Help! There are too many choices when selecting a part!

[Guitarist1983]

So, I want to build a few guitar pedals for fun. I've built a couple from kits; now I'd like to try my had at modding.  I thought, "I'll start with a 3-pos mini toggle and 3 caps to add an input cap selector to a RangeMaster boost."  I go to mouser.com and there are 2470 through-hole, ON-OFF-ON switches to choose from--I'm paralyzed.  BTW, What is ON-OFF-ON vs (ON)-OFF-(ON) cause there's 407 more of those to choose from?   


Bottom line, any pointers on selecting that "perfect part" from the sea of parts?  Specifically mini toggles, but generally guitar pedal parts in general.

[EBK]

If you are in the US, check out smallbear-electronics.mybigcommerce.com.

By the way, (ON) represents a momentary position for a switch, so (ON)-OFF-(ON) is a return-to-center, center-off SPDT.

And, welcome to the forum!

[R.G.]

If it's any consolation, it can sometimes be hard for me to pick the perfect part, and I've been doing exactly that since the mid 1970s.

We are victims of plenty. Until perhaps the 1990s, very often you could not get nay switch that fit a specific space and function at a price you could afford. Now, we are both blessed and cursed with more choices that we can cope with.

Here's the way I organize choosing a part.
1. Figure out the minimum electrical needs: voltage, current, power, etc. In the case of signal switches, practically every part will have more than this mimimum need. For switches, you need to distinguisn between power switches and signal switches. Signal switches are special because the low voltages and currents will not necessarily punch through any microscopic film of oxidation or crud, so the contacts need to be noble metals: gold, silver, platinum, and certain alloys. Mouser will categorize signal switches as "low signal switches".
2. Once you know the electrical function, filter the switches by the kind of terminals you need. Some terminals need to be PCB insterted, some are solder terminals with holes to insert wires into for soldering, and some are "faston" or spade lug press-on terminals. Use the incredibly super convenient filtering function Mouser provides to select only the switches with the terminals you need.
3. At this point, I usually make Mouser sort the remaining parts by price, cheapest first. That way, if I start at the cheapest one and go down until I hit an OK switch, I know it will cost me at least that much.
4. From the remaining switches that (1) meet the electrocal needs (2) have the right terminals and are sorted cheapest first, you can then read down the list and select a suitable physical size and or lead spacing, etc. When I have the list sorted and filtered down this far, I start picking out candidates and reading the data sheets of each one to see if it really does work. I generally have to read datasheets of three to six switches to pick a final winner.

Mouser's incredible wealth of parts gives you the pain of selecting one,  but it's a rich man's problem: you have too many choices of things that do what you want. The opposite problem used to be the issue: finding even ONE part that was the wrong size and shape, that could be perverted into kind of working.

[Jeema]

I avoided Mouser for a while because the interface is somewhat daunting, but now that I understand it, I think I actually like the broad selection.

The key is, you need to know exactly what to filter by, or else you will get overwhelmed looking through thousands of things that aren't relevant to what you need.

If you're trying to make something that switches between 3 different input cap selections, I think you probably need a SP3T switch - single pole with three different selection options.  I only get 112 in the results when I filter by that in the 'Contact Form' field.

[EBK]

Also, when you run out of meaningful things to filter by, just sort by price and buy the cheapest.  Why?  Because beyond the cheapest stuff, you will usually find stuff made for high voltage, high current, high frequency, or high temperature, none of which generally matter in the stuff we build.

[Guitarist1983]

If you are in the US, check out smallbear-electronics.mybigcommerce.com.

By the way, (ON) represents a momentary position for a switch, so (ON)-OFF-(ON) is a return-to-center, center-off SPDT.

And, welcome to the forum!

Ah, thanks.  Smallbear is more to my liking as a newbie.  Their stock is limited (perhaps?) to pedal builders. Only 30 toggle switches to choose from.

[Rob Strand]

If it's any consolation, it can sometimes be hard for me to pick the perfect part, and I've been doing exactly that since the mid 1970s.

Not my favorite job either.   In the old days you might have a few trusted brands and kept their catalogs handy.  Nowadays it's information overload with a lot of low quality parts.  If you do production you have to ask will that part be there next year, or even next order.     Semiconductors have also got out of hand these days.  It's really annoying when you cross off a big list to find none do exactly what you want, or, the datasheets for some are unclear on key performance requirements.

Ah, thanks.  Smallbear is more to my liking as a newbie. 

It certainly narrows down the list to sensible choices when it comes building effects pedals.

[PRR]

> selecting that "perfect part" from the sea of parts?

Well, that's the problem. Not you; designers of micro-cellphones and maintainers of paper-mill plants need "the perfect part", and Mouser has them all. Particularly in micro-toys, jam-packed with teeny parts, the market has exploded to supply the just-right values in minimum space.

In the 1960s I used to read the whole catalog of several distributors every year. By the 1990s the catalogs became impossible to hold, the postman gave me dirty looks.

I almost remember when Sprague made four electrolytic caps: 4, 8, and 16uFd, and a 4+4 two-fer, all 450V. Now they come every couple of Volts and in 1.0, 1.2, 1.5, 1.8.... uFd sequence.

[Rob Strand]

I almost remember when Sprague made four electrolytic caps: 4, 8, and 16uFd, and a 4+4 two-fer, all 450V. Now they come every couple of Volts and in 1.0, 1.2, 1.5, 1.8.... uFd sequence.

After a while you memorized the catalog.  Nowadays,  a 2.2uF 0603 cap  50V,  what brand was it they went up to 50V, did I use the automotive rated one last time,  which one had the better voltage vs capacitance profile, did the capacitance rise up at 0V.  Never ending annoyances and checking datasheets ...   

[Sooner Boomer]

There are a lot more vendors than just Mouser and DigiKey.  Some sell surplus/new parts.  Others specialize in one or two fields of electronics.  Small Bear is good for pedal parts, as is AllParts.  A place I like a lot, mostly because I can walk in when I'm in Dallas is BG Micro (bgmicro.com).  All Electronics (allelectronics.com) is good for switches, common ICs, and component parts.  Electronics Goldmine sometimes has good deals on electrical/electronic pieces and parts.  It helps to have a wide variety of vendors, because sometime, when the planets align just right, you find that special amazing part you need - at a great price - and it's actually in stock.

[nation]

If you're in the States take a look at the specialist pedal part companies either to order or for reference; Smallbear, Pedal Parts Plus, Mammoths, Love My Switches etc. They won't stock anything that isn't for pedal use so you don't have to worry about the sea of choices.

[PRR]

> They won't stock anything that isn't for pedal use

Off-topic remark--  Cliff Stoll is repairing a 1963 digital calculator, and "wondered" if Ge transistors are even available. I advised him to talk to SmallBear. While the exact part used by the hundreds(!) in his machine is not on Steve's stocklist, he has the 2N404 which was "THE" digital transistor, and I suspect Stoll's machine uses a lower-spec sort-out from basically 2N404 processing.

[smallbearelec]

They won't stock anything that isn't for pedal use

As Paul notes, the selection that I carry for pedal builders does overlap some to other niche markets. For example, I get demand for quantities of pots, knobs and jacks, in particular, from builders of tube amps and synthesizer modules. I did not forsee the ultimate shape of this Beast almost 20 years ago (!), but I don't argue with serendipity.

[thermionix]

Steve Bear, you should update your URL, over there on the left under your user name.

Kinda strange, "www.smallbearelec.com" and "smallbearelec.com" don't work, but "diy.smallbearelec.com" does.