Date   : Wed, 07 Dec 2005 20:27:56 +0000 (GMT)
From   : Ian K <BBCmail@...>
Subject: Re: Vanishing electronics suppliers

In article <43962542.5070107@...>,
   Jules Richardson <julesrichardsonuk@...> wrote:
> Jonathan Graham Harston wrote:
> > Has anybody else noticed how difficult it is getting to obtain
> > electronics supplies? 

> Yes. There's no commercial market for parts any more I suppose because
> consumers just chuck stuff away and buy a replacement when something
> breaks rather than getting the old one fixed. That's not going to
> change until someone imposes charges on public landfill - and despite
> all the bleating about the environment nobody in a position of power
> seems willing to do it.manufacture

What about WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) Directive.
When this comes in it will make it the responsibility of the manufacture
of the equipment to deal with it responsibly rather than just letting it
get dumped in a hole.

I have found as a Photocopier service engineer repairing rather than
replacing things is becoming harder to do. Especially with PCBs, in the
past the average copier would be controlled by some form fairly
straightforward off the shelf logic that would be easy to follow through
and find fault with. These days things are so sophisticated and complex
that most in depth PCB fault investigation and repair can only be done by
a specially trained engineer with specialist diagnostic equipment which
can make even fairly simple faults uneconomic to repair.

> Of course it'll take a while after the incentive's there for people to
> make do with what they have before companies actually start producing
> decent products again rather than cheap junk...

With luck the additional costs of the WEEE directive will make companies
think more about making a product that can be maintained more easily
rather than just replaced every couple of years.

Regards
Ian K