Re: Need a Variac

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Original poster: Yurtle Turtle <yurtle_t@xxxxxxxxx>

You're right about 99.99% of all garage sales. So you
gotta approach it like I do. Hit as many as you can
every Saturday. Eventually you'll hit the .01% that
isn't crap. I really lucked out on that one garage
sale. It was almost an estate sale, but the old fellow
was still alive. Probably headed for a nursing home.
The problem was that the family was letting the old
guy set the prices. The poor old guy didn't understand
that the concept of a garage sale is to get rid of
junk. But the twin ganged Powerstat for $20 was a
pretty good deal. It appeared that this guy was into
model planes and electronics. He had every room in the
house so full that you could barely enter. Old army
surplus stuff, old vacuum cleaner motors, MOT's, etc.
I must have spent several hours digging through the
crap, before I found the powerstat. He also had a BIG
battery charger, but didn't want to part with it. I
guess they rolled it with him to the nursing home.

I have seen several scopes at garage sales, but the
price wasn't quite right. I get a fair amount of
computer stuff at garage sales.

As to HamFests, I picked this puppy up for $20:

http://www.hot-streamer.com/adam/garage/transformer1.jpg

It weighs in at 80 pounds, and is probably 12" tall.

Adam

--- Tesla list <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Original poster: "David Rieben"
> <drieben@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>
> Hi Adam,
>
> Although this isn't directly Tesla related, that
> raises a good question.
> Where in the world do you find "real goodies", the
> kind that would
> interset people of like passions as us coilers at
> garage sales? It
> seems that the only thing that I ever come across at
> garage sales is
> stuff like old toasters, outgrown baby clothing,
> discarded toys,
> ect. Ok, I do quite often run into $5 microwave
> ovens, which is
> a good "catch" for HV enthusiasts but seriously,
> I've never run into
> anything like variacs, scopes, plate trannies.....
> ok, can you say
> "hamfest"? ;^)
> It seems that we only have one nice sized hamfest in
> my area per year
> though. O well.....
>
> David Rieben
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tesla list"
> <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
> To: <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Thursday, May 12, 2005 9:35 PM
> Subject: Re: Need a Variac
>
>
> >Original poster: Yurtle Turtle <yurtle_t@xxxxxxxxx>
> >
> >Try HamFests. I got a nice 4.5 amp one at a hamfest
> >for $20.
> >
> >http://www.arrl.org/hamfests.html
> >
> >The best find I came across was a pair of 140 volt
> 15
> >(or so) amp powerstats ganged together for $20 at a
> >garage sale.
> >
>
>http://www.hot-streamer.com/adam/garage/variac_280_volt_15_amp.jpg
> >
> >Adam
> >
> >--- Tesla list <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > > Original poster: Fucian@xxxxxxx
> > >
> > > Hello all,
> > > I am in need of a variac capable of around 10
> > > amps...Ebay is no help as
> > > people just arent selling variacs at decent
> prices
> > > anymore...Ive seen 2amp
> > > ones in bad condition go for 30$...Thats just
> isnt
> > > right. I got my 4.5amp
> > > for 13$ brand new...Also got a used 10amp for
> > > 20$...Maybe these were just
> > > lucky hits, but it now seems the same people
> just
> > > keep buying them all up
> > > for whatever the seller lists them at.
> > >
> > > Does any here have any used ones for a decent
> > > price?Or, could tell me if,
> > > and by ho wmuch, a variac can safely be
> overdriven?
> > >
> > > I have jsut a 4.5amp and need to drive a drsstc
> of
> > > decent size...
> > >
> > > Matt
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
>
>