Where to Buy Electronics

tebright1

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Does anyone have a good recommendation for buying electronics locally? Are there big stores that sell them. It appears that places to buy are all online, like Mouser or Digikey.

I would love to go somewhere and pickup parts when I need them.
 
It's a problem I think many of us face. Even when there is a store that sells electronics, 95% of their inventory is online only, so having them local is a complete waste of time anyway.
 
No. In this hobby, you'll need to order online. Mouser, Digikey, the guys on here.. and it will be much cheaper than Radio Shack would be if they still existed like they did, or if you did have a mom and pop.
 
Look in your local telephone directory Yellow Pages under the category of "Electronic Equipment & Supplies". You may just have a local supplier.

I *used* to have a local supplier called Electronic Resourcing. They had 30,000 square feet of electronic parts and supplies, but they suddenly closed in February 2016 after 50 years of business.

In the Los Angeles and Santa Barbara area there is MarVac Electronics.
 
we have most everything arcade / pinball related components, kits, connectors. we have over 1000 products and we have hundreds more products we are adding daily and this is only because of the great support from everyone that we have continued to build new stuff and have so much specific arcade parts that no one else has. we are working this year on a bunch more exclusive parts which i can't wait to announce when testing is done.

https://www.arcadepartsandrepair.com/
 
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:)

RadioShack-1.jpg
 
I googled and found these..

Electronic Supply Co
Address: 4672 Indianola Ave, Columbus, OH 43214
Hours: Open ⋅ Closes 5PM
Phone: (614) 263-3726

This one looks promising...

Midwest Surplus Electronics
501 W Main St, Fairborn, OH

Address: 501 W Main St, Fairborn, OH 45324
Hours: Open ⋅ Closes 6PM
Phone: (937) 879-2250
 
Columbus has a Micro Center... they have more of the "Maker" type stuff (Raspberry Pi, Arduino, etc), but also a good selection of resistors, fuses, and that kinda stuff. You can see most of the store's inventory online, so you can tell whether they actually have what you're looking for in stock.

MCM Electronics is near Dayton I think... not sure if they still have pick up, since they merged with Newark.

DogP
 
we have most everything arcade / pinball related components, kits, connectors. we have over 1000 products and we have hundreds more products we are adding daily and this is only because of the great support from everyone that we have continued to build new stuff and have so much specific arcade parts that no one else has. we are working this year on a bunch more exclusive parts which i can't wait to announce when testing is done.

https://www.arcadepartsandrepair.com/

Buying from Security0001 is just about as good as buying locally :D
I normally get my parts within two days and in some cases the next day (and I live in the middle of nowhere).
 
Somewhat off-topic but Security0001; Do you plan to carry various colored and bi-colored reels of hook-up wire so folks can order wire along with connectors and whatnot in order to wire up control panels, harnesses, etc. in the future?

Most places only carry black/white/red/orange/yellow/green/blue hook-up wire, but more colors are often needed when wiring up a two-player, 6 buttons each control panel.
 
Somewhat off-topic but Security0001; Do you plan to carry various colored and bi-colored reels of hook-up wire so folks can order wire along with connectors and whatnot in order to wire up control panels, harnesses, etc. in the future?

Most places only carry black/white/red/orange/yellow/green/blue hook-up wire, but more colors are often needed when wiring up a two-player, 6 buttons each control panel.

one of my other business stocks about 300,000 feet of wire in solid/stranded/OAS(shielded)/FPLR/FPLP/CMP from 22awg thur 12awg but i think we have only 2 thur 8 conductors in stock. i have not been asked but if there is something specific i would look into that. best thing is shoot me a PM. i also stock 3M shrinkwrap about 2500 ft. and sized from 3/8" to 3/32". we might still have 1/2" or 7/16" but that i would have to check on.
 
Somewhat off-topic but Security0001; Do you plan to carry various colored and bi-colored reels of hook-up wire so folks can order wire along with connectors and whatnot in order to wire up control panels, harnesses, etc. in the future?

Most places only carry black/white/red/orange/yellow/green/blue hook-up wire, but more colors are often needed when wiring up a two-player, 6 buttons each control panel.

Several of the colors are often reused.

Green/Red/Orange typically appear for coin slots/test/service and Up/Down/Left/Right and again in buttons 1/2/3/4/5/6.

When the MFGs wired the harnesses, they were ordering 1000s of feet and got the extra colors.

If you buy in 1000ft spools, you can get 22awg wires at .04/ft all day long. But who wants 1000ft of blue with a white stripe?

So, a hand full of websites (often pinball related) carry most any color you can think of and the same color with stripes of many colors, but for 4-10ft of wire, they want .25-.40/ft.

I posted a thread trying to do a group by on all of the colors of wire and while I got a few posts on the topic, I got exactly ZERO interested buyers.

Most people just section off the coin/test/service with a zip tie, player 1 with a black zip tie and player 2 with a white zip tie. Or many little labels.
 
I shop around plenty and have purchased online from Digi-Key, ArcadeShop, Great Plains Electronics, Mike's Arcade, KsArcade.net, blah blah blah... I just buy from whoever has the part I need for the best price at that time. Fry's Electronics is good for ICs, diodes, etc, but their locations are extremely limited in number and online prices are often lower.
 
I wish we had a Fry's. I will definitely be checking out all of the places recommended.

I asked because, I'm finding I need a lot of parts for projects and have been waiting to buy stuff after I figure what I need for each game. Basically to save on shipping. It would be nice to run to the store and grab electronics when I need them. And often times it is one damaged IC. It stinks when shipping cost way more than the 1 part.[emoji39]
 
There is a local electronics store near me (well, about a 25 minute drive, but I digress) called A-GEM Supply Electronics. Been there for over 55 years. They know what they are doing too. A great place to shop.
 
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