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Another cool mic, the Superlux S502, an ORTF stereo microphone, dirt cheap (€ 109.- new) compared to the Schoeps MSTC 74 (€ 3400) which it was obviously copied from:
The one I got was used and modified with new electronics for much lower noise, for € 65. I compared it with the SE8 in ORTF position, both connected to the Zoom Livetrak L-20. It sounds brighter, but with a little EQ (few dB down at 8 kHz) it was difficult for me to hear a difference. Although it needs more gain noise was subjectively at the same level. Wow.
The "Easter hare" brought a new toy: a Koss ESP/950, my very first electrostatic headphone. Saw it in a window and couldn't resist an audition using my smartphone and the Qudelix 5k. With EQ very nice. Very open sound, ultra lightweight.
Got myself a nice folder for a nice price. QSP Hawk for $52cdn! For hardcore knife guys this is a budget blade, but for me it's pretty damn boutique lol. It's got some seriously smooth action which gives it a great "fidget factor" and since that's roughly 70% of what I need in a knife it's perfect!
(looking at this pic it's really interesting how brown the micarta looks because in person it's very much more greenish. It is brown micarta, and the pic on the website when I ordered it is like my pic here - brown - but when I opened the box I actually thought they'd sent the green by mistake.)
Here are some pictures of my new enclosure for the my GA100 fiber laser. This was designed in sketchup and fabricated from 20mm aluminum extrusions and mdf panels. To support wide material pass-through, the door traverses up/down counterbalanced by gas springs.
A large, 3D-printed duct collects air from the rear of the bed and passes through a 3D-printed filter housing mounted to the rear wall. It egresses the room via 6" ducting.
Does a holiday to Berlin and Amsterdam count? Didn't want to create a thread just for that, but I'll be there end-June to early-July. If anyone wants a pint or dinner, we could arrange something. Would love to meet ASRers.
Separately, got more good whisky, so I guess that counts for this thread
The screen is big enough to use as the main screen for my personal PC when the 34" is connected to my work laptop. And I thought a 14" Phillips 'paper white' CRT was pretty decent as the only screen for my first PC in 1990 (Intel i386sx-16Mhz, 2MB RAM, 40MB HDD, 256KB Paradise VGA adapter )
I picked up a Sealey Micro Bit Driver for £10 from Amazon in 2020 and I modified a Bosch bit set to hold it. It's my favourite little tool. The little Wolfcraft Stubby handle was also a bargain - Amazon sent me a box of 3 instead of 1 by mistake
Got the same small ratchet. Sealey make good tools. Like Britool. Still using Britool, Sealey stuff I got back when I was 18, more than 40 years ago now.
Still very pissed off about my Bahco 6" adjustable spanner that I got at the same time. Taken from me at airport customs a couple of years back.
Personally reckon a well made ball point pen is a more lethal weapon. But there you go.
Still rekon Snap On are the best.
Britool not far off tho...
Creality Ender 3 V3 KE: I upgraded from an entry-level 2017 3D printer to a modern one which already has Klipper software (and Octoprint?) onboard, so no need to add a Raspberry Pi for those additional features. I thought about modernizing an older printer, but I couldn't match Creality's USA pricing for refurbished units. So much quieter and faster than the older printer. 8 years of incremental improvements make a big difference.
I have the Metabo/Hitachi equivalent of this. I think it's quite a bit smaller than this one. Incredibly useful tool. You can do a lot of useful fabrication with one of these and an appropriate adhesive.
Impulse bought a neat little bit ratchet recently too. It's from a company I'd never heard of called 711, but appears to use the same mechanics as Wera, Facom, Würth, and others, including the flex head and pass-through feature to use the extension in ratchet as a T-handle (though that is less useful here than on others). The neat thing about this one that I haven't seen before is it's a bit ratchet on a hex stem, so you can either have a super short bit ratchet for low torque:
or if you want more comfort and torque you can use any bit-holder handle, like this:
and you can also get a lot more reach with any standard bitholder extension, if you need it.
The little tin case also has magnets to retain the pieces, which is nice.
We'll see if I end up using it over time or if it's just a gimmick. I do like bit ratchets generally, and reach for them at least as I often as I do for screwdrivers.