Im curious as I usually use the site very occasionally to get certain electronic parts or order from PCBway like I just picked up some cheap but infinitely better than stock gps antennas for my LoRa T beams and im about to get a set of also still cheap but much better than stock 915mhz antennas but i kinda wanna throw some other projects or weird thing in the cart with it. It doesent have to be hobby electronics with soldering and all that but bonus points if it is.

  • @Mr_Blott
    link
    11110 months ago

    Have you tried ordering some fuckin punctuation, mate?

    • @NindelofochoOP
      link
      English
      1310 months ago

      Reasonable. Have you tried ordering some friends?

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        710 months ago

        Possible. Have you guys tried that Mac&Cheese burger that Burger King had for a while, but then stopped for some reason?

        • Stern
          link
          210 months ago

          Nope, but I’ve found a nice mac and cheese sandwich to be a small mac and cheese put on a chicken sandwich at KFC/Chik-Fil-A/Popeyes/Your preferred chicken hut. Add a BBQ sauce and it’s great. Super messy though.

    • @waz
      link
      310 months ago

      A bit harsh, but it did make me laugh.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    2410 months ago

    Every sort of microcontroller/breakout board imaginable. I’m fond of the nanoCH32V305 (144MHz RISC-V CPU, 32k RAM/128k flash, and GPIOs for days)

    Soldering project kits. I bought a NTP capable clock kit to learn SMD techniques, then discovered that the Chinese market has no need for time zone support, but I had little need for the time in Beijing.

    There’s a surprising amount of miniature stuff there-- terrain parts for model railways, or dioramas or wargaming. The actual model railway stuff seems sort of thin on the ground, mostly resold and expensive foreign brands or toy grade stuff.

    I got one of those ominous looking wire-stripper-cutter-tools and rather like it.

    • Clay_pidgin
      link
      fedilink
      English
      210 months ago

      Wow, China doesn’t have timezones? They’re a pretty darned wide country to pull that off!

  • @mihnt
    link
    English
    21
    edit-2
    10 months ago

    deleted by creator

    • Zorque
      link
      fedilink
      310 months ago

      Your two links seem to be sending mixed messages.

      • @mihnt
        link
        English
        410 months ago

        deleted by creator

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      210 months ago

      That’s a great price for some cheap zip ties.

      This is one of the various examples I use of just how amazing Aliexpress can be.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    1910 months ago

    Not electronic, but engagement/wedding rings. We got titanium and tungsten carbide rings for both of us for less than $10. Your values may be different, for us it’s not about spending six months salary on a ring, it’s about having matching jewellery to show others we’re joined.

    • The Octonaut
      link
      fedilink
      13
      edit-2
      10 months ago

      I’ve never agreed with someone on this and yet been certain they are wearing polished coal rings before

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    1810 months ago

    Electronics, any kind of computer cables, switches, kvm, router, hub, mouse-wiggler etc.

    Soldering station, air filters, belts, phone chargers, usb cables. NEMA stepper motors.

    Bike lights. 18650 Batteries. Drones. NFC tags. Light table. Sun glasses.

    IR Thermometer, blood oxygen tester.

    I even bought socks there, quite ok and dirt cheap!

    Reading glasses.

    I’d avoid :

    Fountain pens (they’re “ok” but not Lamy Safari quality), wrist watches suck badly. Small scissors.

    I buy so much on AliExpress 😅

  • @Starayo
    link
    English
    1310 months ago

    I got some nice keycaps when I was building my first mechanical keyboard. Aside from that… Soldering gear, 3D printer parts… Cat toys, preflashed smart bulbs (so I can use them completely locally with home assistant), magnets… And generally any time I see something on Amazon that clearly is just rebranded Chinese stuff, and I don’t need it quickly, I can find it on there for a fraction of the price.

  • @FireTower
    link
    1210 months ago

    If you 3D print, heat inserts. You can use them to insert metal threads into a printed object with a soldering iron to allow you to use standard machine screws in projects.

  • wjrii
    link
    fedilink
    1210 months ago

    Tons of good mechanical keyboard stuff on AE. Not the absolute top of the line customs boards or keycaps, but almost everything else is hiding in there somewhere.

