zombiess
10 MW
OK so this thread is more about showing off my new lab toys, but I figured I could add some tips to help out those looking to buy good equipment on ebay as well since I've spent more hours than I care to admit during the last week figuring out what to buy and beating myself up for spending so much money. Finally got to the point I said screw it, I don't drink/smoke/gamble, my vice can be having nice lab gear that helps me learn and improve my skills. Justification and absolution! :lol:
Been on a bit of a spending spree lately. I've been doing electronics with OK equipment for a while, but now I'm getting into things that require a bit more precision, and I love a good deal, so I went nuts on ebay after carefully examining the equipment for a good deal.
To know how good your used 10-50yr old equipment is, you need some sort of standard, so I started searching the internetwebs and stumbled upon
http://www.voltagestandard.com/
Read up on the details, they age the voltage reference IC for at least 6 months to let it stabilize, temperature controlled environment, record stating the measured readings and the temp.
I highly recommend you buy one if you intend to do any kind of precision work and need to know you can trust your meter readings. Most hand held meters can be easily calibrated by pots on the inside. It's always nice to have reading you know you can trust, I know one of my DMMs is off by about +0.4v, need to fix that.
This small company produces low cost voltage standard (0.01%) generators for one hell of a bargain $45, and they are calibrated with a 7.5 digit dmm. First 2 years of recalibration are free, then $5 + $4 shipping after that, such a good deal! I also sprung an extra $4 for the 10ppm resistors since I have a 6.5 digit meter. I purchased a standard DMM Check because they were out of stock of the plus model which I really wanted with the nice case to protect it. I needed something fast because I was already receiving equipment and wanted to verify it while I still had right of return the ebay sellers were offering.
So my list of goodies coming are:
2 Tektronix 6046 100mhz differential scope probes with amplifiers, at least one is supposed to be working, the 2nd one was purchased because it had all the hard to obtain probe tip accessories. Total cost shipped $200 for both
1 Tektronix P6202A 500mhz active probe (new old stock in the case) $207 + the Tektronix 1101 amp to power it $98
1 HP3455a 6.5 digit bench DMM $121
1 Wavetek Model 81 50mhz Pulse/Function generator $325
Brand new AOYUE 968A+ SMD/SMT Hot Air rework station + hot tweezers for $180, this is a bargain and I've read some good reviews. I have a Hakko FX-888D as well and the tips are interchangeable. If you don't have a soldering station and you solder much, you are missing out. I don't know why I waited soo many years to finally buy one... wait, I do know, I'm a cheap bastard and I know I've wasted at least $100 on junk soldering irons/tips. Most of this stuff lasts the rest of your life so it's a one time purchase. I have a 40W and 15W radio shack soldering pencil from over 25 years ago, they still work great, but eat tips like a fat kid eats candy. Soldering station + good tips = tips last a very long time. Right tool for the right job and now almost all my future work is going to be SMD so I decided I needed the right tools for the job vs the bang a rock against it method I've been using.
Miscellaneous connectors, dmm probes BNC stuff, etc.
Now I finally have decent equipment for the lab.
Next purchase in a few months will probably be a 4 channel 350-400mhz Tektronix 2464A/B, just need to recoup first from this buying binge
Not to mention build a shelf to store some of it on for easy access. Older equipment tends to be kinda large.
Tips for buying used gear
Ebay is a great place to buy good equipment, just make sure you know what you are looking at and read the manuals and watch out for problems child models of equipment and missing accessories. You can usually find the PDF manuals for free online and research the equipment before buying it. I also look for comments such as the equipment has been tested fully, calibrated and if there is a right of return if I find a problem. Another hint is looking for calibration stickers in the pictures, they will tell you the last time the unit was calibrated. Avoid anything with a cut cord! If the cord is cut in any place it was done on purpose most likely because something is wrong. I myself have been cutting cords off bad equipment for many years as a habit to make it easily identifiable as broken in some way. If you need a cheap decent scope, there are many tested / recapped / calibrated ones in all flavors available for almost any budget. Just because it's old doesn't mean it's not still good. Be careful about being too cheap. If you see one seller offering an item you want for $300, but another seller is offering the same item for $400 and includes the accessories + it's tested, spend the extra $100 and increase your odds of having good gear.
Don't be too afraid to gamble depending on what the equipment is, even higher end broken lab gear sells for money because people like to repair it and need the parts! Make sure you check the resale of a broken version if you decide to gamble.
Here are some pics of the DMM Check I received and me doing a quick test on my 6.5 digit $120 DMM.
Right on the money to 4 decimal places, 100uV! That 30uV extra would probably calm down a little with time since I only had the meter on for about 10 mins when I took this picture. I also checked the 4 wire resistance and it was accurate as well. I'm pretty sure the small error I saw was due to temperature since just breathing on the resistors changed the readings further away from the measured 68F ones on the included record.
