In addition to the ham radio, audiophile, computer, and individual sellers, often there are surplus dealers who have cleaned out a local fab or assembly facility, and who bring the stuff (after removing the more valuable / identifiable items) for liquidation.
Today I found a few interesting items. On the electronics side, I got an HP 6216A power supply, which is excellent for driving LEDs since it has current output control and can go up to 30V or 500mA (but not same time, 10W max). I also got a handful of small speaker drivers suitable for use as voice coil motors for stepping. Still need to verify they give good range but they look good.
At another dealer I picked up a bunch of square Pyrex dishes of a type I have not seen before. Good for cleaning or storage, or in today's case, eating lunch out of! One last dealer had a 135mm Wollensak projection anastigmat lens, which looks to be a superb low power magnifier.
I had gone around the place a couple times, and I noticed a big commotion around a newly-parked seller. He had a big truck and had just unloaded a few BIG cardboard boxes onto the ground. Dozens of folks were picking items out of the boxes, and I recognized the seller as a surplus dealer who frequents these swaps. The stuff was interesting indeed! I immediately honed-in on a small box on the ground with some microscope bodies, and saw a B&L SZ4, a bunch of Olympus variables, and a B&L SZ7 with coaxial illuminator, which I picked up quickly. I then saw folks pulling microscopes and other equipment from one of the big boxes, and someone had put a box of interesting stuff onto the ground, so I went through it and found a pair of CFUWN 10x/26.5, a single CFUW10x, and a 10x/23. They are all 30mm so I can't use them, but I put them aside anyway. Last thing in the box was a turret with 3 objectives that I did not recognize. Here's a pic of it. Anyone have an idea of what this is? The objectives are low power and threaded M26 (but finer than Mitty M26):
Overall it was a good swap, and not a bad haul for ~$100 total. I did have to pass on a lot of stuff that I just didn't want to carry away, and didn't really know much about. The surplus seller had several B&L MicroZooms, a couple of Optiphot chassis, several Nikon binocular heads, and tons more stuff that I could not identify. After purchasing my initial haul, I went to my car to unload, and when I came back the seller had sold the lot of the microscope items at a "mini auction". It was threatening to rain again and I think he just wanted to be rid of the stuff. Not sure how much he got, but I could not have carried it all home anyway...
