What did you buy today? Post your latest purchase!

[beanflying]

Added a mini Pan Break to the collection eBay auction: #184497419637 Not for serious bending or a whole job but there is a few times a year I have to take a drive and pay time to someone else and its a better result than smacking metal with a big hammer for a sharp bend.

[rsjsouza]

  Sev....seven.... did you say $700??  Holy crap on a cracker.  But I'm glad it works for you.  And I hope it does so for a long time.

It indeed seems high, but last year I did an extensive research into air purifiers and that is the ballpark for something that will actually do anything for very small particulates and macro molecules such as volatile compounds, mycotoxins, etc. (having a family highly allergic is a PITA). Back then I got an Austin Air purifier with a 15 kg of activated charcoal and zeolite on its main filter.

[deadlylover]

  Sev....seven.... did you say $700??  Holy crap on a cracker.  But I'm glad it works for you.  And I hope it does so for a long time.

Yep seems crazy huh? That's getting into small split system air conditioning territory. 

The common "high end" brands like Blueair or IQAir Swiss air start at $700 for their smallest units and easily go into the $1.5k range. I don't know how much of that is typical overseas price gouging, but properly rated/tested air purifiers are bloody expensive.

I was quite surprised to find a local brand that is quite competitive in price/performance.

[perdrix]

Just arrived from South Korea courtesy of DHL:



USD4000 including shipping

[YurkshireLad]

I'm a big spender again, I picked up some op amps as I accidentally destroyed two! 

[wkb]

Near!  Serious $$..

[daqq]

Some miscellany vacuum tech including a turbomolecular pump and controller and a few remnants of an electron microscope. Not for me, but for an acquaintance, I just live nearby. Supposedly it's a nice haul for 300 EUR.

[Nominal Animal]

Supposedly it's a nice haul for 300 EUR.

If the last pic is what I think it is, a vacuum chamber with triple inlet at end, with four more inlets, one pair perpendicular to the chamber axis, and the turbomol pump is in the two assemblies at the bottom, I'd say so.  You'll still need a pre-vacuum pump, some pressure sensors, and miscellaneous stuff, but that's a pretty good start for quite a few (small-sized) vacuum experiments.  Perhaps even a small fusor.  (I know nothing of the engineering use cases.)

[PlainName]

Black & Decker handheld vacuum, destined for the garage.

I acquired the 10.8V version of this a few years ago, on a deal, for my bench. Not a huge capacity but for cleaning dust and swarf and little bit of wire it does the biz. The side hatch flips open for emptying, and the entire side rotates slightly then just falls off for cleaning (it and its filter) under a tap. There were two annoyances: first, the supplied nozzle is just wrong - if it didn't include the brush part, that gets in the way when stowed and is useless when not, it would be better. I wound up 3D printing a proper crevice nozzle.

Second, the battery life is fantastic and you can leave it plugged in forever without it overcharging. But it's a (special) plug in the back and sometimes I forget to take that out before walking off with the thing, and there's enough loose cable to get up a head of steam before it pulls back.

This version is 18V and allegedly twice the sucking power (not that it needed more, but I won't argue). It comes with the silly nozzle but now also with a proper crevice tool, and there is no plug - couple of spring contacts on a (new) base plate. Wondering how long they will last,  but I just spent more than a few minutes putting it down and lifting it away to see if it would land in the wrong position to charge. Seems fine 

Stupidly expensive, even with nearly 50% at Amazon now, but it is unique and I like it. More importantly, there is now no excuse for Someone Else to leave sawdust all over the bandsaw and pillar drill

[Sal Ammoniac]

Mothballs

Naphthalene or 1,4-dichlorobenzine?

[wkb]

Mothballs

Naphthalene or 1,4-dichlorobenzine?

Dang.. I used to powder those and turn them into absolutely awesome smokebombs using some better-not-mentioned additives 

[DrG]

Best coupon deal that I have received in quite a while...from Micro Center https://www.microcenter.com/ Sent via snail mail.

Scored these:


For Free. No purchase necessary and no strings attached at all.

There were also two coupons for friends to receive a 16GB SD card free with their address. The person with me had no problem with that at all

Picked up a couple more Picos while I was there (US$3.99/ea.) - maybe stocking stuffers or maybe just drawer stuffers, I never know for sure.

[bsfeechannel]

Naphthalene or 1,4-dichlorobenzine?

Naphthalene.

[PartialDischarge]

20kV thyratron, when you need high voltage and high current this is the best choice !

[gamalot]

A very cheap wireless charger. 

[wkb]

20kV thyratron, when you need high voltage and high current this is the best choice !

Building a tokamak in your shed?

[PartialDischarge]

Building a tokamak in your shed?

More mundane, I'm testing high voltage low current fuses, so I charge capacitors at some kV, then I short them with the thyratron thru the fuse to see how it behaves.

[thm_w]

Type C 20V trigger, a $1.50 hardware solution to a software problem? yes please


2S lipo boost charger, simple way to charge a *protected* 8V battery with USB, for a buck LED application. I would not use this on unprotected cells. Its also set to 2A charge but looks like one sense resistor could easily be removed.
Chip is TP5100, only chinese datasheet exists.

[Martin72]

Today a solderstation for weller rt-tips arrived...

[Sal Ammoniac]

20kV thyratron, when you need high voltage and high current this is the best choice !

Building a tokamak in your shed?

Perhaps not a Tokamak, but a Fusor isn't that difficult to build as plenty of amateurs have built one. A Fusor is a fusion reactor that uses electrical fields to fuse deuterium into helium.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusor

[Muttley Snickers]

After reading most of the thread I went completely nuts  and splurged $20 on a transistor tester. 

[rsjsouza]

Got the same gizmo and a few other bits and bobs after putting off such purchase for years...

[kripton2035]

I have almost the same but with a liion 16640 battery at the top. very nice.
I have some of these testers, but I always use this one.
(and another one with a case that also tests zeners when I need it)

[dl6lr]

New arrival: 2 Raritan DPXS20A-16 PDUs for power distribution to my test equipment.
Future plan is to have them switched via a small server that will additionally connect all GPIB devices and host a virtual plotter.

[bingo600]

New arrival: 2 Raritan DPXS20A-16 PDUs for power distribution to my test equipment.
Future plan is to have them switched via a small server that will additionally connect all GPIB devices and host a virtual plotter.

Nice PDU's 
From NL ?