I kind of figured that was part of why you collect such items. I've never done any refurbishing. I lean more into lift and carry with a dash of software development, but I do enjoy watching the process and have a genuine appreciation for a good result.
That, and there's just something about a box of glowing fire bottles that you can see working. The fact that a lot of this old equipment can take some abuse that would make a modern device cry is a bonus.
I don't mean to come across all hipster but I think that's the big appeal of steam punk. No little magic boxes that just do things. It's gears and fire in a bottle making things happen. You can see it, touch it, fix it when it breaks, and beak it when it when you tell it to do the wrong thing.
More seriously, that does strike a solid "They don't make 'em like they used to" vibe. I know they never made 'em like they used to, but when it comes to electronics there seams to be a point where complexity overwhelmed durability in the planning phase.
where complexity overwhelmed durability
And it's not even the durability that's necessarily the point. When I want to generate an audio signal for testing, I want to just turn the thing on and there it is. No setting up all kinds of parameters and hoping you don't accidentally change something else - the dial says "X" and that's what it is.
Sometimes, you just need a device that does one job.
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