Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Mr. Scram]

You.re so right, I look at these type of things through jaundiced eyes. It strikes me as it is just yet another example of the authorities can squeeze a bit more money into their accounts without it being seen as a direct taxation on business, which in reality it is.

The authorities have little to do with this. We do this to ourselves.

[Robert763]

                  

Ohhhh yeah... take it off... take it ALL off...   

mnem
If anybody call for me, please take a message. I'll be ummmm... indisposed for the rest of the afternoon.

45600As are cheap enough you buy one for a donor chassis / cover / bezel
 

[Robert763]

I've had occasion to note that customers can't complain if they get a mint humbug instead of an IC, if the ISO9000 document mentions that as a possibility.

It is my deep and sincere hope that I never again have to participate in the shambles that is "preparing documentation for ISO9000 compliance", but should that fate befall me again I fully intend to include "a mint humbug" as one of the possible (and obviously nonsensical) outcomes of some process. Should you, in years to come, hear apocryphal tales of this, you can sit and smugly know that you were the inspiration for it.

While I was working and had to produce documents for approval by managers, I had the tendency to put in one or two major sillinesses to see whether they read it. I found it just as effective to merely say there were some errors

No, I was not necessarily popular. People have called me names, but never "brown-nose"

I check documents given to me for checking most thoroughly, I find it reduces the number I'm given to check

[mnementh]

           
SQWEEEEEE!!! and a HALF...   

In the spirit of eevBlog, I have NOT turned it on; I am instead taking it apart. This is, of course, MUCH more bearable to do as I've already seen pics of it lit up displaying a graph before I bought it.




First peek inside, the only obvious thing wrong is that the chassis doesn't sit level. This WAS expected, as the damage seen at the end of my last post was the reason this scope came in under my budget, even with eBay Global Shipping on top.




What was NOT expected is how clean this thing is inside. When was the last time you saw ANYTHING with A) fan cooling and 2) CRT display THIS CLEAN around the HV? This thing must have like 12 hours on it.  Suh-weeet! 




EEEEEK! A RIFA!!! It will be evicted with extreme prejudice.




Mainboard appears intact so far. *knocks on wood*





I finally found something visibly wrong; the softkey PCB is broken loose from the bezel. I was actually expecting something like this as they were noted as "non-responsive" in the listing.

This is why I still recommend All-Test. Yes, you pay top dollar for shipping. But you get thermonuclear protection on your busted TE; it arrives EXACTLY as you bid/bought from their store. 

mnem
*toddles off to find a service manual*

[bd139]

Make sure you pull the front panel board out entirely and check it for damage. It’ll catch fire if it has any shorts and it’s made of 1980s transistor radio grade brown FR2 material 

Appears to be a late model one which is good though  (based on CRT date of Feb 2000)

[mnementh]

Thanks; I'm planning to do just that.  I'm looking for service manual to see how to do that without ruining the fascia sticker on the front; I don't remember a lot of detail on that from your similar teardown.

mnem
*toddles off to make lunch*

[bd139]

Pull the knobs off, pull the front off (if it hasn’t snapped off already  ). Undo the ribbon cable then undo the screws on the back of the panel.

[mnementh]

Yeah... it's the "Pull the front panel off" part that's effing with my head. Evidently things are jammed up pretty good from that whack it took; what I found online indicates there is a couple clips and the nut on the EXT TRIG and that's pretty much it holding the panel onto the chassis. Okies. Just need to be a little braver, I guess.

mnem
 

[Specmaster]

@mnementh, I second your recommendation for "all test", I have purchased a 8842A and a 3468A from them, both arrived just as you show in your photos. You could actually drop the package without any fear of the item getting damaged, it is that good. Both of mine were sold as spare / repair but both worked perfectly, one I'd opened them up for inspection and switched the voltage over from 120V to 240V. The 3468A was mint inside and out, sadly I no longer have this, I flipped in favour of the 4503, and the 8842A just needed cleaning and destickering and is still in my stack of meters.

[xrunner]

"Fragile Handle with Care" just attracts bad actors. 

[mansaxel]

While I was working and had to produce documents for approval by managers, I had the tendency to put in one or two major sillinesses to see whether they read it. I found it just as effective to merely say there were some errors

The classic way is to require compliance to RFC 1149. I've done it, in a purchase requirements text. It was caught, in style, by the winning bid.

