Author Topic: The most expensive equipment that you have  (Read 22265 times)

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Offline DJKATopic starter

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The most expensive equipment that you have
« on: May 25, 2012, 04:41:35 pm »
Hi, just wondering what is the TOP 3 most expensive gear(scope, power supply, function generator, multimeter...) you have obtained for your electronics hobby ever?

My list is:
1. LG OS5020 Oscilloscope (dual ch. 20MHz)   - $94
2. Uni-T UT70A DMM  - $90
3. K and H Products SD-35 solderless breadboard - $30 <-- total crap!

 ;-)
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Offline olsenn

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Re: The most expensive equipment that you have
« Reply #1 on: May 25, 2012, 04:46:27 pm »
1. Rigol DSA815-TG Spectrum Analyzer - $1500
2. Rigol DG2041A Arb. Waveform Generator - $900
3. Many items in the $400 - $600 range
 

Offline tesla500

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Re: The most expensive equipment that you have
« Reply #2 on: May 25, 2012, 04:58:29 pm »
1. Agilent MSO6104A 1GHz 4ch scope - MSRP $20k, but got a good deal at $5k from an auction by Newark (Farnell). They set reserve prices after that!
2. Four 1131A 3.5GHz Diff probes for above - MSRP $4k each, got them for $900 total on ebay
3. TCP312/TCPA300 30A 100MHz current probe and amp - Probe $750 from ebay, amp given to me free from work after someone blew it up and "repair" (read "replace the main board") was about the price of a new one. I was able to fix it and decided to wait for a reasonable deal for the probe on ebay.



 

Offline T4P

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Re: The most expensive equipment that you have
« Reply #3 on: May 25, 2012, 05:46:52 pm »
1. Agilent MSO6104A 1GHz 4ch scope - MSRP $20k, but got a good deal at $5k from an auction by Newark (Farnell). They set reserve prices after that!
2. Four 1131A 3.5GHz Diff probes for above - MSRP $4k each, got them for $900 total on ebay
3. TCP312/TCPA300 30A 100MHz current probe and amp - Probe $750 from ebay, amp given to me free from work after someone blew it up and "repair" (read "replace the main board") was about the price of a new one. I was able to fix it and decided to wait for a reasonable deal for the probe on ebay.





Quite a lot of very high-end gear you have there, it's really nice to have such a bit of kit.
 

Offline Bored@Work

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Re: The most expensive equipment that you have
« Reply #4 on: May 25, 2012, 05:59:58 pm »
1) The wife.
2) The wife.
3) The wife.
I delete PMs unread. If you have something to say, say it in public.
For all else: Profile->[Modify Profile]Buddies/Ignore List->Edit Ignore List
 

Offline odessa

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Re: The most expensive equipment that you have
« Reply #5 on: May 25, 2012, 06:02:09 pm »
Lol at above  :D :D :D

Mine is my Agilent DSO x 2012A  ( all Daves fault  ;) )  £1300
Fluke 83 V  £150
Instek PS 3030 PSU £100
« Last Edit: May 25, 2012, 06:03:50 pm by odessa »
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Offline eV1Te

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Re: The most expensive equipment that you have
« Reply #6 on: May 25, 2012, 06:13:43 pm »
I own a JEOL JSM-T200 Scanning electron microscope that I have in my living room (gift from a university since they bought a new one), the price was probably around $100k new! But today (like with old analog oscilloscopes) no one wants them. (Still works very well, but requires more time than newer digital ones)

Here is a test video I made when I got it some time ago (filament from a normal 60W light bulb).


Also attached 2 pictures that I took in my living room, Light bulb filament from small Maglight flashlight and old Intel CPU that had quartz window that I could remove (Intel logo is etched into the wafer next to all the traces).
 

Offline DJKATopic starter

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Re: The most expensive equipment that you have
« Reply #7 on: May 25, 2012, 06:16:14 pm »
Hahahahaha! 100% Awesome! ;-)

1) The wife.
2) The wife.
3) The wife.
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Offline DJKATopic starter

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Re: The most expensive equipment that you have
« Reply #8 on: May 25, 2012, 06:26:51 pm »
Absolutely fantastic! Wish i could have one!

