Author Topic: The $100 Lab Challenge  (Read 19889 times)

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Offline Velund

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Re: The $100 Lab Challenge
« Reply #50 on: February 06, 2013, 03:38:20 am »
Yeah, $5K would equip you with a pretty kick-arse lab these days.
Even more so if you are in the US or other countries that have oodles of cheap 2nd hand gear on ebay.

It depends... With $5K someone can build quite good lab to work  with microcontrollers and low frequency analog circuits. But my still quite basic home lab with focus on RF design and radio equipment mods/repair (up to 1 GHz for a while) already passed $10K mark (not counting parts), and there is a lot of things that may be considered missing. ;)  I'm not in United States, so eBay is not always a good source, heavy items may cost a lot to ship overseas.

BTW: It may be much more interesting to compile a list of items for "$1K advanced home lab". I can offer to include Rigol DS1052E scope and lower model of Zeroplus LAP-C logic analyzers line to such list. ;) Both is "upgradeable" to quite useful tools. ;)

PS: Should I count an additional room that is used for all this stuff to expenses? Initially planned to purchase 1-bedroom appt, but quickly switched to 2-bedroom one after remembering how many boxes I need to move. ;) And it was quite heavy "investment".
« Last Edit: February 06, 2013, 03:57:19 am by Velund »
 

Offline TerraHertz

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Re: The $100 Lab Challenge
« Reply #51 on: February 06, 2013, 03:46:55 am »
I took my girlfriend into my lab once. She looked at the scope...then at me...then proceeded to ask if I was some sort of mad scientist. There's something about CROs that people just find mystifying.

For decades Hollywood and the media have been constructing a cultural illusion that anything involving advanced technology belongs in corporate or government labs, therefore any individual who does that kind of stuff on their own has to be some kind of obsessive nut, and is probably irresponsible and dangerous.  The 'mad scientist' trope is just one example of that corrupted belief system.
Women seem particularly prone to absorbing such subliminal propaganda bullsh*t. Which makes it virtually impossible to find a companion who appreciates our hobby. Let alone practices it herself. Sigh.

Quote
Anyway, you CAN manage a relationship and be an electronics nut...just don't bring electronics up too often.
See? Even you have absorbed the programming to some extent. "Nut"? You may think it's a harmless term of endearment, but it's not.
« Last Edit: February 06, 2013, 03:49:57 am by TerraHertz »
Collecting old scopes, logic analyzers, and unfinished projects. http://everist.org
 

Offline smackaayTopic starter

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Re: The $100 Lab Challenge
« Reply #52 on: February 06, 2013, 04:01:34 am »
I think the term nut is used for almost any hobby or interest though. How many times have you seen, gun nut, car nut etc?
Come see my boring site - http://smackaay.com/
 

Offline smashedProton

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Re: The $100 Lab Challenge
« Reply #53 on: February 06, 2013, 06:17:00 am »
Terrahertz, i have read what you wrote on the fun/dumb stuff you did as a kid!  Do you have something to tell us about you nut?  I heard that you like flash powder and microwaves.
http://www.garrettbaldwin.com/

Invention, my dear friends, is 93% perspiration, 6% electricity, 4% evaporation, and 2% butterscotch ripple.
 

Offline PA4TIM

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Re: The $100 Lab Challenge
« Reply #54 on: February 06, 2013, 07:04:27 am »
Just sabotage the TV just before the old nd the beautifull, Dallas or shit most women like to watch and then do omeinterestimg things with some gear and et het think you will be not ready on time because you have not enough gear, but be sure she misses not much more then the first minute. The next time you see those cute shoes  nice multimeter she will not be so difficult  8)
www.pa4tim.nl my collection measurement gear and experiments Also lots of info about network analyse
www.schneiderelectronicsrepair.nl  repair of test and calibration equipment
https://www.youtube.com/user/pa4tim my youtube channel
 


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