Are you short of specialist equipment - would you like to borrow it for free??!!

[arturbdg]

Hi,

I know that for majority of you this idea my sound crazy but I myself came across that issue many times. There are several projects that I can't finish due to lack of specific equiment needs - for example I want to build 4.5 digit multimeter. One option is to buy resistor with very tight tolerances - they cost quite a lot so not really an option. The other option is to use variable resistor and calibrate it by using a metter that have better resolution than the one that I am building - 5.5 digit meter should be fit for purpose. Yet it cost quite a lot and I don't need that kind of accuracy not to mention that I have my own family to feed so can't just go and buy a meter that costs over 100 pounds.

I want to create a place where everyone interested can loan an equipment from us basically free of charge (unless you keep it longer that certain ammount of time). The only cost for you will be the postage.

At the moment I am looking at the number of people interested in either way supporting this initiative or borrowing an equipment from us.

Please visit my webpage and if you got a minute fill in the form so I can have a rough number of people interested so I can then convince manufacturers to support my initiative.

**broken link removed**

Thank you very much
Artur

 

[123jack]

Nice helpful idea but I think
lots of problems involved.

What happens if something gets lost in the post?
Who is responsiblle for damage while in use.
How is that paid for? How do you prove it.
National or international? Who controls things?
What "sort" of equipment - does it make sense for?

I think you'd need to outline a system that explains more
to get much interest but I wish you well and hope I'm wrong.

jack

 

[arturbdg]

Nice helpful idea but I think
lots of problems involved.

What happens if something gets lost in the post?

Post office obviously - there is no other way to send the equipment but by any kind of insured service - Parcelforce for example

Who is responsiblle for damage while in use.

That depends on the damage. I got all sorts of electronic equipment and it is very rare for the tool just to get damage by itself - honestly through all my experience with electronics 12 years - I never encountered a situation where a simple cheap multimeter just broke down by itself.
Idea is - if the equipment is damage - you send it back with a detailed description how the damaged occured. If through investigation it can be proven beyond a doubt that damage occured through misuse of the equipment then it will be down to you to cover some costs.
But let's be honest if you need 6.5 digit multimeter for example then in most cases it means you know what you are doing. There have to be some methods of control etc. and I did not said that it will be easy


How is that paid for? How do you prove it.

As I wrote above - you provide detailed description of the damage - and if you say that you just turned on the multimeter for example and done nothing but inside you see that everything is just burned because you tried to measure 20Amps on 20mA setting then well
1) You lied
2) It was a serious misuse.
I do not wan't to held everyone liable for every single thing so as long as you provide honest description of what happened and this will add up with whatever has happened to the device then we will always try to fix the device by ourselves - if it will be beyond repair then we can agree that you will donate some other equipment to the pool rather than pay the costs

National or international? Who controls things?

National at first - at the moment there is just me but idea is to make everything transparent so if you donate equipment to the pool then it goes straight into the pool, no buts, no ifs and ideally the details of other people/companies that support the initiative will be on display so if you believe that we have misplaced your equipment then you can get in touch with others

What "sort" of equipment - does it make sense for?

Everything that I will be able to obtain. Through some personal contact with some friends etc I was able to obtain SMPS Power Supply, one rather simple 3.5 digit multimeter, Coolrunner II Prototype board, Class D power amp (not tested yet) and well if you want yourself to start building Class D amps then it can be nice to have a working example


I think you'd need to outline a system that explains more
to get much interest but I wish you well and hope I'm wrong.


The general idea for this will be that you will be able to work on non commercial products - so you building it for yourself, as a college project, to learn something etc. If you want to make it commercial then most likely I will create a separate commercial lease where you pay for the equipment and most of cash made through that will go to cover the new equipment or maintenance of the available one.

At the moment I am working on a Terms & Conditions which I will try to make as fair as possible, although fact is that not everyone will be happy - as it is impossible to satisfy everyones needs, but I want to help some people to get into electronics with as low cost as possible as from my own experience I know that some things that you can build can go very costly because you need a 6.5 digit multimeter for example to calibrate your own tool and buying is out of the question.

P.S. Just a side note on a daily basis I work for one of the largest manufacturers in a QA department. My work is rather limited to the company I work for but the idea is to learn Production Technicians to take responsibility for their work so that Manual Inspection can be removed so everyday I am looking into what happened, how it happened and whether it is Technicians fault or some other factors were involved. The same practice would be used to determine how the damage occured.

Artur