Toronto: Honson amove Again?

[davent]

Was visiting Toronto today and went up to Home Hardware/Honson on College and it's gone. Home Hardware is moving a block east on College but at this point electronics are totally absent. Bigger store, 2 floors was told the electronics will be in the basement but the basement's not open and there was language barrier issues... Staff is still setting up the hardware store and there's not a familiar face among them. Also the link i had to Honson Computer Corporation is dead. Any Torontonians hear/know what's going on? I'm assuming the previous owner of the Home Hardware sold his franchise.

dave

[kurtlives]

This is news to me.

I was at Honson two weeks ago and it seemed just as it has always been.

I'll have to walk over there at lunch one day and check it out. Though expansion and a new location doesn't sound so bad.
Thanks for the info Dave!

[Canucker]

Thanks for posting this cus I was almost going to head down there this weekend since I made up a bunch of boards last weekend and now I'm missing some components that I need. From what I understood its all moving...including electronics. Better be cus really its the only place I shop. How does it compare to the other place down the street? What did you intend to pick up there? and what were you going to build with it?

[davent]

Much bigger and brighter, wider aisles at this point, room to stretch there's no clutter and not much stock in yet. By contrast i was in the Army Surplus in Kensington Mkt. for the first time and have you ever been in the, i think it's a Home Hardware, on Queen just west of Spadina, have to move through them sideways , not fun, has the fire department ever visited?

So that's the main floor, good so far, what you could see of the basement was random piles of boxes.

I was just stocking up on a few general supplies, inline sockets, 8pin DIP sockets, i need a few small terminal blocks to finish a couple power supplies, a few odd cap values for a Rebote Delay, bits and pieces to have on hand for various future projects that i'm not aware of yet.

dave

[kurtlives]

Thanks for posting this cus I was almost going to head down there this weekend since I made up a bunch of boards last weekend and now I'm missing some components that I need. From what I understood its all moving...including electronics. Better be cus really its the only place I shop. How does it compare to the other place down the street? What did you intend to pick up there? and what were you going to build with it?

Creatron

Pricey but decent selection and Lawrence (the owner) knows what he's talking about.

They got some tube amp stuff even. HV axial caps, tube sockets, 24mm Alpha pots, tubes, etc.
I remember going in a couple years ago and asking about some HV NP axial caps. Lawrence says to me in his broken English, "you build tube amp, you build tube amp!"
I always thought that was pretty funny. I guess white young male asking about HV axial caps means they are building a tube amp (or something else dangerous)! 

[davent]

After a pilgrimage to Soundscapes i came back east along College and passed Creaton, tossed the idea around about whether to go in but as there was no pressing need and have to place orders elsewhere, i figured i'd just tack the stuff i was looking for onto one of the other orders. If i'm in Toronto i make a point of visiting Honson but if i'm  home it's far more economical to place orders at various places around the globe and in some cases almost as fast.

dave

[Canucker]

what would you NOT buy at Hanson? I find they're the best organized place I've ever been in and most of the stuff looks to be decent quality.... I find they're 9volt battery clips to be awful though...but they recently got holders for 9 volts that look much more promising. Is there anything else you make a point of getting elsewhere? 

[davent]

First thing, going into Toronto is going to set me back at least $35 for transportation and a cheap Kensington Market lunch so Honson's behind the eight ball right from the get go. A Digikey order costs $8 for shipping on orders under $200 free shipping for orders above and i have up to something like 8PM to place the order and get it the next business day. The $65 Small Bear order i placed tonight costs me $11 for shipping and Small Bear has everything you could possibly need for a pedal, and top quality to boot. How much would i have to spend at Small Bear to hit the $35 shipping point

Honson doesn't have everything i need/prefer, no diecast enclosures, no stomp 3pdt's (but dpdt's), no smooth shaft pots, no knobs that will work for me, no internal thread power jacks, no Teflon wire, i build tube amps and have to get pretty much everything for those somewhere else, be warned their ¼" jacks are junk. Having said that, outside of those jacks and not having the enclosures, Honson can do it fine.

The Small Bear order was lots of pots and knobs, photocouplers, photocells and the DIP sockets i would have picked up at Honson yesterday if they'd been open. Oh well, i keep my fingers crossed for Honson, this will be the fourth location i've followed them to.
dave

[Canucker]

Whats the benifit of smooth shaft pots? I'd think those would be annoying. I've also been to the last three locations and haven't had any issues with the input jacks...but I haven't really bought much until the home hardware location...and I always grab a quarter inch plug and test them. My trip to the city is about 40 minutes and $8 gas (give or take...toronto traffic suuucks). I always combine it with stop offs at other places of course.... pauls boutique, sonic boom, rotate this, gwartzmans art supplies. To bad these places weren't open till midnight so I could duck in before going to a show!
I have yet to order from smallbear or anywhere online. I most likely will when I get lifes money troubles sorted out.

