What did you buy today? Post your latest purchase!

[VK5RC]

Bummer re the USPS, I have lost count of the times my gear has gone to Austria not Australia, even if correctly labelled!
Maybe we should have a 'country - con' (national version of emoticon)  kangaroo vs Alps or something! HiHi

[deflicted]

Ah, USPS tracking. Gotta love it. Twice, or maybe thrice, I had packages arrive before tracking had even acknowledged their existence in the system.

   Yep, I've seen that too.  Gotten the package and then a few days later received notice that it has been delivered.  Thanks, guys - appreciate the update, but, uhh, I kinda already knew you'd delivered it.  I've had it for three days.     Till this, it had seemed to have gotten better in my experience.  Fingers crossed that it gets here tomorrow, and that it HASN'T actually disappeared into the ether in Philly.

-Pat

Nevermind the crummy tracking, I just had a package from Hong Kong that showed up in Los Angeles, then went to Portland, Oregon before someone realized that the address was wrong. I live in San Diego, just 100 miles south of LA, and they had to send it ~950 miles north just so an actual person at a post office could look at it and go "Oh, that's not right."

Thankfully, someone did do that, and the package is now sitting in a post office about 5 miles away from my house, and will presumably be delivered tomorrow. That is, unless their computer system decides to send it out of state again. 

Edit: Or worse yet, they give up and send it back. I've had that happen before as well, albeit not all the way back overseas.

[djos]

Bummer re the USPS, I have lost count of the times my gear has gone to Austria not Australia, even if correctly labelled!
Maybe we should have a 'country - con' (national version of emoticon)  kangaroo vs Alps or something! HiHi

An international "post / Zip code" like the telephone prefixes would solve that.

Still there's something seriously wrong with the USPS parcel scanning systems if they get Austria & Australia mixed up.

I work for Aussie Post (IT Major Incident and Problem Manager) and the parcel sortation systems are gigantic and run very advanced SCADA control systems. Our 2 biggest sortation systems can happily process 25,000 parcels per hour if we have enough staff and parcels to feed them. The four scanners are 6 axis "tunnel scanners" and the whole system is very cool to watch in action. They are worth at least 9 figures each and they are just the two big ones in Melbourne & Sydney.

So yeah I'd be shocked if USPS isn't using something similar but on an even larger scale.

[Alex Eisenhut]

A simple thing, but those blades are magnificent. They really beat the Dollar store stuff and the OLFA stuff isn't that expensive, and it's available at Home Depot!

I use it for my foamy hobby, but this thing cuts everything else really well, like tubing, ribbon cable, boxes, etc...

PS: foamy =

[McBryce]

Ah, USPS tracking. Gotta love it. Twice, or maybe thrice, I had packages arrive before tracking had even acknowledged their existence in the system.

I'd prefer that to what GLS in Germany do: Inform you that you've received the parcel even though you haven't. Or worse, claim they called and you weren't home - For a Tuesday delivery to a company with 700 employees!! 

McBryce.

[NivagSwerdna]

5505A LASER DISPLAY

I love all things HP, I just couldn't resist, especially as it came in the original case. 

Looking forward to taking it apart.... it apparently is all discrete logic and analog goodness... 100% uP free.

[bitseeker]

NivagSwerdna, that's a very interesting instrument. Never seen one before. I hope you post a tear down when you take it apart and then link to it here.

[Cubdriver]

I'd seen it in one of the catalogs, but never really looked.  LOL - I have a new evilBay search running now...   

-Pat

[Cubdriver]

Bummer re the USPS, I have lost count of the times my gear has gone to Austria not Australia, even if correctly labelled!
Maybe we should have a 'country - con' (national version of emoticon)  kangaroo vs Alps or something! HiHi

The extender card is apparently still enjoying its visit to the city of brotherly love, as it didn't show up today either...   

-Pat

[NivagSwerdna]

NivagSwerdna, that's a very interesting instrument. Never seen one before. I hope you post a tear down when you take it apart and then link to it here.

Yes.  It's quite fun isn't it!  Basically the computation part for an interferometer.  I don't have the laser head just the circa 1978 display.  It's possibly not a 2017 project... but I will post pics when I get to it.  Thanks for the interest.

