What did you buy today? Post your latest purchase!

[tautech]

2x Siglent SDS2104+ as a gratitude from our T&M supplier for delayed delivery of a large Keysight order.

Now working on hacking them for their maximum potential.

Oh, you finally got some, wow that took a while. 
Looking forward to your feedback about them. 

[jb990]

Found a good one used Agilent U8001 power supply, thinking of ordering. Bought an ESD mat (from the eBay seller mentioned in a few threads here), and a monitor swing arm to mount my monitor off the bench surface.

[pqass]

With fingers-crossed, I bought my first eBay for-parts-only test gear; an E3611A power supply.   The seller noted that the voltage bounced around regardless of setting.  After watching a few YouTube repair videos and studying the schematic, I knew they were quite fixable by having few custom parts.

With the top off, it was readily apparent that the bulk caps in the bipolar power section threw their guts out all over.  Measuring the test points showed that it was far below the required +/-12V.   After desoldering the bad caps, the nearby bridge rectifier and trimmer pot I cleaned up the mess with ipa.   That goo gets under the green mask and eats the traces/pads to the point of breakage!

After re-tinning the bare/missing traces and replacing the components, it worked!!!  Woohoo!!!   With my DIY analog load attached, the power supply's readout tracks bang-on to the multimeter below it.

The 3478a meter was also an eBay find that I'd acquired a year ago.  I've documented the battery replacement elsewhere on this forum.

Overall, I'm finding that I browse eBay a little too often lately.  Hmmm....

[jonovid]

More arms for the bench
Monitor Desk Mount Arms  see
made from die cast aluminum in gray metallic paint with allen key adjustment by grub screws. with some black phasic cosmetic end caps. 
the hinges have fat steel pins in steel bushes pressed into die cast aluminum arms.   
this benchtop arms are at the cheap end of the scale. lacking any vertical spring balancing or USB ports.
so are not prominently listed on the offceworks site.    Australian office supplies stores.
my bench image see \/  has a notch in the end plate, this is part of the die cast aluminum.
decorative lines set into the cast aluminum. not photoshop!
other image is of images from the offceworks site.
ready-to-assemble  desk mount kit also has two steel plates so the temporary bench clamp can be made a permanent attachment
by drilling a hole through the bench & adding 6 wood screws.

I am one of them DIY hobbyist's that has five projects on the go at the same time. 
however only one completed.   
so when bench real estate is at a premium, a way to find extra bench space is essential.
an old dentist chair with its many arms is a bit too expensive. 
however local office supplies has this desk mount twin benchtop arms for pc monitors.
the two benchtop arms can hold up to 8kg x2 and swing out to 30cm from a 35cm high upright stand.
one can hold say the oscilloscope,  the other a pc monitor or set of DIY DMM cradles.  16kg
all up off the bench. needing custom DIY cradles, however this is another project,
so time will tell when all is gets done.

[McBryce]

With fingers-crossed, I bought my first eBay for-parts-only test gear; an E3611A power supply.   The seller noted that the voltage bounced around regardless of setting.  After watching a few YouTube repair videos and studying the schematic, I knew they were quite fixable by having few custom parts.

With the top off, it was readily apparent that the bulk caps in the bipolar power section threw their guts out all over.  Measuring the test points showed that it was far below the required +/-12V.   After desoldering the bad caps, the nearby bridge rectifier and trimmer pot I cleaned up the mess with ipa.   That goo gets under the green mask and eats the traces/pads to the point of breakage!

After re-tinning the bare/missing traces and replacing the components, it worked!!!  Woohoo!!!   With my DIY analog load attached, the power supply's readout tracks bang-on to the multimeter below it.

The 3478a meter was also an eBay find that I'd acquired a year ago.  I've documented the battery replacement elsewhere on this forum.

Overall, I'm finding that I browse eBay a little too often lately.  Hmmm....

Every successful ebay repair is another step down the TEA rabbit hole!

McBryce.

[mansaxel]

With fingers-crossed, I bought my first eBay for-parts-only test gear; an E3611A power supply.   

Overall, I'm finding that I browse eBay a little too often lately.  Hmmm....

You have found the path to enheavyment. It is downhill in the most intriguing way. Here's my latest arrival; sold as for parts. It needs a new Rifa bomb, a fuse for 240V operation,  a few dents in the casing straightened, and a cleaning. I've swapped the US plug for a C14, and reconfigured it for 240V operation. Not powered yet (waiting for the Rifa). Now I only need a higher-voltage DC supply (perhaps 300V) and I'm good.

For a while.

[G7PSK]

A hot water pressure washer.Have not had one for a few years as I have been using a cold water one but hot water is so much better that I bit the bullet again and purchased a diesel fuler hot water washer.

[IDEngineer]

A hot water pressure washer.Have not had one for a few years as I have been using a cold water one but hot water is so much better that I bit the bullet again and purchased a diesel fuler hot water washer.

When we remodeled our lower level we plumbed a hot water spigot to an outside wall for exactly this reason. Now we use our existing Harbor Freight pressure washer with hot water straight from the water heater. Granted this isn't "portable" away from our house but we don't take our pressure washer on the road anyway so it's a perfect solution that works with any unit today or in the future.

