I often get to talk to real engineers (after all, I'm related to several) and the question that keeps coming up in my imaginary conversations (since real engineers don't have these kind of conversations) is, "Why did you spend so much money on cosmetic bling?" And...I've got nothing. Still, it doesn't mean we hobbyists have to pay top dollar for that huge Variac knob or half-height rack. eBay has brought some great things my way -- some good, some bad, all cheap. OTOH, I've had custom self-centering steel washers literally made one-off. It feels arbitrary, but so far it's looking pretty good.
I just ordered several blanking panels for my project that will cover up most of the exposed openings on my power supply rack. It's pretty important to have a huge, grounded panel between my fingers and this power supply, so the order of the day was "effective, yet as cheap as possible, without having to dig through surplus." Ding! eBay.
I just ordered several blanking panels for my project that will cover up most of the exposed openings on my power supply rack. It's pretty important to have a huge, grounded panel between my fingers and this power supply, so the order of the day was "effective, yet as cheap as possible, without having to dig through surplus." Ding! eBay.