My dollar deal just got sweeter, accidentally. I just received this note from the seller:
Dear valued customers:
Thanks for your purchase in our shop. We are writing to inform due to a system bug we sent out a wrong item. We are very sorry for this problem. We had already resolved this bug and the correct item will be shipped shortly. Just to let you know do not be surprised if you received a wrong parcel first. The correct one will come later. Of course you can keep both of them. It's a gift from us.
Thanks for your understanding
Yours Sincerely,
My dollar deal just got sweeter, accidentally. I just received this note from the seller:
Dear valued customers:
Thanks for your purchase in our shop. We are writing to inform due to a system bug we sent out a wrong item. We are very sorry for this problem. We had already resolved this bug and the correct item will be shipped shortly. Just to let you know do not be surprised if you received a wrong parcel first. The correct one will come later. Of course you can keep both of them. It's a gift from us.
Thanks for your understanding
Yours Sincerely,
- 97kboutique
With some of the things they sell, this could be interesting!
One thing I've noticed about breadboards is the differences in the plastic. Some are kind of translucent, as if they didn't want to spend extra money on the filler pigment. Those also tend to be more shiny than most. The SYB boards (I guess that's a company name or something) that you see on eBay have a nice low gloss finish that I think is easier on the eyes when working up close. Their plastic is kind of grayish colored. I've seen some boards that have plastic which is very yellow colored. 3M breadboards, and all the ones I've gotten from Parallax, are a very clean white color.
@RDL2004, Come to mention it, I've noticed that too.. I've avoided buying the grayish colored ones because they almost looked "worn", instead of fresh and shiny. Wonder what the process difference is?
Pure white and clear are usually the most expensive and purest resins for most plastics. Black is the cheapest, lots of regrind material, carbon, and "whatever" fillers are laying about the molding plant. Sometimes, specific color additives can severely weaken plastics and make them brittle. In the case of these breadboards, forces and stresses are low, so short of falling apart, most anything will work. Ergo, random colors! I wouldn't be surprised if the specific values (shades) of red or green varied between batches.
Well, that hard to say, which color is stronger, here's an example.
Recently, I've ordered 18650 boxes from buyincoins, it was 5 pcs transparent white and 5 pcs transparent blue. Whites were nice quality and lasted longer. Blues were all very brittle so in couple of month all of them broke. A friend of mine, about 1 week later than me, ordered same lot. In his case, situation was totally different - white ones were brittle and falling apart and blue ones were strong
15 years ago, clear exhibited more wear on the tools. I don't know why, but our supplier was reluctant to run too many clear pieces for us because of the risks involved. Clear required a larger feed hole.
Apple developed the translucent plastics (should have patented it I guess). They hired a lolly guy to help - one with a huge experience with the translucent lollies. They used to cost more, and I suspect they still do.
Plastics are suppled as small plastic chips. They already have the color in the chips. Provided you have a large enough order, the plastics companies will supply any pantone color you want. I am pretty sure there is no problems with colors weakening the plastics making them brittle. It is more likely an additive has been left out of the plastics to make them cheaper.
However, haven't you noticed lately that plastic articles break more easily than they used to. Also, pool hoses now break down quicker. IMHO the companies now understand how UV breaks down plastics - they had to learn this so that plastic shopping bags would break down. I might be skeptical, but I think the plastics these days are being made to break!
Are you sure about this? I worked in an injection molding company about 16 years ago and we bought black and white plastic pellets. We then bought "color" that came in 25 pound boxes that were added to the white to produce the desired color. Has this changed in the past 16 years?
On Friday, I saw that a neighbor of mine had put an iMac just like that out by the curb. I was tempted to grab it (it came with the keyboard and a pile of disks), but I let it go. No room for another "someday" project. I regularly see tons of working TVs, even huge older projection TVs (WORKS!) and lots of other nifty older gadgets put curbside. Some neat tech, it's kind of a shame to see it all headed for the dumpster. At least some of it gets picked up by roving pick up trucks, trolling for treasure.
In a few years, all that stuff will be cool, "retro", collectible and incredibly valuable for anyone who has the inclination and space to save it.