[CatalinaWOW]

A hot water pressure washer.Have not had one for a few years as I have been using a cold water one but hot water is so much better that I bit the bullet again and purchased a diesel fuler hot water washer.

When we remodeled our lower level we plumbed a hot water spigot to an outside wall for exactly this reason. Now we use our existing Harbor Freight pressure washer with hot water straight from the water heater. Granted this isn't "portable" away from our house but we don't take our pressure washer on the road anyway so it's a perfect solution that works with any unit today or in the future.

This could be a solution to two problems.  Here in the US the drain valve on water heaters almost always has a hose bib (water spigot) outlet.  And it is supposed to be drained annually to minimize problems from scale and sediment.  That annual draining is one of the most neglected maintenance activities there is.  Hooking up your pressure there kills two birds with one stone.

[Cubdriver]

A hot water pressure washer.Have not had one for a few years as I have been using a cold water one but hot water is so much better that I bit the bullet again and purchased a diesel fuler hot water washer.

When we remodeled our lower level we plumbed a hot water spigot to an outside wall for exactly this reason. Now we use our existing Harbor Freight pressure washer with hot water straight from the water heater. Granted this isn't "portable" away from our house but we don't take our pressure washer on the road anyway so it's a perfect solution that works with any unit today or in the future.

This could be a solution to two problems.  Here in the US the drain valve on water heaters almost always has a hose bib (water spigot) outlet.  And it is supposed to be drained annually to minimize problems from scale and sediment.  That annual draining is one of the most neglected maintenance activities there is.  Hooking up your pressure there kills two birds with one stone.

At first brush it sounds like a great idea, but on further reflection I can't imagine that the sediment would do the pressure washer pump any good.  Might literally kill one of the two birds...

-Pat

[richnormand]

A hot water pressure washer.Have not had one for a few years as I have been using a cold water one but hot water is so much better that I bit the bullet again and purchased a diesel fuler hot water washer.

When we remodeled our lower level we plumbed a hot water spigot to an outside wall for exactly this reason. Now we use our existing Harbor Freight pressure washer with hot water straight from the water heater. Granted this isn't "portable" away from our house but we don't take our pressure washer on the road anyway so it's a perfect solution that works with any unit today or in the future.

This could be a solution to two problems.  Here in the US the drain valve on water heaters almost always has a hose bib (water spigot) outlet.  And it is supposed to be drained annually to minimize problems from scale and sediment.  That annual draining is one of the most neglected maintenance activities there is.  Hooking up your pressure there kills two birds with one stone.

One: only use a hose that is rated for hot water. Some cheap garden hoses will quickly burst at the crimped couplings.


Two: do not even think about doing this to your pressure washer.
I got rid of the hot water tank last year and installed a on-demand system.
On draining the tank the amount of junk that came out clogged the mesh at the bottom of the sink. No mention of the colour of that water either....

The other bit of maintenance people forget is to change the sacrificial electrode in the tank.
Someone on my street I know was denied insurance compensation when his tank leaked during vacation because he had not done that....
Word spread quickly about the said company!

[IDEngineer]

Water heaters have their outlets at the top of the tank. (The inlet is usually at the top too, but has an internal pipe that extends to the bottom internally so cold water enters at the bottom nearest the heat source.) Thus the outlet draws water from the top of the tank, away from sediment.

The tanks have a separate, dedicated drain at the bottom of the tank, so when the tank is flushed for sediment removal the water exits at the BOTTOM and takes the sediment with it.

Thus:

* Running water from a water heater does not risk an undue degree of sediment running through the pressure washer's pump

* Running water through the pressure washer would not properly drain sediment anyway

The correct way to drain a water heater for sediment (or movement of the tank) is to hook a hose to its drain spigot, make sure all other hot water faucets are closed, and then open the spigot. Fresh cold water will enter (and be taken to the bottom of the tank by that internal tube), and hot water full of sediment will exit through the spigot and hose. Note this process means you don't have to drain the full capacity of the tank to flush the sediment... once the water runs clear you can stop draining because the water circuit is from the bottom of that internal tube to the spigot, a small percentage of the total height of the tank. You're not really "draining" the top portion of the water column anyway.

[Cubdriver]

Water heaters have their outlets at the top of the tank. (The inlet is usually at the top too, but has an internal pipe that extends to the bottom internally so cold water enters at the bottom nearest the heat source.) Thus the outlet draws water from the top of the tank, away from sediment.

The tanks have a separate, dedicated drain at the bottom of the tank, so when the tank is flushed for sediment removal the water exits at the BOTTOM and takes the sediment with it.

Thus:

* Running water from a water heater does not risk an undue degree of sediment running through the pressure washer's pump

* Running water through the pressure washer would not properly drain sediment anyway

The correct way to drain a water heater for sediment (or movement of the tank) is to hook a hose to its drain spigot, make sure all other hot water faucets are closed, and then open the spigot. Fresh cold water will enter (and be taken to the bottom of the tank by that internal tube), and hot water full of sediment will exit through the spigot and hose. Note this process means you don't have to drain the full capacity of the tank to flush the sediment... once the water runs clear you can stop draining because the water circuit is from the bottom of that internal tube to the spigot, a small percentage of the total height of the tank. You're not really "draining" the top portion of the water column anyway.

