[flagged]
[deleted]
Long live American Science and Surplus
41–50 of 118 posts
Re: Long live American Science and Surplus
#42[flagged]
[deleted]
Re: Long live American Science and Surplus
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
This doesn't really solve you problem, but they did just open (or about to) a Micro Center in Santa Clara.
Wasn't there already a Micro Center in the AMC Mercado Plaza, by that church on Great America?
Not for a long time now - closed in the mid 2000s I think.
Re: Long live American Science and Surplus
#44Is this their online store - https://sciplus.com/ ? May be some shopping help them?
Yes, that’s it.
Re: Long live American Science and Surplus
#45This is the coolest place! I'm so sad to see they're in financial distress.
As a kid I would browse their website endlessly, just fascinated by all the weird stuff. It scratched the same itch that watching Mythbusters would scratch. In adulthood I rediscovered them and went to their Milwaukee location for the first time. We spent hours there, looking through all the cool stuff they have. It really gives you ideas!
Re: Long live American Science and Surplus
#46Almost all the surplus stores are gone. Those that owned their place in a depressed warehouse district lasted the longest. Then they based their existence on the USA tax code. If they made1,200,000 electric things = 100,000 a month = sell to meet orders. Orders drop and they had 20,000 left and parts for the next 100,000. At year's end they can write them off - but can not keep them as written down parts = mandatory third party selloff. Surplus dealers would buy them at 5-15% of cost and sell in want-ads in several weekly mailed papers. Electronic Buyers news (EBN) is one I recall. 10 tabloid pages of all stuff. In the late 80's the internet arrived and by 2005 all these tabloids were gone. Then when manufacturing went to Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan and China the sources all collapsed. In addition, surface mount and LSI as well as programmed chips, meant used boards became useless for most - few had the hot air chip pullers. I was a member of Hacklab in Toronto = hacklab.to = a hacker shop you pay by the month and they have all types of machine tools, solder/desolder, laser cutters, filament printers,programmers work stations etc, but most use good laptops, Apple, x86 and linux and assorted single board small like raspberrypi etc. Even they buy from Ali express or one of the parts shops online, like digikey.com
Times have hanged. I used to buy from ASS. I went to the ASD show in Las Vegas every year. Still going, less electronic surplus, more sell off goods. https://asdonline.com/about/product-categories/
Re: Long live American Science and Surplus
#47These were my go-to guys for sciencey stocking stuffers at Christmas for my kids. Their catalog was always a joy to read, with excellent puns. Like the guy who wrote the linked article, a GoFundMe for a for-profit enterprise rubs me the wrong way. However, I just donated because of all the great memories they've provided me and my kids. Seems like those of us that like these things may need to pitch in from time to t…
> a GoFundMe for a for-profit enterprise rubs me the wrong way
It should. They should be selling shares. The Green Bay Packers are similar.
Re: Long live American Science and Surplus
#48Re: Long live American Science and Surplus
#49We used to have the most amazing little electronics store a lot like this called "Ra-Elco" in SLC, Utah, but specifically devoted to every wild bit of electronics you could imagine, ranging from individual little components of every sort all the way up to weird esoteric devices nobody's ever heard of (at least there were a lot I'd never seen before). Totally love these kinda shoppes, and I truly wish they weren't suc…
I like these places too but I can see why they are dying. The number of SKUs people want has exploded and the cost competition from buying online is unreal. Recently I needed a motor driver in a hurry (a4988 or equivalent) and decided to visit my local electronics shop. They wanted $9 for it (plus tax), which I was willing to pay, but were out of stock. So I went home and found a 5 pack of the exact same part for abo…
I tried to go to AS&S a few times working on projects. They never had what I needed in-stock. It honestly feels more like a toy/knicknack store rather than a place where you can get things you need to build or repair things.
Re: Long live American Science and Surplus
#50These were my go-to guys for sciencey stocking stuffers at Christmas for my kids. Their catalog was always a joy to read, with excellent puns. Like the guy who wrote the linked article, a GoFundMe for a for-profit enterprise rubs me the wrong way. However, I just donated because of all the great memories they've provided me and my kids. Seems like those of us that like these things may need to pitch in from time to t…
Scored a lot of Lindsay's books when you still could (lot of build-your-own regenerative receivers and similar, reprints of "The Boy Mechanic", "5 Acres and Independence", etc.). I would suspect (hope) many have been "archived" at "the org". (EDIT: I see for example "The Impoverished Radio Experimenter Vol. 4": https://archive.org/details/impoverishedradi0000lind/mode/2u... )
This is a great recommendation, thanks! I've found a lot of interesting old radio hobbyist magazines on the Archive, whose copyright has expired. While it's great to see how people could get stuff done with the very limited electrical resources available in the 01910s and 01920s, many of the designs depend on materials that are now hard to find, while materials that are now easy to find (like PN2222s) didn't exist.