I own a JEOL JSM-T200 Scanning electron microscope that I have in my living room (gift from a university since they bought a new one), the price was probably around $100k new! But today (like with old analog oscilloscopes) no one wants them. (Still works very well, but requires more time than newer digital ones)

Here is a test video I made when I got it some time ago (filament from a normal 60W light bulb).


Also attached 2 pictures that I took in my living room, Light bulb filament from small Maglight flashlight and old Intel CPU that had quartz window that I could remove (Intel logo is etched into the wafer next to all the traces).
--
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Offline Lightages

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Re: The most expensive equipment that you have
« Reply #9 on: May 25, 2012, 06:46:27 pm »
Hmm, let me see, most expensive equipment I have...... next you want my address :P
 

Offline Noize

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Re: The most expensive equipment that you have
« Reply #10 on: May 25, 2012, 06:58:15 pm »
Rigol DS1051E £250
RS Professional prototypingboard w/PSU,240V £220  http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/products/0489100/
Got this on ebay for £37. Nice as I needed another powersupply and this has 5V and bipolar adjustable +-15V.

 

Offline sonicj

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Re: The most expensive equipment that you have
« Reply #11 on: May 25, 2012, 07:08:15 pm »
I was able to fix it and decided to wait for a reasonable deal for the probe on ebay.
Impressive troubleshooting skills!
-sj
 

Offline T4P

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Re: The most expensive equipment that you have
« Reply #12 on: May 25, 2012, 07:43:15 pm »
Rigol DS1051E £250
RS Professional prototypingboard w/PSU,240V £220  http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/products/0489100/
Got this on ebay for £37. Nice as I needed another powersupply and this has 5V and bipolar adjustable +-15V.

That ... prototyping board from RS is pricey ... for a power supply and a angled breadboard ...
 

Offline free_electron

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Re: The most expensive equipment that you have
« Reply #13 on: May 25, 2012, 07:48:28 pm »
MSO7104 Mixed signal 4 Analog + 16 Digital 1Ghz /4Gs with all licences installed.. (I2c / SPI / deep memory / etc ) bought used.. New price ... over 20K$ ... paid .. i'm not telling.. you'd all get depressed and cry ...

54832D Infiniium 4 analog + 16 digital 1GHz / 4Gs 8Meg deep per channel with FPGa licence and Logic analyzer linkup. New price unknown but well over 30K$ ... paid 1200$ had a broken LCD panel according to seller. Turned out it was the graphics card and not the LCD .. CT6555 based panl. one fried tantalum cap ... fixed in 5 minutes
54831A Inifiniium 4 analog 600MHz 4Gs/s 64meg deep memory . new price unknown. probably an arm and a leg (because of the memory depth) ... paid 500$ for it. harddisk was nuked. new drive , install recovery disk , enter licence keys. -> works.

and the kicker :
16702B logic analyzer mainframe , option 03 , three 16740a blades and a 16520 pattern generator. New price : well over 120K$ ... paid .. 300$ ...

There's a story behind this one.
This listed on ebay for 1$. Local pickup only... listed for 3 days.I lost it initially. I get a phone call the day after since i was only the second person bidding. The first bidder couldn't make it, he had to drive up and would not make it in time .. huh ? Turns out this was a company that was relocating to a new building about 50 miles away. The listing ended on a thursday and pickup had to be on friday.. as it was their last day in the building. This company made asics for network systems but stopped a couple of years ago. they now licence their software stacks and develop these. While dismantling their office they found this machine in a closet , wrapped in a plastic bag. Nobody there knew what it was , only that it had belonged to the hardware people that all were let go about 4 years ago ... So they decided to auction it off. The money would be used to buy a new multifunction laserpinter ( scanner copier fax printer ) for the new officce. The other bidder wanted to give 400$. I told 300$ and got it.
i opened it up , not a speck of dust inside... even the fan blades were eerily clean. this machine probably has run a few days in its lifetime. one of these things that were bought when they were a startup just because they thought they might need it...

I got it linked through the network to my infiniium scope. The analyser can sync trigger with the scope , grab the analog trace data and visualise together with the trace patterns.
The machine itself runs HP/UX and exposes itself as an X-windows Host. I run an Xserver under wind7 on a local PC and use that as 'workstation'.
i have all the cables pods and other gizmos. the real kicker is i contacted agilent for the latest firmware. they sent me the install cd for free. So it is fully up to date ( the machine is still supported , although out of production and replaced by the 16900 series.