Right, but the earlier discussion was about connecting the pressure washer to the drain valve, not the regular hot water outlet - thus the 'killing two birds with one stone' statement - hot water to the pressure washer and clearing the tank of sediment without wasting the water being drained.

-Pat

[CatalinaWOW]

I will stand by my suggestion with a couple of caveats.  Depending on your water sediment can accumulate too rapidly to make this sensible.  But in other cases little sediment will develop in a few months or a year.  If you don't drain the sediment bedford it gets deep you can't drain it anyway.  If the sediment quantity is a problem for your pressure washer there are many in line solutions,.or you just drain the sediments before connecting the pressure washer.  The point of this is that it saves installing a special tap (with the heat wasting plumbing associated) and give a reminder to do a necessary maintenance job.

[exe]

CSD15380F3 (https://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/csd15380f3.pdf). I wanted to see a bare-die mosfet by my eyes. Well, turned out there is not much to see (literally). Even at maximum magnification it's tiny. The datasheet says it's 0.73mm×0.64mm. Well, is that "half a bee's dick" size?

Apart from that, I have one or two hundred parts from various distributors that I'm yet to sort .

[Microdoser]

Recent purchases are the standard requisite bundle of circuit boards, components etc

I also got a bench press drill, and I am now looking for a vice to fit to it that can handle holding something 75mm but with soft jaws. Ordered a sliding one, but it had far too much play on the bottom slider, so it is getting sent back.

Got one of those NS-100 soldering irons with the directly heated tips from Amazon.co.uk, and I am quite pleased with it. Flashed it with updated firmware and got a larger tip, and it is much better than my old soldering iron (60W Maplin digital temperature controlled Hakko FX888 style). It came with a 24V power supply and a C2 tip and was £55 delivered.

Tip heats up very quickly and maintains a set temperature much better than my old iron.

[Smokey]

...Well, is that "half a bee's dick" size?...

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/how-big-is-_half-a-bee_s-dick_/

1/2 Bee's Dick = 2.4mm

[tautech]

...Well, is that "half a bee's dick" size?...

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/how-big-is-_half-a-bee_s-dick_/

1/2 Bee's Dick = 2.4mm

Which is a lot bigger than a gnat's whisker. 

[exe]

1/2 Bee's Dick = 2.4mm

Oh, that's just shy of 2.54mm...

[rfclown]

I made a haul today of stuff being thrown out at work. Most things are still at work. First to be checked checkout: 2 Astro radios, 8 batteries, 2 chargers. I'm charging a battery to see if the radios work. They are in very good condition. I was at the first meeting for engineers at Motorola in the 1990s when they talked about the Astro program. They didn't quite know what it was yet, just digital and next generation encryption. I was working on a parallel program that ended out being used for an initial prototype platform. RF front end was dual convertion to 455kHz, but the 2nd IF was fed into an IC developed in research that spit out digitized I and Q. In my program, we fed that to a 56000 family processor. I have no idea what's inside these newer products.

Does garbage picking count as a purchase?

[mansaxel]

Three hole punches; two Greenlee (1 1/8" and 13/16") and one german one, 30,5mm. Retail at about $70 each, or worse. Got all three of them for ~$20, plus reasonable shipping. Did I have a pressing need? No, but I want them.

[BU508A]

For my Weller WP 120 soldering iron I have won an auction of ten XT A 1.6 x 0.7mm NOS chisel soldering tips in the bay of evil.
Paid EUR 13.15 plus shipping for them.




Edit: Typo. WP120, not SP120

[BrokenYugo]

Heathkit IO-102, I ran out of functional scopes a while ago and this was $20 (complete with the build manual!) and down the road, 5 MHz single channel is good enough for most of what I'm into anyway. Mostly works, builder did a semi acceptable job, acts like the HV and maybe lower rails are low (haven't measured yet) but all the bigger carbon comp resistors on the power board and in the HV divider have drifted up 50+%, so that and a couple electrolytics should put it right. Came with graticle, I just pulled it off for cleaning.

[McBryce]

Picked up a few of these. Very handy for throwing together a quick circuit or in my case, teaching my son some electronics with breadboard circuits:

https://www.ebay.de/itm/Breadboard-PSU-5v-3-3v-Switchable-MB102-55mm-boards-UK-Seller-FREE-POSTAGE/152747287898

McBryce.

[kripton2035]

Quote from: McBryce on Today at 12:55:17

Picked up a few of these. Very handy for throwing together a quick circuit or in my case, teaching my son some electronics with breadboard circuits:
>https://www.ebay.de/itm/Breadboard-PSU-5v-3-3v-Switchable-MB102-55mm-boards-UK-Seller-FREE-POSTAGE/152747287898
McBryce.

this is 3 to 4x the "normal" price ... ?
https://de.aliexpress.com/item/33053759200.html



of course you have to wait 15-30 days for it. and it's chinese new year holidays.