Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Specmaster]

Fixed for you.

Haha, I've just seen what you did there, very clever 

[Cerebus]

... Only this time I'm greeted with no trace and the smell of something getting hot. Not again!

Enabler mode: ON - you need an IR camera ... 

True, this seems like an obvious use case. Of course with all those hot valves around you're not going to get away with a bottom of the barrel low resolution model, you're going to need to be able the differentiate the fault from a filament. So the obvious choice is a secondhand one, possibly in need of some restoration. So ... 

[tggzzz]

Welcome to the world of fixing obscure faults in CRO's. 
Learnt a lot but never made much dosh doing it such was the time spent of some of them. 
Still, I well get your passion for such things as the old classic Teks. 

Some people do crosswords, some do soduku. At least we have something useful afterwards.

[med6753]

Apparently it's Kelvin Clip Test Lead day in the TEA thread. Would someone in charge please put me on the e-mail notification list? 

These were $22 USD on Amazon. Nice flexible silicone leads. Good quality. I did have to remove the plastic around the banana plugs to accommodate my older equipment like the Fluke 8800A and hp 3456A. I'm happy with them.

[med6753]

Welcome to the world of fixing obscure faults in CRO's. 
Learnt a lot but never made much dosh doing it such was the time spent of some of them. 
Still, I well get your passion for such things as the old classic Teks. 

Some people do crosswords, some do soduku. At least we have something useful afterwards.

I'm not quite sure how to take this. Am I a victim of wry British sarcasm or am I reading too much into the emphasis on useful ?  If the former I have some very choice and not so nice Yankee words for you. But I'll be nice and assume that's not what you meant.

But you know what happens when you assume 

[Specmaster]

@bd139 You asked what it is like as a multimeter, well as you can see from the photos, it does acquit itself pretty well if you can live with it limited voltage capability of 250V, which should be fine for most solid state projects. As with all of these types of devices that I have looked at, some compromises have to be made, the voltages are always measured using the probe on channel 1 and has settings for X1 and X10 probes.

There is an extensive onboard help menu and will present you with error messages when you go into overload situations. It even has a continuity setting, handy that, I often find myself using that option on meters.

I think these photos are pretty much self-explanatory, but sadly because this unit is in such perfect condition, the screen makes it almost impossible to get a really clear photo as it is angled upwards and as such things get reflected on it and these are not normally detected by the naked eye, but a camera just seems to amplify the problem.

Thanks for this. Much appreciated. That’s really neat actually. I am impressed 

Yeah, a fair bit of my kit is now from the TTi family, I have 3 PSU's, Cap meter, Scopemeter, 3 bench meters, pulse generator, function generator and a counter, all British made, like we discussed doing a few years back, except, I haven't flipped any of my British gear  . Even our benefactor Dave said in one of his videos recently, that TTi make some pretty smick gear and is available pretty much globally and well worth picking up if you can. 

Edit, Even the BNC sockets on the SM630 have plastic shells to aid the safety aspects of using it on live gear, I expect that their probes of the day would have been fitted with insulated plugs.

[mnementh]

Boring Mundane Everyday Print #207: Tool Caddy Insert

      https://a360.co/3Az6xYf

Today's project is this little fitted insert to produce some semblance of order in my desktop tool catchall. Old one died; time for a refresh.

As usual, for those who care full details and 3DP nerd stats are here on the 3DP thread.

mnem
it goes 'round and 'round and 'round and 'round...

   

Finished this morning while the boi and I were doing our workout. Yummmm!

mnem

[tonyalbus]

Bargain for you guys in the US: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Agilent-E3648A-DC-Power-Supply-Parts-Unit-/184995561039?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l6249&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0

Unregulated output on channel one. I’d buy it if it wasn’t $100 for shipping and customs!

Schematics and service manual http://ridl.cfd.rit.edu/products/manuals/Agilent/power%20supplies/E3646AE2.pdf

Thanks for lining that one up for me. 

EDIT:

While I've got a post, here's one for med:

https://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/ele/d/portland-tektronix-529-oscilloscope/7362452602.html

EDIT EDIT:

Can anyone recommend a 4-wire kelvin leads/clips set with banana (safety OK) plugs? Looking for something dirt cheap, around USD25.

