Microsoft accessories used to have and probably still do have outrageous warrenties on them .. the old ones were lifetime and all you had to do was call a 1 800 number ,offer up some bar code numbers and bingo a new one was on your doorstep in about two days .. after about the 4th mouse they sent me one without a barcode on it .. when it went they said ???"they all have numbers on them " ...not this one ..for this reason microsoft has my mouse and keyboard business ....forever ...or untill the decide enough is enough .
I've been using Adesso Tru-Form contoured (aka "natural") keyboards since before Microsoft introduced theirs. I'm on my second one, but the first one still works, it just has a serial connector for the touchpad instead of a PS/2 connector, and the one I'm typing on has seen 50+ hours of use per week for seven or eight years (though I don't pound on the keys as though it were a manual typewriter with sand in its guts :-)). The ones with a built-in touchpad are around $60 in the US, ones without are cheaper.
Thanks! Hexacon still makes that same model, still made here in N.J., parts still available. Can't find anyone that has a new heater for it-that's what finally died-so it's fixable-joyfully!-but a hassle.
Hexacon model EL-24S 60 watt if anyone can help. Can't hope to solder 7135's without it... backup I have is N.G.
This rattled me more than I wanna admit.
Rich
that's good news. hope you get it fixed and working again.
it's tough when a tool you know you could count on gets to the end of its life. it happens with everything eventually but it doesn't make it easy. in a small way, it's almost like when a good dog dies. you can get a new one, but it's not the one you lost.
I’ve got dozens of knives and dozens of lights but I carry a Benchmade 921s at work everyday and have done for the past 8 years. I could lose any other knife and it would just irk me a little but if I lost my 921, I would miss it more than the replacement costs would be. I am not the kind of guy who gets attached to objects except a couple.
Several years ago after my mother-in-law died , my wife and I went to her mother's house to help clean it out . Among all the artifacts of a long and happy life we found an old toolbox that had belong to my wife's father , who had passed many years before .
The tools were dirty and rusty and had been stored in an old ammo box . My wife's brothers had set the old box aside to be discarded .
As I examined the tools in that old dirty box I saw that many of them had been modified or homemade. There was a piece of iron bar stock that had been bent in a 90 degree angle and had one end ground into six faces , in order to be used as a Hex wrench . His old Barlow style knife had his work ID number on it , not his name .
As I saw what the man had done to his tools I realized that this man would not let simple obstacles such as the lack of the proper tool stop him from doing what he needed to do . He was from the old school of thought , where things were repaired and used until they wore out .
I never met my wife's father . But after looking at these tools I had a better picture of who he was .
I am saving those rusty old tools to give to my son . I hope that one day he will be able to see what I see . Not a bunch of worthless old junk , but a picture of a man .
Jack -
May have lived/grown up during the depression. My wife's parent's basement is full of stuff like that. Home-made bench grinder (dc motor/v-belt/bearing/wheel bolted to plywood) wire wrapped around a pipe against the day of critical need for a piece of wire, saved soup cans. (source of sheet metal)
He died about 20 years ago but if I stand alone, quietly looking at his work bench (old, oil stained wood, smooth and shiny) fitted with an enormous vise and peg-board back-splash with enough washers, nuts and hose gaskets to shame a hardware store, I swear I can almost feel my father-in-law standing there next to me.
My son has his old tackle box and its purpose is as you describe for your son.
oldschoolisgoodschoolFoy
Rich,
I contacted Hexacon and they replied to me today saying that these two distributors should have the part in stock:
HISCO Somerset 732-745-2828 www.hiscoinc.com
McMasterCarr Robbinsville 609-689-3000 www.mcmaster.com
Hope that helps.
As for growing attached to your tools, I can TOTALLY relate. It's one reason I'm loathe to lending out tools as I know most do not treat them right (e.g. using wrench as a hammer, etc), they also tend to lose bits etc. and of course it'll always be the common one that you need. ;o)
Cheers,
Tim
those are great stories jack and foy , these are some of the best posts. also hope you get you tool fixed Rich. it's a bit irrational to be attached to inanimate objects but the value of a good tool used well maybe does merits some sentiment. i get attached to my old cars like that - memories of good times
it is reminiscent of older times, before disposable junk. when people valued quality and used the heck out of something . it also reminds me of the gumption and ingenuity of people that lived in infinitely harder times, reusing and fixing things.
sorry but you guys got me at oil stained woodwork bench , i had to chime in.
Could your old soldering iron be repaired by you or some other professional?
May not be worth it in $ but may be worth it otherwise ?
edit: too slow, seems to be fixed
Thanks very much, I had already contacted them and these two have nothing, but I appreciate your doing this!
Rich
I think I would've borrowed the boss' truck and see if I could bulldoze a bridge with it 8-)