What does this hobby “make” you buy?

Amazon Prime.

Wait until Ali Express has a Prime equivalent.

Born in a family of pencil pushers I remember there was always a lot of DIY going on. And when the kids got their own place, the first things that were bought were tools. So my latest addiction did not expand my collectio of tools except:

Set of adjustable reamers
Soldering station
Clampmeter
Luxmeter
USB Tester

And of course I needed chargers, (spare) parts and lots of LED’s.
But that is to be expected, and nothing special. Like buying gas for your car.

luxmeter
better soldering iron, lots of associated tools (tweezers, vise, helping hands, etc.)
some raw materials (copper sheet, copper rod), and snips to cut the sheet
Opple
storage for my lights and equipment
a fold-up desk to work at
hotplate
hot air station
power supply
work light with magnification
dremel

Photo diodes, lux meter, plastic drain pipe, diffusion sheets, a new digatil oscilloscope, data logger, a shorter FL macro lens - And way too many batteries and chargers.
All the Best,
Jeff

Here are some items I needed for modding that I didn’t have before:

  • A good soldering station with multiple tips
  • Helping hands with a magnifier
  • Nice tweezers
  • Electronics soldering flux
  • Solder paste
  • A customized needle nose pliers for retaining rings
  • Thermal paste
  • A small mirror to use as a flat surface for sanding

Ahah, nop, not yet :stuck_out_tongue:
I’m still using the soldering iron or my electric stove to do those things (reflows, etc), I’m running out of space at home to store all the things I mentioned above :smiley:

The liquid tape seems fun! Never heard of it before, but I gotta try it :+1:

I’m liking the thread, more different things to learn about :wink:

To those thinking that “it’s just flashlights” we’re proving they’re wrong :smiley: :student:

What have i bought for this hobby? Too much stuff i don’t need impulsively and multiples of a same/similar item. …sorry did you want an actual list?

- too much
-stuff i don’t need
-impulsively
-multiples of a same/similar item
.
.

:innocent:

:smiley:

I guess this opened a can of worms :smiling_imp:

Oddly enough, about a dozen craft hole punches of various sizes (to punch out perfect-sized discs of either dc-fix or Zircon 802-804 to apply to my lenses to make my lights floodier or to eliminate green tint.)

Already had the first 2/3 of OP original list from working on electronics and HO slot cars but did add the following for flashlight work;

Hot Air Station
Solder paste
Clamp meter
Light tube
Lux meter

And of course lot of batteries and too many chargers.
Had lots of fun and scored some Hellacious deals because of the mighty BLF and for that I am Happy.
Bought wayyy to many duplicates just because of better tint or diff body color but broke that habit.

Got to ask yourself these ?’s
“Does it do anything exceptionally different from what you already own?”
“Is it brighter by a factor of 10x vs what you have now?” If so, how long does it hold this newfound glory?
and finally,
“What makes me think it won’t just sit on the shelf with the other ”Latest and Greatest” that I got sucked into? :slight_smile:

Those are some good questions Muto!!!

I’m starting to replace LEDs in older flashlights rather than just building new ones.

My biggest splurge so far is the Asensetek Lighting Passport spectrophotometer. To be fair I was also doing major lighting projects in three very different homes and needing to assess both ambient light and all sorts of products like GU-10 bulbs, tape lighting, etc. But it sure is nice for flashlights.

Tool box(es)

Storage boxes of all kinds.

Therapy

Forgot to add an IR thermometer to the list above :smiley:

A spectrophotometer was the largest single purchase. But also recently a Brymen BM867s and precision current shunts to do accurate current and efficiency measurements, also these probes , they’re fucking amazing.
I still need to equip myself with proper reflowing tools. My hotplate is just a small copper plate heated by a soldering iron (but it’s temp controlled so quite nice actually), and an infrared reflow tool made with a car cigarette lighter :smiley: .

I don’t want to think about how much I spent in components/PCBs for driver development :person_facepalming:

More batteries than 99% of the population owns, and about a dozen chargers. Not to mention, giving up hundreds of hours of my time.