Kelvin banana   https://go.tonyalbus.com/KelvinBa_A
Kelvin banana   https://go.tonyalbus.com/KelvinBa_B

[Cerebus]

Welcome to the world of fixing obscure faults in CRO's. 
Learnt a lot but never made much dosh doing it such was the time spent of some of them. 
Still, I well get your passion for such things as the old classic Teks. 

Some people do crosswords, some do soduku. At least we have something useful afterwards.

I'm not quite sure how to take this. Am I a victim of wry British sarcasm or am I reading too much into the emphasis on useful ?  If the former I have some very choice and not so nice Yankee words for you. But I'll be nice and assume that's not what you meant.

But you know what happens when you assume 

I pretty much think that's meant to be a straight reading. Do paper puzzles, nothing to show for it at the end. Do 3D wire, glass, ceramic et al puzzles with a scope and you have something working to show at the end.

[Cerebus]

Bargain for you guys in the US: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Agilent-E3648A-DC-Power-Supply-Parts-Unit-/184995561039?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l6249&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0

Unregulated output on channel one. I’d buy it if it wasn’t $100 for shipping and customs!

Schematics and service manual http://ridl.cfd.rit.edu/products/manuals/Agilent/power%20supplies/E3646AE2.pdf

Thanks for lining that one up for me. 

EDIT:

While I've got a post, here's one for med:

https://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/ele/d/portland-tektronix-529-oscilloscope/7362452602.html

EDIT EDIT:

Can anyone recommend a 4-wire kelvin leads/clips set with banana (safety OK) plugs? Looking for something dirt cheap, around USD25.

Kelvin banana   https://go.tonyalbus.com/KelvinBa_A
Kelvin banana   https://go.tonyalbus.com/KelvinBa_B

Kevin banana:

[med6753]

Welcome to the world of fixing obscure faults in CRO's. 
Learnt a lot but never made much dosh doing it such was the time spent of some of them. 
Still, I well get your passion for such things as the old classic Teks. 

Some people do crosswords, some do soduku. At least we have something useful afterwards.

I'm not quite sure how to take this. Am I a victim of wry British sarcasm or am I reading too much into the emphasis on useful ?  If the former I have some very choice and not so nice Yankee words for you. But I'll be nice and assume that's not what you meant.

But you know what happens when you assume 

I pretty much think that's meant to be a straight reading. Do paper puzzles, nothing to show for it at the end. Do 3D wire, glass, ceramic et al puzzles with a scope and you have something working to show at the end.

If he meant "we" to include "me" then I'm good.

Carry on.

[mansaxel]

My experience when I wanted some was that I couldn't find fully assembled leads that were "cheap enough" by my criteria. I ended up making my own up come ça:



The Kelvin clips I used were cheap Chinese ones and although they don't look much in either this photo or the vendor's photos they are reasonable quality. Ditto the dual banana plugs. Add a bit of silicone test lead (yes, our friends in the Middle Kingdom again), some nylon expandable sheathing and some heatshrink and they're served me well for a couple of years now.

Very nice job. I'm thinking I'll do something similar, once I get my thumb out of my butt (that expression is a genuine Swedish version of the well-known round tuit) and get a Kelvin adapter printed for my DE-5000, but I'll try to over-do it and get a guard connection in too.

Once one orders the right parts from the Middle Kingdom, and isn't above to do some assembly oneself, there's a lot of good quality to be had from there.

[bd139]

@bd139 You asked what it is like as a multimeter, well as you can see from the photos, it does acquit itself pretty well if you can live with it limited voltage capability of 250V, which should be fine for most solid state projects. As with all of these types of devices that I have looked at, some compromises have to be made, the voltages are always measured using the probe on channel 1 and has settings for X1 and X10 probes.

There is an extensive onboard help menu and will present you with error messages when you go into overload situations. It even has a continuity setting, handy that, I often find myself using that option on meters.

I think these photos are pretty much self-explanatory, but sadly because this unit is in such perfect condition, the screen makes it almost impossible to get a really clear photo as it is angled upwards and as such things get reflected on it and these are not normally detected by the naked eye, but a camera just seems to amplify the problem.

Thanks for this. Much appreciated. That’s really neat actually. I am impressed 

Yeah, a fair bit of my kit is now from the TTi family, I have 3 PSU's, Cap meter, Scopemeter, 3 bench meters, pulse generator, function generator and a counter, all British made, like we discussed doing a few years back, except, I haven't flipped any of my British gear  . Even our benefactor Dave said in one of his videos recently, that TTi make some pretty smick gear and is available pretty much globally and well worth picking up if you can. 

