Excellence on a shoestring budget?

[miceuz]

I'm looking for projects/products that achieve outstanding results while being cheap/not astronomically expensive. You know, the right sweet spot between all the compromises you have to take and functionality/quality you achieve.

I understand that any product, that goes to market, has this property to some degree, but I'm looking for really shining examples. Please share if you know them!

[SArepairman]

the 60-90$ hot air tools that everyone has

rigol 1052e

every equipment dave jones recommends that does not have a major brand name association

[6E5]

One piece of kit that no one seems to recommenced is a soldering gun. An old used Weller 8200 soldering gun, which is about $20 on eBay.


Trust me, when you need to solder to a big chassis or heatsink ground, nothing will beat 140 watts flowing through a thin copper bus.

[Fsck]

One piece of kit that no one seems to recommenced is a soldering gun. An old used Weller 8200 soldering gun, which is about $20 on eBay.


Trust me, when you need to solder to a big chassis or heatsink ground, nothing will beat 140 watts flowing through a thin copper bus.

or, you could just preheat the area with a heat gun.

[NiHaoMike]

A RTL SDR costs only $15 or so yet makes a spectrum analyzer good enough for many hobby uses. Add a modified 2.4GHz video receiver (just tap off the IF which is a few hundred MHz) and it will be very useful in the 2.4GHz band.

Radioshack sells a $60 AC/DC clamp meter that has proven itself to be more or less essential for working on automotive, computer, and alternative energy equipment. I did a teardown ( https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/radio-shack-22-172-dc-clamp-meter-reviewteardown/ ) and found a jumper wire inside that might compromise its CAT rating, so I wouldn't recommend it for checking voltage in hybrid/EV or other high voltage battery banks. (Though you probably want a CAT IV rated meter for that and the Radio shack is only CAT III.)

Most Harbor Freight hand tools are very good value. Their multimeters are no good for serious uses (but can still be handy for less critical uses), but their IR thermometers and digital calipers are built very well. Someone did a teardown of one of their power inverters and found it to be basically the same build quality as other consumer market inverters. (In other words, only use less than half the listed capacity and they'll likely last a long time.)

[6E5]

One piece of kit that no one seems to recommenced is a soldering gun. An old used Weller 8200 soldering gun, which is about $20 on eBay.


Trust me, when you need to solder to a big chassis or heatsink ground, nothing will beat 140 watts flowing through a thin copper bus.

or, you could just preheat the area with a heat gun.

Sure, but this method is more direct and quicker, especially when you're talking about 10 pounds of a 18 gauge steel chassis. Also, a soldering gun is much cheaper than a good heat gun.

[miguelvp]

Well, I think the OP means projects & products but not just test gear.

My favorite (even if it wasn't excellence because the manufacturer's started to cut cost way too early):

C64 - DTV by Jeri Ellsworth

http://www.richardlagendijk.nl/cip/article/item/c64dtv/en

And I wish her luck on her castAR project.

http://technicalillusions.com/

And if you lurk the forum, would love to see another video on your channel specially if it has not much to do with the castAR, but you are probably just too busy with your new endeavor.

[pickle9000]

 T-pins

Need to connect through the backside of a connector, poke through a wire?

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/331132256777?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

Often used for automotive and heavy equipment troubleshooting. Easy to clip to.

[N2IXK]

My best suggestion for excellent performance on a shoestring budget?   Vintage Test Gear!

If you are willing to deal with equipment that is larger, heavier and uses a bit more power than the newest stuff, you can get the very same stuff from Tektronix, HP, General Radio, etc. that only the corporate labs or government agencies could afford 20 or more years ago. Stuff that the average hobbyist could only dream of a generation ago is available at hamfests, flea markets and eBay for little more than scrap metal value.  In addition to excellent performance, most older test gear is well-documented, and uses a lot of off-the-shelf parts, so it it can actually be repaired, because---it was designed that way!

[echen1024]

The Rigol Ds1074Z.

[6E5]

My best suggestion for excellent performance on a shoestring budget?   Vintage Test Gear!

If you are willing to deal with equipment that is larger, heavier and uses a bit more power than the newest stuff, you can get the very same stuff from Tektronix, HP, General Radio, etc. that only the corporate labs or government agencies could afford 20 or more years ago. Stuff that the average hobbyist could only dream of a generation ago is available at hamfests, flea markets and eBay for little more than scrap metal value.  In addition to excellent performance, most older test gear is well-documented, and uses a lot of off-the-shelf parts, so it it can actually be repaired, because---it was designed that way!

Exactly, for example, just last week I picked up a general radio 1652A resistance bridge for $25, while it cost over $500 in the mid 1960's.

Good hp sine and square wave generators such as the 204 are about $30 on eBay if you shop around.

Tek 465 is about $100, which was a great scope back in it's day.

All of the hp equipment, except for their early digital scopes, are worth having on the bench.

[lowimpedance]

One piece of kit that no one seems to recommenced is a soldering gun. An old used Weller 8200 soldering gun, which is about $20 on eBay.


Trust me, when you need to solder to a big chassis or heatsink ground, nothing will beat 140 watts flowing through a thin copper bus.

or, you could just preheat the area with a heat gun.

OR just use the right tool for the job.
And a decent power soldering iron should be included in your lab toolkit.
Not for your average PCB job.

[Dago]

One piece of kit that no one seems to recommenced is a soldering gun. An old used Weller 8200 soldering gun, which is about $20 on eBay.


Trust me, when you need to solder to a big chassis or heatsink ground, nothing will beat 140 watts flowing through a thin copper bus.

Or just get a proper soldering iron like JBC or Metcal which can slam 150W out if needed

[zapta]

Here is one, a computer for $3, including shipping to your home.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/271251071444?lpid=82

[pickle9000]

Here is one, a computer for $3, including shipping to your home.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/271251071444?lpid=82

Those are so handy.