IBM Hard disk platter
weight?
robtillaart:
IBM Hard disk platter
weight?
Maybe 8 ounces or so. It's metal.
Back on track...
- AVR-CAN CANBus breakout board (via EBay) for continued CANBus experiments - nice AT90CAN128 board
- XC9572XL CPLD development board
- SFE HMC5883L Triple Axis Magnetometer Breakout
- Cypress Semi CYWM6935 module
- TI CC1101 dev kit (433MHz)
- Sharp LS027B7DH01 2.7" Memory LCD board
Let's see if anyone can figure out what I'm building 
Ooh, also jumped on a deal that TI had for their Chronos wireless watch platform dev kit: http://tideals.com/tideal_wk16th-30th/ ... No idea what I'm going to do with it yet, but was hard to resist at that price. TI is pushing their MSP430 kits with extremely aggressive pricing. Their LaunchPad dev board is currently priced at $4.30 USD direct from TI; the board comes with 2 MSP430 microcontrollers and their dev community is hopping. I haven't gotten as far as Hello, World yet with their kits as my current focus is depth-of-knowledge with AVR, but a quick overview of the 430 reveals some neat capabilities. More details on their site: http://processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php/MSP430_LaunchPad_(MSP-EXP430G2)
BTW, Sharp MLCD/PNLC library is nearly ready for testing. Had Mr. Rowberg not raised the bar so far with his I2C library I'd be a bit further along...
focalist:
I've still got a couple of boxes of books and junk from those days... stacked in that same back closet.
Me too. How about this?
A cassette tape, "Macintosh Plus - A Guided Tour" - still in original wrapping.
Check these out:
http://www.circuitspecialists.com/rftranceivers
$9USD for an SPI-Programmable, configurable frequency (300-928MHz) transceiver. Lots of interesting potential there... TI CC1101-based. Datasheet here: http://www.circuitspecialists.com/products/pdf/cc1101.pdf
Moderator edit: url tag corrected.
Ooh, also jumped on a deal that TI had for their Chronos wireless watch platform dev kit: http://tideals.com/tideal_wk16th-30th/ ... No idea what I'm going to do with it yet, but was hard to resist at that price.
I fell for the same good deal. I'd like to use it for an around the loft display from various projects, so I want to design a router to Chronos bridge. The watch is just clunkily retro enough to be a fashion statement in the mean while. 
Re: Chronos - Unfortunately I wasn't paying too much attention when I ordered and I got the 433MHz version, which is somewhat limiting in terms of integration with ready-made components (eg. heart rate monitors, etc). Hence some of my other recent RF purchases.
Should be fun to play with, if not entirely practical. The TI MSP430 is a nice little MCU and is pretty straightforward to write code for, so I should be able to come up with something to do with the thing.
A bunch of LEDs.
Nichia makes these nice little things. 20lm per piece and more than 100lm/W. Not exactly cheap, but now my project only needs 2/3 of the current for the same brightness. Their CRI is also much better compared the the cheap-er ones I got from ebay before.
These also come with an integrated diode to protect them against too high reverse voltages.
Ooh, also jumped on a deal that TI had for their Chronos wireless watch platform dev kit: http://tideals.com/tideal_wk16th-30th/
I got a "Not found" message on that page, and the whole site appears to be empty, except for a "Watch this space for rilly kewl stuffs" promise.
Is that deal supposed to still be available?
TIDeals does weekly limited-time promos, that one's either not on any more or they have ran out of stock. Details on the device are here: http://goo.gl/dTGa1... It's a cool toy for $25, but I don't think I could justify $50 for it. YMMV. I'd watch EBay for the impulse buyers to pawn them off if you're interested, I'm sure that more than a few of em will end up there.
I was really bummed when the chronos deal expired...that was a huge discount. Hopefully TI will do more stuff like this, now that theyve created their deals website.
My most recent was a glass test tube for the LED spectrophotometer Im building. Not exactly electronic -- but an important purchase nevertheless. I never realized this, but Amazon has some ok prices on lab supplies if you look to the right seller.