Edit, Even the BNC sockets on the SM630 have plastic shells to aid the safety aspects of using it on live gear, I expect that their probes of the day would have been fitted with insulated plugs.

You’re doing better than me. I’ve got the PL320 still. That’s being buried with me 

On British gear I still have the D75, Farnell TOPS1, the solartron 7150 plus and the TTi PL320.

[Saskia]

finalized quibblings with the bank, should get the mortgage documents early next week for final crosscheck.
Notary public date is set to Friday next week.
My bossboss has not had a chance yet to speak with bossbossboss about my request, but said that he would fully support it. I certainly hope he is not a politician ...

Started packing. lugged 6 DVD racks downstairs today (of the 2.02 m kind) and need to get to my taxes later tonite.

Noted that I have too much stuff. One Garage is already full with
- motorbike
- canoe
- 3 pinball machines
6 dvd racks
4 euro pallets stacked with book boxes.

The other garage is full anyway ...
anybody this side of the pond care for some Milwaukee iron ?

[Specmaster]

@bd139 You asked what it is like as a multimeter, well as you can see from the photos, it does acquit itself pretty well if you can live with it limited voltage capability of 250V, which should be fine for most solid state projects. As with all of these types of devices that I have looked at, some compromises have to be made, the voltages are always measured using the probe on channel 1 and has settings for X1 and X10 probes.

There is an extensive onboard help menu and will present you with error messages when you go into overload situations. It even has a continuity setting, handy that, I often find myself using that option on meters.

I think these photos are pretty much self-explanatory, but sadly because this unit is in such perfect condition, the screen makes it almost impossible to get a really clear photo as it is angled upwards and as such things get reflected on it and these are not normally detected by the naked eye, but a camera just seems to amplify the problem.

Thanks for this. Much appreciated. That’s really neat actually. I am impressed 

Yeah, a fair bit of my kit is now from the TTi family, I have 3 PSU's, Cap meter, Scopemeter, 3 bench meters, pulse generator, function generator and a counter, all British made, like we discussed doing a few years back, except, I haven't flipped any of my British gear  . Even our benefactor Dave said in one of his videos recently, that TTi make some pretty smick gear and is available pretty much globally and well worth picking up if you can. 

Edit, Even the BNC sockets on the SM630 have plastic shells to aid the safety aspects of using it on live gear, I expect that their probes of the day would have been fitted with insulated plugs.

You’re doing better than me. I’ve got the PL320 still. That’s being buried with me 

On British gear I still have the D75, Farnell TOPS1, the solartron 7150 plus and the TTi PL320.

Other British gear I have is 4 (6 after Sunday) Avo's, 1 Feedback Function Generator, 1 Advance RF signal generator, 1 Advance AF signal generator and 1 Heathkit Cap tester, making my tally 21 bits of British kit, its growing nicely 

[RolandK]

On Aliexpress variate your search words and sort by price, eg. look for "lcr leads".

If you put them in the basket, ali shows what others bought, sometimes there is the same article much cheaper.

If something is linked here the price tends to go up.

[factory]

Can anyone recommend a 4-wire kelvin leads/clips set with banana (safety OK) plugs? Looking for something dirt cheap, around USD25.

My experience when I wanted some was that I couldn't find fully assembled leads that were "cheap enough" by my criteria. I ended up making my own up come ça:



The Kelvin clips I used were cheap Chinese ones and although they don't look much in either this photo or the vendor's photos they are reasonable quality. Ditto the dual banana plugs. Add a bit of silicone test lead (yes, our friends in the Middle Kingdom again), some nylon expandable sheathing and some heatshrink and they're served me well for a couple of years now.

One day I'll get round to making some Kelvin leads, the clips I got are quite small & still in self assembly required state.


Will possibly need to add modify them, as the hollow tubes that hold them together seem very loose, but what do you expect for cheap shit off ePay?

David

[factory]

@bd139 You asked what it is like as a multimeter, well as you can see from the photos, it does acquit itself pretty well if you can live with it limited voltage capability of 250V, which should be fine for most solid state projects. As with all of these types of devices that I have looked at, some compromises have to be made, the voltages are always measured using the probe on channel 1 and has settings for X1 and X10 probes.

There is an extensive onboard help menu and will present you with error messages when you go into overload situations. It even has a continuity setting, handy that, I often find myself using that option on meters.

