Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Specmaster]

Re Audi: it happened on a Tuesday morning, the cop arriving at the location said: oh, that's the 5th this week, electrical problem, many amps taking the steel cased fuel line as a detour, it gets warm, melts, and then your car blows up. Nothing remaining to prove it, so ...

Nah, no more Audi for me.
F dscherman cars. I'd rather drive an F150.
(Even though the Octavia is getting the best gas mileage out of all cars I had)

I don't think that your Octavia has the same fuel line, Skoda use their brains a bit more, as they say, "Simply Clever"

[Specmaster]

Finally I just purchased some lovely TEA gear, just won myself a nice TT1 1906 bench multimeter with an accuracy of just .012% on DC, only issue I think is that it has one of the rubber feet missing. It will make a good companion for the 4503 and the other bits of TTi gear, making the total upto 10 items now

[AVGresponding]

Finally I just purchased some lovely TEA gear, just won myself a nice TT1 1906 bench multimeter with an accuracy of just .012% on DC, only issue I think is that it has one of the rubber feet missing. It will make a good companion for the 4503 and the other bits of TTi gear, making the total upto 10 items now

Haha, that was you was it? I'm glad we didn't get into a battle then. I also got outbid on a 1604, oh well, there'll always be more!

[Specmaster]

Finally I just purchased some lovely TEA gear, just won myself a nice TT1 1906 bench multimeter with an accuracy of just .012% on DC, only issue I think is that it has one of the rubber feet missing. It will make a good companion for the 4503 and the other bits of TTi gear, making the total upto 10 items now

Haha, that was you was it? I'm glad we didn't get into a battle then. I also got outbid on a 1604, oh well, there'll always be more!

Yep, that was me sir, the 1604 was my fall back option if I lost the 1906. I must admit I was sorely tempted to go for the 1604 as well because it has the auto hold function like the Flukes and also of course it is still in production. I like the 1906 because it shares loads of LEDs like the 4503, OK I admit, I'm a sucker for LEDs.

I never had an Insignia, though I have driven one, so I can't vouch for what their like in snow, but the old Vectra should be seeing as it is basically the Cavalier with a new body on it and the Cavalier I thought was good in snow. I had 2 Cavaliers, a basic but reliable car, before switching to Mondeo's and then to Passat's and now Superb's which are really the best car I've ever had.

[AVGresponding]

Only nixies and VFDs are better to look at than LEDs (imo ofc). The only fitting place for an LCD is on Arthur Dent's digital watch.


Ukrainian silver-mica 7000pF 0.3% goodness:




Measurements, best and worst:

[Robert763]

And a new entry in the "ebay mouldy scope" competition
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Schlumberger-cd1740-solartron-Oscilloscope/324452463724
at least it's a low start price

[tggzzz]

Only nixies and VFDs are better to look at than LEDs (imo ofc). The only fitting place for an LCD is on Arthur Dent's digital watch.

Personally I find Panaplex displays rather soothing

[Robert763]

My favoite numeric displays are the HP/AVAGO dot matrix LED in amber

[AVGresponding]

And a new entry in the "ebay mouldy scope" competition
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Schlumberger-cd1740-solartron-Oscilloscope/324452463724
at least it's a low start price

Looks like it was out in the field while the farmer was muck spreading!

Only nixies and VFDs are better to look at than LEDs (imo ofc). The only fitting place for an LCD is on Arthur Dent's digital watch.

Personally I find Panaplex displays rather soothing

I count those as VFDs

My favoite numeric displays are the HP/AVAGO dot matrix LED in amber

The only thing that looks better than that is a VFD dot-matrix display...   

[tggzzz]

My favoite numeric displays are the HP/AVAGO dot matrix LED in amber

40 years ago I designed some HP HDSP-2000 into some equipment. Gorgeous to look at, but IIRC a pain to drive.
http://datasheet.elcodis.com/pdf2/72/75/727577/hdsp-2000.pdf

[Specmaster]

Only nixies and VFDs are better to look at than LEDs (imo ofc). The only fitting place for an LCD is on Arthur Dent's digital watch.


