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Suppliers thread - Where to buy various parts (primarily UK/Europe)

Lidl sometimes do selections of Heatshrink in various sizes at a reasonable price - of course you need to have a nearby Lidl and go in the week they have it....
 
Evening.. Can't really plough through all of that and my need is not even audio. I'm re-wiring a brass table lamp with a brass lamp holder. It's a family thing... a sort of 1940's 'trench art style' brass lamp fronted by a brass silhouette of the famous cartoon character 'Jane'.who had an unfortunate habit of accidentally losing her clothes everywhere she went... It lived in my parent's bedroom for many years and I inherited it. It's a bit of old kitsch.. but fun.

The lamp is currently unwired, but the original brass/ceramic lamp holder is in excellent condition. However.. the whole thing is not earthed, which I'm sure would be illegal now. So.. I've purchased a few metres of 'retro' fabric wrapped, but plastic insulated 3 core flex. Also a matching 'torpedo' switch. I'm going to create an earth by connecting the earth conductor of the flex to one of several structural bolts in the base of the lamp. ( And yes.. I will check the continuity from the bolt to the earth pin of the plug just to be 'super safe')

But.. what I could do with. to prevent the fabric wrapping of the flex from fraying.. is some heat shrink sleeving. For a single core it needs to shrink to less than 2mm.
I already have stuff which will shrink onto the full 3 core flex.
Thing is.. I can't find anywhere which will sell me less than several miles of this stuff.. when all I need is maybe a maximum of 15cm for the whole job. Any suggestions where I might purchase small quantities?

If the last few cm of fabric are hidden inside the lamp I'd just put a few zip ties around it. It can fray up to the first zip tie but shouldn't get any farther. Similar idea to hemming fabric in a way.
 
Any local electronic service shops near you?
Repairers or installers of domestic appliances, CCTV, e-locks, PA, DJ eqipment, pretty much anything electronic, should be able to part with a small amount...
 
Following on from my request for help finding shrink sleeving in small quantities.. I've now had several offers of small quantities by post. Thanks to all. I've always found fishies to be generous.. even (most of..) the ones who are wrong about politics in the off topic section... ;)

I've also had computer discs sent to me, and I've fired off a few bits including an unused Chromecast Audio to deserving folk.

I don't know if anyone wants or can use these....

Some nice capacitors which I bought for my Papworth amps. I used them to by pass the main power caps but I was told that they would be unlikely to have any audible effect below full output and I took them out when I flogged the amps. Can't say I noticed any difference from them being fitted and I'm not sufficiently clued up to know about such things. They're yours if you can use them. Used, but not abused.

AudioLinks Caps: 8 off CPA 5u J450 and 8 off CPA 0u1 J450. Used, but not abused.

PM me if you want them.
 
Well peeps. Since I made such a fuss about getting a few bits of shrink sleeving for re-wiring my lovely kitsch 1940s 'Jane' lamp.. I though you deserved a pic of the result.

She still needs a suitable lamp and I'm thinking maybe a nice globe or one of those new 'retro' bulbs with antique coloured glass.. but I won't be going to any shops in the near future so she'll have to wait a bit.

The little torpedo switch was a nice buy. Plastic, but really well thought out inside. I went for double pole and I've also run an earth from the brass base which tests show is effective for all parts of the metalwork... which is nice. It never had an earth all the time it was in use at home from late 1940s to probs about 1970. :eek:

Many thanks again to BarryMagrec who sent me a bit of shrink sleeving and to others who offered.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/VT7gs1TA5xqEJQkx7
 
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https://www.aliexpress.com/snapshot...erId=8016092672182895&productId=4001098547101

On the off-chance that some other fishie may consider building any of the Nelson Pass Aleph amps, I've just received the largest of the above chassis. The heat sinks look more than adequate, fit and finish is as shown and as a bonus (on my large one) the front panel is engraved 'PASS ALEPH Amp CLASS A', which was a pleasant surprise. It took just 4 weeks to arrive in U.K. which isn't bad, and was way cheaper than the Italian alternative. Whatever the motive behind their original manufacture, it seems to me a bargain too good to pass up.
 
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Just had an unwelcome surprise - a bill from Fedex for £40 (VAT + charges). There's also the prospect of tapping the 24 holes in the heatsinks which I'm not looking forward to. Still a bargain though, and the cost saving makes dual power supplies a viable option.
 
Just bought a bunch of Phono sockets to build a small breakout box for retro computer from the Bay,

Turns out I bought them from Design-a-Cable, small UK based cable supplier who stock or can custom make all sorts of -well- cables!
They also stock all sorts of connectors and quality rolls/cut cable from Mogami and that french fellow who stars in action movies
Heatshrink too!
Candidate for supplier thread?

https://www.designacable.com/about-designacable
 
Recommendations please for suppliers of quality crossover components other than Hi Fi collective (too expensive)
 
Can anyone recommend a source of decent quality silver plated copper wires in various gauges - or even better, silver filled copper? I'm looking for a supplier that supplies info about the quality of the materials - ie purity.
 
I used to visit a company called Permanoid Ltd in Manchester who are the actual makers of many Hifi brand cables (QED etc). Their development engineer has Quad stuff and is very knowledgeable. His name escapes me for the moment, but a call to them might be interesting?
 
Found a supplier for Mogami Superflexible Coax Studio Speaker Cable, W3082 in the UK, HHB Communications Ltd, pretty good price for 14m, £8.00 delivery, paid on Thursday, arrived Friday. Impressive.
 


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