Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[mnementh]

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24422897

'Nuff said. 

Put on your boots and pass the shovel. 

I don't have enough days left in my life to waste any part of them on a timesink like that. 

mnem
"Never try to argue common sense with a fool; first they drag you down to their level, then they beat you up with experience."

[0culus]

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24422897

'Nuff said. 

Put on your boots and pass the shovel. 

Yeah. The founder's behavior in the comments cements what I already thought....this is either an outright fraud or a misrepresentation of benchtop-scale experiments in order to try to attract investors. HN isn't always good, but there are a lot of very smart people there. If he is actually legit, he is definitely doing nothing but destroy his PR. Not that I think he is legit. 

[bd139]

LMAO the thing with HN is you don’t know which way it’s going to go  . While there is a large body of intelligent and aware people there are also a whole fucking bunch of cultists on there too which has left us which some real steaming piles of shit. Such as scribd. Paul Graham has a lot to answer for.

Edit: I’ve been hell banned before for daring to question some of the shit posted on there and being vindicated pretty much immediately 

[mnementh]

I like butterflies.

mnem
 

[mnementh]

Something Useful Mode:



Stumbled across this the other day. Most of us probably have it memorized (for good or evil); but for those playing along at home I've attached it below.

mnem
 

[bd139]

Ah yes. Ultimate crib sheet 

I’ve got my own version believe it or not. Most of my shit is bits of it glued together.

[factory]

After getting an almost brend new Knipex 97 53 04 for 87 pesos. I am looking for another tool where I can burn my money.

May have to ask, do you use a cable tie tool?

I actively discourage their use. It's way too easy to over-tighten cable ties with one of those. If you're tightening cable ties by hand the shear pain involved if you pull too tight stops you doing it. Use a cable tie gun and you've no sensory feedback that you're trying to go too tight. If you have a lot of cable ties to apply, and you use the thing very judiciously, they are a nice convenience, but on balance I think for most work the risks outweigh the benefits.

Great for leaving loads of little sharp bits in wiring looms as they don't cut flush. 
One of the worst was the GEC battery charger control units we serviced at work, three layers of boards with the three sets of wiring looms just waiting to shred the back of your hands. Had to remember to trim them with snips first. 

David

[factory]

Snip...

Just missed a 5245L, went silly money in the dying seconds, damn thing isn't even shown working!

I missed out on that too, there have been a couple on ePay in the UK this year, all in poor condition with several dead number readout bulbs™, but still made more than I though they would. The corrosion on the case makes me think this one may have some dead ones too, I wonder why the bodged in IEC socket doesn't have any screws fitted? 

I did win the 691D oscillator the same seller had. 

David

[Cerebus]

Great for leaving loads of little sharp bits in wiring looms as they don't cut flush. 
One of the worst was the GEC battery charger control units we serviced at work, three layers of boards with the three sets of wiring looms just waiting to shred the back of your hands. Had to remember to trim them with snips first. 

David

Which is why the grown-ups choose lacing tread, as Mansaxel has already suggested.



The problem is that lacing a loom requires skill and patience, which is why the cable-tie gang have taken over. However, you'll still see hand loomed cables in things that really matter - usually things that go !BANG! or are designed to protect you from things that go !BANG!. Or things that have to resist the gentle handling of guitarists, drummers, roadies, presenters and actors and still keep working.

[factory]

Great for leaving loads of little sharp bits in wiring looms as they don't cut flush. 
One of the worst was the GEC battery charger control units we serviced at work, three layers of boards with the three sets of wiring looms just waiting to shred the back of your hands. Had to remember to trim them with snips first. 

David

Which is why the grown-ups choose lacing tread, as Mansaxel has already suggested.



The problem is that lacing a loom requires skill and patience, which is why the cable-tie gang have taken over. However, you'll still see hand loomed cables in things that really matter - usually things that go !BANG! or are designed to protect you from things that go !BANG!. Or things that have to resist the gentle handling of guitarists, drummers, roadies, presenters and actors and still keep working.

We did have several reels of lacing cord*, but sadly no one that seemed interested in showing me how to use it.
And just to be clear the items being serviced mostly had tie wraps used and we didn't fit the badly trimmed ones (they came in like that).

*Quite a few people cut lengths off without checking the label thinking it was wire. 

