Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[beanflying]

But how can you really be sure @med ?  Time to get a calibrated source or meter ....

Spent part of the evening playing with now sharp blades. Brought a set of very poorly sharpened Marples chisels and took to them with stone and then several grades of wet and dry. Still some more to do but the hollows in the faces and the horrid rounding and chips on the tips are now gone not to mention one of them had a small bevel on the back face  .

[med6753]

But how can you really be sure @med ?  Time to get a calibrated source or meter ....

Is it 100% certainty, of course not. But I'm very confident it's up over 99%. 

[med6753]

The replacement vacuum tubes and resistors for the RCA 55-45 scope are all delayed due to the weather. Tell me something I didn't already have the smarts to figure out myself. 

[Kosmic]

Anyone looking for a nice frequency standard ? 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/General-Radio-GENRAD-Frequency-Standard-Measuring-Equipment-c1940/223776422697

[xrunner]

Anyone looking for a nice frequency standard ? 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/General-Radio-GENRAD-Frequency-Standard-Measuring-Equipment-c1940/223776422697

Let me check to see if the neighborhood circuit can supply the power for that first. 

[PA0PBZ]

Anyone looking for a nice frequency standard ? 

"May not ship to the Netherlands" Bummer...

[med6753]

Anyone looking for a nice frequency standard ? 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/General-Radio-GENRAD-Frequency-Standard-Measuring-Equipment-c1940/223776422697

Let me check to see if the neighborhood circuit can supply the power for that first. 

Suitable anchor for an aircraft carrier.  Freaking huge. 

[Cubdriver]

Anyone looking for a nice frequency standard ? 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/General-Radio-GENRAD-Frequency-Standard-Measuring-Equipment-c1940/223776422697

If I wasn't 6-8 hours away and they'd let me pick it up I'd give it a home...

-Pat

[bd139]

This comes to mind when I see that and people mentioning going to collect it:

[med6753]

Anyone looking for a nice frequency standard ? 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/General-Radio-GENRAD-Frequency-Standard-Measuring-Equipment-c1940/223776422697

If I wasn't 6-8 hours away and they'd let me pick it up I'd give it a home...

-Pat

If I hustled I could make Baltimore in about 4.5 hours. No....I don't want it. 

[nixiefreqq]

Anyone looking for a nice frequency standard ? 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/General-Radio-GENRAD-Frequency-Standard-Measuring-Equipment-c1940/223776422697

the tacoma could get me there in about an hour and a half  (with no traffic)

so what is stopping me?  can't really think of a reason not to bid.

[med6753]

Anyone looking for a nice frequency standard ? 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/General-Radio-GENRAD-Frequency-Standard-Measuring-Equipment-c1940/223776422697

the tacoma could get me there in about an hour and a half  (with no traffic)

so what is stopping me?  can't really think of a reason not to bid.

Well.....go on! 

[Black Phoenix]

This comes to mind when I see that and people mentioning going to collect it:

Naa when I see that I imagine this happening instead while hauling it on the snow to med6753's house...

[Kosmic]

Anyone looking for a nice frequency standard ? 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/General-Radio-GENRAD-Frequency-Standard-Measuring-Equipment-c1940/223776422697

the tacoma could get me there in about an hour and a half  (with no traffic)

so what is stopping me?  can't really think of a reason not to bid.

And it's probably going to be cheap. A hour and a half  is nothing to get a unique piece of history. You should definitely bid 

[0culus]

Anyone looking for a nice frequency standard ? 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/General-Radio-GENRAD-Frequency-Standard-Measuring-Equipment-c1940/223776422697

That should also make an excellent heater. With that and a nice Tek 555 your lab will never get cold (unless you blow up the electric grid when you turn it all on) 

 

[mnementh]

   Just found myself a home for my HP 8656B - with room for some friends.   eBay auction: #323991523569

Giggity!

@freqq: did you really have nothing but the midget HP as a power supply? Sorry, but I think you are pulling our legs, aren't you?

ok.  in the spirit of full disclosure i will embarrass myself. in addition to the tiny hp there is a box of assorted junk raped out of old pc's, and one ancient dinosaur (new jersey electronics?  who the hell were they?) that is the sum total of my power supply resources. shameful isn't it? it may get me shunned, but it feels good to be out of the closet.

   THAT is my whole fukkin' bench. 

mnem
Some people don't know when they've got it good... 

i call horseshit. we have seen the supplies you have in storage. they weigh more than the freqq did in high school, and there are places in the world where they could power an entire village. (the pipe wrench still makes me smile)

It's not what you have, its what you do with it! Seriously about the only two things missing for a full bench, really are a freq gen and a scope. The stuff I made with the crappiest of an  unregulated soldering iron!

   Of course my point was to put your "embarrassment" into perspective... to some it would be an embarrassment of riches. And truth be told, as much as I may feel a bit jelly of your NJE linear right now (which I'll wager weighs more than "my whole fukkin' bench"  ) for many, even my Spartan workspace would be similarly luxuriant.

