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Matt Pulzer
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Projects and circuits
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it and we cannot accept legal responsibility for it.
A number of projects and circuits published in Practical Electronics
employ voltages that can be lethal. You should not build, test,
modify or renovate any item of mains-powered equipment unless
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Practical Electronics | February | 2021
Volume 50. No. 2
February 2021
ISSN 2632 573X
Editorial
Sourcing parts
When it comes to projects, if there is one thing that can drive me
– and doubtless you too – to distraction, it is sourcing parts. It’s an
endless game of cat and mouse. First you have to find the bits and
pieces you need, then work out who does what the cheapest, next
calculate if X is really cheaper than Y after shipping is factored in…
then realise X is only cheaper if you buy 100… but Y is out of stock,
so in the end, over-priced Z gets the order because they actually have
some in stock, even though they charge an unconscionable amount
for putting a single capacitor in an envelope. And so it goes on.
I’m thinking about parts because I recently had a very useful email
conversation with subscriber Geraint Williams, who quite reasonably
asked why we regularly list Jaycar as a supplier for PE projects. This
made me crystalise my reasoning, which I will now share with you.
For those of you who are wondering what all the fuss is about, PE
works in partnership with Silicon Chip (SC) magazine in Australia.
We publish a selection of their projects, which are mostly sourced in
Australia, and not surprisingly, their authors sometimes quote parts
from local suppliers, especially Jaycar (and Altronics).
We spend a lot of time going through the parts lists of SC projects
to make sure they are UK friendly. Most parts are so generic that
neither SC nor PE will bother to tell you where to go (resistors,
capacitors, common silicon devices and connectors). Such items
are widely available and you don’t need our help. But – for the
larger projects there can be obscure ICs, strange inductors, very
specific hardware (boxes or switches) and so we do check that
such items can be sourced from a UK perspective. Often, in fact the
majority of the time, the references SC provide for these trickier
parts are from international suppliers like Farnell/element14,
Digi-key or Mouser, so they are just as easy to buy in the UK as in
Australia. Sometimes, though, the reference is Jaycar, which brings
us to Geraint’s question – and my answer.
There are three reasons for a UK-based magazine to keep the
Jaycar references in its projects, despite the apparent geographical
disadvantage. First, some readers simply want to buy the authorrecommended parts and since the articles are supplied with
precisely that, it would be foolish not to include it.
Second, buying from Australia is not as expensive or slow as you
might think. Yes, there is a premium, but if you purchase selectively
and possibly for several projects in one hit then it really isn’t
such an inconvenience. And of course, air freight makes a huge
difference. (Don’t forget that unfortunately you may get hit with VAT
at UK customs.)
Third, and by far the most important reason, Jaycar’s website gives a
pretty good definition and description of the parts in question. So, if
readers wish to look elsewhere for a part then they can do so with a
good technical spec and hence a fair degree of confidence that they
are looking for the right part.
Keep well everyone
Matt Pulzer
Publisher
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