Looks like my Fluke Scope Meter is off by 3mV.
Been on a bit of a spending spree lately. I've been doing electronics with OK equipment for a while, but now I'm getting into things that require a bit more precision, and I love a good deal, so I went nuts on ebay after carefully examining the equipment for a good deal.
To know how good your used 10-50yr old equipment is, you need some sort of standard, so I started searching the internetwebs and stumbled upon
http://www.voltagestandard.com/
Read up on the details, they age the voltage reference IC for at least 6 months to let it stabilize, temperature controlled environment, record stating the measured readings and the temp.
I highly recommend you buy one if you intend to do any kind of precision work and need to know you can trust your meter readings. Most hand held meters can be easily calibrated by pots on the inside. It's always nice to have reading you know you can trust, I know one of my DMMs is off by about +0.4v, need to fix that.
This small company produces low cost voltage standard (0.01%) generators for one hell of a bargain $45, and they are calibrated with a 7.5 digit dmm. First 2 years of recalibration are free, then $5 + $4 shipping after that, such a good deal! I also sprung an extra $4 for the 10ppm resistors since I have a 6.5 digit meter. I purchased a standard DMM Check because they were out of stock of the plus model which I really wanted with the nice case to protect it. I needed something fast because I was already receiving equipment and wanted to verify it while I still had right of return the ebay sellers were offering.
So my list of goodies coming are:
2 Tektronix 6046 100mhz differential scope probes with amplifiers, at least one is supposed to be working, the 2nd one was purchased because it had all the hard to obtain probe tip accessories. Total cost shipped $200 for both
1 Tektronix P6202A 500mhz active probe (new old stock in the case) $207 + the Tektronix 1101 amp to power it $98
1 HP3455a 6.5 digit bench DMM $121
1 Wavetek Model 81 50mhz Pulse/Function generator $325
Brand new AOYUE 968A+ SMD/SMT Hot Air rework station + hot tweezers for $180, this is a bargain and I've read some good reviews. I have a Hakko FX-888D as well and the tips are interchangeable. If you don't have a soldering station and you solder much, you are missing out. I don't know why I waited soo many years to finally buy one... wait, I do know, I'm a cheap bastard and I know I've wasted at least $100 on junk soldering irons/tips. Most of this stuff lasts the rest of your life so it's a one time purchase. I have a 40W and 15W radio shack soldering pencil from over 25 years ago, they still work great, but eat tips like a fat kid eats candy. Soldering station + good tips = tips last a very long time. Right tool for the right job and now almost all my future work is going to be SMD so I decided I needed the right tools for the job vs the bang a rock against it method I've been using.
Miscellaneous connectors, dmm probes BNC stuff, etc.
Now I finally have decent equipment for the lab.
Next purchase in a few months will probably be a 4 channel 350-400mhz Tektronix 2464A/B, just need to recoup first from this buying binge
Not to mention build a shelf to store some of it on for easy access. Older equipment tends to be kinda large.Tips for buying used gear
Ebay is a great place to buy good equipment, just make sure you know what you are looking at and read the manuals and watch out for problems child models of equipment and missing accessories. You can usually find the PDF manuals for free online and research the equipment before buying it. I also look for comments such as the equipment has been tested fully, calibrated and if there is a right of return if I find a problem. Another hint is looking for calibration stickers in the pictures, they will tell you the last time the unit was calibrated. Avoid anything with a cut cord! If the cord is cut in any place it was done on purpose most likely because something is wrong. I myself have been cutting cords off bad equipment for many years as a habit to make it easily identifiable as broken in some way. If you need a cheap decent scope, there are many tested / recapped / calibrated ones in all flavors available for almost any budget. Just because it's old doesn't mean it's not still good. Be careful about being too cheap. If you see one seller offering an item you want for $300, but another seller is offering the same item for $400 and includes the accessories + it's tested, spend the extra $100 and increase your odds of having good gear.
Don't be too afraid to gamble depending on what the equipment is, even higher end broken lab gear sells for money because people like to repair it and need the parts! Make sure you check the resale of a broken version if you decide to gamble.
Here are some pics of the DMM Check I received and me doing a quick test on my 6.5 digit $120 DMM.
Right on the money to 4 decimal places, 100uV! That 30uV extra would probably calm down a little with time since I only had the meter on for about 10 mins when I took this picture. I also checked the 4 wire resistance and it was accurate as well. I'm pretty sure the small error I saw was due to temperature since just breathing on the resistors changed the readings further away from the measured 68F ones on the included record.
Looks like my Fluke Scope Meter is off by 3mV.
