[TenTec] Kits Discontinued.

[dw]

I totally agree!!

Surface mount is a little bit of trick, but as long as I can see ( **
knock on wood **) I can get-er-done :~>

Duane,
N1BBR


On Sun, 11 Mar 2007 17:57:23 -0700 (PDT), "Shawn Upton"
<kb1ckt at yahoo.com> said:
> I think it'll still be around; the biggest cost will
> be the surface finish of the PCB.  Low cost RoHS
> boards do not have a long shelf life (the solder
> finish corrodes quickly); the better boards cost more
> (silver or gold compounds).  There is still something
> of a market for through-hole components, so IMHO
> resistors and caps will be around for a long time in
> thro-hole.  And common parts like 7805's and LM324's
> and the like.
> 
> What won't be around forever are parts like NE/SA612's
> and the like.  SMT is where the part development is
> occurning in, and in fine lead pitch at that.  So,
> "cool" parts will be hard to come by, while more
> generic parts will still be available for quite some
> time.
> 
> We might have a few more years by accepting more of
> the larger SMT parts  Or buying semi-assembled kits
> where the really small parts (or all the SMT parts)
> are pre-installed.  Some assembly places charge many
> cents per thro-hole part installed, and some parts are
> best as thro-hole, so a balance between "hard" and
> "easy" parts may be struck.  And packaging can still
> be done by the homebrewer; punching holes and labeling
> hasn't been affected (yet).
> 
> But yeah, the times are a-changin'.  Before long we'll
> be commiserating with the tube guys, or the guys who
> only designed with discrete transistors.
> 
> Shawn KB1CKT
> 
> --- Mike Short <mike.short at mchsi.com> wrote:
> 
> > Unfortunately, RoHS has made a mess of kitting. 
> > Manufacturers have gone to SMT devices, and the
> > market for 
> > Thru-hole components is not enough to produce RoHS
> > compliant parts 
> > To a large degree. The boards, components, and
> > solder all have to change to 
> > Remain compliant. Between that and the certification
> > process to make them
> > Meet the EU regulations, it is not economically
> > feasible to re-engineer
> > these.
> > Even though kits are generally exempt from RoHS,
> > having two complete product
> > lines
> > Of parts is not worth the cost. It is too bad, but
> > that is what is going on.
> > I ordered some parts from Mouser recently, and it is
> > a mixed bag of
> > compliant and non-compliant
> > Parts. 
> > 
> > Mike
> > AI4NS
> > 
> > _______________________________________________
> > TenTec mailing list
> > TenTec at contesting.com
> > http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/tentec
> > 
> 
> 
> Shawn Upton, KB1CKT
> 
> 
>  
> ____________________________________________________________________________________
> No need to miss a message. Get email on-the-go 
> with Yahoo! Mail for Mobile. Get started.
> http://mobile.yahoo.com/mail 
> _______________________________________________
> TenTec mailing list
> TenTec at contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/tentec
-- 
  dw
  dw at sover.net