David

[bd139]

I love lacing up looms. Maybe one day if I actually finish a project I’ll lace one up properly 

[mansaxel]

The problem is that lacing a loom requires skill and patience, which is why the cable-tie gang have taken over.

I once convinced the cable-tie gang to loom an entire OB van. Reason: Cable ties took way too much space, lacing twine made more room for cables.

I'm not very good at lacing, but I've done a few things, among others Chicago stitches on cable trays.

The practice of lacing overhead cable runs in US telco facilities is not only Union protectionism. One of the reasons is that cable ties can have metal tongues in them, and when the cable tie nylon crumbles (as it is wont to do, simply from age) the tongue falls down into the switching equipment and shorts something.

Classic videos:

[Kosmic]

This is incidentally one reason why I never use auctions to sell stuff. BIN inflated price, fish hook all the bastards as watchers then send them a 10% discount offer and watch them worry over someone else getting it and wait for the jump 

What's the mechanics of that on fleabay?

Offer+BIN rejecting anything below 90% of BIN? But if you do that, can a punter that made two unacceptable offers still buy it for your "reduced price"?

I make an offer as a seller. I never allow offers from buyers on my auctions because quite frankly everyone wants too much of a bargain.

ebay flow chart:

1. Take photos.
2. Decide how much you want in the bank from it. This is usually a case of researching the sold prices historically and making an educated guess.
3. Add 5% for paypal mugging. Add £1 for sellers fees.
4. Add £2 for a box and packaging (I usually recycle boxes but buy new bubble wrap)
3. Pack it and weigh it
4. get an actual quote for postage from packlink including insurance (I usually wing this TBH) and add that
5. List it at the cumulative price + 15%
6. Wait until there are a few watchers.
7. Send a seller offer out at 15% off.
8. Wait for them to all panic that someone else is going to buy it and jump in.

I used to include postage in the total cost and say "free postage" but that screws you on returns so I'm never doing that again. They can bloody pay for it 

Hey your trick is working, Had like 10 watchers on an item for months. Decided to send an offer 15% under the asking price and one quickly decided to bite.

[mnementh]

Lacing and looming are good meditative work; like peeling spuds or wrapping a bat or hockey stick.

When I build a harness for a car, I'll tie the junctions of the branches with gardening wire (like bread-bag ties only it comes on a roll) so I can lay it out and mark spots with tape and notes where the trunkline need a little "preforming" to fit where it belongs. Then I do the branches from the ends down, and finally as I bring my looming tape or mattress-stitches down the spine, I tie in the tails of the wraps coming down the branches and undo the gardening wire ties one by one as I advance.

I burn through a lot of split wireloom at work and for temporary wiring... but for something I expect to serve more than a few months I still prefer to lace or loom.

mnem
 

[Brumby]

May have to ask, do you use a cable tie tool?

Showed this to SWMBO as she was passing and asked (half in jest) if I needed such a tool.

She stopped, glanced at the pic then looked at ME.



You'd think I would have learned by now when to keep my mouth shut.   


(Never felt any interest in such an acquisition.)

[Specmaster]

I used to make up and install my own wiring looms, in jigs that I designed and made up to fit these huge American Halliburton cement pumping trucks and similar stuff for the oil fields a few years ago when they used to have a manufacturing plant in Haverhill for the North Sea oil rigs and oil fields in the Northern Hemisphere. I didn't lace them, I made them in the time-honoured way that automotive looms were made with electrical insulating tape. Great job that was, I enjoyed my time working there and being chosen on a number of occasions to be part of a team building special equipment to assist in shutting down oil wells that had caught fire etc, often working very long shifts of upto 24hrs at a time when needed in emergencies.
 

[BU508A]

Quick update for my HP 3460A:

I've found in the UK a knob for the broken one. A bit pricey but much cheaper than other offerings from the other side of the pond.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/274478383214

[0culus]

General Radio unit instrument haul, with power supplies and a 400/1000 Hz modulator for the RF oscillators. More toobz!

[mnementh]

I used to make up and install my own wiring looms, in jigs that I designed... I didn't lace them, I made them in the time-honoured way that automotive looms were made with electrical insulating tape.

The time-honoured method was wrapping with pitch-impregnated fabric cloth tape similar to friction tape, or to pull it through similar cloth braid tubing and stretch the tubing tight.

