Comment by madaxe

It carries on through undergrad and into post-grad. Even the best funded labs still have mountains of crappy equipment that everyone has to use, and one researcher who keeps everything that works under lock and key.

On the plus side, it's a great way to learn to be really ingenious with limited resources. We figured out how to get accurate hysteresis loops for ferrous samples using a breadboard, an ancient laptop, a few clicks of Cu wire and a bucket of miscellaneous components. That was shortly after we flooded the lab testing Reynold's number for shear-resistant fluids with plumbing parts.