As for "unregulated soldering iron"... I'll have to admit to being spoiled from VERY early on. Old man Basche (the head of the HS AV Dept who got me started in Electronics) gave me a Weller GT (now known as a GT7) as part of the "toolkit" they issued me (Which I was allowed to keep at the end of the year), AND my spot at the bench had a nearly-new WTCPN on which I learned to solder.

*Cue flashiebackie music*

(In German accent so thick you'd swear it was Freud himself speaking) "Zo-o young man... do hyou know how to solder...?"

"I know how..." *pause to think about what I'm saying* "I HAVE soldered. I've never been taught how."

"Zat... eez a good honest answer. Zere may be hope for hyou yet. *Plops little scrap PCB on the bench* "Allright... first, tin zee tip... zat's eet, just a little bit. Eet helps zee heat transfer to zee work..."

[/flashback mode]

Looking back on it, that exchange was probably one of several "you passed a test and didn't even know it" moments which secured my place in that "Electronics Dojo", and the "much-more-patient-than-I-deserved" tutelage I received as a result.

mnem
Wheel of Morality, turn turn turn... Tell us the lesson thart we should learn: If you don't know what you're doing, be honest about it or keep your mouth shut.

[mnementh]

Thats the whole point, its in storage awaiting delivery to Canada 

Exactly.  That makes the frustration doubly irritating.

1000x THIS. 

mnem
*time to go survey the snowfall*

[tautech]

Tautech, what's the status of this? It's been almost a month now.

Sent them mail about this yesterday, sorry no reply as yet.

[kj7e]

Tautech, what's the status of this? It's been almost a month now. Are users going to have the ability to tweak the cal or not?    The source voltage is 9.99691V and as you can see the 40 year old fluke (in fact, both of the 8800A's) shows how it's done. 

You now need a 6.5 digit DMM to check your 5.5 digit DMM's, then you need a 7.5 digit DMM to check the 6.5 and and then two 8.5 digit DMMs to verify the 7.5 digit, then Fluke 732B and a SR102 to verify the 8.5digit DMM's.  Then you will know if your 5.5 digit DMM is on or not.  Easy.

[med6753]

*Cue flashiebackie music*

(In German accent so thick you'd swear it was Freud himself speaking) "Zo-o young man... do hyou know how to solder...?"

"I know how..." *pause to think about what I'm saying* "I HAVE soldered. I've never been taught how."

"Zat... eez a good honest answer. Zere may be hope for hyou yet. *Plops little scrap PCB on the bench* "Allright... first, tin zee tip... zat's eet, just a little bit. Eet helps zee heat transfer to zee work..."

[/flashback mode]

Looking back on it, that exchange was probably one of several "you passed a test and didn't even know it" moments which secured my place in that "Electronics Dojo", and the "much-more-patient-than-I-deserved" tutelage I received as a result.

mnem
Wheel of Morality, turn turn turn... Tell us the lesson thart we should learn: If you don't know what you're doing, be honest about it or keep your mouth shut.

When I joined IBM they wanted to send me to "Solder School". So I was asked "What soldering experience do you have?" To which I replied "About a dozen Heathkits". I was qualified on the spot, didn't have to go. 

[tautech]

Spent part of the evening playing with now sharp blades. Brought a set of very poorly sharpened Marples chisels and took to them with stone and then several grades of wet and dry. Still some more to do but the hollows in the faces and the horrid rounding and chips on the tips are now gone not to mention one of them had a small bevel on the back face  .

Being hollow ground is not a bad thing, tip to heel needs to be ~25^o and the honed edge @ 30^o. That way getting a nice edge back takes less effort as you're taking off less material.

Still got my honing guide exactly like yours from nearly 45 years back.  Rarely use it now, instead just freehand oil water stone stuff now.

[med6753]

Tautech, what's the status of this? It's been almost a month now. Are users going to have the ability to tweak the cal or not?    The source voltage is 9.99691V and as you can see the 40 year old fluke (in fact, both of the 8800A's) shows how it's done. 

You now need a 6.5 digit DMM to check your 5.5 digit DMM's, then you need a 7.5 digit DMM to check the 6.5 and and then two 8.5 digit DMMs to verify the 7.5 digit, then Fluke 732B and a ESI SR1-10K to verify the 8.5digit DMM's.  Then you will know if your 5.5 digit DMM is on or not.  Easy.

That's not a rabbit hole....it's a tunnel. 

[med6753]

This comes to mind when I see that and people mentioning going to collect it:

Naa when I see that I imagine this happening instead while hauling it on the snow to med6753's house...

Only an Englishman would try to haul a trailer (OK...caravan  ) that big with a little freaking French Renault. 

[kj7e]

This comes to mind when I see that and people mentioning going to collect it:

Naa when I see that I imagine this happening instead while hauling it on the snow to med6753's house...

Only an Englishman would try to haul a trailer (OK...caravan  ) that big with a little freaking French Renault. 

Better yet;

[med6753]