After that was introduced plain PVC ribbon which had no adhesive, typically 1-2" width that was heated with hot air as you stretched it around the wire bundles so it pulled tight as it cooled. This ribbon was thinner than typical electrical tape, as it was intended to be wrapped such that there would be 3 layers when done. While some manufacturers did use electrical tape to tie off the ends, it was usually looped under itself and tied off, then the end sealed with cement so it couldn't back out.

I've done all 3 types making custom and replacement harnesses for cars & trucks. Also spent a summer working in a quarry rewiring Cats for electric start and GM alternators. Learned a lot about working with huge-gauge copper there.

mnem
 

[mnementh]

On the Bench Tonight: Remote for Curb-Score Samsung TV



A boring mundane little repair task; nothing exciting but I was feeling the need to get some fixing in. My last thrift run turned up a remote I suspected of being the right one for a Samsuck TV I picked up off the curb last spring; of course it had the usual CopperTopinoma in the battery slot. While it was definitely intact enough to clean and return to service, I have a donor unit handy so decided to replace the crusty contact.




A little plier abuse while using the removed original as a template allowed me to reform the spring wire into a suitable imitation of the crusty; now to solder it into its new host. Normally with a mostly intact contact like this, I'd just scrub it with a wire brush and Windex, then apply a little silicone dielectric grease to inhibit future crusties and promote good electrical contact.




Had to adjust the depth a little while soldering due to lack of clearance on the other side; still it soldered in securely.




Here I'm working on the scars in the seam from separating the case with spudger and guitar picks; they're unavoidable in some cases no matter how careful you are. I use the round surface of a Philips screwdriver to burnish the proud edges back down.




Not perfect; but pretty good. It will leave a shiny patch which is visible if you know what to look for, but the proud edges which you'd feel every time you pick it up are gone.




And here it is all cleaned up with shiny battery contacts; good as new. 




The money shot: Yup! The right remote! All the MENU and ALT functions work, unlike the donor unit which only operated the volume and power; this TV is now 100%! I found the reason why it wound up on the curb just before the move and fixed it; that was a really weird failure in the tactile switch panel.

I'll try and get around to posting that when I find the pics I took while fixing. And of course, I did clean up and reinstall the crusty contact back into in the donor unit to keep as a last-ditch spare; I am a tinker-dwagon after all. 

mnem
*couch tuber time widda boi*

[AlfBaz]

When I was an apprentice, a loooong time ago, we were out on site wiring up looms for push buttons and indicator lights on a couple of control panel doors.

We had one left to do when we ran out of cable ties. The old leco I was with went out to the truck, grabbed a roll of lace and began lacing.

At that time I had seen plenty of laced looms but had never seen one done.
This guy blew my mind, the speed and perfection with which he carried out the process left me awe struck to this day

It wasn't just the lacing it was how he managed to arrange the wires within the loom so that when a group of wires had to exit they were on the bottom and they would neatly curl over the top so that the main group remained neat.

No chance of learning skills like that today. Back then it was all about doing a good job, today it's all about getting shit out the door in record time

[salvagedcircuitry]

No anchor like a boat anchor
I picked up an HP 1631D logic analyzer from a friend who was downsizing. It's in excellent shape and from what I can tell, has all the logic pods. On first inspection, the inside was near spotless. I did spot a rifa cap on the input filtering which I'm going to have to replace. Otherwise it's as clean and as American as any other 80s HP test gear .

Anyone have tips on reducing CRT burn-in? Strange, I have never came across a piece of gear with such distinct burn-in.
All in all, Not too bad for free  TEA forever!

[mnementh]

Hey, bd... you think one of the cheap 54601s that alltest has would be a good donor unit? I think they use the same CRT module, don't they?

mnem
 

[salvagedcircuitry]

Hey, bd... you think one of the cheap 54601s that alltest has would be a good donor unit? I think they use the same CRT module, don't they?
mnem
 

It might be. My unit uses an Hitachi tube and driver. The model number on the tube is a hard to read without a full disassembly. The label is on the bottom side underneath the control PCBs. I'm going to give it a whirl first and keep an eye out for a replacement tube. Uggh gotta keep some RIFA cap replacements on hand for times like these 

[bd139]

Hey, bd... you think one of the cheap 54601s that alltest has would be a good donor unit? I think they use the same CRT module, don't they?

mnem
 

Different module physical hardware. Probably same electrically however.