any Canadians????

[rousejeremy]

By "in town" I meant in Toronto. Sometimes I get an order that needs to be filled in a time frame that a boat from Asia just can't pull off.

[Canucker]

any good deals around on useful stuff for us this boxing week?

[davent]

Not sure when this happened but Esonic now sell Hammond 1590B's for under $6, 1590BB's under $8, 1590A's, $5.25- in addition to their great prices on Neutrik 1/4" jacks. And they carry the much sought-after Mode power jack. I beleive it's part number 31-134M-0

http://www.e-sonic.com/acc/products.aspx?command=detail&partID=1590B&partIDExt=195
http://www.e-sonic.com/acc/products.aspx?command=detail&partID=1590BB&partIDExt=195

http://www.e-sonic.com/acc/products.aspx?command=detail&partID=NYS229&partIDExt=319
http://www.e-sonic.com/acc/products.aspx?command=detail&partID=NYS230&partIDExt=319

dave

[Madkatb]

I didn't see it noted anywhere else in this thread but small pliers/nippers/etc of good quality can be found at Michaels in the jewellery dept.

[Jdansti]

Not a Canadian, although my ancestors were from Nova Scotia. The last post reminded me that you probably have beauty supply shops up there that sell hairdo and manicure supplies. I went into one of those places down here in Texas with my wife one day and found all kinds of stuff for working on stompboxes. They had plastic bottles for storing and spraying liquids, and a multitude of manicure devices for sanding - from coarse to very fine. I bought a variety of files and foam sanding blocks that were inexpensive, but very durable. I've used them to clean up PCB edges and take a little off of PCBs to make them fit in enclosures. I've used them to polish enclosures and to lightly sand finishes.  They're better than anything I can find in the local hardware stores.

[Canucker]

What kind/brand of clear coat do you guys use for your enclosures? and where do you get it....I put this in the Canadian section because places don't ship that stuff from outside of our walls...umm I mean boarders.. I know I read somewhere Canadian tire but I don't recall reading a brand or anything. Its gonna be warm enough to do stuff in the garage soon so I want to be prepared. Thanks!

[Canucker]

http://www.smallbearelec.com/servlet/Detail?no=57 is there any Canadian equivalent to this stuff? They don't ship international. I'm full of questions today!

[Hemmel]

I'm in Montreal, and I ordered everything I have from Smallbear. I was a bit disappointed by their shipping prices.
Then I read read the "Online stores" thread, where I learned about Tayda, and when I checked it out I was amazed at their shipping prices, but when I read "16 days" I got disappointed again.

I do go to Addison Electronique but their service is horrible and you must go at the counter and ask them for diodes/transistors/jacks. The place is always packed and you can easily wait 20-30 minutes before getting your turn at the counter. Can't beat their 5,99$ for a 1590BB though.

Go Habs !!! 

[davent]

http://www.smallbearelec.com/servlet/Detail?no=57 is there any Canadian equivalent to this stuff? They don't ship international. I'm full of questions today!

Hobby/model stores have MicroSol and MicroSet as well as laserjet and inkjet decal film.

[Greenmachine]

I'm in Montreal and I prefer Maddison (Laval) and Abra (for caps and resistors especially).  I know Digi2t goes somewhere else too in the south of the island (?).  I don't know why I keep going back to Addison, I'm consistently dissappointed by their caps and resistors section; but yeah their enclosures are very well priced and they've got an interesting variety of them.

[Canucker]

I get confused enough driving in Montreal I couldn't imagine trying to buy all these bits an pieces there! I was born there but moved when i was three...and I never had a good french teacher so going back to where I'm from I feel like a foreigner. Trips to quebec are always to my uncles lake so I can order bait in french and thats about all you need to know to get by up there! I'll try some hobby stores... don't know why I didn't think of it my drummer spends hundreds on radio controlled cars, boats and planes these days! You guys always have the answer!

