Radio Shack - dumbasses

[ChadTower]

Just one on top of a billion complaints about the place... but apparently they no longer carry replacement tips for their soldapult.   

[shardian]

Yes, unfortunately Radio Shack has forgotten their roots. If you aren't there to buy a cell-phone accessory or low end/overpriced stereo equipment you are out of luck. The majority of their employees treat the hobby/electrical component section like a toxic waste dump - they are afraid to go anywhere near it.

You are lucky they carry what they do as it is.

Try this vendor:
http://www.etool.ca/eTool/RENDER/1/71/380/3781.html

[ChadTower]

$22 for the tool!  The one at MCM is $6.   

If the MCM replacement tips don't fit (I just sent them an email asking if they know), I'll just buy the $6 MCM soldapult and a bunch of $1.25 replacement tips.

[AtomSmasher]

Last time I went to a radio shack it was locating inside of a mall (which is the closest one to me), when I opened the drawers in the electrical component section all of them were either empty or almost empty.  When I asked the guy at the counter where all of their stuff went, he said they stopped restocking that section a long time ago and I should go to a radio shack not located in a mall if I wanted any of that type of stuff.

[ChadTower]

I did get a lot of good stuff when the local strip mall Radio Shack was closed... their high end DMM for $30, two shopping bags full of components for like $10, the desoldering iron for $5, etc etc... spent $100 and came out with half a carload of stuff.

[tommy]

he said they stopped restocking that section a long time ago and I should go to a radio shack not located in a mall if I wanted any of that type of stuff.

You mean another store not named radio shack that actually has stuff to buy at decent prices? 

[Havok]

That sucks - (hehe - pun not originally intended), keep us updated if you find a replacement. I think mine is getting to the point where I will have to replace soon.

Alternatively, they do sell This and the tips are still available...

[ChadTower]

I have one of those... I don't really like it, it's not as one handed operation as they say and it didn't come with a stand or anything to put it on while it's hot.

What I have seen, though, is that you can use a cheap aquarium air pump to turn that into a pretty good airflow SMD rework iron.  You take the bulb off, attach the output to the little air pusher into where the bulb was, and drop a little steel wool inside the tip to give the air more hot surface to move past.  Haven't tried it but I hear good things.

[danny_galaga]

in the field i worked in (auto electrics) nothing beat just blasting it with an air gun  . just dont aim it at anyone  . this worked brilliantly for things like field windings and power diodes. of course with little components you might lose that 555 timer with the solder. also i guess you run the risk of getting solder in other tracks/components. but heavy duty stuff, try the air gun. its brilliant!

[SavannahLion]

Yes, unfortunately Radio Shack has forgotten their roots. If you aren't there to buy a cell-phone accessory or low end/overpriced stereo equipment you are out of luck. The majority of their employees treat the hobby/electrical component section like a toxic waste dump - they are afraid to go anywhere near it.

The reason for that is pretty lame. Radio Shack actually told (tells?) employees not to sell the component section unless they really need to. The Rat Shack stores have a whole slew of training videos that focus almost entirely on commission and spiff (what they call a perk) sales. Components get you jack on commission and spiffs. The only training video they have related to component sells is to how to tell the difference between RJ-45, RCA, etc jacks. It's a crock.

Remember Primestar? Radio Shack sold both Primestar and DirectTV at the same time. DTV had no spiff, just straight commission. The Primestar had commission and something like a $50 or $100 spiff bonus. Radio Shack employees knew, years before the announcement, that Primestar was a failing technology yet Rat Shack forced it to be sold to the masses.

They do the same with their entertainment components. If you go to Fry's, CompUSA, Best Buy or any other decent store, it's almost impossible to buy a DVD without stereo output (or a two head VCR when I figured all this out). For most consumers, these are considered standard features. At the Shack, they're considered optional features. Seriously, having Stereo outputs is considered an optional feature. That's kind of like trying to sell a car without a stereo. Sure, it's considered an optional feature by some, but don't expect to sell a whole lot of them without it.

That $49.99 DVD player with mono audio there? You can get one with stereo at Best Buy for exactly the same price. Radio Shack doesn't expect to sell their low end crap. It's just a way to make the rest of their higher end crap look better.

[NightGod]

On the plus side, that means I get left the hell alone when I walking in and make a beeline for the component section-nothing scares them off faster than saying "no, I know what I need" and reaching for a drawer full of microswitches.

[boykster]

radioshack only gets my "oh crap" purchases, otherwise it's Fry's, Radar electronics, or Westlake electronics for local purchases, and jameco, digikey, markertek, parts express for larger online orders.  IF ratshack has what I need, its most likely twice the price I could find it elsewhere.

 

[bfauska]

Boykster, I don't know if I knew you were one of us Seattle area folks or not, but I do know that I DIDN'T know about westlake electronics.  I work just off of Mercer and haven't been there before, I'll have to check them out next time I need something.

[boykster]

Boykster, I don't know if I knew you were one of us Seattle area folks or not, but I do know that I DIDN'T know about westlake electronics.  I work just off of Mercer and haven't been there before, I'll have to check them out next time I need something.

I vaguely recall that you were a seattleite as well...I work right down on S. Lake union as well (Fred Hutch over on Fairview) and westlake is a cool store.  I mostly buy online and do "will call".  Funny thing is, I ordered from them at least 2-3 times before I realized they were local.  Not a huge storefront, but decent, and they have tons of stock in the back.

I really miss having Radar downtown seattle on western between Denny and Elliott, as I used to literally work across the street (next to the PI building) and would go there at lunch for quick fixes.....Now they're in Everett IIRC.....

[rovingmind]

It used to be fun to go into the shack and play "make the clerk feel like an idiot" now its not worth the time to even go in there. 

I try to make the beeline for the components racks but they keep trying to stop me by the cell phones.
I resisted the urge to throttle them as they tried to "help" me find bits for a couple of audio cables i need to make.  They didn't even have universal RCA plugs anymore.  I gave up and left with just a packet of spade terminals and the heat shrink i went in for. 

I only go their when i run out of terminals or heatshrink and need some fast.

[shardian]

A little while back, Radio Shack was clearancing out V1 iPod shuffle accessory packs for like $2. I finally found a RS that had a few and bought one. At first, it seemed like the salesman was jokingly asking me to buy the rest of them (there were about 10 more), but then he just wouldn't quit the entire time I was in there. He annoyed the ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- out of me for goodness sake!

[Jeff AMN]

I dropped by last week to pick up an HDMI cable figuring that they'd have a cheap generic solution but I was dead wrong. The cheapest cable they had was for $50. I ended up ordering one on eBay for $6 shipped and it's an excellent cable.

Radio Shack used to be the go to place for circumventing the overpriced name brands. Sadly, they've strayed far from what used to make them so special.

[boykster]

I dropped by last week to pick up an HDMI cable figuring that they'd have a cheap generic solution but I was dead wrong. The cheapest cable they had was for $50. I ended up ordering one on eBay for $6 shipped and it's an excellent cable.

Radio Shack used to be the go to place for circumventing the overpriced name brands. Sadly, they've strayed far from what used to make them so special.

that's the truth.  You used to be able to buy a decent set of component video cables from RS for about $25-30.  A couple of years ago, they replaced all of thier store brand cables with Monster Cable...now the cheapest component cable is $50? or more....