Choosing to self-source

Our projects use low-cost commodity electronics components which can be sourced directly from wholesale far-east suppliers on Aliexpress or eBay. However, sourcing your own kits is worthwhile only if you...

• are buying in volume for a classroom or hackspace
  • e.g. more than 100 at a time
• relish the prospect of self-sourcing
  • it basically isn't worth it for the money you save
• have plenty of advance notice
  • Hong Kong/China post can take from 2-6 weeks, and sometimes disappear altogether
• have plenty of free-time for...
  • coordinating with multiple, variously reliable suppliers
  • cutting, stripping, crimping, bagging, printing
  • flashing ATMEGA328 bootloaders

How to Self-source

If you do choose to bag your own kits, we strongly recommend you refer closely to the specific parts specifications and suppliers we provide for each kit and don't just source from your favourite UK supplier. That's because...

• Our buying decisions are based on classroom experience, for example
  • we provide buttons with only two legs deliberately to eliminate confusion in workshops from four-legged buttons
  • stripped solid core wires are more reliable than badly soldered wholesale jumper wires
  • using LEDs with a lower specification in the POV project will blow them up for sure
  • our 1/2Watt resistors have thicker wires, are larger and therefore easier for learners to read the colour bands than cheaper equivalents
• There really are cowboys out there - we speak from experience
  • for certain components, the number of 'fraudsters' in the Aliexpress marketplace outnumber the reliable suppliers
  • listing practices are designed to confuse you so you end up buying 10 for the price of 50
  • suppliers sometimes just lie that they have sent a package, adding spurious tracking information in the hope you'll forget to raise a complaint before your payment credit hits their account
  • some components are clones which do not meet the same specification as the originals
• We have spent ages finding the cheapest suppliers
  • So far, people who have attempted it have spent more than our bagged kits cost. We'd rather you bought from us
  • Anecdotal reports are than no-one has yet sourced parts more cheaply. If you manage it, tell us how, and we can pass these savings on to our learners.