One major factor which affects many electronics hobbyists is the cost of purchasing components and associated fixing hardware. Very cheap sources for used parts which are normally still OK to use for your own projects are electronic fairs and Ham Radio fairs. You can often pick up very cheap “used” circuit boards and bags of bulk components for a few pounds and these can save you many hundreds over the cost of buying these parts new.
On a recent trip to the Wimborne Hamfest radio rally found a stall selling used power supplies and other control circuits for only 10 pence each. Each board contained larger components including transformers, capacitors, relays, connectors and many other useful parts.
We purchased 20 of these assorted boards and the list below shows the main components which we removed and the average cost of buying these new from RS.
| Item | Quantity Removed | New Cost Each | Total |
| 78 series regulators | 44 | 0.55 | 24.2 |
| Mains Transformers | 8 | 6 | 48 |
| Large Relays | 20 | 6 | 120 |
| Reed Relays | 17 | 2.32 | 39.44 |
| Ics | 74 | NA | NA |
| Opto Isolators | 15 | 0.75 | 11.25 |
| Cap's | 80 | 0.4 | 32 |
| Heatsinks | 15 | 15 | 225 |
| Feric Cores | 10 | NA | NA |
| Multi turn pots | 79 | 0.8 | 63.2 |
| Bridge Rectifiers | 8 | 0.25 | 2 |
| Leds 5mm round | 100 | 0.24 | 24 |
| Assorted bolts and fixing hardware | 200+ | NA | NA |
| £589.09 |
For a total outlay of just £2.00 and a couple of evenings removing the components has resulted in a saving of around £600 on buying the parts new!
The main components were removed from the boards.
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