What did you buy today? Post your latest purchase!

[AF6LJ]

That's a snazzy cleaner, Pat. Don't get too carried away or you may have to wear sunglasses in the lab when everything starts shining.

LMAO!    I seriously doubt that will ever become a problem, but it will be nice for bathing boards, cleaning knobs & whatnot, and will also likely find itself buzzing small engine and machine parts as well.  I've had my eye on one for a year or more (since starting to watch Louis' videos, and getting stuff with 20 years of crud on it from Apex).  Wound up getting some O/T a few weeks ago, so I had some $$ burning a hole in my pocket.  Needless to say, it burned its way through...

-Pat

Nice I could get jealous.

[bitseeker]

... but it will be nice for bathing boards, cleaning knobs & whatnot, and will also likely find itself buzzing small engine and machine parts as well.

Yes, getting all the grime out of vintage knobs and other parts with lots of nooks & crannies. I remember some of robrenz amazing restorations. Looking forward to seeing how yours work out.

[mdszy]

I bought a couple of new (old) things!

Today I bought a laser printer for making my own circuit boards.

A few weeks ago I bought an old pizza oven for $7 on auction and will be converting it into a reflow oven! Currently documenting my progress in converting it .

Part 2 here: https://youtu.be/A-ZlhMszE7Q

[technix]

I finally found the 64MB SPI NOR Flash chip: S25FL512. Now my V3s board can have a full Linux installation without SD cards. (Only one of the two SDIO interfaces are connected to the microSD card, the other goes to an SDIO Wi-Fi interface)

[P90]

Having to assemble a 1.7mH, 200A inductor assembly made of totally $4750 of toroidal magnetic cores and $1000 of litz wires.
I tried to do 1/16 of the job today, and it is really exhausting, especially the tinning part of litz wires. So I ordered a tin pot, a solder bar and a bottle of liquid flux.

Why is the wire so expensive, pure quantity of copper? Hopefully can post pics when its done.

No. Just typical litz wire, the only thing that makes it expensive is I need 1200ft of them, and by them, I mean 460 strands of AWG36 magnet wires bundled in a nylon sleeve.
There is also cost for insulation. My litz wire doesn't come with additional insulation, so I have to cover them with heat shrink tubing, which is very labor intensive and skill demanding.
Finally, to take high voltage, inductor core must be taped with hand cut Mylar strips and finished sub assemblies (I have 8 sub assemblies to form a large inductor) are held in place with double layer of 1/32'' rubber sheets, then cooling fans are installed.
So at the end of the day, it is nothing but a normal inductor, just this one costs $10k to build, which is not exactly expensive considering this is at the core of an 800kW converter.

That's some interesting gig you got there...

:thumbs:

[AF6LJ]

Having to assemble a 1.7mH, 200A inductor assembly made of totally $4750 of toroidal magnetic cores and $1000 of litz wires.
I tried to do 1/16 of the job today, and it is really exhausting, especially the tinning part of litz wires. So I ordered a tin pot, a solder bar and a bottle of liquid flux.

Why is the wire so expensive, pure quantity of copper? Hopefully can post pics when its done.

No. Just typical litz wire, the only thing that makes it expensive is I need 1200ft of them, and by them, I mean 460 strands of AWG36 magnet wires bundled in a nylon sleeve.
There is also cost for insulation. My litz wire doesn't come with additional insulation, so I have to cover them with heat shrink tubing, which is very labor intensive and skill demanding.
Finally, to take high voltage, inductor core must be taped with hand cut Mylar strips and finished sub assemblies (I have 8 sub assemblies to form a large inductor) are held in place with double layer of 1/32'' rubber sheets, then cooling fans are installed.
So at the end of the day, it is nothing but a normal inductor, just this one costs $10k to build, which is not exactly expensive considering this is at the core of an 800kW converter.

That's impressive.

[mmagin]

... but it will be nice for bathing boards, cleaning knobs & whatnot, and will also likely find itself buzzing small engine and machine parts as well.