[davent]

Smooth shaft = greatest selection of  knobs. Once a circuit is picked, everything else is based on what knob i want to use, colour of box, spacing of pots, size of enclosure needed etc., (over simplification) You can use a set-screw knob on a splined shaft but it just doesn't fit vey well. They're different diameters so the knobs end up all %^&*eyed, they sit tilled on the shaft, they aren't level with the enclosure top, no matter how much time you've spent ensuring your pot holes are aligned, once you put the ill-fitting knobs on and adjust the settings your alignment work goes out the window. Sometimes the set screw will fall on the split in the spline and you can't tighten the knob properly where you want it. Shaft lenghts can be too short or too long so have to be trimmed to use the knobs i want. Small Bear's pot shafts are never  an issue where other's Alphas may need to be trimmed down. I use splined shafts when i've got a splined knob i want to use or if a can't get the value of pot i need in a smooth shaft version but i'll use a brass bushing (more cost and hard to source) over the shaft to get a proper fit and avoid the wonky appearance (and i'd probably be the only one to notice the wonk, a little bit of wonk says slop a whole lotta' wonk says design element.)

The problem with the jacks is in the construction. You don't find out until you're tightening down the nut and the bushing starts turning independent of the rest of the jack and only stops once all the solder lugs have mashed together all shorted out. I rely on a star washer for the grounding of the jacks so tighten the nuts down firmly/hard, these jacks can't be depended on  to get there without coming apart, never had a failure with either Neutriks or Switchcraft. The Neutriks and Switchcrafts also use what looks to be a nicely machined, stainless steel nut as opposed to a poorly plated cast nut, shudder to think. They are just a much nicer/better constructed product. To top it off you can get the Neutrik NYS229 (mono) in quantity (10) for  60¢ a pop from Electrosonic, you might still be able to pick up orders at their Toronto facility, check,  they also have all the Hammond diecasts, Switchcraft & Neutrik products and various Mode power jacks that are desirable and seem to be for the most part only available there. (NYS230 for stereo jacks, a bit more expensive, and they have the best price i've found for Kester 245 solder, way, way less then Mouser or Digikey.)

http://www.e-sonic.com/acc/products.aspx?command=detail&partID=NYS229&partIDExt=319

Not familiar with Paul's Boutique or the art store, what are they about? We have a Curry's here (very little else for arts) so am familiar with what they stock, if it's out of stock here ii'll pick up what i need from one of the Toronto Curry's when i'm there but options are always good.

Take care
dave

Any light to shed on the Honson situation?

[Canucker]

Whole lotta wonk= design element....I think I've just been defined in a new way LMAO. Really I'm "cleaning up" my building skills at the moment...well once I collect even more knowledge which I'm doing here quite a bit these days. For the longest time I built somewhat sloppy point to point stuff and was quite excited when it actually worked...then I moved on to etching my own boards but hand drawing the designs on so you can imagine how that looked...finally got some press n peel blue this spring and have only done a few things with it but the most recent results are FANTASTIC...so the next step might just be a drill press so I can make clean looking finished products...though I'm a rather creative type so I might go for the whole lotta wonk look by the end of it.
Thanks for the electro-sonic tip...Markham is even closer to me. I'll look into what they've got that would suit my needs.
As far as the other places I mentioned... Gwartzmans is the arts supply place I go to...its on the west side of spadina just south of college. Mr. Gwartzman tends to be grumpy but he hires the nicest students around...they always say "your a student so your discount is 10%"...they have the best prices on stuff (but go a head and compare cus I don't buy everything) and tend to have only "serious artist" qualities rather then some of the "arts n crafts" things you'll find at curry's. 
http://www.paulsboutique.ca/ Pauls Boutique is in Kensington. Its a pretty reasonable vintage guitar shop...Its small but its crammed full and Paul is one of the nicest guys around. He actually sounds like he cares what your talking about when you tell him about your crappy band!!!

[davent]

Thanks for those, i'll keep an eye peeled in my wanderings. Electrosonic's website is a pretty nasty affair, not at all browsing friendly, to find what you want you pretty much need the manufacturer's part number. I've got an old dog-eared paper catalog that helps out a bit with that.