I don't use it a lot but it sure beats all those 'usb based' thingies like USBee , Salae, zeroplus and the OPen Logic Sniffer. Very handing when mucking about with FPGA's. just hook up the FPGA probe ( i have the licence for the Altera probe on the scope, since they 'talk' the LA benefits from this too ) and you can poke around inside the FPGA at full throttle.

there's a picture of my setup in the 'show your workbench section
« Last Edit: May 25, 2012, 07:53:44 pm by free_electron »
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Offline Flávio V

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Re: The most expensive equipment that you have
« Reply #14 on: May 25, 2012, 08:22:44 pm »
I don't have much thinks so well....my list is going to be very short...

1-Fluke 97 (50mhz scopemeter) near probably 1.5k-3k€(from 1993)

2-Fluke 8060A (4.5 digit true RMS multimeter) 15 "contos"(near that name,in portugal in the '80,15k escudos(65€(actual(not accounting inflation))))(this was the salary of a person in portugal)(from 1982) today is probably 200-300€

3-Custom made 250VA 50A transformer near 60€(well insulated,semi-precise, powerful,small,heavy(4.7kg)) with that transformer i use the filtering PCB that contains 3 SAMXOM capacitors and cost 8€ each and reach 70-72V...(the PCB is chrome plated by soldering wire)

4-UNI-T UT50A 3.5 digit multimeter +-50-60€ first multimeter and i have replaced the 500mA glass fuse to a "stolen" 500mA ceramic one...it is interesting than lacks of a loot of circuity...but the continuity buzzer is good...loud....a loot.....more than the flukes....and almost fast....near 0.05s


For anyone than might ask,i get my non 72V power from crappy wall power supplies with a lm317k in the output to regulate..(i can't use it on the 250VA transformer because it would burn/explode/whatever)a LED with that transformer would be +- 72V input 2.5V output at 2mA so well....a loot of voltage difference...possible...but risky....those SAMXOM capacitors can discharge at 12.5A the 3...
 

Offline Noize

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Re: The most expensive equipment that you have
« Reply #15 on: May 25, 2012, 08:36:42 pm »
Rigol DS1051E £250
RS Professional prototypingboard w/PSU,240V £220  http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/products/0489100/
Got this on ebay for £37. Nice as I needed another powersupply and this has 5V and bipolar adjustable +-15V.

That ... prototyping board from RS is pricey ... for a power supply and a angled breadboard ...

Not for £37. Nice regulated supplies, less leads on your workbench and much better quality breadboard than one hung low brand. They come up occasionally on ebay.
But I admit it would be a bit  excessive to buy one brand new.
« Last Edit: May 25, 2012, 08:49:01 pm by Noize »
 

Offline LuckyJaker

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Re: The most expensive equipment that you have
« Reply #16 on: May 25, 2012, 10:44:58 pm »
For me


1  Agilent MSOX 3024 with a couple modules (thanks Dave)
2  Agilent 6655A power supply
3  Rigol DP 1308A
4  2 Fluke 289
5  1 Fluke 97
6  etc...


All these I use in my small electronics and firmware design contracts...
                           
 

Offline EEVblog

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Re: The most expensive equipment that you have
« Reply #17 on: May 26, 2012, 12:31:52 am »
1) The wife.
2) The wife.
3) The wife.

*snort*

4) Child

Dave.
 

Offline Spawn

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Re: The most expensive equipment that you have
« Reply #18 on: May 26, 2012, 12:42:17 am »
Hmm shall i say this? all those 4 points BoW and Dave mention has only to do with one equipment and thats your "dick"

So yeah at the end, thats the most expensive equipment I got...
 

