Electronics Suppliers and Vendors

Electronic Parts, Supplies and Services

Electronic Parts (High Volume)

• Digikey
• Mouser
• Element 14

Arduinos and Specialty Parts

• Sparkfun
  • Largest Open-source electronics vendor in U.S.
• Adafruit
  • Has some interesting things Sparkfun does not carry
  • Based in New York City
• NKC Electronics
  • Sell some nice inexpensive Arduino clones
  • Other specialty boards and shields
  • Seeed Studio
    • Based in Asia, have lots of interesting microcontrollers
    • Make a good Arduino compatible
• Freetronics
• Modern Device
• Cute Digi
  • Has a nice RS-485 shield for the Arduino
• Nightfire Electronics
  • Good selection of SMT parts kits

Surplus and Hard-to-Find Parts

• Marlin P. Jones & Associates
• Electronics Goldmine

PCB Fabrication

• Flashline Electronics
  • Based in Santa Clara, CA. Have some nice specials
  • No on-line DRC
  • Good prices on larger boards
• Advanced Circuits
  • Reliable, USA-based. Quick turn-around.
  • Good on-line DRC
• Batch PCB
  • Business unit of Sparkfun
  • Slow turn-around (2-6 weeks).
  • Front end for Golden Phoenix out of China
  • Inexpensive for short runs of small boards
  • Good automated DRC system
• Silver Circuits
  • Based in Malaysia
  • Good prices, shipping can be an extra cost/delay

CAD Software

PCB Design and Schematic Capture

• Cadsoft Eagle CAD
  • The de-facto standard with sparkfun and other open-source vendors
  • Lots of libraries and designs available
  • Costs range from free (limited PCB size) to around US$1,500
• KiCad
  • Free, open-source
  • Gaining some traction on Eagle CAD

Mechanical Design

• Alibre CAD
  • 3D mechanical design software
  • About 10% the price of Solid Works