x0xb0x SS#01: Day 0. Parts & Sorting

Very, very excited! Today the last set of parts arrived.

It was among the more important shipments: all the resistors as well as sockets for all the rare parts and a few other bits. Futurlec had the best prices by far, where 1/4W metal film resistors were $0.02 a piece, sold in quantities of 10. I decided to make the purchase worth my while so I picked up enough resistors for three units. If I decide not to make three I can just sell a round to another x0x builder for a good price. I also picked up a power switch from them ($0.65) but I'm pretty disappointed by the quality. It feels loose, flimsy, and cheap. I'll keep it around for breadboard tests but it looks like a bit if a waste of $. I won't rule it out yet but I think a nicer quality switch is in order.

My first statement wasn't quite true. There is actually a very small handful of parts I need to have everything on hand. I still need the following:

• 74HC126 Quad Buffer IC
• all the screws, washers, and standoffs
• IC Socket strips (which are ordered but being shipped direct, so there's a slight delay)
• knobs

The IC was the one thing I missed. The error was nothing more than me passing over it in the xls sheet. A1 Parts, a shop that's relatively close to me, has it for $0.99 so I'm not too worried about it. They also have some knobs and switches so I may be able to fill those gaps there.

I'm pretty critical about the knobs. It irks me that there isn't a supplier for really cool options. Most are pretty standard black knobs with or without a cap, maybe a line. I'd like something much more unique but it just seems like no one wants to stock any of them. Manufacturers make 1000 or 5000 minimum runs so that's out. There has to be a good source out there. I'm still looking and am prepared to hold out until I find it. It obviously won't affect the x0x's ability to function.

I also now have flat LEDs in white, blue, and UV. They look really good. I just need to work out what the appropriate resistance will be for them. I'll get to that soon.

So - the big task today was to test all the resistor values and sort all the parts into general categories. (Done! and Done!). x0xlog has everything neatly sorted on sheets. I considered doing that but frankly all the parts are already labelled. I'm going to leave them as is and see how I do.
I did bag them into groups though:

• Adafruit parts
• Rare parts
• Chips & ICs
  
• Resistors
• Capacitors
• Sockets and connectors
• Pots, trimmers, encoders, switches
  
• LEDs and LED standoffs
  
• Miscellaneaous parts: switch caps, wall wart, wires, etc.

Obviously it's a very general grouping structure. It all lands into a bag or box each so it's quite manageable thouhg. If it becomes tedious I'll group them the same way it was done on x0xl0g. That's certainly well organized. I can't argue with that.

So - without a further delay - it's time to start! I couldn't be more excited.