{"id":3655,"date":"2011-02-17T23:04:59","date_gmt":"2011-02-18T05:04:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/?p=3655"},"modified":"2022-12-28T13:57:42","modified_gmt":"2022-12-28T21:57:42","slug":"surplusgizmos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/2011\/02\/surplusgizmos\/","title":{"rendered":"SurplusGizmos"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SurplusGizmos\"<\/p>\n

While I was visiting Portland last month, I made a quick stop at\u00a0SurplusGizmos<\/a> in Hillsboro.<\/p>\n

SurplusGizmos is what an electronics store should be, and it’s the kind of place that I love to visit. \u00a0It’s also the kind of electronics store that is completely nonexistant in Austin (oh, my beloved\u00a0HSC<\/a>, how I miss you), but I digress…<\/p>\n

You can usually tell a good surplus electronics store by the pile of junk outside the door (usually with a sign on it that says “Make Offer.” \u00a0\u00a0I’m not kidding:<\/p>\n

\"What<\/p>\n

Inside SurplusGizmos, you’ll find aisles full of electronic components like resistors, capacitors, connectors, random semiconductors, fans, motors, and miscellaneous surplus stuff. \u00a0Paradise!<\/p>\n

\"SurplusGizmos\"<\/p>\n

AVR microcontrollers! Forrest Mims books!<\/p>\n

\"SurplusGizmos\"<\/a><\/p>\n

They have cabinets with drawers full of electrolytic capacitors! \u00a0Yes! \u00a0This is what a real electronics store is like!<\/p>\n

\"SurplusGizmos\"<\/p>\n

This way, resistors by the foot!! \u00a0This ain’t no Radio Shack!<\/p>\n

\"SurplusGizmos\"<\/p>\n

Aluminum by the pound!<\/p>\n

\"SurplusGizmos\"<\/p>\n

Interesting pieces of surplus equipment sold for pennies on the dollar!<\/p>\n

\"SurplusGizmos\"<\/p>\n

They have a huge selection of “solder samples”, printed circuit boards that are used to…<\/p>\n

Actually, I’m sure what they are for. \u00a0I think they are used by the PCB manufacturer to test their process, but can someone comment about what solder samples are for, and why you always get one or two when you order a full panel of PCBs?<\/p>\n

Anyway, there were LOTS of them. \u00a0Hundreds. \u00a0Looking at these panels reminded me of Dave Jones’\u00a0PCB Design for Manufacture video<\/a>. \u00a0Lots of examples of v-scoring, tab-routing, fiducials, etc.<\/p>\n

I picked up a few to use as coasters\/wall art\/whatever.<\/p>\n

\"SurplusGizmos\"<\/p>\n

Apparently SurplusGizmos has some deal with Oregon Scientific<\/a> and gets customer returns of their weather monitoring equipment. \u00a0 It seemed like if you spent the time to collect all the right parts, you could build a complete indoor\/outdoor wireless weather station for a fraction of the new cost.<\/p>\n

\"SurplusGizmos\"<\/p>\n

I wish I could have spent more time there, but my time was limited and my luggage space was small. \u00a0Next time!<\/p>\n

If you’re ever in the Portland area and want to see what a “real” electronics store is like – check this place out<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I took lots more photos, many of which are\u00a0available on Flickr.<\/a><\/p>\n

Oh, and SurplusGizmos is listed on the\u00a0surplus electronics wiki<\/a>. \u00a0If there’s a good electronics store in your area and it’s not on the wiki, add it! \u00a0Help keep these small, independently-owned electronics shops alive!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While I was visiting Portland last month, I made a quick stop at\u00a0SurplusGizmos in Hillsboro. SurplusGizmos is what an electronics store should be, and it’s the kind of place that I love to visit. \u00a0It’s also the kind of electronics store that is completely nonexistant in Austin (oh, my beloved\u00a0HSC, how I miss you), but … Continue reading SurplusGizmos<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[501,378,6],"class_list":["post-3655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-electronics","tag-electronics","tag-portland","tag-surplus"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pioCd-WX","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1395,"url":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/2009\/03\/los-angeles-area-surplus-tour\/","url_meta":{"origin":3655,"position":0},"title":"Los Angeles Area Surplus Tour","author":"Jeff","date":"March 23, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Last month I spent a weekend in LA visiting Tony, who is building an awesome wood veneered enclosure for my Wifi Radio project. While I was there we spent a day checking out various electronics surplus shops in the area, several of which Tony had never visited before. Here are\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Electronics"","block_context":{"text":"Electronics","link":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/category\/electronics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"All Electronics","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mightyohm.com\/files\/flickr\/3304347224_1e2090c7c2_m.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4896,"url":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/2012\/02\/surplus-summit-2012-part-two-san-diego\/","url_meta":{"origin":3655,"position":1},"title":"Surplus Summit 2012 Part Two: San Diego","author":"Jeff","date":"February 20, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Continued from Surplus Summit Part One: Los Angeles. After visiting Los Angeles for the weekend, I spent the next couple days in San Diego. I had a chance to visit some old San Diego landmarks as well as one newcomer to the surplus electronics scene. Surplus Depot, San Diego, CA\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Electronics"","block_context":{"text":"Electronics","link":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/category\/electronics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2924,"url":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/2010\/04\/surplus-electronics-wiki-growing-fast\/","url_meta":{"origin":3655,"position":2},"title":"Surplus Electronics Wiki Growing Fast","author":"Jeff","date":"April 7, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"The past few weeks have seen a lot of activity on the MightyOhm Wiki! Since it was mentioned on the Make: blog last week, helpful readers have been making significant contributions every day. One highlight of the wiki is the Surplus Electronics Resources page, which I first posted about in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Amateur Radio"","block_context":{"text":"Amateur Radio","link":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/category\/amateur-radio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/12\/wiki-375x500.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4877,"url":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/2012\/02\/surplus-summit-2012-part-one-los-angeles\/","url_meta":{"origin":3655,"position":3},"title":"Surplus Summit 2012 Part One: Los Angeles","author":"Jeff","date":"February 17, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/mightyohm\/6882203127\/in\/photostream (Photo: Tony KC6QHP testing out his 47GHz amateur radio. Remember this post? All that work paid off, the radio works!) Last month I cashed in some airline miles and finally got to visit some old friends and spend some time in beautiful Southern California. Some long-time readers of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Amateur Radio"","block_context":{"text":"Amateur Radio","link":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/category\/amateur-radio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17,"url":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/2008\/07\/is-electronics-surplus-still-alive-in-silicon-valley\/","url_meta":{"origin":3655,"position":4},"title":"Is Electronics Surplus Still Alive in Silicon Valley?","author":"Jeff","date":"July 16, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Bins of ICs at Excess Solutions Last Monday I went on a surplus run in the South Bay. This was a common pastime for myself and a few especially geeky friends around 1994-2002. After that, eBay and mail order electronics pretty much took over, forcing the most interesting surplus electronics\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Electronics"","block_context":{"text":"Electronics","link":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/category\/electronics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2621,"url":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/2010\/02\/announcing-the-mightyohm-com-wiki\/","url_meta":{"origin":3655,"position":5},"title":"Announcing the MightyOhm.com Wiki","author":"Jeff","date":"February 2, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I am pleased to announce that the MightyOhm Wiki is now online and open to the public. While there isn't a ton of content yet, my hope is that the wiki will become a useful means to share information and resources relevant to the site.\u00a0 At the moment, there are\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Books and Resources"","block_context":{"text":"Books and Resources","link":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/category\/books-and-resources\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/12\/wiki-375x500.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3655"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3655\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15880,"href":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3655\/revisions\/15880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}