Pf Capacitors

[Mike @ Rawkworks]

Where do you guys get your pf capacitors from? Small bear has them but (please don't take this the wrong way) I feel so used paying 30-40 cents for a capacitor.
Ceramics are easy enough to come by but pretty cheap and silver Mica are expensive and often too large.
Any help would be appreciated!

[raulduke]

You can buy multi-packs of ceramic caps with most of the common values from a lot of suppliers for very little money.

I bought mine from Maplin (uk version of radioshack) ages ago and they seem fine to me.

There isn't really any mojo with ceramic caps so any old ones will do as far as I am aware.

Silver Mica are another ball game altogether.

I suggest buying both variants (ceramic and mica) and swapping them in a circuit and letting your ears be the judge as to whether they are worth the extra cost.

I personally can't really hear the difference; but maybe I am mojo defficient 

[JakeFuzz]

If you're anywhere near LA there is a place called All Electronics that sells a huge selection of silver mica caps for 10-20 cents a piece. They carry tons of ceramics and tropical fish caps as well  

[jkokura]

I still use film caps for the 100-820pF values. I buy mine from Smallbear and Mouser. Thing is, I get them in bulk, like 50 or 100 at a time so they're cheap. When you get them at that rate from Smallbear it's no difference with getting them from Mouser or anywhere else.

For 91pF and under Under that I use ceramic, and then I get them either on ebay or from Mouser.

If you can get your film caps at 8-12 cents each, that's a good deal. Ceramics can be pennies.

Jacob

[Comfort Player]

I purchased a huge grab bag of ceramics that have lasted forever.  Regarding film caps I have seen a few "lots" on ebay like this.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/310340892982?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

Looks like a pretty good deal to me if you can wait for the delivery time...

[aflynt]

I've been using the TDK NPO multi-layer ceramics from Mouser lately. I like them a lot. They come in pretty much any value or voltage you'd want and are nice and small.

-Aaron

[jkokura]

I purchased a huge grab bag of ceramics that have lasted forever.  Regarding film caps I have seen a few "lots" on ebay like this.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/310340892982?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

Looks like a pretty good deal to me if you can wait for the delivery time...

I would agree, because it's between 10 and 11 cents a cap, however that one had no pF values. the smallest one was 1nF. If you're looking to start of a collection of 1nF to 1uF caps, that would be a pretty good buy.

Jacob

[dwstanford]

Ive been using the wima pf film caps from mouser, which are in the .30-.40 price range, but they are really high quality and you can get them in virtually every value imaginable.  I buy them ten at a time each time i need a particular value so now i have a pretty good stash of them.

[gtr2]

tayda's cheap for ceramics.  10 cents for 10

I do have a capacitance checker though.  You kinda gotta sort through them because they utilize the whole range of acceptable tolerance.     I don't mind though, its a great deal.

Josh

[Mike @ Rawkworks]

Thanks for all the responses guys!

I think I'm going to try
http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/TDK/FK28C0G1H470J/?qs=kMGq28SsF%252bniChfDkfnIAQ%3d%3d
first then go from there!

[dwstanford]

Futurlec has multilayer ceramics for dirt cheap.  Theyre pretty good quality too.