Best places to buy supplies in bulk?

TheDrewster

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I hate feeling like I am spending a fortune on things like pinball ring kits and cap kits. Feels like I am getting ripped off every time I buy a kit. Where is the best place to buy bulk quantities of things like capacitors, rubber rings, etc?
 
There is not a single best place. For pin rubbers I buy in bulk from Pinball Life. For common electrical components (lytics, resistors) I buy from Mouser. For crimp pins I have to shop around but usually Mouser or Great Plains Electronics.
 
I hate feeling like I am spending a fortune on things like pinball ring kits and cap kits. Feels like I am getting ripped off every time I buy a kit. Where is the best place to buy bulk quantities of things like capacitors, rubber rings, etc?

You're not getting ripped off. You're buying kits. When buying a kit, you're paying for several things, in addition to the parts contained:
-someone's time to figure out what rings/caps need to be in that kit
-someone's time to figure out exactly which physical sizes of caps fit, and other details about specifying an appropriate replacement.
-someone's time to buy & stock all of that, and put it in a nice ziplock baggie for you, with a sheet of paper listing the contents and perhaps a map of where everything goes.
-someone's knowledge of exactly where to buy all of those caps/rings in bulk, at the best prices ;)
-someone to make said kits readily and easily available, and save you from the hassle of dealing with the tens (hundreds?) of thousands of different caps availalbe from mouser or newark.
 
Agreed.

PBL for rubber rings. I usually buy the large kit plus more(post rings, etc). I always check manual for odd size rings too. Also buy lamps from here too. Been buying 100 pack ablaze in 47 & 555.

GPE for most of my transistors, resistors, diodes, sockets, connectors, headers, etc.

Mouser for caps and misc parts GPE might not have. On cap kits, I look up what caps are needed for a particular kit and then order multiple of each cap.


Rest of parts needed just depends. When I do make an order, I tend to order more than I need of a item. That way I have stock on hand down the road.
 
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check with pinball life for rubbers in bulk, lamps in bulk. I buy bulk caps from bob roberts. COuld get cheaper somewhere else but id rather deal with bob.
 
Seriously though..

For wire, you can't hardly beat Bob Roberts. He sells it pretty much for cost, unless you want to buy 500ft spools.

For fasteners, McMaster Carr.
 
Wire I am buying off Bob, his prices are fantastic!
Connectors I am getting from Great Plains Electronics
Still sourcing the best places for other parts.
 
You're not getting ripped off. You're buying kits. When buying a kit, you're paying for several things, in addition to the parts contained:
-someone's time to figure out what rings/caps need to be in that kit
-someone's time to figure out exactly which physical sizes of caps fit, and other details about specifying an appropriate replacement.
-someone's time to buy & stock all of that, and put it in a nice ziplock baggie for you, with a sheet of paper listing the contents and perhaps a map of where everything goes.
-someone's knowledge of exactly where to buy all of those caps/rings in bulk, at the best prices ;)
-someone to make said kits readily and easily available, and save you from the hassle of dealing with the tens (hundreds?) of thousands of different caps availalbe from mouser or newark.

I totally agree. The thing that I saved on is when I just gathered in blulk the caps for K7000 monitors from local electronics surplus stores where some caps were just a couple of cents each. The time I put into organizing my cap sets took tons of time and I maybe save like $2 per cap kit compared to Bob's kits. I dunno how he's even making much money for all of the labor he puts into his kits. Even having all of the bulk kits to do a Neo Geo sound section isn't saving any money over CM's kits. I just prefer having the cap sizes in bulk compared to having a few spares for a generalized kit.
 
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