Offline updatelee

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Re: The most expensive equipment that you have
« Reply #19 on: May 26, 2012, 01:43:00 am »
Advantest R3265A 8ghz spectrum analyzer bought for $2.5k
Taig CNC $2k
 

Offline NiHaoMike

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Re: The most expensive equipment that you have
« Reply #20 on: May 26, 2012, 02:43:21 am »
My new PC:


Main system specs:
CPU: Intel Core i7 3930K
RAM: 16GB 1600MHz DDR3
MB: Intel DX79SI
HDD: 1TB 7200RPM
GPU: Nvidia GTX 560 Ti 2GB
OS: Gentoo Linux

Low power system specs:
CPU: Intel Atom D2700
RAM: 4GB 1066MHz 1.35V DDR3
MB: Jetway JNC9KDL-2700
HDD: 1TB 7200RPM
OS: Gentoo Linux

Front panel display specs:
CPU: TI OMAP 3621
RAM: 512MB
Flash: 8GB
LCD: 7" LED backlit 600x1024 IPS with touch
OS: Cyanogenmod 7.1.0

Power system: 42A front end converter, 60A battery backup DC/DC converter, 30A battery charger, "Lainey Schmidt" digital power management controller.

And it only cost about $1000 since Intel offers a very nice employee discount on high end motherboards and CPUs and I was able to use a lot of recycled parts.

Coming in second place would be my Olympus E-510 DSLR. Third place would be my Instek GDS1062A scope. Almost making the mark would be my Asus TF101 tablet.
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Offline DJKATopic starter

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Re: The most expensive equipment that you have
« Reply #21 on: May 26, 2012, 05:54:18 am »
Very nice indeed! Well, I guess many guys are jealous of your spectrum analyzer! So am I ;)

MSO7104 Mixed signal 4 Analog + 16 Digital 1Ghz /4Gs with all licences installed.. (I2c / SPI / deep memory / etc ) bought used.. New price ... over 20K$ ... paid .. i'm not telling.. you'd all get depressed and cry ...
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Online Mechatrommer

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Re: The most expensive equipment that you have
« Reply #22 on: May 26, 2012, 06:21:18 am »
1) The wife.
2) The wife.
3) The wife.
*snort*
4) Child
Dave.
in order:
1)arms, legs body and brain
2)the dick
3)the wife
4)the child(ren)
5)the "twin" children
6)my quad core pentium PC+acc.
7)not even my rigol+acc :P its the last.
8}not least... my currently built diy differential probe (20-100MHz 1KV diff.V) market price $300-3000. paid a few bucks and months of pain, still is.

My new PC:
cool but i believe its time to make tiffany yep #1
edit: wait a sec. 16GB RAM, cpu "Atom"?! low power spec atom but... big fan and 7" lcd? WTF?! i dont know whats wrong with intel nowadays.
« Last Edit: May 26, 2012, 06:38:43 am by Mechatrommer »
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Offline T4P

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Re: The most expensive equipment that you have
« Reply #23 on: May 26, 2012, 07:01:38 am »

My new PC:
cool but i believe its time to make tiffany yep #1
edit: wait a sec. 16GB RAM, cpu "Atom"?! low power spec atom but... big fan and 7" lcd? WTF?! i dont know whats wrong with intel nowadays.

You can say that ... but that's his high power rig somewhere inside and the 7" belongs to the OMAP 3621 with the CM7.1(ICS)
 

Offline GeoffS

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Re: The most expensive equipment that you have
« Reply #24 on: May 26, 2012, 10:04:34 am »

*snort*

4) Child

Dave.

A child that already working, doesn't count! (I trust Sagan got paid for that ad?  ;D)
 

Offline DJKATopic starter

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Re: The most expensive equipment that you have
« Reply #25 on: May 26, 2012, 10:06:13 am »
Nice specs, but what's the use of LCD on the case, please enlighten me...

My new PC:

Main system specs:
CPU: Intel Core i7 3930K
RAM: 16GB 1600MHz DDR3
MB: Intel DX79SI
HDD: 1TB 7200RPM
GPU: Nvidia GTX 560 Ti 2GB
OS: Gentoo Linux

Low power system specs:
CPU: Intel Atom D2700
RAM: 4GB 1066MHz 1.35V DDR3
MB: Jetway JNC9KDL-2700
HDD: 1TB 7200RPM
OS: Gentoo Linux

Front panel display specs:
CPU: TI OMAP 3621
RAM: 512MB
Flash: 8GB
LCD: 7" LED backlit 600x1024 IPS with touch
OS: Cyanogenmod 7.1.0

Power system: 42A front end converter, 60A battery backup DC/DC converter, 30A battery charger, "Lainey Schmidt" digital power management controller.