I think these photos are pretty much self-explanatory, but sadly because this unit is in such perfect condition, the screen makes it almost impossible to get a really clear photo as it is angled upwards and as such things get reflected on it and these are not normally detected by the naked eye, but a camera just seems to amplify the problem.

Thanks for this. Much appreciated. That’s really neat actually. I am impressed 

Yeah, a fair bit of my kit is now from the TTi family, I have 3 PSU's, Cap meter, Scopemeter, 3 bench meters, pulse generator, function generator and a counter, all British made, like we discussed doing a few years back, except, I haven't flipped any of my British gear  . Even our benefactor Dave said in one of his videos recently, that TTi make some pretty smick gear and is available pretty much globally and well worth picking up if you can. 

Edit, Even the BNC sockets on the SM630 have plastic shells to aid the safety aspects of using it on live gear, I expect that their probes of the day would have been fitted with insulated plugs.

You’re doing better than me. I’ve got the PL320 still. That’s being buried with me 

On British gear I still have the D75, Farnell TOPS1, the solartron 7150 plus and the TTi PL320.

Other British gear I have is 4 (6 after Sunday) Avo's, 1 Feedback Function Generator, 1 Advance RF signal generator, 1 Advance AF signal generator and 1 Heathkit Cap tester, making my tally 21 bits of kit, its growing nicely 

What nothing from Marconi, Racal, Airmec, Dawe, Taylor, Venner, Wayne Kerr, etc. Maybe those will help you find some more British TEA to feed your addiction. 

David

[McBryce]

Bargain for you guys in the US: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Agilent-E3648A-DC-Power-Supply-Parts-Unit-/184995561039?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l6249&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0

Unregulated output on channel one. I’d buy it if it wasn’t $100 for shipping and customs!

Schematics and service manual http://ridl.cfd.rit.edu/products/manuals/Agilent/power%20supplies/E3646AE2.pdf

Thanks for lining that one up for me. 

EDIT:

While I've got a post, here's one for med:

https://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/ele/d/portland-tektronix-529-oscilloscope/7362452602.html

EDIT EDIT:

Can anyone recommend a 4-wire kelvin leads/clips set with banana (safety OK) plugs? Looking for something dirt cheap, around USD25.

My recommendation for Kelvin leads. Order some cheap Chinese ones like the links above, but just to get the end clips. Then build your own leads with them using decent cable and decent banana plugs.

McBryce.

[Specmaster]

@bd139 You asked what it is like as a multimeter, well as you can see from the photos, it does acquit itself pretty well if you can live with it limited voltage capability of 250V, which should be fine for most solid state projects. As with all of these types of devices that I have looked at, some compromises have to be made, the voltages are always measured using the probe on channel 1 and has settings for X1 and X10 probes.

There is an extensive onboard help menu and will present you with error messages when you go into overload situations. It even has a continuity setting, handy that, I often find myself using that option on meters.

I think these photos are pretty much self-explanatory, but sadly because this unit is in such perfect condition, the screen makes it almost impossible to get a really clear photo as it is angled upwards and as such things get reflected on it and these are not normally detected by the naked eye, but a camera just seems to amplify the problem.

Thanks for this. Much appreciated. That’s really neat actually. I am impressed 

Yeah, a fair bit of my kit is now from the TTi family, I have 3 PSU's, Cap meter, Scopemeter, 3 bench meters, pulse generator, function generator and a counter, all British made, like we discussed doing a few years back, except, I haven't flipped any of my British gear  . Even our benefactor Dave said in one of his videos recently, that TTi make some pretty smick gear and is available pretty much globally and well worth picking up if you can. 

Edit, Even the BNC sockets on the SM630 have plastic shells to aid the safety aspects of using it on live gear, I expect that their probes of the day would have been fitted with insulated plugs.

You’re doing better than me. I’ve got the PL320 still. That’s being buried with me 

On British gear I still have the D75, Farnell TOPS1, the solartron 7150 plus and the TTi PL320.

Other British gear I have is 4 (6 after Sunday) Avo's, 1 Feedback Function Generator, 1 Advance RF signal generator, 1 Advance AF signal generator and 1 Heathkit Cap tester, making my tally 21 bits of kit, its growing nicely 

What nothing from Marconi, Racal, Airmec, Dawe, Taylor, Venner, Wayne Kerr, etc. Maybe those will help you find some more British TEA to feed your addiction. 

