More balance pron

[ffutures]

Picked up another 2nd hand balance for work tonight.

I have a couple of dozen eBay searches for balances active at the moment, on manufacturers name as well as category etc.

So a few days ago one of them found me one for a minumum bid of £19.99 plus delivery. Except that they'd called it a set of scales rather than a balance and hadn't put it in the scientific instrument category. And when I checked out the vendor it turned out to be the local branch of Cash Converters, about a five minute bike ride from here.

So, not surprisingly, I waited with bated breath until the last 20 seconds or so, just before the end of the day, and bunged in a bid for £36.60 which is about what I thought I could spend without my boss shooting me.

Except that I turned out to be the only bidder and got it for £19.99

And went over there after work and paid for it and got it home, and tried it with the accurate weights from an old chemical balance I keep as an ornament. And it works, accurately enough for anything up to A-level.

And that, kiddies, is how I got a 0-600g x 0.01g, 0-60g x 0.001g balance for 20 quid.

Sometimes I think my school doesn't deserve me...

Comments

[heliograph.livejournal.com]

How much did it cost if you include the research, eBay watching, pickup and redelivery to the school?

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

They're paying for my time when I do all the searching - a few minutes a day, maybe, for that. Right now things are pretty quiet, with a lot of kids off doing exams etc., so the job isn't suffering. In this case the bike trip probably cost about a pound in petrol etc. plus a half hour or so of my time all in, which I'll make up one way or another. I think it's a pretty good deal.

[pilgham.livejournal.com]

Are you going to inscribe your school's name and number on it, so it doesn't turn up at the cash converters again? (Of course that's cynical - this is the internet.)

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Already done - and I've checked it over for signs it might be stolen and can't find anything.