What Did You Buy Today?

[Provincial]

I'm lucky in this respect. Not far away, in Salem, Oregon is a nice shop called NORVAC that carries a surprisingly large variety of electronics/supplies. It is a "Mom & Pop" shop and the owners are quite knowledgeable, friendly, and helpful. It is my go-to source, and I only buy online if they don't have it and can't get it.

 

[Inferno]

I'm lucky in this respect. Not far away, in Salem, Oregon is a nice shop called NORVAC that carries a surprisingly large variety of electronics/supplies. It is a "Mom & Pop" shop and the owners are quite knowledgeable, friendly, and helpful. It is my go-to source, and I only buy online if they don't have it and can't get it.

I don't know if it's as mom & pop as you think. I used to go to the one in Beaverton a lot. Worked less than a half mile away.

 

[matthewsx]

Fair enough. However, the days of local stocking shops may have past. They have in my area. I just order stuff online, and it gets to me in a week or so. The above electronics places (and there are others in the UK) have fairly decent catalog descriptions. I don't think it would be that difficult to find a 4.7K pot. If you were to publish the required dimensions, there's more than one of us here that could find something suitable.
Shaft diameter and length, body diameter and length, that sort of thing. That being said, the old fashioned pots are less common these days.

Kind of expensive, but there's: https://www.mouser.co.uk/ProductDetail/Vishay-Sfernice/PE30L0FL472KAB?qs=Ub2JFBCWywJsx2dSXBb%2B6g==

We're lucky to have Santa Cruz Electronics right here in town. They're hours are a little short but they still stock stuff like this and I make sure to patronize them whenever I can.

Santa Cruz Electronics Home

Santa Cruz Electronics is a supplier of electronic and computer components

www.santacruzelectronics.com

To make it even better they're a Tormach CNC dealer.

John

 

[Shotgun]

There are still some Radio Shacks around. They mostly sell cell phones and small drones. Sometimes they'll have a little selection of electronic components in the back, but I've rarely found what I've needed in t here selection, and it has always been double what I could order it for online, including shipping.

 

[pontiac428]

Last year, the remaining Radio Shack stores closed up for good. All their suppliers are now on the Bezos Business Austerity Plan, selling more widgets for less profit.

 

[Provincial]

I don't know if it's as mom & pop as you think. I used to go to the one in Beaverton a lot. Worked less than a half mile away.

The Salem store is run by a man and his wife. He worked at this store for years, and bought it when the owner retired and wanted to close it. The business moved a couple of blocks away to a smaller building.

The Oregon Secretary of State Business Registry has no other NORVAC currently registered, but several variations of the name are no longer active.

 

[Inferno]

It looks like the Beaverton place closed

Norvac Electronics Inc - Beaverton, OR

3 reviews of Norvac Electronics Inc - CLOSED "man, when i first pulled up to this place, there were like 5 white 80s nissan pickup trucks with canopies in the lot and I was like "oh man, its going to be be child-molester central in here." The store was full of weirdos but the staff was very...

www.yelp.com

 

[ChazzC]

Sadly, most of us in the US don't have a good local parts shop anymore either. I get most of that stuff online now. The closest place I have that MIGHT have electronics parts is a fair drive away and it just isn't worth it for most things.

The one local electronics supplier recently closed their doors to walk-ins (post Covid, so not because of that). Growing up in Baltimore there were multiple sources, but that was the time of discrete components (& tubes; we had transistors and IC’s, and even computers - about the size of a piano).

 

[Aaron David]

There was a great electronics store in midtown Sacramento, years ago. Metro Electric. Had three country men who knew the trade, a good buyer, stuff on hand that you needed. I went there all the time when I worked at the cop car shop, as there is a ton of specialty electrics in a cruiser. But, I was talking to the owner back in '12-'13 and he was looking to shut down as online was taking too much business away.

It is really sad, as places like that aren't going to come back once they are gone.

 

[682bear]

My wife (the teacher) is out of school for spring break this week... so we spent the whole day today junking... at antique shops.

We probably visited 15 different antique shops... the only thing that I bought was an antique broom handle.

It doesn't work, but it is a broom handle.

It is missing some parts, but it is a broom handle.

Besides... how many opportunities do you get to buy antique broom handles, anyway?













Here's the pics...





Hey... it's a broom handle.

I may attempt to repair it... but I'll have to figure out how to get it apart first...

-Bear