For those interested in Tayda's Momentary DPDT foot switches....

[pickdropper]

... I have bad news.

Apparently, they have decided to replace the normal epoxy with Raspberry Jam.



The good news is that the Raspberry Jam is RoHS compliant.

[croquet hoop]

I had gripes with those I got from them, but I don't remember they were like that (and they've been disassembled since, so...)

Still, I am curious: do they click too? (those I got did)

[jimilee]

The ones I got click

[DutchMF]

I think they look very cool!!!

Paul

[das234]

Agreed.  It looks delicious!

[rullywowr]

Kinda reminds me of a dirty joke I heard recently about "What's the difference between jam and jelly" ...

Anyways, I wonder if the Tayda latching DPDT are the same?  I am ordering a few for a mini-optical bypass project as they are $1.99 vs like $6.50 from Mouser.

[pickdropper]

These do click, which is silly for a momentary foot switch.  I ordered some Alphas from Small Bear that I expect will not click.

I'll have to find a very unimportant application for these; they are pretty crappy.

[haveyouseenhim]

Kinda reminds me of a dirty joke I heard recently about "What's the difference between jam and jelly" ...

LMAO  I just heard that one the other day. I'll post an instructional video on how to do it.

[jubal81]

Tayda probably buys their parts by the pound. From the scrap bins to your door. I doubt I'll ever order anything from them again.

[croquet hoop]

Some items they sell are fine, but yeah, I have stopped getting mechanical things from them. Mouser is more expensive, but you get your money's worth.

[muddyfox]

i'd never ever buy 1n34a's from them again but i love their 16mm alpha pots with the plastic cap (not to use that other word). now if they would only stock 25k ones...

[Haberdasher]

"and we pass the savings on to you....."

[muddyfox]

All I'm saying is that Tayda has it's place. If I had to pay local prices back when I was starting out, I never would have made more than one pedal.
Soon enough does one realize Tayda's pluses and minuses and adjusts accordingly.

[pickdropper]

All I'm saying is that Tayda has it's place. If I had to pay local prices back when I was starting out, I never would have made more than one pedal.
Soon enough does one realize Tayda's pluses and minuses and adjusts accordingly.

For the most part, I agree.  Sometimes, the variable quality at Tayda does make it difficult to adjust to.  1n34a's are a great example.  I got some that were usable (a bit low, but OK) and some that were wildly out of spec.  Into the bin with those.

I like getting cheap LEDs from Tayda, as well as their 9mm pots.  I use their breadboards, knowing that I can just throw them away and get new ones when they wear out.

But most mechanical switches from them (toggle or foot) are VERY poorly made and I generally don't want to put them in anything that is going on my board or somebody else's.  Unfortunately, I've noticed some oddities with their transistors and ICs, so I think that I am done with those as well.  Forget about their caps; I skip those entirely.

[muddyfox]

Really, caps too? Apart from the flimsy leads on the resistors, whatever I used (resistors and caps) was remarkably close to the the advertised component value.

My main problem is that higher quality stuff (Smallbear etc) is simply out of my reach. With shipping costs across the pond being what they are I just can't sustain this hobby on anything more expensive than your run-off-the-mill chinese "crap", for lack of a better word. 100 tl074s for $10? 10000 resistors for $10? How can they not be iffy? But in this day and age where job (however lousy the pay may be) security is pretty much nonexistent, even places like musikding and banzai are beyond my reach. And once in a while I like to be able to fund a small board or two from (again) cheapest fabhouses out there, itead and seeed. So I just roll the dice. So far, several dozen pedals into it, I've only had one or two 3pdts acting flakey. Would I like to be able to get the "good stuff"? Absolutely. But situation is what it is right now and I need to act accordingly. If that means dealing with material that even far east considers a reject, so be it. I don't play out. I don't sell my pedals. Occasionally I give them away with a strongly emphasized caveat that it's made from the cheapest materials I could get my hands on (knock wood, none ever came back) and even less frequently do I even play my pedals (as I'm a hack player at best). I solder as a form of work therapy  , it's something I do to relax at the end of a crappy day. Even if they end up nonfunctional in the box of shame, they've served their purpose. And so has Tayda. I know the risks and I still choose to give them some of my money. I'd rather give it all to Paul (chromesphere) if I could (and I do whenever he has something that's even remotely interesting to me). But the width of Tayda offerings just make it impossible for me to ignore them, questionable quality notwithstanding.

Boy, this has turned into an unexpected rant... Sorry about that...