Yes, getting all the grime out of vintage knobs and other parts with lots of nooks & crannies. I remember some of robrenz amazing restorations. Looking forward to seeing how yours work out.

Do be aware that ultrasonic cleaning can be too harsh on some plastics.

[Bicurico]

Bought a "360eye WIFI Wireless IP Camera 720P HD".

Ordered it on eBay for 18 Euro. Took over a month to arrive and it turns out to be a complete waste of time and money. A complete junk. Silly me, thinking a 18 Euro IP CAM would actually work:

1) It only connects to iPhone or Adroid phones. My mistake, should have read the description with more attention.
2) To set it up it will create a WIFI AP. Using this AP, no way you will connect from internet.
3) You can configure it to use your AP instead. No info on which port (5050 - found out through port scanner) to open on router for external access.
4) No control on network settings, ports, etc. All very obscure.
5) No power adapter included, requires USB 2A source - not easy to find, luckly I had one from Raspberry Pi.
6) Connection intermittent - after one successfull connection, it needs to be rebooted.
7) PC software works 1 out of 10 reboots.
SD Card reader fails to se SD card

This is the kind of device you feel like literally throwing out of the window. What a piece of junk! What a frustration, constrant reboots, no connection, then it connects, then it lags, then it doesn't connect anymore...

But, hey, 18 Euro - what the heck. The good purchses make up for it.

Cheers,
vma

[johnh]

$5 for a second hand HP 20S from a local OP Shop/Thrift Shop .  Replacement LR44 batteries from the 2$ shop next door  $7.50

[edpalmer42]

Picked up a couple of 'some assembly required' units.

First is an HP 6002A power supply.  50V, 10A, 200W with GPIB.  No output.  $40 plus shipping.



But wait!  When I look at the back.......



Those two grey switches on the right.  Not sure about the one on the right, but the one on the left sure looks like it's pushed in.  No!  Seriously?

Second unit is an HP 5065A Rubidium Standard.  Top & bottom covers missing.  Some companies do this to 'destroy' equipment before they dispose of it.     Boo!  Hiss!     Kill all the lawyers - and bean counters!!   



In the world of Rb Standards, these things are the gold standard.  A few weeks ago, one sold untested for $1500.  I got this one for $123.    

Lots of fun coming up!

Ed

[P90]

Picked up a couple of 'some assembly required' units.

First is an HP 6002A power supply.  50V, 10A, 200W with GPIB.  No output.  $40 plus shipping.



But wait!  When I look at the back.......



Those two grey switches on the right.  Not sure about the one on the right, but the one on the left sure looks like it's pushed in.  No!  Seriously?

Second unit is an HP 5065A Rubidium Standard.  Top & bottom covers missing.  Some companies do this to 'destroy' equipment before they dispose of it.     Boo!  Hiss!     Kill all the lawyers - and bean counters!!   



In the world of Rb Standards, these things are the gold standard.  A few weeks ago, one sold untested for $1500.  I got this one for $123.    

Lots of fun coming up!

Ed

nice! I like old test equipment, especially ones with lots of knobs and analog pointers...   

[john_c]

150W Constant Current Electronical Load Battery Discharge Capacity Testing Tool

http://www.ebay.com/itm/172475195834

Now waiting on the shipping.

$26 seems like it may be a bit too cheap! For 150W. What do you all think? I know a drier coil works too, but I've always kinda wanted something like this.

[rdl]

Actually was bought a month or so ago, but didn't put it together until yesterday morning. Okay I guess, for a $10 kit.

[Jon.C]

Feeltech  25 Mhz  14 bit

[TheSteve]

In the world of Rb Standards, these things are the gold standard.  A few weeks ago, one sold untested for $1500.  I got this one for $123.    

Lots of fun coming up!

Ed

Does the 5065A work? I have top and bottom covers that would likely fit, not sure I'm ready to part with them yet though.
edit - well they looks like they would fit but they don't have the required vent holes, so never mind...