Ukrainian silver-mica 7000pF 0.3% goodness:




Measurements, best and worst:

Agreed, but the LEDs I was referring to was the single LEDs for each function. Did you see the TTi LCR400 meter, thats got 2 x 5 digit LED displays?
 

[Cubdriver]

My favoite numeric displays are the HP/AVAGO dot matrix LED in amber

As far as numeric displays go, in order of preference I'd say Nixie


 Panaplex/plasma


 LED dot


VFD > LED


and finally LCD


-Pat

[med6753]

And a new entry in the "ebay mouldy scope" competition
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Schlumberger-cd1740-solartron-Oscilloscope/324452463724
at least it's a low start price

Even at $1.35 USD the starting bid is too high. 

[med6753]

All types of numeric displays have their merits but to me ruby red LED's are just plain sexy. 

[mnementh]

And a new entry in the "ebay mouldy scope" competition   www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Schlumberger-cd1740-solartron-Oscilloscope/324452463724   at least it's a low start price

Looks like it was out in the field while the farmer was muck spreading!

LOL... I was thinking "flatulent cow", but you beat me to it! 

mnem

[Specmaster]

And a new entry in the "ebay mouldy scope" competition
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Schlumberger-cd1740-solartron-Oscilloscope/324452463724
at least it's a low start price

Even at $1.35 USD the starting bid is too high. 

Yes, it looks to me as the power supply has been removed already 

[Specmaster]

If anyone is after a decent LCR meter there is this on eBay UK https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TTi-LCR400-PRECISION-LCR-BRIDGE-THURLBY-THANDAR-INSTRUMENTS/333853224095 It has some segments of the LED displays not working, could be a bad joint perhaps but it is currently still in production with TTi and sells for £809 so may be a bargain for someone?

Edit: Thinking about it, the display could be indicating a result etc under the SORT function etc or it could be just a artefact of the camera shutter?

[McBryce]

If anyone is after a decent LCR meter there is this on eBay UK https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TTi-LCR400-PRECISION-LCR-BRIDGE-THURLBY-THANDAR-INSTRUMENTS/333853224095 It has some segments of the LED displays not working, could be a bad joint perhaps but it is currently still in production with TTi and sells for £809 so may be a bargain for someone?

Edit: Thinking about it, the display could be indicating a result etc under the SORT function etc or it could be just a artefact of the camera shutter?

Are you sure the segments are bad? The non-working segments in Pic 1 are working in Pic 2. It may just be the segment multiplexing being out of sync with the camera?

McBryce.

[Specmaster]

Yep I know, hence my edit comment re camera shutter.

[med6753]

Well damnit.....

Lady Cop was supposed to come visit tomorrow. Not gonna happen. 4 teachers in her school patrol area just tested positive. The school has been closed and Jo Ann was sent home. Status undetermined at the moment but most likely she will have to quarantine for 14 days and get tested. But what's real stupid is tomorrow she has to report for duty. What's the sense in that? Anyway, she'll report for duty tomorrow and then talk to command about being put out on special medical like she was in March of last year when the first shutdown was put in place.

This fucking sucks.   

[mnementh]

I may be completely talking out my arse but here's my thought.....

What if you considered it similar to the input pinion shaft like an automotive differential and used that as guide for the pre-load? Seems to me it might make sense because we're talking in ranges of the same high RPM. But again.....I'm way out of my league here. 

Your arse and mine are on exactly the same page. 

The Dwagon has a fair bit of mech experience so I'll wait for some input from him but as I'm beat after painting in the heat earlier and some hours in the workshop it's time for some  now after a stiff nightcap. 

See ya's all tomorrow when yea I can finally collect a shipment after takin 2 forking weeks to get through our totally retarded Auckland ports. 

