Free samples

[The Tone God]

Natonal is a pain about free samples. I think once your confirmed they should have a higher limit. Five parts a week just sucks. When I found that out I lost some interest in using their parts.

I have other manufactures overnighting the best parts in their lines in large amounts for free. I'm much more willing to go with them. Especially at the rate at which I go through parts. Boom.

Andrew

[Gringo]

I added a links page in my site, it has a whole section dedicated to samples. Check it out, i went through the whole mouser listing of suppliers to put it together.

You might want to recheck at mouser (even digikey), they keep adding suppliers and i have only listed the ones that send (or might send) stuff to Argentina. Also, i filtered a lot of places only because their stuff was of no interest to me.

So far only a few orders have arrived, but hey, it's free so i'm not complaining

[smoguzbenjamin]

Cool, gringo that's pretty sweet. Hey andrew, do you have a list of where you get your samples from? Cheers!

[Hal]

i saw where to get samples, but never tried....

i could probably fake a company too, if I really wanted to try.  My mom works at a company that sells batteries, and the owners like me becuase i fix their computers  :twisted:

I was always afraid that if I clicked "free samples" they'd hunt me down and make me buy 10,000 of them....

[smoguzbenjamin]

Hal, you mihgt just need a 2W power amp to fix their computer What if their soundcards are all bust? :mrgreen:

[yano]

I've never been given any trouble when getting ICs, I just fill out the forms on the sites. I got 10 NE5532s from TI and i got a bunch of these tone control chips from National Semi, and i should have a couple MAX1044s on the way

[smoguzbenjamin]

Guess I was too cautious

[javacody]

Well, with some of the prompting here, I just ordered some 555 cmos type chips from TI, along with RC4558, rc4559, and some burr brown opamps. After that I ordered some stomp switch samples from carling, then I hit the NJR site and ordered a bunch of other stuff. Now I have more than enough to keep me busy for some time.

[smoguzbenjamin]

Sweet :mrgreen:

[petemoore]

Still looking there at TI for the Burr Brown ones.
 NE5532 [I am ordering]
 TL072's> there's quite a batch to choose from...
 Any suggested part numbers you could recommend?

[javacody]

Here's what I ordered from TI:

Part Number     Qty     Status
--------------------------------------------------------------
OPA2134PA    5    5 items shipped on 2/20/2004
OPA2604AP    5    5 items shipped on 2/20/2004
RC4558P    10    10 items shipped on 2/20/2004
RC4559P    10    10 items shipped on 2/20/2004
RC4580IP    10    10 items shipped on 2/20/2004
SE555P              5        5 items shipped on 2/20/2004
TLC555IP       5       5 items shipped on 2/20/2004

The first two are the Burr Brown Opamps.

[smoguzbenjamin]

Hey java, what kind of email account did you use to order those? Certainly not a hotmail account. :?

[spongebob]

The OPA134 really is a nice opamp, OPA2132 also has nice specs (OPA132 only available as SOIC). OPA627 has a very good reputation for hi-fi applications, at 12.25 a piece :shock:

TI also has a nice Power Opamp lineup.

javacody, how did you manage to order 10 items at once? I'm limited to 5 per product...?

[javacody]

The limit depends on the part. Cheap parts like the RC chips you can get 10 of.

[Marcos - Munky]

Hey java, what kind of email account did you use to order those? Certainly not a hotmail account. :?

I got some samples from Ti using the Hotmail e-mail.

[The Tone God]

Hey andrew, do you have a list of where you get your samples from?

I have samples from just about everybody always coming in. I don't have a list off hand but I may do something like that in the near future.

Basically there are three types of companies that give stuff away. Those for free no strings attached, those if you have a decent reason, and those if your part of a company. The first two are friendly to DIYers but just don't say you want stuff to build one pedal cheap.

Some companies are very open if you are ordering standard cheap parts. It doesn't cost them much so if it means someone will build something with their parts they're up for it. In those cases you don't need to lie about being in a company. If you need to say something you can just say your a student doing a project. Some companies love to send stuff to students especially if say your going to publish a report. Cheap advertising for them.

Other companies won't talk to you unless your part of a registered company. Luckly I have my own company and I am doing real R&D work so I can order from other less popular/open companies. At that point some companies are really good about service. Some companies will even go so far as to make custom parts for me to my specification for testing free. Thats when things really rock.

Andrew

[smoguzbenjamin]

Well I say that I'm a student anyway. Something along the lines of "I'm a student doing research, and I wish to experiment with multiple ICs in my circuits but don't have that much money etc etc." Because I am doing research! Just not for school That's their assumption. I'll see what TI has to offer.

Marcos,
I read that TI charges a small amount for sipping costs on their site. Did you have to pay for shipping?

[petemoore]

They have a real nice website.
 They sent me a confirmation for next day delivery for 8 chips too.
 Supercool...I think I'll whip up a circuit in TI's honor so I'll have something to try them out in !!!  
 What a nice reward for those whov'e figured out how to use them ... Thanks' TI, Aron....Everybody !!!
 Pretty DangKool mahnn.

[Hal]

I just ordered from TI this morning, and they offered different shipping methods, but said shipping was free...

They did say they charge for customs, out of country, though.

[Moo]

I got from onsemi.com
They have transistor samples, not only ICs. I got all my JFETs, MOSFETs, and 2n5089s there! They also give out power transistor samples, and you can order up to 25 of each part there.