- function generator
- Another 2 good multimeters
- 2 current limited power supplies (assembly required to help my friend)
- a power supply specifically for low amperage (same as above)
- better antistatic protection mat
- a digital oscilloscope
- an analog oscilloscope
- a lot more SMD's within the 5% range, and other SMD components
- and a whole new set of through hole components/logic chips
- another soldering iron
1) useless for what you are doing.
2) why 2 ? how many voltage/currents are you going to monitor ? you already have 2 meters. get 1 good one.
3) get a few used 3410 or 3411 power supplies on ebay. perfect for what you will do.
4) analog scope ? eliminate that. invest in a good mixed signal scope , or a 4 channel scope and a simple USB digital grabber like a salae
5) why buy a whole pool of parts? just order what you need. it's useless to have a huge stock of parts. to give you an example. i just designed the power supply section for my new book. i have exactly 1 diode and the smd resistors and caps in stock. The other 33 components i had to order. Why ? because what i had was either the wrong working voltage, the wrong size for my liking ( i am limited in board size and everything has to fit) , or otherwise not fit for purpose.
sure , you can get some resistors and caps in stock , but don't overdo it. once you get to designing the final board, then pick the final parts that fit exactly the design.
6) get a good soldering iron this time. like a metcal or a weller.
sure i had capacitors in stock ,but this thing requires VDE and UL listred capacitors approved for line voltage use as well as X1 and Y1 capacitors. same for the high voltage caps. i had only 15mm wide ones in stock. Too large so i needed to order 12.5 mm ones. even the output caps i had 470uf 16v were 12mm generics and i needed 10mm diameter , tall capacitors for switching purposes. same deal with the optocoupler. i have tons of optocouplers ,except VDE and Ul listed wide body (400 mil as opposed to 300mil ) ones... and then there is the special fast switching diodes, transils , common mode chokes, the power ntc, the molex connectors , the bussman fuse. i have an extensive stock of parts , but none fit this design... there was always something wrong. wrong size, wrong pitch , wrong voltage. Some were even plain obsolete... so useless to design them in as the new parts will have different pin pitch ( i had some caps with a 12mm pitch. nobody has those apparently. its all 10 , 7.5 or 5 ...