      • wjrii
        link
        fedilink
        210 months ago

        A pretty large portion of the kits, components, and pre-built boards are from “obscure” Chinese companies already, so much of what you’d want is just sort of… there. As a single example, get a GMK67 for $35, 70 Milky Yellow switches (if you’re into linears. I am not.) for $20, and maybe a YMDK set of keycaps for $30-$50, and you’ve got a very presentable budget build under a hundred bucks. If you go hunting, you can probably find stuff you’d like just as much for even cheaper.

    • @NindelofochoOP
      link
      English
      210 months ago

      Oh yea great place for kit boards and stuff. My first non g8mer board was a MagicForce 68 from there

  • @seaQueue
    link
    1110 months ago

    All kinds of small electronics and components, thermal putty, thermal tapes, heatsinks, antennas, plastic cases, replacement customized cases for specific electronics (handheld consoles, etc.)

  • @Cringe2793
    link
    1110 months ago

    Cheap disposable tools that you need for some project that you only need a couple times a year (if that).

    • @NindelofochoOP
      link
      English
      510 months ago

      I actually have some cheap tweezers i got from there for soldering and theyve been extremely decent at what they do

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        310 months ago

        I scored a pair of small wire cutters for a couple of bucks years back and they keep doing a solid job. I worried at the $3 price tag, but it’s been a solid investment.

        That said, don’t buy solder on Aliexpress. It’s barely made of solder. Make sure to invest in a good iron and solder it’ll be a life changer for electronics work.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    1010 months ago

    Pc atx 24 pin breakout board

    Cheap esc for bldc ( but those yellow extra cheap ones have a tendency to burn up on high duty cycle loads )

    Cheap bldc too, I use one plus a 3d printed fan + shroud to cool nvidia tesla gpus and another two to vent in/out garage door windows in summer

    So many sensors

    E ink screens plus esp32 or other mcu / sbc

    Small touchscreens plus sbc for diy smart stuff

    Cheap aluminum extrusion and fixings ( ryobi scroll saw is a relatively quiet and controlled way to deal with smaller stuff like 2020)

    Cheap bms and mppt solar bois

    Cheap rgb led stuff, I’m partial to the water proof silicone stuff, easy to pair with an esp32

    A lot of tat is similarly priced on Amazon and the likes. Always worth a double check before defaulting to ali

    • @NewNewAccount
      link
      8
      edit-2
      10 months ago

      Brushless DC motor, for those curious.

      Edit: actually there are a ton of acronyms here. Too lazy to google all of them.

      • thanevim
        link
        fedilink
        410 months ago

        I sure love that The Muppets are embracing solar energy…

    • @mihnt
      link
      English
      1910 months ago

      deleted by creator

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        710 months ago

        Thanks I was kinda shocked when I saw the link it gave me lol. I have no intention of earning referral money or anything. I wasn’t even logged into Ali express when I copied the link.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          1010 months ago

          Firefox just released a new feature where you can copy a link without tracking stuff in the URL

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            English
            5
            edit-2
            10 months ago

            Oh dang, that’ll save me a bit of time stripping that stuff out. It’s amazing how easy it is once you have just a little bit of understanding of how URLs work. My most common URL hack is getting youtube shorts to play with full controls. You just replace /shorts/[videoID] with watch?v=[videoID]

            I used it today to go through this video frame by frame to discover that she in fact didn’t hit her face:

            https://youtube.com/shorts/Pz1H1NI_22M

            https://youtube.com/watch?v=Pz1H1NI_22M

            On desktop you can use , and . to step through the frames.

        • @mihnt
          link
          English
          310 months ago

          deleted by creator

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      510 months ago

      Was just about to say, Aliexpress is weirdly known for having all sorts of retro or knockoff consoles. Many of them are really cool, too.

    • mesamune
      link
      3
      edit-2
      10 months ago

      Onion os makes this a really good console.

  • @thenewred
    link
    710 months ago

    Diamond sharpening stones. Still waiting on mine but they were cheap and I got the grits I wanted. Somehow I keep ending up putting new edges on knives, chisels, and other blades. I hear diamond stones remove material faster.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    710 months ago

    I recently bought a Pinecil soldering iron from AliExpress, which is one of the main official ways of getting them. Very nice product.