Do you see what I see?

Several months back, Canadian Tire had a sale on multimeters. I bought 4 of them.

This week, they are having a sale on cordless screwdrivers. I bought one on Saturday. I am considering buying at least 3 more.

What possible excuse could a guy have for wanting to buy multiple tools of the same kind? (Aside for a pathetic attempt to compensate for his manhood?)

Because I did not see a multimeter. I saw panel meters - something you could build into a project and use it as an instant display (without having to go through the bother of wiring up a display yourself). Granted, the scaling may be off, but that is easily taken care of with some minor circuitry.

As well, when I held the cordless screwdriver in my hand (it is one of those pencil shaped ones, rather than gun shaped ones), I realized that this could be used as a reasonably high torque drive motor. And, to boot, it comes with its own battery - of course, I may have to disassemble it if I want to wire it up for continuous operation.

It now provides me with an easy way to power a rock tumbler I've been promising to build Tania for the past year or so. Previously, I did not have a suitable motor, nor mountings for the drum. So anything I put together would have been terribly kludgy and potentially dangerous. Now I have a high torque motor with a collet. Cool! Makes the whole drive mechanism a whole lot simpler.

Disclaimer, I have a long history of collecting stuff for potential future use. As of today, they usually end up collecting dust rather than actually being used. But … the future is made of dreams and I always have lots of them.

Comments

Kay said…
Bleh..guys always have one million and one reasons to give when it comes to buying excessive items that later would collect webs...haha
Richard said…
I know, I know, we should spend money on more useful items like shoes and handbags ;-)
ghee said…
uh oh,cant understand this kind of collection.

but as you say,its all about dreams :)
Richard said…
Wel, ghee, maybe you don't collect tools, but you might be inspired to buy things you know will "come in handy" someday. Whether it is purses, silk scarves, linens, clothes for the kids (when they get bigger), etc.

I have always dreamed of being an inventor, a tinkerer - and, to some degree, I am. But I need to be more proactive about it.

(What I really collect a lot of is books - I have thousands. It drives Sofia crazy - just like it drove my parents crazy when I was younger)
Spoken like a true engineer! :)

(I'll bet I know a few male co-workers who would have very similar ideas.) :)
vina said…
women have their shoes and handbags, men have their, erm, tools.
Prince Romp said…
I like the first dialogue between you and Sassy..
It Sounded so familiar.. just like at home. hehe

I myself cant go to those hardware shop..especially the D.I.Y. Sure i will get something to bring home.

Some men do fancy those useful practical gadgets.The cheap and sophisticated the better.
ghee said…
Oh,so you`re an inventor.
men should be veteran anyway for these kinds of tools.

what do i collect lately?
lots of prints,papers,classified ads at home lol!

and bookksss! I love books,too,but dont have a lot. :)
Richard said…
MIO: It does seem to be more of a guy thing. Although, I did have one female friend who used to have a very comfortable way of thinking. I remember once we were dicussing rotation of the Earth and not having the current speed at our fingertips, she proceeded to calculate it from first principles. Can you say wow! My experience is that few guys, let alone women, would do that.

vina: thank you for dropping by and commenting! Yes, men do seem overly obsessed with their tools.

prince: I love good deals on gadgets too.

ghee: I did not say I was an inventor - but I would like to be one. Some of my favourite heroes are Leonardo DaVinci and Thomas Edison (and all those ancient guys with beards and puffy sideburns who dabbled in lots of things). I really relate to the character of Caracatus Potts in the Movie Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Living in a windmill in a remote country setting would be so cool! My wife says she will come and visit.

Books are wonderful, nothing beats reading from paper instead of a monitor.

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