David

I used to have a Marconi (boat anchor), a Racal boat anchor and a Taylor boat anchor, but I flipped them for slightly smaller boat anchors 

[bd139]

I’m working on the Marconi thing here. A 2019A would be useful at the moment.

[Robert763]

Too much british gear to count, here s what I can remember:
Solartron 5x DMMs (3.5,5.5 6.5 & 7.5 digits)
Farnell 3x bench PSUs (lots of modular), audio oscillator
Racal 3x DMMs, RF power meter, LCR meter.
Level AF osc, microvoltmeter
Huntron Tracker
TTI 3 DMMs
Feedback power oscillator
Gould Advance 20MHz CRO
Haven 2x temperature calibrators, voltage calibrator
Time Decade capacitor, 3x voltage calibrators
LEM 4x clampmeter, power analyser 
AVO x3
Megger x3
AGI milliohmmeter x2
Selectest VOM x 2
Peak LCR and DCR
Pico Technology 'Scopes x5, datalogger x2 PT100 thermometer
BCF Designs ARINC 429 tester, Mil 1553 cable tester, Fuel Qty (capacitance measure and Simulate) tester.
Comark thermometer
Coline Power / VSWR meter.
Cropico thermometers x3
Dataman Softy IV
Druck pressure indicators / calibrators x7
HR Smith Antenna test set
JJ Instruments decade capacitor x2
Marconi TF2370 SA, 26.5GHz counter, RF power meter.
Smiths Synchro test set
DDC Synchro indicator x3
Voltech DC/AC power meter
Lyons PG73N pulse generator.

[factory]

Is a 5335A close enough for you?

Here is one in Canada, probably within road trip distance of 25CPS or the dwagon:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/373116324971
I cannot quite make out in the photos what is listed on the options sticker.
Tempted myself, but have already overspent on home repairs and other necessary stuff (according to SWMBO...).

Same seller on fleabay also has a HP 3311A, Fluke 1900A, crimp tools and other items.

Someone (Pat maybe?) once mentioned that HP made some 3311A in metal enclosure instead of plastic. Is that readily discernible in photos? The aluminum and plastic versions of the 3478A are easy to differentiate, but I've only ever seen the plastic version of the 3311A (that I know of).

I have a 3310A, 3310B, 3312A and 33120A. A non-plasticky 3311A might be nice.

Well I couldn't find anything with the forum search, I do have to say I always thought the hp 3311A, 5300A series counters, 34740A series voltmeters had plastic cases, until  I found a 3311A at a local HAM sale, I then released they were actually in die-cast metal cases.
If you've seen a plastic cased 3311A, could it have been a very late production one???

Having said that, there are some economy models, such as the 3476A & those little PSU's that do have plastic cases.
And the front & some insulating fixings inside of the 3490A I have, are also made from badly aged fragile plastic.

David

[factory]

Yeah, a fair bit of my kit is now from the TTi family, I have 3 PSU's, Cap meter, Scopemeter, 3 bench meters, pulse generator, function generator and a counter, all British made, like we discussed doing a few years back, except, I haven't flipped any of my British gear  . Even our benefactor Dave said in one of his videos recently, that TTi make some pretty smick gear and is available pretty much globally and well worth picking up if you can. 

Edit, Even the BNC sockets on the SM630 have plastic shells to aid the safety aspects of using it on live gear, I expect that their probes of the day would have been fitted with insulated plugs.

You’re doing better than me. I’ve got the PL320 still. That’s being buried with me 

On British gear I still have the D75, Farnell TOPS1, the solartron 7150 plus and the TTi PL320.

Other British gear I have is 4 (6 after Sunday) Avo's, 1 Feedback Function Generator, 1 Advance RF signal generator, 1 Advance AF signal generator and 1 Heathkit Cap tester, making my tally 21 bits of kit, its growing nicely 

What nothing from Marconi, Racal, Airmec, Dawe, Taylor, Venner, Wayne Kerr, etc. Maybe those will help you find some more British TEA to feed your addiction. 

David

I used to have a Marconi (boat anchor), a Racal boat anchor and a Taylor boat anchor, but I flipped them for slightly smaller boat anchors 

Something doesn't quite add up here....  And some of my Taylor & Racal gear isn't boat anchor grade. 

David

[tggzzz]

Started packing. lugged 6 DVD racks downstairs today (of the 2.02 m kind) and need to get to my taxes later tonite.

Started clearing house. Lugged ~250kg of vinyl LPs to auction house.