As these are plain helical cut gears, not hypoid like a car differential, you aren't going to set the preload the same way. The process for that is different now anyways; while we used to have to calculate shim stacks and offset the pinion based on gear clearance and correct contact region, most manufacturers have moved to a much simpler single shim based on contact area between ring/pinion, then the actual bearing preload is handled with crush sleeves. It's been decades since I last rebuilt a Detroit Locker and had to calculate shim sets...

Anyhoo... you're working on a rovatti T-series, right? T-80 size or somesuch?

http://rovatti.ricambio.net/site/pagece5.wplus?ID_COUNT=ce_5_home&LN=2&CEPV=Rovatti001&CELN=2&MP1=CE_3062&NDS=CE_3062&PRC=|R|CE_3076|CE_2|CE_3058|CE_3062&PRF=4#CE_3062

I tried looking up the exploded view so I could see the preload mechanism; that will usually give you some indication of whether it is intended to have actual preload, or cold endplay. Unfortunately, all the pics are horrible resolution, and after looking at a dozen different ones, all I saw was models that use only ball bearings. That may be due to dumb luck, or may be that they've moved to double-row ball-bearings instead of tapered bearings and your model has been superceded.

Thermally, this assembly only has to deal with ambient plus friction losses, and it is all ferrous metal with oil-cooling, so expansion should be pretty even and not huge. As there is near-zero deflection load (only a relatively slight, constant load presented by the helical cut gears), actual preload is not as critical, so it is better to err on the loose side rather than tight.

That said... if it were mine... I'd probably do it the "rough hand" method; tighten the preload down until you feel drag when turning the pinion, rotate a couple full turns, and as long as you don't have any binding spots (if you do, do NOT hesitate to tear it down and clean the bores/reseat the races), back it off to where you can just detect endplay, then lock it down at a point halfway between the two.

That would be my "err on the side of caution" or "git 'er done in the field lying on muh back in a puddle of mud, etc..." game plan.

Oh schizz... you already have the drive side installed.  That complicates things...  you can't "feel" the bearings with that interference.

Yeah... unless you feel like dismantling the drive side, you may want to contact rovatti for access to their tech reference archive: https://www.rovatti.com/technical-documentation They probably have a recommended procedure that's better engineered than my plan anyways; there are so many practical methods dependent on application. My guess would be either actual end-play with feeler gauges or dial indicator, or the method you suggested; wherein you place a scale at a given distance from the centerline of the set-screw and measure, or use a inch/oz torque wrench to apply preload.



Here's Timken's word on it; including the basis for most automotive tapered wheel-bearing adjustment:

I've attached the document that is excerpted from below; mostly it discusses differences in approach from service standpoint, where goal is to spend a few minutes performing a specific technical procedure (and how to choose that) to minimize likelihood of failure in a specific installation, vs manufacturing standpoint, where goal is to find a method which requires little or no technician skill, but yields fewest failed units in a group over time. A bit dry reading, but it does shed a lot of light on what many manufacturing choices that more mechanically adept folks would consider to be a " were they thinking...?" design choice.

Cheers,

mnem

[Specmaster]

Well damnit.....

Lady Cop was supposed to come visit tomorrow. Not gonna happen. 4 teachers in her school patrol area just tested positive. The school has been closed and Jo Ann was sent home. Status undetermined at the moment but most likely she will have to quarantine for 14 days and get tested. But what's real stupid is tomorrow she has to report for duty. What's the sense in that? Anyway, she'll report for duty tomorrow and then talk to command about being put out on special medical like she was in March of last year when the first shutdown was put in place.

This fucking sucks.   

I know, I really do hope that she does not have it, fingers crossed for you both on that front. You what really pisses me of is that bastards out there, who believe that this whole Covid thing is a hoax and therefore refuse to wear a mask or stay at home. 

[mnementh]

Anyway if you want flame throwing cars, head to Vauxhall (Opel). Search for "zafira fire" on google images.

I'd always thought that "Zafira Fire" was the model name. Rather like when I was a child and watched the sports results on a Saturday afternoon with my father, I thought the name of a certain Scots football team was "Partick Thistle Nil"

Nope, they were notorious for catching fire on the early models. I seem to remember something about the plastic heater rads being too close to the exhaust manifold or something, but I'm not sure.