It's done both ways. You generally get better consistency if the color is put in by the people who make the pellets, because of the volume and QC at that scale, but if you're not ordering enough to justify a run of the color you want you can do it custom by melting the pellets and mixing the color in yourself. This puts the onus for making sure the proportions are right and the mixing is thorough on you though.
My little project boxes from China showed up today: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160878034740
Haven't received my China breadboards yet, but a Parallax breadboard (should be same overall size) fits inside nicely, about 2 mm side clearance. Height clearance (height for components) is right at 1.0 centimeter with the lid on, so it's a good housing for low-profile components. Lid snaps on, no screws provided. Still bugs me that they cost over $2 each delivered. IMO about fifty cents would be right, esp. since the breadboard is 99 cents.
"Blame it on the man" isn't all that uncommon in China.
I'm going to Xi'an in August for a big tech convention with 400K people, according to our distributor. I'll be sure not to fly on China Southern because of their baggage handling abilities. I'm sure this is an isolated situation, but what if each of those boxes had an ELEV-8, Propeller robots, or other such treasures?
There used to be a web site called www.amigoingdown.com and it calculated your chances of crashing based on the airline of choice, the departure/arrival city, and the time of year of travel. Turned out that my chances of a crash on China Air were about 1/200,000.
If I can't fly on China Southern or China Air my choices are getting limited.
Now, somebody remind me. Why do we travel to China anyway?
Still bugs me that they cost over $2 each delivered. IMO about fifty cents would be right, esp. since the breadboard is 99 cents.
Since your in the getting close to the price neighborhood, I would rather go with a BT-2310XX from Polycase for $2.65. Screw on cover, flanges, and Made in USA.
Still bugs me that they cost over $2 each delivered.
Delivered.
A similar product from a U.S. manufacturer, even if it was "free", would still cost $5 or more just because of shipping. The Chinese can somehow ship items halfway around the world cheaper than an American can mail a package across town. I've said it before, there's just something not right about that.
A similar product from a U.S. manufacturer, even if it was "free", would still cost $5 or more just because of shipping. The Chinese can somehow ship items halfway around the world cheaper than an American can mail a package across town. I've said it before, there's just something not right about that.
My suspicion is that the government is providing an export subsidy, so the products are sold at a loss to collect the subsidy. This means that the product can be a net gain for the individual, but a net loss for China. Back in the 70's the Japanese did something similar with consumer electronics which drove all the US companies out of the TV market in short order.
15 years ago, clear exhibited more wear on the tools.
Molding clear parts (as opposed to translucent) requires polishing the molds for clarity, so there is higher initial mold cost, plus periodic polishing afterwards. You would never notice unpolished molds on an opaque part, but the extra step is critical for clear parts.
Like that tiny scratch or fingerprint on your sunglasses that you can't even see until you put them on...
These chinese mails inside U.S. are served by USPS. And while seller offers "free" shipping, it is not free for him. If you look at at these chinese parcels, you'll see a green sticker which also shows shipping price. For small packets it is around 6 RMB (about 99 cents).
Dang it, somebody stole my "breadboard as chassis" idea clear back in 1998, and even beat me to the clever name I was considering, "Breadbot". At least he used a Parallax processor, the venerable BS1!
Dang it, somebody stole my "breadboard as chassis" idea clear back in 1998, and even beat me to the clever name I was considering, "Breadbot". At least he used a Parallax processor, the venerable BS1!
Plot twist, it's actually a future version of Erco who traveled back in time to 1998.
Comments
+1... saying they are compatible with an LM555 timer (circa 1972) just doesn't have the same cachet.
RTL Logic
Dear valued customers:
Thanks for your purchase in our shop. We are writing to inform due to a system bug we sent out a wrong item. We are very sorry for this problem. We had already resolved this bug and the correct item will be shipped shortly. Just to let you know do not be surprised if you received a wrong parcel first. The correct one will come later. Of course you can keep both of them. It's a gift from us.
Thanks for your understanding
Yours Sincerely,
- 97kboutique
With some of the things they sell, this could be interesting!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/290749427429?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649
Let's compare notes after these different units arrive, per Ken's points on fit & finish.
