Small Bear's Annual "State Of The Cave" Message

[Om_Audio]

https://www.smallbearelec.com/Updates.htm

Wow, TO-92 going away- far out.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TO-92

[nzCdog]

Yea thats pretty crazy about TO-92s

[Haberdasher]

looks like we will all need magnification and little pairs of tweezers in the near future.  may as well get used to the idea.

regardless I think I'll soon be placing an order or 2 with extra to-92 all around while they're still affordable.

[madbean]

It sucks, for sure. But, SMD transistors will be available forever and I don't think it will be too much of a challenge for people to deal with those on the DIY side. I stocked up on the TO-92's last year when the JFETS were first announced but there will be a good supply to go around for the next few years probably.

[culturejam]

Just think of how easy it is to get the old TO-18 and TO-5 transistors still. I don't think TO-92 is going to magically vanish in the next couple months. I suspect we'll be able to get them for years.

Also, there are at least some companies still making TO-92s, such as ON Semiconductors.

[pickdropper]

Yeah, I think they will be around for a while, we will just have to pay more for them.

SMT doesn't really bother me, but it often is nice to socket thru-hole transistors, which will be more difficult with SMT.

[jkokura]

It certainly means you should buy a few more than you need if you plan to be doing this for a while. But for most of us, it means that we'll get our parts from Smallbear for the next decade, one or two at a time, and the prices will slowly rise until their stock is gone. I get the sense that Steve is being smart to buy as much as he can to keep the hobbiers happy, and also letting them out at a slow rate...

On that note, I have several dozen matched quads and matched pairs of 2N5952s... They might be worth a lot in the near future.

Jacob

[Scruffie]

Don't forget salvaging, out of one organ I got a life times supply or LM324s (all nicely socketed) & BCE NPN transistors (could never find out what the other transistors were, given them away by now but there was masses) not to mention some OTAs and other stuff.

The amount of resistors and caps that must exist is probably ridiculous, doubt they'll go anywhere, even if it means buying worse tollerance stuff from Asia on ebay, it'll still work.

Also Breadboarding, through hole will probably still be necessary, I dunno how you'd do SMD breadboarding with SMD resistors & caps.

Recon it's fuss over nothing and being overly cautious, it will not be the end of the world, except possibly for someone like Steves business so yeah he will restrict supply.

[jkokura]

I think that I said this once, but at the rate at which technology is developing, I think breadboarding is going away. You can just about simulate any schematic you want on a computer, and the price decrease on having a PCB and circuit be prototyped is moving quickly. It won't be long till it's cheaper and faster to develop a circuit using simulation programs, have it prototyped and overnighted back to you by a company for testing the next day.

Jacob

[jtn191]

I remember the last time the move to SMD and breadboarding was brought up, Madbean mentioned adapters for op-amps. The same thing for resistors wouldn't be too far removed

[TNblueshawk]

I won't delve into SMD. Any of you guys who need reading glasses as it is now knows why. Too much of a PITA I think.

I'll just switch over to amp and guitar building  Hell, I'll have my own stash of 300 pedals anyway by the time the SMD tidal wave hits 

[GermanCdn]

Boo on SMD, I have a hard enough time reading transistors now, lol.  I think I'll just order 50 extra of every useful transistor Tayda has on my next order (that'll increase the total bill by what, $20), then hoard them until they skyrocket in value.  Yeah, that's a plausible financial plan.

[pickdropper]

It isn't necessary to squint and do SMD.  There are some decent and cheap microscopes out there.  If you spend a bit more you can get a really nice one.  And they are useful for more than just SMD work.

[Om_Audio]

Another option is a usb microscope. Cheap and not greatest quality but you can have a laptop displaying the output which could be nice. You need to verify Mac/PC driver support- most of these are small brands etc.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=usb+microscope

And looks like with this one if you practice enough working from a LCD screen with SMD building pedals you could also make extra money on the side repairing hernias out of your bedroom.
http://www.amazon.com/Handheld-Digital-Endoscope-Microscope-Diameter/dp/B004O215NQ/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

C

[G.G.]

I won't delve into SMD. Any of you guys who need reading glasses as it is now knows why. Too much of a PITA I think.

I'll just switch over to amp and guitar building  Hell, I'll have my own stash of 300 pedals anyway by the time the SMD tidal wave hits 

don't worry, all you need for surface mount is a frying pan! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5lksMvmqQc&feature=relmfu