No, it was cheapskate electrical design. Only the non-climate control models caught fire. Manual fan speed conrol was a switched resistor network with the (bare wire coil) resistors in the plasic air duct for cooling. Penny pinchers at Vauxhall didn't put a thermal fuse in the resistor pack. Any loss of airflow or increased fan motor current causes the reistors to overheat and set the plastic duct on fire. Leaves in the fan can cause both reduced airflow and increased current.
The fix, when they finally admitted there was a problem, was to fit a resistor pack with a thermal fuse. The climate control cars had electronic fan speed control so did not have the problem.

You have no idea how many times I've seen that very design... bare wire coil with no thermal fuse of thermodisc... in use in cars over the years. Yeah, sure... some were sensibly located in a metal part of the housing... or in a metal plate in a plastic housing, or the housing made of a somewhat heat-resistant plastic like glas-reinforced resin. But so, so-o-o-o many just the cheapest possible highly flammable poly plastic, with a uncontrolled heating element mere millimeters away.

As you say... the triumph of bean-counterism over common sense and the good of the public. IMO, that kind of design choice should be investigated and prosecuted as criminally negligent homicide, and I mean all the way up the org chart to the boardroom where the decision to put profits over human lives is made.

mnem
People always blame the engineers... but they don't make these decisions.

[mnementh]

Well damnit.....

Lady Cop was supposed to come visit tomorrow. Not gonna happen. 4 teachers in her school patrol area just tested positive. The school has been closed and Jo Ann was sent home. Status undetermined at the moment but most likely she will have to quarantine for 14 days and get tested. But what's real stupid is tomorrow she has to report for duty. What's the sense in that? Anyway, she'll report for duty tomorrow and then talk to command about being put out on special medical like she was in March of last year when the first shutdown was put in place.

This fucking sucks.   

I know, I really do hope that she does not have it, fingers crossed for you both on that front. You what really pisses me of is that bastards out there, who believe that this whole Covid thing is a hoax and therefore refuse to wear a mask or stay at home. 

Awww, jeez med; like you two haven't already had enuf misery this season. That sucks out loud.    Best wishes that she tests negative and gets to come "self-isolate" with you for a month or two. 


This morning we were awakened by our phones going off with an Emergency Broadcast notifying us that we are again in Stage 1 lockdown... sortof.

"Stay home, save lives, don't go out unless it is absolutely necessary. If you can work from home, you must do so; it's the law."

Of course, we wouldn't have this "emergency" if fearless leaders had stood up to the merchants' cabal and kept Stage 2 in place during the Christmas shopping season... the only difference here is the level of common sense of the average public is a few notches higher on the food chain. But only a few.

https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/ontario-addresses-confusion-about-new-stay-at-home-rules-these-are-the-answers-to-your-top-questions-1.5264068

Still better than the "hide your head in the sand"-ism still going on south of us; I was talking with bd just after the imbecile insurrection, and he said:

...Been watching the US go to shit with the popcorn out. You got out just in time  . Hopefully not too much crazy goes over the border in your direction and if it does it freezes to death. 

I couldn't put it more succinctly myself.

mnem
 

[AVGresponding]

If anyone is after a decent LCR meter there is this on eBay UK https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TTi-LCR400-PRECISION-LCR-BRIDGE-THURLBY-THANDAR-INSTRUMENTS/333853224095 It has some segments of the LED displays not working, could be a bad joint perhaps but it is currently still in production with TTi and sells for £809 so may be a bargain for someone?

Edit: Thinking about it, the display could be indicating a result etc under the SORT function etc or it could be just a artefact of the camera shutter?

Looks like a shutter sync issue to me.

Yes, it was in my watch list, and now I have to fight everyone else in TEA for it!   

   jk I expected it to go beyond what I'm prepared to bid anyway, and given I have the LCR819 I'm not desperate.


EDIT: Those dot matrix displays are truly drool-worthy. The only thing that could be better, would be a nixie dot matrix display...