As for toner transfer for boards... complete failure, tried commercial products, magazine paper, over and over, bomb every time. Luckily i can get MG Chemicals' photoboards locally and using those, (or any photoboards) couldn't be easier.

dave

[artifus]

As for toner transfer for boards... complete failure, tried commercial products, magazine paper, over and over, bomb every time. Luckily i can get MG Chemicals' photoboards locally and using those, (or any photoboards) couldn't be easier.

dave

hi dave - i'm researching this at the mo and have a bookmarks folder full of links but could you recommend/link to a good tutorial? thanks.

[davent]

I don't think i ever looked at any tutorials, i'd done b&w photo darkroom work for years and this was more or less along the same lines. Take a transparency, figure out the exposure time needed, expose and develop, etch board. There's really not a lot to it.

First thing up is you do not need any special sort of special uv light, a regular flourescent tubes and fixture have  never failed me.with all the different brands of board i've tried.

You do need a positive laserjet or photocopy transparency of your art. You need a way to hold the transparency tightly against the positive resist board, i use a frameless photo holder from Ikea, four clips hold a piece of glass against a backing board, easy to take apart and put back together. i tape one edge of the transparency to the backing board before adding the pcb to the package. I've found a 9min exposure  about an inch, remember those, from the tube works for the various brands, using a flourescent tube for exposure gives you a pretty wide window of opportunity for time, it's not too critical. Before you start a full board you need to determine the exposure time with a test strip. Tried to explain that bit over here some time back.

http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=96733.msg841432#msg841432

Once your exposure time is up you remove the board from the packet throw it in the developer, rocking the developer tray for 1-3 minutes, until properly cleared, take it out rinse it off and into the etchant.

Did a board today, exposed for ~9mins, old used up developer took 3mins to clear the exposed areas, 6mins in fesh developer.

My printer and transparencies currently aren't playing nice so i used a sandwich of two transparencies to ensure i had a nice dense image.

Test fit with protective film still on board.



Ready to go under the lights. This was put together in very subdued light, you don't need complete darkness  when you peel the film from the board but go as dark as you can while still being able to see what you're doing.



Lighting set up, piece of plexglass screwed to the joists above the workbench.











dave

[Canucker]

Press n peel blue loves me....you just have to make sure you heat your board before laying down the blue so it stays in place right away and is heated from both sides....then sit the iron on top of the blue....dont move it around like they say or you run the risk of smudging and even a tiny smudge with this kinda stuff can ruin you...especially if your layouts are as tight as the stuff on the tonepad site!

[GGBB]

The problem with the jacks is in the construction.

On top of the tightening issues is the simple matter of wear and tear.  All of the no-name brand hobby-shop jacks I've tried are notably less rigid than Switchcrafts (haven't used Neutriks but I'd assume they are as good as Switchcraft).  Over time and use that translates into metal fatigue and poor contact.  So I just buy Switchcrafts from the guitar shop where I know I'm paying 4-5x too much, but I'm just making the odd pedal for myself.

[GGBB]

you might still be able to pick up orders at their Toronto facility

Electrosonic moved out of their Toronto location on Gordon Baker Rd. to Markham a few years ago.  Does anybody know if the new Markham location also has a walk-in order-desk/pick-up like they did in Toronto?  I used to go there to place and pick up orders after figuring out what I needed online, but I haven't been there since they moved.

[davent]

All i've found so far from their website regarding pickup/shipping is this paragraph which would imply you can still do a pickup.

SHIPPING CHARGES/PROCEDURES. All shipments are shipped prepaid F.O.B. our warehouse. All orders not picked up directly by customers are subject to a shipping and handling charge. Actual freight charges will apply to all shipments on orders of excessive weight or size, and dangerous/hazardous goods. Should you specify special shipping methods, the shipment will be sent collect. Special C.O.D. orders require a deposit. Claims for damaged shipments should be placed through one of our Customer Service Departments. A minimum shipping order of $25 total, before applicable taxes, will apply

[Canucker]

Thanks for those, i'll keep an eye peeled in my wanderings. Electrosonic's website is a pretty nasty affair, not at all browsing friendly, to find what you want you pretty much need the manufacturer's part number. I've got an old dog-eared paper catalog that helps out a bit with that.

As for toner transfer for boards... complete failure, tried commercial products, magazine paper, over and over, bomb every time. Luckily i can get MG Chemicals' photoboards locally and using those, (or any photoboards) couldn't be easier.

dave

I took a look at the site and it confused me more then the first time I looked at a schematic. I can only assume they are trying to deter hobby types from ordering. 

[John Lyons]

Thanks for the pics and words Dave! Fantastic resolution on the board.