[Saskia]

yeah, you could include type of service classes.
Eagle, falcon, generic bird of prey, seagull or sky rat.

[mnementh]

Ooohhh... it's getting interesting now. Have the front panel off, doing repairs... will involve 3DP. 

mnem
Come on... RENDER, damn you!!!

[Cerebus]

While I was working and had to produce documents for approval by managers, I had the tendency to put in one or two major sillinesses to see whether they read it. I found it just as effective to merely say there were some errors

The classic way is to require compliance to RFC 1149. I've done it, in a purchase requirements text. It was caught, in style, by the winning bid.

One bored day at work some years ago I found a little slip printer in a cupboard. I came that "||" close to implementing a driver to print out packets for use in RFC 1149.

[bd139]

tcpdump -i eth0 | lp

acct now hates you 

[Saskia]

reminds me of a fax bomb.
The administrative buero in Vienna wanted to obtain competition records for issuing a permit for another handgun.

he printed out all results (including stage results) from several international IPSC matches and faxed them to the buero. They phoned him and asked him to stop to which he replied: no way. You demanded these records, you will put them into my file.

If I remember correctly they were using a cart to move his file about.

[bd139]

Ooohhh... it's getting interesting now. Have the front panel off, doing repairs... will involve 3DP. 

mnem
Come on... RENDER, damn you!!!

That's not too bad actually. Board looks ok. You might be onto a winner there.

[tggzzz]

While I was working and had to produce documents for approval by managers, I had the tendency to put in one or two major sillinesses to see whether they read it. I found it just as effective to merely say there were some errors

The classic way is to require compliance to RFC 1149. I've done it, in a purchase requirements text. It was caught, in style, by the winning bid.

I thought I recognised that RFC

Bonus points for referring to QoS in RFC 2549.

[AVGresponding]

Broadsword calling Danny boy, the bus is running

[Specmaster]

Ooohhh... it's getting interesting now. Have the front panel off, doing repairs... will involve 3DP. 

mnem
Come on... RENDER, damn you!!!

Ouch, that board is badly flexed and has the appearance, although from this view point, can't be 100% sure, but it looks like it may be fracturing just behind that 2nd encoder?

[drussell]

tcpdump -i eth0 | lp

acct now hates you 

You forgot the -x   

RFC 1149 clearly states that the packet payload is to be printed in hexadecimal, so you you need at least one -x, and probably -xx to get the header in hex.  I haven't read 1149 lately, I don't recall if it specifies whether the header is also to be printed in hex??

In any case, tcpdump -i <interface> isn't even going to get you the packet payload, sooooo....   

[bd139]

Bugger  . Well spotted 

[mnementh]

Ooohhh... it's getting interesting now. Have the front panel off, doing repairs... will involve 3DP. 

mnem
Come on... RENDER, damn you!!!

Ouch, that board is badly flexed and has the appearance, although from this view point, can't be 100% sure, but it looks like it may be fracturing just behind that 2nd encoder?

Nope; that fracture is on the encoder itself. The PCB was flexing because I was pressing on the ERASE button right there to demonstrate the board flex because of one of these little fingers broken off along the edge of the board. My fix was to print a replacement; a little 10mm² wedge to hold the corner down. Normally I'd use epoxy for something like this, but I'm all out, so we're going to see if hot snot will hold. I use a Hi-Temp gun & sticks; in this case, the flexible nature of the glue may actually be a boon.

I know... what kind of tinkerer runs out of epoxy...  I guess the kind who uses it all the time...?

I still have a little more ironing out to do on the shell and chassis; after that, I'll do a live-fire trial of the beast and see if that cracked encoder still works. I figure even if it IS borked, I still got a good deal.

mnem
sudo get me a sandwich.

[mnementh]

 

Been trying to get into Discord on my smartPwn for almost an hour; we've been on the road house hunting. I give urrp. 

mnem
This way lies madness.

[drussell]

Been trying to get into Discord on my smartPwn for almost an hour; we've been on the road house hunting. I give urrp. 

I think everyone's gone now anyway....   
I've been working outside all afternoon but popped on for a moment a couple times just to see what was going on.