Mouser ordering pain in the rear

[Reeltarded]

Is there a trick to ordering on Mouser? What can I do to cut down on the 5 hours it takes to run down all the numbers for one resistor set?

lol

I'd rather eat live chickens.

[Structo]

Yeah it can get tedious.

I have quite a few parts that really aren't usable on a tube amp from ordering the wrong stuff.

But, I just took it as a lesson in Mousing.

For instance I ordered a bunch of 1w metal film resistors made by Dale.

They arrived and they are the size of a 1/4w resistor and I just couldn't use them, regardless if they would work.

Another time they made a mistake and sent me about 12 RF connectors for some purpose that escaped me so I sent them back.....

You can also source stuff from Digikey, Newark Electronics, Antique Electronics Supply (AES) and others I can't think of right now.

[ampgeek]

I am a fan of the Mouser Project Manager function. You can set up each order as a project that is saved in your profile. You can go back to that on the next order and pull up items and save them to your current project. Not instant gratification as it may take some time to build up a good base. But...better than starting all over again from scrath each and every time.

I also use the catalog view quite a bit. Pull up, say, a resistor from the series you are interested in, go to the catalog view to see the range of values offered and plop them into your current project from that one page.

Cheers,
Dave O.

[Phil_S]

Not the end all solution, but get them to send you the paper catalog. It is much, much faster to look up parts in the paper catalog. The down side is that I suspect the paper catalog is not 100% complete. Even so, if you get a rough idea of what you want, the info you can find will help you narrow your on line search. It is about 3" thick.

[M Fowler]

We should get the most prolific Mouser ordering expert to handle all our needs, right Miles

[Bob S]

Quote "I'd rather eat live chickens."
You're missing Alexander aren't you.
I'm sure he had chicken for Christmas dinner.

[Colossal]

It gets easier with practice, you just have to suffer the startup cost of gaining familiarity with both the parts and their characteristics that you are after and learning the .com's order system and search engine. I can drill down to a part or at least a part family very quickly in Mouser now. I used utterly loathe Digi-Key's search tool, now I just know its painful qualities and how to get through them.

Dave's suggestion of setting up stored parts lists is a good one and takes the onus off of trying to remember or find that one specific part again and especially since the part inventory and availability is always changing, you don't have to invest in dealing with that. Mouser always is updating so if a part on your list goes obsolete or nearing end of life, you'll see that next time you look at it. I've actually gone to a complete part inventory spreadsheet in Excel so I have a link right straight to the part on Mouser or through whatever vendor. Painful to set up but worth it for "the next time" you need that part.

[Reeltarded]

We should get the most prolific Mouser ordering expert to handle all our needs, right Miles

Oh look! Dave says it's simple.

Col. Ossal.... hahaha

[Reeltarded]

Quote "I'd rather eat live chickens."
You're missing Alexander aren't you.
I'm sure he had chicken for Christmas dinner.

Yah, bet he did.. in south carolina... where that snappy dresser belongs!

[ampgeek]

LOL!!

Well.....not easy per-se. But...getting easier and easier with each buy as Col. Ossal infers!!

I have done the BOM import from Excel a couple of times in the past. Oddly, each time was funked-up with inconsistent multiples of each item. I would import it and save it for review later. When I went back, the quantity of every line item was multipled by 2 to 20.

Quite a shock seeing my order originally valued at ~$200 jump to ~$2000 overnight!

I couldn't find the rhyme or reason so I stopped trying that approach.

Don't hesitate to shout out if I can lend a hand! Projects can be shared amongst subscribers so no one needs to start from dead-scratch.

Cheers,
Dave O.

[ToneMerc]

It gets easier with practice, you just have to suffer the startup cost of gaining familiarity with both the parts and their characteristics that you are after and learning the .com's order system and search engine. I can drill down to a part or at least a part family very quickly in Mouser now. I used utterly loathe Digi-Key's search tool, now I just know its painful qualities and how to get through them.

Dave's suggestion of setting up stored parts lists is a good one and takes the onus off of trying to remember or find that one specific part again and especially since the part inventory and availability is always changing, you don't have to invest in dealing with that. Mouser always is updating so if a part on your list goes obsolete or nearing end of life, you'll see that next time you look at it.

Ditto, once you are familiar in the se ways it's a breeze to use. I despise Digi-Key and Allied.

TM

[xtian]

Projects can be shared amongst subscribers so no one needs to start from dead-scratch.

Cool. Got a Marshall BOM? 1959, 1987, 2204? That would save me some time with the resistors, especially.

[ampgeek]

Sorry I dont. I would certainly share it if I did!

The vast majority of my Mouser projects are mash-ups of the 3 or 4 projects that I have going on at any one time.

And..although I have tried...it appears impossible to get every component I want for any one amp from a single vendor (outside of a complete kit of course).

Invariably, I end up having to go to multiple sources. It always seems to end up being the "in for a penny, in for a pound" gig and all the pieces get spread out fairly evenly amongst three of four sources. That is a bit of a plauge that we all seem to face in this addiction.

I seem to recall seeing a comprehensive BOM for a 2204 somewhere a while ago. Not sure if it was here or at the Hoffman forum. I will poke around in my files and post it up if I saved it.

Sorry once again,
Dave O.

[Reeltarded]

We need terminator technology. In my mind's eye I am seeing something like Arnold Splorzenhegger but no arms or legs infinite focus retinal scanning voice activation and a wired internet connection. We can block every site except Mouser, DK, and Allied.. so he won't get any bright ideas.

TM seems good with complicated hardware,

I am sure Martin could wire up a supply for mostly off the shelf logic stuff off the top of his head ..

I will work out the network interface. I am thinking 14.4 baud is the safest, and turn off automatic dialing. I wonder if there are any modems in my dead computer heap..

Mark Fowler can't be involved because he'll build one for each of us within a week then they all meet on the web and Hell breaks free..

Taylor could work out the headbox. I am thinking a Dumble style 1x12 shape in blue levant will look cool with red LED looking eyeballs..

We need someone to code for the parts search.. can't trust Lefty. Anyone here that can code who isn't bent on the destruction of mankind by a robot zombie apocalypse?

Bob S. doesn't have time to work out the articulation that allows this thing to go mobile. He should engineer the mobility part so it is never completed.

We need to seal the whole contraption in epoxy goop like Mark Cameron's mods so Col. Ossal can't start drawing it up for easy distribution.

Tom can be in charge of the network security.



We need a backup safety though for the 'just in case scenario' that this thing gets on netflix and starts up with it's own plan. I think we should call that plan "Skynet" just to mock fate and give this a real sense of irony that is so silly even an indestructible robot resistor ordering system could understand it.

[NickC]

^^^ I think a séance with Michael Crichton would be a good idea at this stage of planing.