[edpalmer42]

In the world of Rb Standards, these things are the gold standard.  A few weeks ago, one sold untested for $1500.  I got this one for $123.    

Lots of fun coming up!

Ed

Does the 5065A work? I have top and bottom covers that would likely fit, not sure I'm ready to part with them yet though.
edit - well they looks like they would fit but they don't have the required vent holes, so never mind...

Oh, right!  Dangle them in front of me and then snatch them away!  Thanks a bunch, Steve!   

I don't know if it works or not - it's still on the way.  I'll be a bit surprised if it does work right away.  In the pictures, I see a few missing screws on the bottom and a couple of disconnected wires.  I also noticed what looks like a misconfigured thumbwheel switch on the module that's missing the screws and the wires so, who knows?  Wouldn't that be a hoot!  Throwing out a gem like a 5065A because of a thumbwheel switch setting!

That's half the fun with this stuff!

Ed

[TheSteve]

Looking forward to seeing a thread on it Ed.

The top and bottom I have are from a 5340A - same era and it looks like they would fit. If HP put vent holes in though they are probably needed.

[edpalmer42]

Looking forward to seeing a thread on it Ed.

The top and bottom I have are from a 5340A - same era and it looks like they would fit. If HP put vent holes in though they are probably needed.

But then they equip it with rackmount ears and don't say anything about allowing ventilation space above or below.  It draws between 49 and 72 watts depending on options.  There's no fan so cooling is strictly convection.   

Well, for the first month or two I doubt that covers will be my biggest concern.   

Ed

[jordanp123]

A Brymen 257s and a Uni-T 139C. I wanted the Uni-T for low power/energy usages in environments (Drops/Falls) that I don't want to take my nice meters.

[P90]

A 30'' 30bpp CCFL monitor made by Dell. Got it for 1/3 the retail price it was, and had to drive to the owner's place (8 hrs!) to get it since he won't ship it.

for some people that's a big screen tv!   

[McBryce]

Bought one of these: http://www.ebay.com/itm/RF-Active-Probe-0-1-1500-MHz-1-5-GHz-HF-VHF-UHF-SHF-analyzer-oscilloscope/291998278881

Seems to be built to a schematic that Elektor published a few years back. Well made and was cheaper than making up the PCB myself. Ignore the 5-15V supply statement in the picture, it uses a 78L05A regulator which has a dropout voltage of 2V, so it actually works from 8V upwards. I intend bypassing the regulator completely and powering it directly from the USB ports of my scope/analyser.

McBryce.

[macboy]

$5 for a second hand HP 20S from a local OP Shop/Thrift Shop .  Replacement LR44 batteries from the 2$ shop next door  $7.50

  A pack of five LR44/357 size batteries from my dollar store is $1.25 ... Canadian.
Good score on the HP calculator though.

[gamalot]

3 of Hakko 611-1 Soldering Related Equipment and Materials/Reel stand

Starrett 117A Center Punch With Round Shank, 4" Length, 5/64" Tapered Point Diameter

MG Chemicals 63/37 No Clean, Leaded Solder Paste, 1.2 oz Syringe

MG Chemicals Desoldering Braid #4 Fine Braid Super Wick with RMA Flux, 5' Length x 0.1" Width (Pack of 10)

All from Amazon

[FrankBuss]

A Terasic DE0-Standard FPGA board featuring Altera Intel FPGA SoC with dual core Cortex-A9 and 110k LE of fabric and a few 3.125G SERDES, though the board doesn't break out any SERDES pins, so effectively this is a board without SERDES.
Got the board for free from Terasic, in return I have to provide them a demo application with all code available under MIT license.

That's strange, Intel is using ARM cores?

Nice that you got it for free, what demo application do they want, and where can I apply? I guess a blinking LED is not enough?

[McBryce]

The demo I proposed is a Linux music player that implements interpolating sigma delta DAC completely from scratch using FPGA fabric and ARM NEON instructions.

Way too complicated. Just get it to display "Hello" on the seven segment display and you'll be good

McBryce.