[WTB]: Basic Electrical Engineering Workbench Tools - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Kbjackson13
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: July 25, 2018, 06:29:33 pm
content: Hello, I'm an electrical engineer in my senior year and trying to get some equipment at a decent price so I can start tinkering and building some smaller signal circuits and DIY projects. I have literally nothing as of now except for some wire, coax crimpers, office supplies, and some crappy switches (me and my dad searched through an old electricians warehouse).I'm not necessarily looking for components (resistors, capacitors, FETs, etc.) unless you're literally willing to give them away, I was going to scavenge some old tvs and computers for their stuff. I'm more looking for the big things like:AC and DC PSUSoldering station (heat gun would be nice)through hole mount PCB's (in bulk, more than likely)Waveform GeneratorAssociative probes needed for PSU and GeneratorMultimeterLCR MeterOscilloscopeAnd whatever else you may think I could use, I'm open to all suggestions so if you have something you just want to get rid of or that you could part with for decently cheap then post it. Even if it's not cheap for you or not worth it, just post it! I have almost nothing, and could benefit from even some solder wick if you bought it in bulk and don't need it.Thanks for the help, hopefully I can take some stuff off y'alls hands! I'm living in Texas, by the way.

author: boffin
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 26, 2018, 09:27:28 pm
content: Am I the only one here that looks at posts like this, looks at the original poster and it invariably saysNumber of posts: 1

author: pelule
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 27, 2018, 08:30:25 am
content: I did the same - starting with nothing. But it need some time (year) to get my DIY lab in a state, one would suggest as acceptable.I started by buying used tools (solder station, desolder station and a Fluke DMM). The base to be able to buy and repair defekt tools (something to learn and saving moneay at the same time).So keep going.../PeLuLe

author: sn4k3
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 27, 2018, 03:12:59 pm
content: WelcomeKbjackson13to the forumI think you forget to say what's your budget? Looking for new or used or dont matter?Aspelulesay it can take sometime to have a lab "completed" but yes, if you have the money you can raise one in one week (Shipping time days)I also had buy my equipment as i go and that also depend on your needs. For example, for me a oscilloscope would be my last buy because i don't need one that often. So can you try describe what's more important for you or your work? Multimeter and Soldering iron are the most commun to be on top of the list.Quote from: boffin on July 26, 2018, 09:27:28 pmI also look at post count, but while this is his first post theres nothing wrong about it, he write it well and with clear intentions. Everyone had to start from somewhere, and he choose that way, asking for advice. Should he write a bio for the first post? Well that's his decision.He find the forum or someone told him about, so rather than go offtopic welcome the new user, be glad for new member which can in the future do good contribution as a member for this community, and try to help him, otherwise don't waste posts with such content which doesn't help the op nor the reader, in fact it can discourage the user with a foul feeling and only polute the forum and the database with a corpse post. Renember that every post is a entry on db, so we are slowing down the server, make that entry and processing power count and not otherwise

author: boffin
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 27, 2018, 04:18:31 pm
content: Quote from: sn4k3 on July 27, 2018, 03:12:59 pmthe two phrases in his original postsenior yearandcan start tinkeringjust make me wonder "How did you get to your senior year without some of this".I just tend not to trust posts like this.

author: Stray Electron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 27, 2018, 04:42:11 pm
content: Quote from: boffin on July 27, 2018, 04:18:31 pmBSEE course in the US is almost nothing but math any more and VERY little lab work (and even that is usually computer simulations). So it's VERY possible for someone to get an EE degree without ever getting their hands dirty and it's certainly possible for them to get the degree without ever having touched a piece of electronics of their own. My next door neighbor is in his last semester to get a EE and until I came along the only electronics that he had ever dealt with on his own were the PIC type CPUs on those white plastic bread boards. I've been taking him to some of the surplus places and going through the bits and pieces and explaining them to him. He's been quite amazed. One of the surplus dealers even sold him three old HP 54110D color scopes for scrap metal price to help him out. Since then he's fixed one of them and now has a very decent (and LARGE and HEAVY!) scope for his own use.SO, go out and adopted a EE student and show them what electronics is really about!OP, it would help if you posted your location. Also ask around and find out who gets the scrap electronics in your area. They're a WEALTHY of parts to tinker with. The ones around here even end up with a lot of brand new never used parts from discontinued products and the like.

author: sn4k3
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 27, 2018, 08:39:15 pm
content: Quote from: Stray Electron on July 27, 2018, 04:42:11 pmSame happen here, in general the colleges are ruined and a waste of time, of course there are very few exceptions.Today you can learn more by yourself if you have the discipline than on a school.I don't trust our teaching system, from my experience i have been on two different universities and i can say theres nothing there to learn, classes are like first grade (Dificulty level), teachers put the computers talking text into voice, and say: this is Text To Speach... and yeah they just run that and is ok, we call some already made method and is done, no need to know how that is made on deep (Thats on the Computer Science Master Degree), i've never study and i pass at all classes without any effort, some i did without ever know what i'm doing. Sometimes i thought i was on wrong places, but after i ask other people who is on the capital universities the ones with "fame" they told me: I don't know nothing about what i'm doing, if i go to work i will not able to do anything on my area. We are only learning math and pratical classes are junk. We have teachers teaching electronics class who never deal with SMDs and know just the basics of passives and the formulas. So yeah everything is possible! Sad but true.