[GGBB]

What kind/brand of clear coat do you guys use for your enclosures? and where do you get it....I put this in the Canadian section because places don't ship that stuff from outside of our walls...umm I mean boarders.. I know I read somewhere Canadian tire but I don't recall reading a brand or anything. Its gonna be warm enough to do stuff in the garage soon so I want to be prepared. Thanks!

So far I've used Valspar premium enamel (from Lowes) and Krylon (from CT and WalMart and elsewhere).  I liked the Valspar better, but I plan on trying other options in the future since I wasn't happy with the toughness of either (Krylon was particularly poor).  I am thinking about going for water-based poly instead of enamels.

http://www.smallbearelec.com/servlet/Detail?no=57 is there any Canadian equivalent to this stuff? They don't ship international. I'm full of questions today!

Apparently diluted white vinegar works just as well.

[davent]

What kind/brand of clear coat do you guys use for your enclosures? and where do you get it....I put this in the Canadian section because places don't ship that stuff from outside of our walls...umm I mean boarders.. I know I read somewhere Canadian tire but I don't recall reading a brand or anything. Its gonna be warm enough to do stuff in the garage soon so I want to be prepared. Thanks!

Use an airbrush for clearcoating over acrylics. Spray can clear have not played nice over acrylics so have experimented with waterbased Varathane and Polycrylic which you can get at your basic hardware/box store. Made for woodworking, tough, made for brushing. The Varathane always has a milky haze to it where the Polycrylic does dry to a nice waterclear. Not as easy to spray as, too thin, runs, each layer sits atop the previous so when level sanding you end up with sanding rings. Both, i think, do give great results and work well with the acrylic paints.

Right now using Target 7000 Waterbased, Waterclear Spraying Lacquer which is as it claims, waterclear and easier to spray then either of two brushing varnishes. Each coat 'burns' into the previous so you're dealing with a single layer of clear rather then multiple singles. Canadian Supplier for Target 7000. http://www.woodessence.com/

Polycrylic


Varathane with toner transfers instead of decals.


Also worth checking out Beavis's "Box Finish in a Day" article.
http://www.beavisaudio.com/techpages/boxinaday.html
dave

[GGBB]

Varathane with toner transfers instead of decals.

Dave - how did you do this toner transfer???  Is it on top of paint and then clearcoated with the varathane?  Any trick to getting the toner to stick to the paint without melting/scorching the paint?  That's something I've wanted to do but didn't think was possible.

[davent]

No heat involved, it's a wet transfer. I paint primarly with Golden acrylic paints so use one of their Acrylic Mediums (GAC200) to glue a toner printed mirror image of the art to the enclosure. Let it dry overnight, rough up the back of the paper with sandpaper, spritz the paper with water and rub it off with the fingers. Won't ever all come off with the first attempt so let it dry, rewet and rub, however many cycles it takes to get all the paper fibers free.

The Bazz Fuss was my first efforts so experimented lots, sanded the transfers, painted overtop, gouged them with dental picks, how fine a print could get, one pixel wide lines printed fine, wrapped them around corners... long and short no more decals.

Only ever tried it over acrylic undercoats but have used this for pseudo pcb silkscreens, transfered to the back of clear acrylic.

[Canucker]

Are there any GOOD places to buy components in Ottawa? I'm passing through there next week and it would be fun to stop somewhere and look what they have...but I did a web search and one place I found the prices made me wanna gag... two packs of resistors for Two bucks? I think I'm going to open an electronics store!!!

[rousejeremy]

Are there any GOOD places to buy components in Ottawa? I'm passing through there next week and it would be fun to stop somewhere and look what they have...but I did a web search and one place I found the prices made me wanna gag... two packs of resistors for Two bucks? I think I'm going to open an electronics store!!!

Send Mark Hammer a PM. He would know.

[Canucker]

Thanks! just did.

[The French connection]

  I'like to order from Futurlec because it's good and cheap but you must be damn patient.
Proud to be a Quebecer!

[Mark Hammer]

Elvis Gratton pour premier minister!