Problem finding axial caps; trying to convince Farnell to stock them

Hi,

i'm making a lot of point to point lately, but every time i want axial caps it's a problem to find them. So i checked Farnell this time, to my surprise they only have Amphom (prices start at around 10 euros for small value like .02u/630V). Well, another option are Cornell caps from the US, but only delivery costs 20 euros!! I really searched and it seems this is it.
So i contacted them and they seemed to be pretty interested in stocking some more axial caps after hearing my suggestions. That's why i thought i would also ask you guys about your thoughts.
I'm thinking about asking them to stock some cheaper HV poly caps for coupling and decoupling. Maybe Solen, Mundorf, Roederstein etc. Some axial lytics like Sprague, Illinois and F+T would be a nice add too. They have some of them in their US stock, it shouldn't be hard to get some of them to Europe.

What do you guys think? Would you like to see some of this stuff in their offer or not? I know Farnell is a bit expensive, but they are at least serious company, i never had to wait too long for reply or order. Beside this they stock pretty high quality material.

Miha

but why bother?

You're in europe, banzai music has an extensive collection of all kinds of axial caps, film or electrolytic. Most of what the brands you listed for exmple. decent prices. always cheaper than farnell for other parts as well.

see?

http://www.banzaimusic.com/Capacitors/

Yes I say thumbs up to Banzai as well - cheaper, quick delivery, and frankly their website is far easier to use than farnell.

Banzaiii
Fast delivery and cheaper then farnell

deuce42 said:

Yes I say thumbs up to Banzai as well - cheaper, quick delivery, and frankly their website is far easier to use than farnell.

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This is not my experience with them.
One time i ordered and payed about 25 Panasonic ECQ caps. After payment arrived, they contacted me saying they only have about 5 of those caps. So they shipped what they had and asked me to wait 1,5 month for caps to arrive. I contacted them after 2 months, and they said (after a few mails with no replies) i will have to wait another 3 weeks or so. I would expect that they removed from the website something they don't have in stock. The problem with this is that you find out what they don't have after paying, not before.
A friend was waiting 6 months (after he payed) to get one tube. At the end he didn't get it and they wouldn't even send notifications about delays several times. At the end he had to buy something else because he didn't want to "loose" money.
A few months ago they promised me to get tag boards in two months. I contacted them after 3 months and they didn't even reply.
I don't know why, but i have to wait for their reply a week or two, sometimes i don't get it at all.

I don't trust this shop anymore, specially when i have deadlines. But i guess they are just fine if you can wait a few months. I don't have time and money for this troubles.

Miha

I've also had terrible delays with banzai (4 months+). But the fact is they stock or at least make an effort to stock awfully many useful items that aren't easily available elsewhere.

I didn't say they were fast, but they are quite cheap.

Axial caps will continue to get even more scarce as manufacturers stop using them in new designs,  and cap makers stop making them.

JR

In other words, get used to using radial. ;D

Yeah, but you need pcb for that if you want good result. I used veroboard and this terminals for my last p2p project:
http://www.banzaimusic.com/Vogt-1364P-Z-100-pieces.html
It came out pretty good, but it looks a little bit funny. To make it more mechanically solid, i might use two veroboards sendwiched and longer terminals next time.

I think p2p is the way to go for simple diy and/or high quality tube pro gear. Anyone have idea about how to use axial caps if i don't have the pcb? My idea is maybe not so good.

Not really. You can use radial components on a point to point and still get good result. If the physical size is large then you can extend one of the leads, bend it over the cap and tape it over. Or use a cable tie. It is still mechanically solid.

RS Components still have quite a few on the books: Vishay, Evox Rifa and Cornell Dubilier, with values up to 10,000uF and voltage ratings up to 450V. They also carry axial polystyrenes and tantalums.

JDB.
[just spent the better part of two hours ordering 19 different components from RS... their selection is nice, but the search engine's horrible]

Sorry to be out of topic but it is good to see that I am not the only one who complains about their search engine. Farnell is the same. Horrible. These things are supposed to make your life easy. That is why I still prefer to use hard copy catalogues. I could get in and out in few minutes.

sahib said:

Sorry to be out of topic but it is good to see that I am not the only one who complains about their search engine. Farnell is the same.

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Don't get me started on Farnell's excuse for a search engine. Just. Don't.

My main gripes about the RS search engine:
- Not all parts' attributes are labeled correctly, if at all. This afternoon I was looking for a dual op-amp in DIP which could run at +/-20V with less dissipation than a 5532. That was ... fun. In the end I had to let my fingers do the walking through their paper catalog, with some cross-checks to manufacturer's data sheets.
- No way to get more than 25 results on a page. What's more, if you've selected a column to be sorted on and you go to the next page, it'll drop the sorting. If you then click on the column again to get it sorted, you go back to page 1. WTF, over?

Digi-Key's search engine is a dream in comparison, and if it weren't for the fact that the incompetent idiots at UPS have a tendency to lose DK shipments for a few weeks I'd order from them exclusively.

Back on topic: Digi-Key have a nice assortment of axial caps too, and shipment to Europe is free for orders over 65EUR (otherwise it's 15-18EUR).

JDB.

I just checked RS, search engine is the worst i ever seen. Farnell's is much mucg better but still a little hard to use.

Btw, someone on this forum said that not replying mails is a part of German culture. Was this some kind of joke or something?

rotation said:

Btw, someone on this forum said that not replying mails is a part of German culture. Was this some kind of joke or something?

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it was in a thread where I was complaining about a slow response from another german distributor. Actually slow is a wrong word, nonexistent closer to reality.

Yes it was a joke, but obviously of the sarcastic variety.

German online businesses seem not that great with their communication.

Sure, we're all just too damn lazy  ;D.


I assume you're looking for caps for building tube stuff, so I can recommend Tube-Town and Musikding. They both have great prices and answer (often within minutes) and ship really quick, definitely preferred over Banzai from my side.

Besides those, I really like some of the Epcos film capacitors. If you look at their web catalog, these will be all that are stated as "coated". They aren't axial really, but they have long leads, looking similar to Xicon or the typical Orange Drops (picture here). You can get those at Digikey, RS, Farnell, ...


Volker

volker said:

Sure, we're all just too damn lazy  ;D.

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I believe it has less to do with being lazy than with being old-fashioned.

I've seen the same at several Dutch distributors. Many of them still live in the nineties, and faxes are still the dominant way of doing business. Sales staff at those companies aren't exactly teenagers, and neither are the purchasing agents that they do most of their business with.

Another factor might be that, at least in .nl, a signed, faxed order form is a legal document, and e-mail isn't.

It's not exclusively German (or Dutch); haven't fellow Labbers often noted that companies like Cinemag respond much more promptly to phone calls than to e-mails?

JDB.
[this is definitely an area where the Chinese would appear to have an edge]