[TerraHertz]

A nice big sheet of 4mm thick aluminium, and some KF40 vacuum fittings:
  https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1PC-KF40-Aluminum-Vacuum-Clamp-Pump-Flange-Fitting-Parts-With-O-ring-and-Bracket/32819381472.html
  https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Half-Nipple-NW40-KF40-long-L-40mm-SUS304-New-Vacuum-Pump-Flange-Fitting-Parts/32802894683.html

A few fairly big O-rings. 215x205x5mm  That's OD, ID & thickness. And they are Viton.
  https://www.aliexpress.com/item/New-170mm-x-160mm-x-5mm-Green-Viton-O-Rings-FKM-Hole-Sealings-Gasket-Washer-5pcs/32453184696.html

Also a small O-rings kit, which I wish were viton, but are just nitrile rubber.
  https://www.aliexpress.com/item/High-Quality-Rubber-270Pcs-18-Sizes-O-ring-Kit-Green-Metric-O-ring-Seals-Nitrile/32784637643.html


And spent most of yesterday doing a chore I'd been putting off for ages. Took photos of the process, and only later realized I'd previously set the camera to manual focus and forgot to set it back. Oh well, it wasn't important.

Added: @NivagSwerdna, that's cool. I'd never heard of it before. The HP 1983 catalog (earliest one I have) still lists it - on the 3rd last page of instruments.

[tablatronix]

Prime day haul
enough protoboards for days and a new ir thermometer cause I still cannot find where I put that other one...

[BU508A]

Purchased a Satlink WS-6933 as a companion to my Kathrein MSK-125

ebay (example): http://www.ebay.com/itm/192178458847

edit: typo

[japasetelagoas]

A Rigol DP811A power supply and a 0.5m integrating sphere.

Now that's an expensive looking sphere.

[boffin]

Garage sale to the rescue.  A nice spool of 22ga hookup wire (red/black/white), for FIFTY CENTS

[technix]

Garage sale to the rescue.  A nice spool of 22ga hookup wire (red/black/white), for FIFTY CENTS

I need a metric reference for the size of the spool.

[BU508A]

I need a metric reference for the size of the spool.

I think the knife is this one: https://www.hkgt.de/shop/messer/victorinox/victorinox-offiziersmesser-equestrian.html
Length: 111mm

[boffin]

I think the knife is this one: https://www.hkgt.de/shop/messer/victorinox/victorinox-offiziersmesser-equestrian.html
Length: 111mm

Nope, it's this one:
https://www.swissarmy.com/ca/en/Products/Swiss-Army-Knives/Large-Pocket-Knives/Outrider/p/0.8513

[nickdepinet]

Bought a Nest thermostat for my new apartment and the mains work gave me an excuse to buy the BM235 as well. Beautiful little meter!

[Cubdriver]

Bought a Nest thermostat for my new apartment and the mains work gave me an excuse to buy the BM235 as well. Beautiful little meter!

You've gotta love a project that gives you an excuse to get new toys!   

-Pat

[djos]

Bought a Nest thermostat for my new apartment and the mains work gave me an excuse to buy the BM235 as well. Beautiful little meter!

You've gotta love a project that gives you an excuse to get new toys!   

-Pat

Indeed, I found it makes it much easier to justify tool purchases to the MFHS&F.*

*Minister for Handbags, Shoes & Finance.

[Johnny10]

Bought a BLH Straiin Strain Indicator... mostly for the nixie tubes.

Anyone have access to a manual for this thing?

Thanks

[bitseeker]

MFHS&F.*

*Minister for Handbags, Shoes & Finance.

LOL! Haven't seen that one before. I'll have to remember it. Although there seems to be a conflict of interest in there.

[JustSquareEnough]

thank you. an area im interested and will be picking up a copy.

A very thorough and complete book

[Cubdriver]

MFHS&F - I like that!     Right up there with SWMBO (She Who Must Be Obeyed, though I figure most here already know that one).

I currently have neither an MFHS&F nor a SWMBO.  This is a mixed blessing, in that it permits me to poke about on evilBay without hindrance or restraint.  This unchecked ability (along with my highly advanced, perhaps likely terminal case of TEA) has resulted in my putting in offers on a little Data Precision 245, and another somewhat less little HP 3450B.

Both were accepted.  Within like 20 minutes of making them.   

More projects for the pile.   

Pics when they arrive.

-Pat (who really needs to wire something up to cause electro shock when the computer browser is pointed towards eBay...)