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Can you explain more about the troubles you have in the distributor search tools? I assume you're speaking of distributors like Digi-Key and Mouser, right? Wh
by bradfa 12y ago
Can you explain more about the troubles you have in the distributor search tools? I assume you're speaking of distributors like Digi-Key and Mouser, right?
What kind of projects do you work on that finding things at Digi-Key and Mouser is not easy? What kinds of components are difficult for you to source?
If you're looking for specific types of components within a broader range (such as you want a < 10 ppm SMD crystal at a strange frequency), sure, I can see finding something like a suitable crystal being less than easy. But for normal components (everything Digi-Key sells is "normal" to me) I have a hard time understanding how changing Digi-Key's search tool would make it better.
- noonespecial 12y agoExample: I needed to make a circuit with a logarithmic response to voltage that ran off single rail +5vDC. I needed about 200 copies of this configuration. I chose a low VCC rail-to-rail single-source op-amp from Digi-key. Twice. Both got EOL'd and impossible to get between the time I got my prototype done and the time I was ready to order in quantity. Many ICs are produced for specific purposes for a short time and are never made again. As a "pro-am", its hard to navigate this part of the supply chain. Ostensibly a common part library would have smart people looking to make sure that a part remained source-able in the long term. If the idea became big enough, the CPL would cause these chosen parts to be so.
- sam 12y agoWe hear stories like that all the time. That's exactly the trap we trying to help designers avoid.