Please, I beg you, do not buy pressure vessels from AliExpress sellers. Particularly not ones you strap to your body.

4500 psi COPV tank from some random guy who may have got it out of the "failed safety test" dumpster behind the factory...

#sheesh #Darwin #DarwinAward #cheep #Chinesium #AliExpress #safety #COPV #PressureVessel #certified

I bought a #Hangell (no, I wasn't familiar with that name) switching bench power supply and it arrived. It happens to be one that #BigClive just briefly showed in one of his unbagging videos.

I got it because my existing old #linear supplies max out at around 18 V, and that has been a hindrance of late. A #switching supply isn't ideal, because of the possibility of noise, but this model will do 5 A at 60 VDC, and a linear supply that can do a couple of amps at that voltage is big, heavy, and pricey.

So of course, as soon as I received it, I took it apart. As you do.

And ... I'm pleasantly surprised. The #PCB layouts look good, the assembly appears very good, with proper pick&placed #SMT components and reflow soldering, not hack-job hand soldering. The components seem to be #quality, even name-brand where appropriate. There are what appear to be genuine class X and class Y #safety capacitors everywhere they should be. The front binding posts are fairly typical cheap #Chinesium ones, but appear to be from the better end of the quality spectrum as far as those go.

One ding: the multiple #electrolytic output caps appear to be 63 V-rated ones. For a supply that goes up to 60 V, that's just not acceptable. Maybe that's because this unit can also be had in a 30 V model? Or maybe they're just hoping you don't notice.

I'm sorely tempted to replace them with 100 V-rated ones before I use it. I'm going to add some more output #filtering as well.

#electronics #hobby

So, Crappy Tire [1] changed their mind and pleaded guilty to a bunch of violations of Quebec's consumer protection law. Surprising absolutely no one, the charges are largely about advertising items at huge discounts from "regular" prices that the products were never or rarely actually sold at.

https://globalnews.ca/news/11657561/que-canadian-tire-fines/

This is why there's a saying that "If you bought it at Canadian Tire and it wasn't at least 40% off, you got ripped off". The Bay / Hudson Bay is also famous for this kind of BS. Other provinces should also forbid this kind of dishonest manipulation, but they don't.

I wish Canadians wouldn't fall for this kind of marketing crap.

Can I tell you a secret that will save you money?

Crappy Tire sells two types of merchandise:

(1) name-brand stuff like Tupperware or Corning or whatever else
(2) crappy imported Chinesium products [2]

You can always get the first category cheaper at Walmart or other places.

And you can always get the latter cheaper from Princess Auto, or even cheaper than that from various online places. It all comes out of the same factories.

There is never a reason to shop at Crappy Tire.

[1] Widely-used nickname for "Canadian Tire".
[2] The sheer amount of imported junk gives rise to the alternate nickname "Cambodian Tire".

#CrappyTire #CanadianTire #CambodianTire #Chinesium #ripoff #discount #ConsumerProtection
#manipulation #consumer #dishonest #secret #tip #PrincessAuto #AliExpress

Oh, #AliExpress sellers, never change... 😆

Ordered NE5532 opamps (10 MHz gain-bandwidth product, 9 volts/μs). Put them in my project, wasn't performing correctly. Set up the standard test circuit (gain of 10, non-inverting, output load 800 ohms + 100 pF) and started measuring them...

These things actually have a GBW of only ~520 kHz! And a maximum slew rate of less than 1.3 volts/μs! They're absolute junk!

I don't know what part they remarked to get these. When I first suspected they were fakes, I thought maybe the ancient and cheap NJM4558 (aka 4558D) - but even that should have a 1 MHz bandwidth. Maybe 4558s that failed quality control? 🤣 Anyone have an idea what they might be?

#Scammy #scam #scams...

#opamp #remarked #fake #FakeParts #FakeComponents #Chinesium #electronics #hobby #DIY

There's apparently not going to be a Repair Cafe in my town this month. I look forward to them, so this is a slight bummer.

To cheer myself up tonight, I spent half an hour replacing the corroded battery spring contacts in a $2 kitchen timer, and cleaned up some crappy wiring and soldering inside it while I was in there. Felt productive. Yes, I could have replaced it for $2 - but I like the feeling I get from keeping it out of the landfill and fulfilling a useful purpose.

Your city may have a Repair Cafe, too.

#RepairCafe #landfill #dump #repair #garbage #reduce #reuse #recycle #Chinesium

Wow, these #AliExpress sellers are pretty ingenious! These 304 stainless set screws are *much* easier to pick up with a magnet than with sausage fingers.

#Chinesium #SetScrew #GrubScrew #304Stainless #StainlessSteel #fake #Qwality #magic

Hand tools vent. Maybe this will save someone some grief and #expense if they find it with a search.

Wiha - great drivers & bits. Love 'em. Well-machined, good tough tool #steel.

But their needlenose pliers? Rubbish. I have a set of full-sized needlenose, plus their "micro" set. With both of them there's too much slop in the joint, so the jaws are never quite aligned. I don't recall if they were bad right out of the packaging, but I certainly noticed it within the first handful of usages. I have the full sized "standard" / linesman-type pliers as well, but you don't tend to notice slop because of the much shorter jaws.

Wiha's micro-needlenose pliers are no better than - or even noticeably worse than - #cheap #Chinesium ones I have.

Save your money.

#vent #venting #HandTools #review #drivers #DriverBits #pliers #needlenose #Wiha #junk #ExpensiveJunk #JointPlay #joint #play

"The forged certification marks that are different on each part in the component series is your trusted sign of Qwality."

#qwality #certification #forged #certificate #Chinesium #SafetyThird #electronic #component #AliExpress