And it only cost about $1000 since Intel offers a very nice employee discount on high end motherboards and CPUs and I was able to use a lot of recycled parts.

Coming in second place would be my Olympus E-510 DSLR. Third place would be my Instek GDS1062A scope. Almost making the mark would be my Asus TF101 tablet.
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Offline siliconmix

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Re: The most expensive equipment that you have
« Reply #26 on: May 26, 2012, 10:07:52 am »
last year i spent more on communications than i did on heating .mind you it was a very mild winter.
 

Offline GeoffS

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Re: The most expensive equipment that you have
« Reply #27 on: May 26, 2012, 10:39:18 am »
All my expensive equipment is out in the shed (woodworking and metalworking stuff).

As it's far too cold to work out there at night a nice warm inside hobby playing with electronics  is just what I need

 

Offline Architect_1077

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Re: The most expensive equipment that you have
« Reply #28 on: May 26, 2012, 11:03:11 am »
Keeping strictly to electronics related equipment  8) ...

The Agilent U1241B DMM and Hakko FX888 soldering station.
I'm a far cry from having a collection of equipment. In any case, I know I'll get there eventually!
 

Offline bullet308

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Re: The most expensive equipment that you have
« Reply #29 on: May 26, 2012, 01:35:07 pm »
The 13x30 Chinese lathe in the garage, I suppose. A US$2000 relic from my gunsmithing days. My dad uses it a lot more than I do any more.

In terms of electronics...one of the two 7000-series Tek scopes I used to have. I sold them for maybe US$100 each.

Now? My US$80 Hameg scope? My US$40 Extech multimeter? Either way, not much. I have a lot more money tied up in parts inventory than tooling. US$1000+ worth of Geiger-Mueler tubes, for starters.
>>>BULLET>>>
 

Offline NiHaoMike

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Re: The most expensive equipment that you have
« Reply #30 on: May 26, 2012, 01:43:00 pm »
Nice specs, but what's the use of LCD on the case, please enlighten me...
It would be a system status/control panel when I have the software done. For now, it's just a plain embedded Android tablet that happens to work as a very fancy power switch. Think of it as a "dashboard" for the PC.
Quote
edit: wait a sec. 16GB RAM, cpu "Atom"?! low power spec atom but... big fan and 7" lcd? WTF?! i dont know whats wrong with intel nowadays.
There are actually 3 computing subsystems in that box, 4 if you count the PIC in the Lainey Schmidt power management controller. It's best to think of them as separate computers networked together.

If anyone's wondering about the power system architecture, there's a converter that supplies the main 12V rail from the AC input, a DC/DC converter (based on a combined buck/current doubler boost topology) to supply the 12V rail from the 12V battery/alternative energy system, and a converter to charge the battery from the AC input if necessary. A large capacitor smoothes out transitions between the converters and rail switching circuits take care of controlling power to the different subsystems. Additional DC/DC converters take care of supplying lower voltage rails.
Quote
not least... my currently built diy differential probe (20-100MHz 1KV diff.V) market price $300-3000. paid a few bucks and months of pain, still is.
Any details? I think it could become a very popular open source hardware project.
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Offline T4P

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Re: The most expensive equipment that you have
« Reply #31 on: May 26, 2012, 01:44:12 pm »
The 13x30 Chinese lathe in the garage, I suppose. A US$2000 relic from my gunsmithing days. My dad uses it a lot more than I do any more.

In terms of electronics...one of the two 7000-series Tek scopes I used to have. I sold them for maybe US$100 each.

Now? My US$80 Hameg scope? My US$40 Extech multimeter? Either way, not much. I have a lot more money tied up in parts inventory than tooling. US$1000+ worth of Geiger-Mueler tubes, for starters.

