What did you buy today? Post your latest purchase!

[george graves]

HP 6114A Precision Power Supply.

Would love to see a tear down of that bad boy.

[PedroDaGr8]

HP 6114A Precision Power Supply.

Would love to see a tear down of that bad boy.

I did one a long time ago, back before we knew what good performers these supplies are.

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/hp-6114a-precision-power-supply/

[halexa]

Scored a Philips PM 2443 digital DC voltmeter with Nixie tube display.

The unit is in perfect condition and fully functional. Last calibrated 1981 .

There is a compartment on the back with a connector i guess it is for options to be fitted. But I have not been able to find any information on that yet.
If anyone have information please let me know.

Planning to do a tear down if anyone is intrested in inside picture.

[AF6LJ]

Very Cool...

[Cubdriver]

Nixies!   

-Pat

[Sbampato12]

Nixies!   

-Pat

Always an interesting thing...

[bitseeker]

HP 6114A Precision Power Supply.

This was a decent deal, $36 + shipping for ~ $60 total.  It works okay, but has a possible slight zero offset and some sort of oil was spilled into it.

Didn't realize so many forum members were watching that one. Looks like it's in pretty good shape. Much better than the listing description sounded. Congrats on getting it at a good price.

[ghulands]

Starting to get into electronics so I'm starting to purchase things. Today I ordered the following:

Soldering Station - JBC CD-B

[canibalimao]

For a guy that's getting into electronics, I think that a soldering station like that is not the best solution. Not for it's quality, but for it's price.
That's an excellent piece, but I think it would be a bit overkill, at least for now.

[KJDS]

For a guy that's getting into electronics, I think that a soldering station like that is not the best solution. Not for it's quality, but for it's price.
That's an excellent piece, but I think it would be a bit overkill, at least for now.

Whilst it may be more sensible to buy a budget station to start with, life is a lot easier with good tools and if the budget is there then why not. It'll always have a decent resale value.

[canibalimao]

For a guy that's getting into electronics, I think that a soldering station like that is not the best solution. Not for it's quality, but for it's price.
That's an excellent piece, but I think it would be a bit overkill, at least for now.

Whilst it may be more sensible to buy a budget station to start with, life is a lot easier with good tools and if the budget is there then why not. It'll always have a decent resale value.

True and it's also true that I don't know how much budget he has reserved for this.
However, the first soldering jobs we all ever made were not very good for the soldering iron. We all did some wrong steps and if you have a cheap soldering iron for the first jobs you wont be much worried about the iron's tip condition.

[JuKu]

When learning, it is great to have the opportunity to use quality tools. That way, you learn how to do the job properly. There is time to fight the tools later. In other words, a really great choice! I wish I would have the chance/sense to do that more often when getting into something new.

[GreyWoolfe]

I'm with KJDS and JuKu.  The soldering iron is one piece of equipment you will probably use a lot.  Get the best you can.  I believe you will develop your soldering chops faster and better if you start off with good stuff.  I learned to solder on firesticks and did OK.  When I got my Hakko 936, my skill grew quickly using the better equipment.  Now I have a Hakko FX-951 and Metcal MX-500 and my skill is improving even more.  If he has the budget to get the JBC, then that's awesome and I certainly would encourage him to get it.

[Iwanushka]

My 2 cents: I'm too poor to buy crap, so if you can afford quality tool - get it!

[stmdude]

If he has the budget to get the JBC, then that's awesome and I certainly would encourage him to get it.

While I agree completely with you, as someone having a JBC in my private workshop, there are downsides.
1. The tips are _very_ expensive. They'll last a good long time if you take proper care of them though, something a beginner might not do.  (Proper temps, cleaning and re-silvering)
2. You'll need another iron as well for the very large stuff. Even though the JBC has excellent thermal overhead, they cannot get around the physics of having a small tip.
3. You get spoiled...  Soldering at work is no fun anymore. I spend as much time swearing over their irons than I actually do soldering.   Go figure.

[McBryce]

It all depends on how deep the persons pockets are. I (like many) began with electronics as a kid and my first iron cost about €15 (which I had to save for), but if the person has the resources, then there's no reason why he shouldn't buy this iron. It would be worse if he had spent big on an iron that's known to be bad. At least he did the research before he bought.

McBryce.

[nanofrog]

It all depends on how deep the persons pockets are. I (like many) began with electronics as a kid and my first iron cost about €15 (which I had to save for), but if the person has the resources, then there's no reason why he shouldn't buy this iron. It would be worse if he had spent big on an iron that's known to be bad. At least he did the research before he bought.

McBryce.

+1 

Like many it seems, I started as a kid. But as I got older (and had access to those that knew far more than I), I ended up buying better tools and haven't looked back since. 

[Cubdriver]

If you can swing it without excess financial pain, as far as I'm concerned buy the good one right off the bat.  Buy once, cry once.  Otherwise you buy the cheap one now, and then some time later spend more $$ on the good one, thus kind of 'wasting' the money you initially spent on the cheaper one.

Obviously this doesn't apply if you can't afford the good one right away (thus my financial pain comment above); in that case the cheaper one is better than not having one at all.  That being said, I can't think of a time when I've regretted buying the good tool over the cheap one if I was able to afford it.

-Pat

[MarvinTheMartian]

I can't think of a time when I've regretted buying the good tool over the cheap one if I was able to afford it.

It is never a mistake to buy the best tool for the job that you can afford.

The only caveat I would apply to that is if you have a one-off job to do, then just get the cheap tool (but don't expect it to last long or do as good a job!)

Of course, as with everything else in life, there are many competing factors involved and you will have to make compromises to one degree or another.

[gamalot]

This morning I got 2 sets of benchtop restoration kit for my Keithley 2015 and 2306 

[VK5RC]

Another Nixie beauty, and she powers up!

[Cubdriver]

 

-Pat

[AF6LJ]

Another Nixie beauty, and she powers up!

I love it more classic grey iron. 

[PedroDaGr8]

Picked these up on Craigslist this weekend for $10. Supposedly brand new, were still in the stapled package and the cables still had the twist tie

[gamalot]

"Never Used" Hioki L2001 Pincher Probe