. You can't expect all their shops to stock the full catalogue. However, what has changed is that at one time if the shop didn't stock it you'd get it sent free from the warehouse.
A year or so ago, Maplin were doing a special offer on a bundle of E12 resistor values, and I picked up a couple of sets to replenish my stock. Funnily enough, I originally started it some 30 years ago with an E12 set from Rapid Electronics which someone else mentioned, although I haven't ever thought of looking at Rapid Electronics since. Other than the bundles I bought just recently, I tend to top them up when I'm placing Maplin or CPC orders (although Maplin orders have become almost non-existant in recent years).
The other thing I kept an eye out for were special offers on Racco drawer units with 12 rows and all equal drawer sizes, which are ideal for storing E12 (or E24 with multiple drawer sets). For some reason, the Racco drawers with fewer wide drawers at the bottom are often on special offer, but the ones with all equal drawer sizes are more expensive, harder to find, and rarely on offer. I have got enough now though (a local engineering company had a faulty one on offer which I repaired, and then CPC had them on sale a year or so back).
An change in attitude obviously straight from the lips of a marketing asshole that makes it even less likely I'll ever visit them again. Previously it was such policies that marked them apart as a company that did give a shit about customer service. Anyway given the seemingly random nature of the layout in their stores where even the staff sometimes have problems finding stock I'm unlikely to visit them again, ordering online is usually much less painful.
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