Nice. I understand and read up before somewhere in the forum that you left electronics for quite some time so your tube inventory would be there ... finding any uses mate? Or planning to sell off to the audiophile community (G-Mueler tubes worth way more now then they use to do)
 

Offline bullet308

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Re: The most expensive equipment that you have
« Reply #32 on: May 26, 2012, 02:45:06 pm »
Alas, Geiger-Mueler tubes are of no utility to audiophiles, unless you have very refined tastes in your clicks and ticks. :-)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geiger-M%C3%BCller_tube

Radiation detection and metrology is my chosen avenue into the field/hobby/vocation of electronics design. Some people do QRP ham radio:

http://www.qrpkits.com/

Others do little tube amps and hyperefficient horn audio speakers.

http://www.thehornshoppe.com/

I could have done those things too, but I do Geiger counters, this being an excellent example of the sort of thing I am riffing  on:

http://sites.google.com/site/diygeigercounter/

And, as I was in-between jobs when Fukushima Daichi went down, it proved to be a financial lifesaver, too. :-)



I made and sold about 75 of these, mostly to Japan. There were a number of variations avaiable through most of last year, but bine was one of the better and cheaper ones.  This and other rad gear sales on eBay enabled me to keep my head above water while hunting a job.

Daddy taught me to solder when I was seven. thiry-five+ years later, that skill saved my ass.
« Last Edit: May 26, 2012, 06:54:32 pm by bullet308 »
>>>BULLET>>>
 

Offline T4P

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Re: The most expensive equipment that you have
« Reply #33 on: May 26, 2012, 03:15:18 pm »
Alas, Geiger-Mueler tubes are of no utility to audiophiles, unless you have very refined tastes in your clicks and ticks. :-)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geiger-M%C3%BCller_tube

Radiation detection and metrology is my chosen avenue into the field/hobby/vocation of electronics design. Some people do QRP ham radio:

http://www.qrpkits.com/

Others do little tube amps and hyperefficient horn audio speakers.

http://www.thehornshoppe.com/

I could have done those things too, but I do Geiger counters, this being an excellent example of the sort of thing I am riffing  on:

http://sites.google.com/site/diygeigercounter/

And, as I was in-between jobs when Fukushima Daichi went down, it proved to be a financial lifesaver, too. :-)



I made and sold about 75 of these, mostly to Japan. There were a number of variations avaiable through most of last year, but bine was one of the better and cheaper ones.  This and other rad gear sales on eBay enabled me to keep my head above water while hunting a job.

Daddy taught me to solder when I was seven. thiry-five+ years later, that skill saved my ass.

Oops i seemed to have messed up the geiger tubes with the tubes brand that starts with 'M' ... Great that your skill saved you man ;)
 

Offline SeanB

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Re: The most expensive equipment that you have
« Reply #34 on: May 26, 2012, 03:26:12 pm »
I was looking for GM tubes a while ago, just to have one around. Funny thing is that about 5 months before the earthquake I ordered some KI for use as a water loop disinfectant ( I wanted AgI, but the price, and the breakdown products, plus all the silver plating problems) and have used only 40g so far out of 500g. Now worth double the price....... I joked I should blend it with 10kg of inactive and slap it through the capsuling machine as a test, instead of the ascorbic acid I normally use as a known test product.
 

Offline jahonen

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Re: The most expensive equipment that you have
« Reply #35 on: May 26, 2012, 06:46:18 pm »
My top-3 list:

- Rohde&Schwarz FSV7 signal/spectrum analyzer with a TG option
- Agilent MSO6034 mixed signal scope
- Gossen Metrawatt Metrahit energy DMM

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Janne
 

Online Mechatrommer

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Re: The most expensive equipment that you have
« Reply #36 on: May 27, 2012, 01:03:17 am »
Quote
not least... my currently built diy differential probe (20-100MHz 1KV diff.V) market price $300-3000. paid a few bucks and months of pain, still is.
Any details? I think it could become a very popular open source hardware project.
not finalized yet, i'm still struggling for things like noise and cmrr (and yet to come problem). releasing it as OSHW right now is just a joke and my shame. but i dont know why i'm too stuck with this thing for months, its like nothing else worthy in this world. even occasionally the wifey will make big noises.
Nature: Evolution and the Illusion of Randomness (Stephen L. Talbott): Its now indisputable that... organisms “expertise” contextualizes its genome, and its nonsense to say that these powers are under the control of the genome being contextualized - Barbara McClintock
 

Offline rolycat

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Re: The most expensive equipment that you have
« Reply #37 on: May 27, 2012, 10:25:13 am »

Oops i seemed to have messed up the geiger tubes with the tubes brand that starts with 'M' ... Great that your skill saved you man ;)

Mullard?