Jeff
Recently, I've ordered 18650 boxes from buyincoins, it was 5 pcs transparent white and 5 pcs transparent blue. Whites were nice quality and lasted longer. Blues were all very brittle so in couple of month all of them broke. A friend of mine, about 1 week later than me, ordered same lot. In his case, situation was totally different - white ones were brittle and falling apart and blue ones were strong
Apple developed the translucent plastics (should have patented it I guess). They hired a lolly guy to help - one with a huge experience with the translucent lollies. They used to cost more, and I suspect they still do.
Plastics are suppled as small plastic chips. They already have the color in the chips. Provided you have a large enough order, the plastics companies will supply any pantone color you want. I am pretty sure there is no problems with colors weakening the plastics making them brittle. It is more likely an additive has been left out of the plastics to make them cheaper.
However, haven't you noticed lately that plastic articles break more easily than they used to. Also, pool hoses now break down quicker. IMHO the companies now understand how UV breaks down plastics - they had to learn this so that plastic shopping bags would break down. I might be skeptical, but I think the plastics these days are being made to break!
Edit: Heck, for four bucks: spring for the 400-hole unit. A penny a hole.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/180758250443
Apple definetly was not the first one:
[img][/img]http://www.netoclub.com/m/photos/get_image/file/9a585962e0b1d6588f3e54a112a7816a.jpg
Link did not work:
In a few years, all that stuff will be cool, "retro", collectible and incredibly valuable for anyone who has the inclination and space to save it.
Ken: Think twice before checking delicate any items on flights within China!
http://jalopnik.com/china-airport-worker-tenderly-loads-luggage-by-chucking-513874120
It's done both ways. You generally get better consistency if the color is put in by the people who make the pellets, because of the volume and QC at that scale, but if you're not ordering enough to justify a run of the color you want you can do it custom by melting the pellets and mixing the color in yourself. This puts the onus for making sure the proportions are right and the mixing is thorough on you though.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160878034740
Haven't received my China breadboards yet, but a Parallax breadboard (should be same overall size) fits inside nicely, about 2 mm side clearance. Height clearance (height for components) is right at 1.0 centimeter with the lid on, so it's a good housing for low-profile components. Lid snaps on, no screws provided. Still bugs me that they cost over $2 each delivered. IMO about fifty cents would be right, esp. since the breadboard is 99 cents.
"Blame it on the man" isn't all that uncommon in China.
I'm going to Xi'an in August for a big tech convention with 400K people, according to our distributor. I'll be sure not to fly on China Southern because of their baggage handling abilities. I'm sure this is an isolated situation, but what if each of those boxes had an ELEV-8, Propeller robots, or other such treasures?
There used to be a web site called www.amigoingdown.com and it calculated your chances of crashing based on the airline of choice, the departure/arrival city, and the time of year of travel. Turned out that my chances of a crash on China Air were about 1/200,000.
If I can't fly on China Southern or China Air my choices are getting limited.
Now, somebody remind me. Why do we travel to China anyway?
Is your garage full of stuff from China, free tech finds and surplus goods?
Since your in the getting close to the price neighborhood, I would rather go with a BT-2310XX from Polycase for $2.65. Screw on cover, flanges, and Made in USA.
Delivered.
A similar product from a U.S. manufacturer, even if it was "free", would still cost $5 or more just because of shipping. The Chinese can somehow ship items halfway around the world cheaper than an American can mail a package across town. I've said it before, there's just something not right about that.
My suspicion is that the government is providing an export subsidy, so the products are sold at a loss to collect the subsidy. This means that the product can be a net gain for the individual, but a net loss for China. Back in the 70's the Japanese did something similar with consumer electronics which drove all the US companies out of the TV market in short order.
Molding clear parts (as opposed to translucent) requires polishing the molds for clarity, so there is higher initial mold cost, plus periodic polishing afterwards. You would never notice unpolished molds on an opaque part, but the extra step is critical for clear parts.
Like that tiny scratch or fingerprint on your sunglasses that you can't even see until you put them on...
http://smallbotics.solarbotics.net/BreadBot.htm
Plot twist, it's actually a future version of Erco who traveled back in time to 1998.