Thanks for the welcome to the community. 40 years ago, when I was in primary school, My father had two small FT kits (never used) that he wouldn't let me play with. A couple of years later, I convinced him to let me have them. Over the next 5 years, I added a few small kits wherever I could find them (and when I could successfully beg the money from my parents
). They've always been VERY expensive in the USA. I was very involved (for a child) with my FT. When I grew up, my parents donated the FT to a family friend.
A few months ago, I was telling this story to my wife. So, it was a huge coincidence that I got a call from my father saying that he found such a big amount of FT being almost given away. He didn't know I was so fond of it when I was a child. He just bought it thinking that he might do something with it. When that didn't happen, he was just going to sell it at another garage sale. I said, Noooooooo!
Now that I have it and have sorted and cataloged everything, I've had to come up with a way to store it all. I've now built a work table and purchased several of those "little piece cabinets" like you often use for small nuts and bolts. I'm now working on labels for all of the little drawers. I'll attach a picture when it's all done. Unfortunately, there were no controllers or electronics, other than electromagnets, plugs, wire, reed switches, and non-FT variable resistors. No TXT controller (which I was hoping for). There was also a lot of FT pneumatic stuff, but no compressor or motors. Because of this, I purchased some FT motors on eBay, as well as a "Pneumatics 3" FT kit, primarily to get the FT compressor.
Eventually I'll get a TXT controller and/or an FTduino. I'll need some recommendations, which I'll ask for in another post. I used to be an electronics engineer in the US Navy, and am now in Information Technology for IBM, so I do have an interest in the electronics. I also have an extensive "smart home" that I built on Samsung's SmartThings platform. I also have a Prusa 3D printer, and have made a couple of models for the community (related to using a tablet PC as a smart-home control center). (
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3464072)
Having FT as a hobby is pretty difficult in the USA. Nearly all resources are not in English, which is the only thing I know. Fortunately, there's Google Translate! There aren't any local user groups, and almost nobody has even heard of FischerTechnik (except at a few schools and labs). The prices make it difficult as well.
However... I do have one piece that I cannot identify. Can anyone help me? It's the exact size of one standard FT cube, but only half as high. I don't even know for sure if it is an FT piece, and I have only one of them. Only two of the holes shown go all the way through the piece, and those holes are the exact size as a standard FT electrical plug. My guess is that it is some kind of sensor or buzzer, but I haven't been able to match it up to anything in the FT DataBank. Can you help? Here are pictures of both sides.