Of course as a British company Mullard didn't make tubes at all, they made valves  :)
 

Offline SeanB

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Re: The most expensive equipment that you have
« Reply #38 on: May 27, 2012, 10:30:20 am »
Quote
not least... my currently built diy differential probe (20-100MHz 1KV diff.V) market price $300-3000. paid a few bucks and months of pain, still is.
Any details? I think it could become a very popular open source hardware project.
not finalized yet, i'm still struggling for things like noise and cmrr (and yet to come problem). releasing it as OSHW right now is just a joke and my shame. but i dont know why i'm too stuck with this thing for months, its like nothing else worthy in this world. even occasionally the wifey will make big noises.

Well, that would still be a better start than a lot of commercial designs. Ans a lot better than a lot of expensive software, where often you pay high prices and certain features are "in development" for years, with the customers being used as beta testers and sometimes alpha testers.......

Release it, and more minds may help with your problems, and may show ways that you never thought of.
 

Offline bullet308

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Re: The most expensive equipment that you have
« Reply #39 on: May 27, 2012, 12:15:52 pm »

Oops i seemed to have messed up the geiger tubes with the tubes brand that starts with 'M' ... Great that your skill saved you man ;)

Mullard?

Of course as a British company Mullard didn't make tubes at all, they made valves  :)

As it happens, I happen to have a Geiger-Muller tube on hand by Mullard, a nice little end-window unit. Dont think I have ever heard them called Geiger-Muller valves, though...  :-)
>>>BULLET>>>
 

Offline SeanB

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Re: The most expensive equipment that you have
« Reply #40 on: May 27, 2012, 12:19:34 pm »
But those were called gas discharge tubes, no other active elements other than the gas fill and the chlorine or bromine quenching agent. A central wire and a conductive outer, with a window of some sort for the alpha and beta detectors. Gamma did not really need a window........
 

Offline Rerouter

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Re: The most expensive equipment that you have
« Reply #41 on: May 27, 2012, 12:43:33 pm »
the most expensive equiptment i have bought would probably be an arduino, (wish i was kidding)

as for the most expensive i own,
- a data precision 6000 spectrum analyser that i am still piecing back together, they still appear for a few thousand, and was in the tens of thousands when they first came out,
- Tektronics 475 O-Scope that i scored as a freebie and repaired,
- Tektronics 500 Series Plugins and rack (same as the scope) (freq gen, counter and 2 DMM modules)
« Last Edit: May 27, 2012, 12:47:52 pm by Rerouter »
 

Offline rolycat

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Re: The most expensive equipment that you have
« Reply #42 on: May 27, 2012, 01:44:08 pm »

Oops i seemed to have messed up the geiger tubes with the tubes brand that starts with 'M' ... Great that your skill saved you man ;)

Mullard?

Of course as a British company Mullard didn't make tubes at all, they made valves  :)

As it happens, I happen to have a Geiger-Muller tube on hand by Mullard, a nice little end-window unit. Dont think I have ever heard them called Geiger-Muller valves, though...  :-)

Ouch. :)

I believe they also made CRTs, which I also have to admit weren't often called cathode ray valves, even in England.

To return to the thread topic a little, my most expensive bit of kit when new would have been my Tek 465B.

Nowadays it's probably my Fluke 87V, which are outrageously more expensive in this country than they are stateside.

« Last Edit: May 27, 2012, 01:49:30 pm by rolycat »
 

Offline M. András

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Re: The most expensive equipment that you have
« Reply #43 on: May 27, 2012, 02:56:36 pm »
yeah everything is epensive compared the us prices to eu prices

for the topic: in electronics, weller wd1000m kit(wmrp pencil+stand, wd1m supply up to 150watts), fluke 289 fvf kit, and the list will grow in time
for computer part, definetly my asus g73 laptop :)
 

Offline BravoV

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Re: The most expensive equipment that you have
« Reply #44 on: May 27, 2012, 03:02:02 pm »
.... mistress   :P

and the cost will rise exponentially once you added the 2nd one.   ;D

Offline T4P

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Re: The most expensive equipment that you have
« Reply #45 on: May 27, 2012, 03:34:36 pm »

Oops i seemed to have messed up the geiger tubes with the tubes brand that starts with 'M' ... Great that your skill saved you man ;)

Mullard?

