Robust resistors, are you for or against?

[mjcyates]

I use both but prefer the beefier leads.

[billstein]

I prefer the beefy leads. They bend more precisely, the stay put when bent, and they are generally easier for me to insert in a board because they don't move at all. The flimsy ones work the same electronically, but I find my builds are not nearly as neat because they move around in the through-holes while I'm flipping the board over to solder.

I've been using the resistors from Tayda because ordering from them is so easy. The frustrating part is they are loose and it is hard to get everything lined up. I've decided not to be so ocd about this but it still bothers me a bit.

[RobA]

It's more than just the diameter of the leads. The Xicon resistors aren't exactly massive. They are pretty wimpy compared to every other brand I have, but they take solder fine, work well, and are within spec. Whatever the resistors I've had from Tayda are, they don't take solder well and they aren't always in spec. I don't trust the composition of the metal in them nor the plating on the leads. Add in the fact that I can't get them to stick in a breadboard, and they are pretty much useless to me. Buying other brands of resistors in quantity brings them near to the same price, so I can't see any reason to buy the resistors from Tayda.

[Micpoc]

Use envelopes and a box. You can easily organize them this way, and where the baggies are flimsy and will not always stand up to the abuse, using paper envelopes is usually more durable to this sort of use. You can stand them on end, and use a marker to clearly indicate the values inside each envelope.

Jacob

This is EXACTLY what I've been doing for over a decade! I use a very sturdy shoe box (I'm on my second one, a Converse® ) ) in which the envelopes fit perfectly: resistors in front (ascending), followed by caps (ceramic and mica, then film, then electros), diodes, LEDs, and transistors. Bagged projects to do bring up the rear, followed by empty envelopes needing refilling/disposing.

[Micpoc]

Regarding resistor brand selection: does anyone have any experience with the Vishay/Dale 1/4 Watters? I've seen some on Mouser that are cheaper than Xicons, and some that are more expensive... IIRC.

[Haberdasher]

the wimpy leads are pretty terrible for breadboarding use, but otherwise i don't care much if i'm just building for myself.
if someone is buying a pedal from me, i'm using thicker leads though.

[RobA]

There seem to be several different types of the Vishay/Dale resistors at Mouser, but I have some of the CMF55 and they are nice resistors. I haven't seen them cheaper than the Xicons in quantity though. They are a pain in one regard and that's that the value is printed on instead of color coded bands. So, you either have to be very careful about putting them on the board or just not care that you won't be able to read the value after they are on.

[culturejam]

or just not care that you won't be able to read the value after they are on.

Or you can bend the leads so the value is facing up.

[RobA]

or just not care that you won't be able to read the value after they are on.

Or you can bend the leads so the value is facing up.

That's what I meant by being careful when you put them on the board. From the point of view of making sure you are putting the right value in the board at construction, it's actually easier because you just read the value and there's no conversion step.

[culturejam]

That's what I meant by being careful when you put them on the board. From the point of view of making sure you are putting the right value in the board at construction, it's actually easier because you just read the value and there's no conversion step.

Ah, I thought you meant that you had to take care to get the right value on the board the first time because the number might not be visible later. My bad. 

[RobA]

That's what I meant by being careful when you put them on the board. From the point of view of making sure you are putting the right value in the board at construction, it's actually easier because you just read the value and there's no conversion step.

Ah, I thought you meant that you had to take care to get the right value on the board the first time because the number might not be visible later. My bad. 

No, my bad really. I wasn't very clear. When I reread what I said, I read it the same way you did.

[jkokura]

(that's called an interweb hug-it-out session) #bromance

Jacob

[Stomptown]

I'm going to switch over to thicker leads (currently have a zillion Tayda resistors). As mentioned they are terrible for bread boarding and I too have snapped a couple when using them for CLRs. It just makes more sense to use a thicker lead to me. That said, I don't think the thin leads are really that bad either and there are some applications where they are better, such as squeezing a 1/4 watt into an 1/8 watt space on a pcb as mentioned earlier. I do like to have the thin lead 1N4001s (Tayda) on hand for 5mm pad spacing. The thicker leads just don't fit well for 5mm spacing and I always cringe when I squeeze them in. (sorry for the derail)

Edit: This is my 1000th post! Hooooray!

[billstein]

(that's called an interweb hug-it-out session) #bromance

Jacob

Yep. As soon as I opened this thread I could feel the love. It's a beautiful thing.

[icecycle66]

I like thin leads.
I don't solder one component at a time.  I'll have eight or ten resistors in the board before I flip it and solder. 
With the thinner leads I can just wisp along soldering each one.  I hardly have to hesitate to bring it to temp.

However, I really like the way those little sausage looking resistors...eh, look.
So I might switch to those after I get rid of the gallon of Tayda thin leads I have.