Mine has the remote controls, hence the Satellite in the name I think. If that one's the right size (and working, obviously
), could be interested, how many 'bucks' are we talking? 
Economy of scale...
I use a Chinese clone of a true colour, and it's remarkably good, especially for the price.
I saw those; shade range 9-13 although it did have a 'TIG' rating mentioned. Maybe for TIG welding the Tirpitz to the Scharnhorst, but for thin stuff like wot I duz I like the lower range capability of the Optrel.
I know nothing about the specifics, but from a logical perspective the circuit can't be that complex. Probably a variant on a patent application as the auto-darkening masks will all work in the same fashion, and as mentioned above all the parts probably come from the same factory. If you can discover from a datasheet how the main screen operates (voltage applied to terminals a & b, for example), and it works with this applied on the bench, then logic can be applied to the rest. Often on PCBs there's a single integrated circuit that is used just as in one of the suggested uses in the manufacturer's datasheet, and the surrounding components can be deduced from that. If it's SMD then I for one find it a giant pain in the posterior, as I'm not good enough to interpret such tiny things without a lot of time and help. However, a microscope and some thought may expose an obvious component failure from age, or a simple dry joint or tarnished contact.
The guy everyone's jumping on does have a point - surely everyone has heard of the Captain Sam Vimes 'Boots' Theory of Socio-Economic Unfairness?
The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money. Take boots, for example. ... A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. ... But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while a poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.
However, this doesn't take into account the satisfaction gained from attempting to repair something. Using the old brain and creativity for the sake of it in this age of machine-learning algorithmic piffle. Economics don't enter into it! At the repair café I will spend quite some time digging out and replacing a thermal fuse rather than suggesting the customer buys another Dunelm fan.
Agreed, and if my Optrel's PCB wasn't potted in quarter of an inch of hard resin I'd have had a crack at it...I know nothing about the specifics, but from a logical perspective the circuit can't be that complex. Probably a variant on a patent application as the auto-darkening masks will all work in the same fashion, and as mentioned above all the parts probably come from the same factory. If you can discover from a datasheet how the main screen operates (voltage applied to terminals a & b, for example), and it works with this applied on the bench, then logic can be applied to the rest. Often on PCBs there's a single integrated circuit that is used just as in one of the suggested uses in the manufacturer's datasheet, and the surrounding components can be deduced from that. If it's SMD then I for one find it a giant pain in the posterior, as I'm not good enough to interpret such tiny things without a lot of time and help. However, a microscope and some thought may expose an obvious component failure from age, or a simple dry joint or tarnished contact.
- that was after I'd prised the case apart with the sort of care used by contractors working on your house... i.e. when they go through the wife's knicker drawer... 
I know nothing about the specifics, but from a logical perspective the circuit can't be that complex. Probably a variant on a patent application as the auto-darkening masks will all work in the same fashion, and as mentioned above all the parts probably come from the same factory. If you can discover from a datasheet how the main screen operates (voltage applied to terminals a & b, for example), and it works with this applied on the bench, then logic can be applied to the rest. Often on PCBs there's a single integrated circuit that is used just as in one of the suggested uses in the manufacturer's datasheet, and the surrounding components can be deduced from that. If it's SMD then I for one find it a giant pain in the posterior, as I'm not good enough to interpret such tiny things without a lot of time and help. However, a microscope and some thought may expose an obvious component failure from age, or a simple dry joint or tarnished contact.
The guy everyone's jumping on does have a point - surely everyone has heard of the Captain Sam Vimes 'Boots' Theory of Socio-Economic Unfairness?
The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money. Take boots, for example. ... A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. ... But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while a poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.
However, this doesn't take into account the satisfaction gained from attempting to repair something. Using the old brain and creativity for the sake of it in this age of machine-learning algorithmic piffle. Economics don't enter into it! At the repair café I will spend quite some time digging out and replacing a thermal fuse rather than suggesting the customer buys another Dunelm fan.