@Buzzdavidson, I got a pair of cywm6935's from Mouser a while back. They're really easy to interface with, and I made an RF spectrum analyzer with one, along with trying out some communication between the two. I got a fairly reasonable data rate with the right setup. Just beware the ANNOYING 2mm pitch connector, and the 3.3volt logic levels. I ended up using this to connect it when all else failed: http://www.sparkfun.com/products/8732
bilbo:
@Buzzdavidson, I got a pair of cywm6935's from Mouser a while back. They're really easy to interface with, and I made an RF spectrum analyzer with one, along with trying out some communication between the two. I got a fairly reasonable data rate with the right setup. Just beware the ANNOYING 2mm pitch connector, and the 3.3volt logic levels. I ended up using this to connect it when all else failed: Jumper Wire - 6-Pin JST White - ROB-08732 - SparkFun Electronics
Cool, thanks for the tip. I've actually got a bunch of similar cables that I scavenged from advertising displays destined for the landfill, so the pitch isnt a huge deal. BTW, I think that your post was my inspiration for buying the thing in the first place...
My multimeter has been playing up over the past week or so, so I decided to buy a new one (http://www.maplin.co.uk/ut-70b-autoranging-professional-digital-multimeter-34800). It looks like a quality piece, and I really hope it is, given the price. (Just bought this, so I wasn't planning on buying anything for a long while)...
My old meter cost £15, and came straight off eBay. Although it looked like a good one, I was a bit sceptical, given the price. I have had it for somewhere around a year, and it was producing some interesting results, recently. I was testing a battery (should have been giving 1.5V) and found that, according to my 'meter, it was giving somewhere around 3000V. Hmm, something odd there!
Onions.
Onions:
My multimeter has been playing up over the past week or so, so I decided to buy a new one (http://www.maplin.co.uk/ut-70b-autoranging-professional-digital-multimeter-34800). It looks like a quality piece, and I really hope it is, given the price. (Just bought this, so I wasn't planning on buying anything for a long while)...
My old meter cost £15, and came straight off eBay. Although it looked like a good one, I was a bit sceptical, given the price. I have had it for somewhere around a year, and it was producing some interesting results, recently. I was testing a battery (should have been giving 1.5V) and found that, according to my 'meter, it was giving somewhere around 3000V. Hmm, something odd there!Onions.
That new meter appears to come with a RS-232 serial interface. A nifty project would be getting it to talk to your arduino as a serial connected multimeter. You will have to deal with voltage translation and logic inversion needed to use the arduino TTL serial pins, but I would think it would be worth the effort.
Lefty
So, an 100 pack RGB led from eBay to make an 4x4x4 RGB led cube, two geared motors with encoder from Digilent and 90€ of parts from Mouser, what a nice weekend shopping! 
@lefty - heh. I'm still using my mid 1960s Simpson 260 VOM. Works like a charm. I've got a Radio Shack 22-805 but it mostly gets used by my son for testing batteries.
Also have a Weston 689 ohmmeter from the 30s, but haven't used it in a while. Does look awesome on my shelf though.
You kids and your fancy digital meters - humph. Now get off my lawn!
I too have a Simpson 260 bought new in the 60s, it was the meter of choice in it's day. Today my pride and joy is a fluke model 45 bench meter. I got for a steal on E-bay about 6/7 years ago. Listed for $700 when new.
http://www.testequity.com/products/83/
Lefty
I'll join the Simpson 260 crowd. I bought mine in 1971 because it was the only meter on the market that wouldn't peg out when it was exposed to high powered RF fields. I worked in commercial radio at the time and the 3-4 hundred watt transmitters would peg all the other meters. That 260 worked just fine. It still works, but the knobs have been replaced and the handle flops around. I've had to change the fuse in that thing probably a hundred times because I left it on ohms and tried to measure a car battery. Maybe I should restore it and put it on a shelf.
That new meter appears to come with a RS-232 serial interface. A nifty project would be getting it to talk to your arduino as a serial connected multimeter.
Awesome idea! Although the meter has an RS-232 port, my computer does not. I saw some RS-232 -> TTL convertor circuits somewhere in a book I have, so I'll find them and give it a go!
I'm still using my mid 1960s Simpson 260 VOM
I don't have a Simpson 260, but I do have an old Avo (model 40) sitting on my desk. I rarely use it, but it looks good, if nothing else! As I did not buy it myself (it was something my Grandpa was going to throw out), I have no idea how old it is; it certainly seems ancient though...
Onions.
I had a Simpson 260. I also had a Triplett. The 260 had a much higher input impedance but the Triplett was more durable.
Unfortunately, my latest purchase was a PTCR and starter capacitor for the ac on my RV.