The other day at our local Habitat Restore I bought a M. Wards small gas generator powered by a 3 hp Briggs and Stratton aluminum engine. The tag said carb needs to be cleaned which it does. I pulled the blower housing and flywheel and cleaned the points because there was no spark. I put the parts back on and dumped a little gas down the carb and it fired right up. I plugged a drill in to the generator and it makes power. I need to order a carb rebuild kit for it. A killer deal for $15.99 plus tax. The next day I picked up a Simpson volt / ohms meter model 260. I replaced the 1.5 volt D battery and it works perfect. I have wanted one for years, but could never find a good used one at a good price. $2.99 plus tax is a great price. I now need to find a owners manual for it. And last I bought a J C Penny machinist's Kennedy style tool box. No damage, but the felt in the drawers will need to be replaced. $15.99 plus tax and it had the key taped to the inside of the lid. It has been a great week shopping there. We are getting ready to go pay bills and stop at  Habitat Heaven.

EvilDr235

Nice!  What makes the Simpson volt-ohm-meter so good?  I've heard of others looking for them.

Yesterday I took a small load of scrap metal to the recycler and stopped at the Habitat ReStore on the way home.  I got a couple files that were almost unused and two file handles.  Haven't looked at them in detail yet.

Nice score.  I'll have to check a couple of the local habitats.   Haven't been out as much as i should now that i'm retired.    

The Simpson brand analog volt / ohm meter was the go to meter of it's day. Expensive, but top of the line. Still a good tool today. They will do anything I need to do. I do need to get a owners manual to learn what all it can do. The Simpson meter is big and a little heavy, so some people don't like it for that reason. I just got back from the Habitat store and bought a second volt / ohm meter. It is not a expensive one, but if it also works, it will be one I can loan to people and not worry about it getting damaged or lost. No other good deals so far today. I go to the store several times a day.

EvilDr235

I retired almost 4 years ago, so I have lots of time I hope, money not so much.

EvilDr235

Simpson still makes several models of the 260. The 260-8 runs about $300 and the 9 almost $500. Great meters they are the analog Fluke. Analog meters can do things digitals cannot and vise versa so having both is good.

The manuals should be easy to get and Simpson may even still have the one for yours but it may not be cheap.

Great scores all the way around!

Your haul would have been 350.00 at the ReStore in my area.  They are ridiculously overpriced on a lot of stuff, particularly anything good.

Wow! Great scores!

Good deals there.  Glad to hear someone still has excess room for new purchases.   I hit our Habitat Restore once a week on Fridays.  It is only open on Fri. and Sat.  I bought a book, and a pair of five inch pliers marked Barcalo.  Don't need them but the price was good.  Best deal I ever got at the Habitat was a large shoe box of half inch sockets.   Pulled out two sets of SK chrome sockets.   Reason I got them so cheap,  ( folks are only looking for metric these days).

The prices are real good in most cases. Across the river in Portland the prices are very high. I went to our local Goodwill store last week and picked up a Ryobi skil saw in like new condition for $14.99 plus tax and a Ryobi 3/8 veritable speed drill for $9.99 plus tax. Been back since, but haven't found anything else worth buy. Nice clean modern store tho. I got the Ryobi tools because my new son inlaw will need some tools someday and I will give those to him.

EvilDr235

quickie web search found a 260 pdf here:

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/master/mbrs/recording_preservation/manuals/Simpson%20Model%20260%20Volt-Ohm-Milliammeter.pdf

I thank you sir for the info. I will print a copy.

EvilDr235

Good scores!

I, too, finally found a Simpson 260 meter after years of searching. Needed some of the battery holders repaired inside. Did that and the thing works. I keep it in my old old fart tools drawer, awaiting the day all my digital stuff bites the dust.
Found a manual for it at the last book sale I went to in Feb, 2017. I was going to offer you a photocopy if you couldn't find anything but it looks like that on-line site will fix you up.

Thank you for the offer bonneyman. I just got done putting a radiator in my wifes car and I need to go de grease and get a shower. Then It's off to do our taxes.

EvilDr235

Quote from: EVILDR235 on March 30, 2018, 04:41:01 PM
Thank you for the offer bonneyman. I just got done putting a radiator in my wifes car and I need to go de grease and get a shower. Then It's off to do our taxes.

EvilDr235

Yeah, just let me know if your pdf download is unsatisfactory and I''l take my manual down to the UPS store and have him scan it. Then I'll have it on disc to help you out and anybody who is lucky enough to snag a 260.