Ordering the parts (ctd)

Now that I knew what I needed, it came down to ordering at the parts at reasonable prices.  Jeff used Adafruit and Sparkfun for quite a few parts.  While their prices on some things are good, there are plenty of other items where their prices are so high that the cost of this build would be astronomical without shopping around.  Some of the parts are hard to find, but for most of them I found the same component at a lower price.  The most significant changes were in the arcade buttons, where I found some with microswitches that will likely not be momentary switches.  This really shouldn't be an issue, though - at worst it may lead to a slight programming change with the arduino.  Apart from that, I switched from 4 digit 7 segment LEDs for some of my readouts to 3 digit ones - on these components you can see Jeff built it with the fourth digit simply covered over and unused.  By switching to 3 digit ones, I could save a few dollars...

So here's the build list with my source:

16 x 8 Matrix LED drivers
MCP23017 I/O expanders
Arduino Mega
Raspberry Pi B+
30mm square illuminated pushbuttons
4 digit 7 segment LED displays
3 digit 7 segment LED displays
missile switch covers & switches  (note: I ordered 7 of these, and reduced my spst switch count to 9)
SPDT switches
SPST switches
rocker switches
10 mm LED holders
10 mm diffused green LEDs, 10mm diffused red LEDs, 5 mm diffused red LEDs
12 segment bi-color LED bargraphs
30 mm yellow arcade buttons
30 mm red arcade buttons
30 mm green arcade buttons
multiposition rotary switch
rotary potentiometers
potentiometer/switch knobs
3.5 mm stereo audio jacks
walkie talkie set - used bellsouth 2250bk set (no longer listed on ebay)
headset with microphone
slide potentiometers
5 mm LED holders
#6 finish washers

In addition, while shopping, I purchased this gauge at Sparkfun that I'm going to work into the design:

 1 x 0 to 5v analog panel meter

I'm sure you can beat some of these prices, but I had other projects to shop for and in some cases the shipping prices led me to pay a bit more on some components to save in the end via lower shipping costs...