What a weekend! Scores!! Modern and Vintage!

[NathanAllan]

I can't believe how lucky I was this weekend! Yesterday I went to the ham radio auction and picked up two monitors, one a 20" SVGA modern, and a 19" RGB multi-input monitor that will practically talk to anything I can plug it up to, FIVE tv station workstations, 5'+ tall, 2 1/2" deep, 3" wide, with areas for two small monitors each, with a cubbyhole for some kind of desktop shaped thing, keyboard mount and small desktop, and plenty of space on the inside for pretty much everything I own (between the five of them).

I'll get pics up when I move them. It's too much for the Cavalier to handle.

The guy running the auction also gave me these four electric motors that are geared to turn those 80's satellite dishes the sizes of small pools. They are monsters!

Roberto went with me and got two boxes of these HUGE capacitors, larger than drink cans of the 12oz size, and various odds and ends.

Today I swung by the flea market, not really expecting much. Then I went to the Toy Lady's place and found a Sega Game Gear (needs love, but it fires up and the screen is bright), Jakk's Atari Paddle games two-player, and a Commodore DTV!! That was the prize for me!

All in one weekend, it's almost overwhelming!

Oh, and the DVD seller friend of mine says he has a whole bunch of TANDY stuff in storage, not thinking anyone had any interest in it!! I'm not gonna horde it all for myself, I'll see what he has, get a list going and sell it really cheap here. if there's any interest, that is :)

Looks like El Paso isn't as dry as I thought! I just had to dig a well!!

Oh, and also at the auction, I got a 866mhz IBM NetVista, works perfectly, for a dollar!!

Nathan

[Vlad]

WOW thats one hell of a haul! Capacitors of that size are good for building medium sized rail drivers X)

Is the NetVista one of the tiny desktops or is it one of the towers? I've seen like 3-4 different sizes and shapes of those.

[NathanAllan]

It's not tiny, but it is a desktop. It's a type 6579, and now humming right along with Win2k onboard.

I just researched something that Roberto scored (stepson), and he got a box of CR-1B/AR crystals for a T-53/ARW-8X radio. I have zero information on these radios or crystals, and they are pretty much up for sale or trade as soon as I get everything invnetoried.

I'm not sure what he wants to do with the capacitors, but at least he's enthusiastic about something now. And like stepdad, he nowhas a hobby that can be hazardous to his health :) I never know what I'm gonna get into, really, hazardous or not.

forgot to mention, there are two XT keyboards that I'm going back for that didn't sell and I forgot about. Those ham guys could care less about computer equipment.

After the flea market and the auction, I think I spent around $45. And I LOVE that there's no shipping involved. More later as I figure out what a bunch of it does. And the tandy house as well.

Nathan

[NathanAllan]

Here's a shot of a Nasa control room that has similar stations like the ones I snagged: http://picasaweb.google.com/nathan.dkassandra4/UntitledAlbum/photo#5204508918319758946

[NathanAllan]

Here is a picture of the "Nasa" cabinets that I got. Well, two of them. I found the blue roof parts laying around the yard at the radio club, so they all have tops like the ones you see. Of the parts missing I can make them out of sheet metal easily-- or the sheetmetal worker guy next to my buddy's bookstore can.

I would have taken more pics but the club member had to leave.

http://picasaweb.google.com/nathan.dkassandra4/UntitledAlbum/photo#5204810257520213650

Nathan

[NathanAllan]

More inventory. In the haul was also five electric motors, 115AC geared down to 6rpm. They are really heavy duty and old school, mounted on plates half an inch thick of what I suspect aluminum since there is no rust. Those plates will get me my money back alone.

Also in a box are several military radio crystals, labelled CR-1B/AR for a certain radio. They were in tin cans with this packing material that seemed a cross between foam and paper. Trying to find those guys a home. They seem to be rapid-replaceable, as they have smooth terminals on the bottom.

Two large storage bins about 2'x8'x1 1/2' full of these large capacitors. Mallory manufacturer, the large ones are the size of small coffee cans, labelled 4200MFD(I assume micro farad) 200VDC max surge 250VDC, the smaller ones 750MFD 165VDC, max surge 198VDC. About the diameter of a red bull can and about 4" tall. These are looking for homes, I can only guess what their original application was going to be. I haven't counted them all but there are a bunch.

I went back and an antique store owner had bought everything for $30 when I asked. A lot of it was pretty useless, but there were a few gems that I would have liked to have picked up. Like those XT keyboards. >sigh< Next time, in about a month and a half there will be another auction. And missed boxes of potentiometers, suitable for making game paddle controllers. And gel-cel 12V 7000mah batteries, which I will really feel the loss of.

Did y'all look at the pictures up top? And if there's any interest, the capacitors are up for grabs cheap if anyone can use them. Probably trade.

The club also has a few things that are there on commission. A Gorilla Banana dot matrix printer, looks in good shape, and a CompuAdd 316 laptop, in good shape with manuals but I didn't see any disks. I can inquire further if anyone wants me to.

Nathan

[Vlad]

The Capacitors were more than likely Power Line Capacitors. Those are used to condition the incoming voltage for sensitive electronics so the frequency and voltage levels are consistent and don't fluctuate. Be very very careful with those, they can store enough charge to literally vaporize flesh. One important note about capacitors of that caliber is they often require a pre-charge to limit the in rush current. With out a pre-charge, initial power up causes a lot of stress to the capacitor and its connected equipment. Also these would have been used in a high voltage DC system, probably the transmission/broadcast system and possibly the dish rotational motors. Quite cool things for conversation pieces XD Also NEVER use the "screw driver" method to discharge something that big, I watched someone accidentally cross the terminals of a high voltage cap with his screwdriver. The aftermath was he screamed like a girl, landed on his ass, ruined the screw driver and generated a small amount of Ozone from the high voltage arc. Ah good times...


Pre-Charge info (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-charge)

[NathanAllan]

Well, those caps are going to be re-sold eventually. I was thinking to make an ion cannon (upscaled ion gun) but just too risky. And more or less pointless, as it would be a really neat science fair type project, but not really practical.

This weekend proved almost as fruitful! I picked up an untested 600XL computer for $1.50, a handful of 2600 games, 10 for $9, not too shabby I think, another Tattooine blaster, this one looks brand new (what's better than having one blaster? Having two). Update, the Game gear works fine but for the sound, and I can totally refurbish it for about $17, with new battery contacts and sound board, screen and battery covers. The brightness was turned all the way up, but the games ALL play on it.

Roberto scored a needslove metal detector and a couple of DVD movies, and I am building a web store.

This will go along with my new business Super Mega Turbo games and computer crap (working title :) ), which I will sell stock from either drop shipped or from home.

So things are really looking up and busy. When i get the online part of the store running I'll drop a link in the marketplace. There has to be something going on, maybe the moon is causing all this :D

Nathan

/edit Just tested out the 600XL and it works great. Played galaxian for a little while, and it was fun. So this counts for me as a major score! Forgot to mention, also picked up a Mattel Classic Baseball led handheld game (2001, just retro not vintage), a C3PO from Burger King, Activision tv game (those things are addicting), and a cheap-o set of screwdrivers. Not a bad haul

There was a guy selling a box of three atari consoles and a bunch of common games and controllers for $60 but they had mud caked on them all and most of it looked pretty junky. If I have the fund next week I'll make an offer, but not getting my hopes up for it.