EEVblog Electronics Community Forum

General => General Technical Chat => Topic started by: BobC on November 29, 2012, 02:29:21 am

Title: Shopping With Dave
Post by: BobC on November 29, 2012, 02:29:21 am

At work we were just asked to put in our wish-list for the 2013 lab equipment budget.  Everything I submitted came from EEVBlog posts, and EEVBlog sponsors where possible:

1. Mantis Elite (with LED Dimmer Hack!)
2. Rigol or Owon Basic 100 MHz o'scope (from sponsor Saelig)
3. Three Basic DMMs (best of the under $100 units)

We already have at least one of each type of high-quality instrument (all regularly calibrated): We just need more knock-around gear for regular work, stuff that won't get calibrated every often, if ever.  In prior years I put in for more of what we already had: Le Croy, Agilent, Fluke, Keithley, and other name-brands, and got little or none of it, unless we found it used on eBay.

This year I expect to get everything, though the Mantis may take some arm-twisting.


Thanks, Dave!

-BobC

Title: Re: Shopping With Dave
Post by: EEVblog on November 29, 2012, 05:40:48 am

Thanks Bob, much appreciated  :-+

Dave.

Title: Re: Shopping With Dave
Post by: BobC on November 30, 2012, 03:47:42 am

Got the word today that everything BUT the Mantis will be bought this year using the remaining 2012 budget.  Our VP (my boss) was amazed at the value and performance available in equipment priced at 1/3 to 1/2 the price of the lowest-end name-brand equipment.  He called it a "no-brainer", well worth trying at least once.

This also means the Mantis Elite should have a very good shot in the 2013 budget.  But my boss was concerned that if Engineering got one, then Production would want one too.  I told him we could get multiple bases for the arm, making it easier to move where it's needed.  I think we may have put another one into the "no-brainer" category.


Thanks again, Dave!

-BobC

Title: Re: Shopping With Dave
Post by: BobC on November 30, 2012, 03:55:21 am

P.S.:  Thanks for helping me look great at work: This may affect my next review, and thus my bottom-line.

Title: Re: Shopping With Dave
Post by: SeanB on November 30, 2012, 04:35:44 am

Suggest in the request that it will reduce eye strain, and thus the reject rate......

Title: Re: Shopping With Dave
Post by: Neilm on November 30, 2012, 03:33:17 pm

Get a demo of the Mantis arranged and make sure the VP sees it vs fixed microscopes. My first company was a very small company (6 employees) that didn't do much SMD work so we didn't have much rework facilities except what a person bought personally (in my case a head band magnifier).

When I moved to a larger company and found out about the Mantis it made a huge difference to soldering.

Neil