One of the most common questions I get asked after helping a customer find a substitute part is “how did you do that?”
Here are a couple simple tricks to make finding substitute parts for obsolete or out of stock parts easier.
First I check the bottom of the part detail page of the part I am looking for, for many parts there are substitutes listed there.
Depending on the part there may also be listings for associated product, for use with, mating products, tooling, or other similar items you may be interested in located at the bottom of the page as well.
Next, if it is an obsolete part I check the product change notice(PCN) announcing end of life(EOL) in the Documents & Media section on the part detail page.
If the manufacturer has a recommended replacement it is usually listed on that document.
Then I use the checkboxes in the Product Attributes section. Just click the boxes of the characteristics that have to be the same and leave the ones that can change. This works great for finding the same or a similar product with different package size, physical dimensions, color, etc.
After you have selected the boxes you want just hit the view similar button at the bottom and it will pull them up. It also keeps a running tally of how many similar products are left next to the view similar button.
If you still can’t find what you are looking for our techs are happy to help and can be contacted by posting to this forum, phone, chat or email.