Of course as a British company Mullard didn't make tubes at all, they made valves  :)

Tubes or valves depending on area  :-\

But ah well when it comes to computers my most expensive one would be the HP tx2028AU ( i didn't buy that ... that was a mistake for them to buy )
followed by my current laptop a fujitsu LH520 ( not sure it's 520 or 530 but it's the one with the complete AMD package ) and it's good for everything ... at 799SGD
 

Offline FenderBender

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Re: The most expensive equipment that you have
« Reply #46 on: May 27, 2012, 11:08:32 pm »
1.) Amprobe AM-270- $90
2.) Tektronix 465M- $85
3.) Amprobe AM-220- $45

Yeah quite expensive...
 

Offline nick.sek

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Re: The most expensive equipment that you have
« Reply #47 on: May 27, 2012, 11:17:05 pm »
My Rigol Oscilloscope - only $500, but probably my best buy!

 

Offline free_electron

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Re: The most expensive equipment that you have
« Reply #48 on: May 27, 2012, 11:24:12 pm »
Tubes or valves depending on area  :-\


i call them 'glass baloons with pieces of scrap metal in it' or 'relics of a dinosaur age'
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Any comments, or points of view expressed, are my own and not endorsed , induced or compensated by my employer(s).
 

Offline nick.sek

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Re: The most expensive equipment that you have
« Reply #49 on: May 27, 2012, 11:26:31 pm »
Tubes or valves depending on area  :-\


i call them 'glass baloons with pieces of scrap metal in it' or 'relics of a dinosaur age'

But they sound so good!
 

Offline T4P

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Re: The most expensive equipment that you have
« Reply #50 on: May 28, 2012, 02:51:52 am »
Tubes or valves depending on area  :-\


i call them 'glass baloons with pieces of scrap metal in it' or 'relics of a dinosaur age'

But they sound so good!

Meh, bullshit
it's the same as saying a man from the dinosaur age does things better then dave jones
 

Offline free_electron

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Re: The most expensive equipment that you have
« Reply #51 on: May 28, 2012, 02:56:52 am »
But they sound so good!
That is subjective ...

An ideal amplifier does only increase amplitude and does not create distortion or byproducts. valves are notorious for creating harmonics ... ( that's what makes them sound 'good' )

Anyway, history has decided. Apart from a group of people who cling to them (just like there are vintage car collectors ) the vacuum tube has all but disappeared , except for some specialty applications. Mainstream production has ceased long ago. yeah yeah there is some bozos out there still making them, i'm talking mainstream. They disappeared early 70's, and that's 40 years ago. Good riddance !
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Offline TriodeTiger

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Re: The most expensive equipment that you have
« Reply #52 on: May 28, 2012, 04:29:15 am »
Albeit a lot of people with old equipment can say it, my Tektronix 2215 in today's dollars is >$3000 :) (94% off)

No digital noise, and samples per second is some reallly large number :)

Who needs single shot capture, when 1/sec per div can focus the beam sweeps to a point where it burns the waveform in your eye anyway? Overshoot capturing here I come!

*ahem*

Then Hakko FX-888: $~90
Then Extech EX210 DMM (mini, +IR thermometer): $~70
« Last Edit: May 28, 2012, 04:38:50 am by xander »
"Yes, I have deliberately traded off robustness for the sake of having knobs." - Dave Jones.
 

Offline JuKu

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Re: The most expensive equipment that you have
« Reply #53 on: May 28, 2012, 07:45:22 am »
Full license to Altium.
dScope III audio analyzer
Agilent mixed signal scope

Bought cheap when the company that owned them closed down the side office.
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Offline bingo600

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Re: The most expensive equipment that you have
« Reply #54 on: May 28, 2012, 07:04:36 pm »
1: Agilent 34401A DMM 
2: Digiview DV-100 Logic Analyzer
3: Rigol DS1102E
4: 2 x Agilent 6632B PSU
5: Rigol DG1022
3: Rigol DS1052E
5: Racal Dana 1991 Counter
6: Quick 202D 90w indiction soldering iron (great tool)


/Bingo
 


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