Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[mnementh]

While there are many areas where personal preferences make it useless to argue over products, bulk storage solutions is not one of those. I am convinced of the superiority of the Eurobox, which leaves the exact make and style open to taste, of course.

I have been ogling them repeatedly. I believe, like you that they are superior. I will migrate my storage solution to Euroboxen Any Year Now. 

Also, Euroboxen are Euro pallet compatible, which is good for me who has pallets in the garage.

*coughSORTIMOcough*

mnem
And you thought FESTOOL was aspensiff... 

[mnementh]

Better Be Right Or Your Great Big Venture Goes Wrong.

mnem
 

Bad Beer Rots Our Young Guts But Vodka Goes Well. 

*drinks*

mnem

There once was a young man from Boston,
who drove around in an Austin.
But the car was so small,
he had to hang out his balls...
...and he drove past a phone pole & lost 'em."

[Neomys Sapiens]

Thanks to BU508A showing his Xiaomei Wiha toolkit on Discord last Saturday, I found out about a real piggery from Wiha. Once it was general understanding in the tool business that, although they might be called 4mm, this type of micro bits had to conform to the 5/32" drive standard. This standard places the retaining element (spring-loaded ball) at the bit. Wiha was compliant with this too, as I bought bits from them for use in a Belzer 5/32" handle. Now they sell the apparently same kit and bits - and they are lacking the retaining element.
I only got behind it because one vendor of Wiha bits lists the Wiha numbers for his remaining stock. And they are totally different to what they currently offer. They call that drive C4 now. so it might be even a coordinated piggery.
Those that bought Wiha micro bits before and assume that the currently offered parts will fit their use, are the fools. And they don't tell that anyone, like a company with their standing should do. So one can say now
*** WIHA has lost their balls! ***

[Cubdriver]

Better Be Right Or Your Great Big Venture Goes Wrong.

mnem
 

Bad Beer Rots Our Young Guts But Vodka Goes Well. 

Big Boys Race Our Young Girls But Violet Generally Wins (taught to us by our electronics shop teacher in freshman (9th) year; he then told us to talk to the juniors (11th year) to get the 'other' mnemonic that probably shouldn't be repeated in polite company - in that one the boys were bad, and did something else spelled very similarly to the young girls, however Violet was a willing participant.)

-Pat

[Vince]

As to having a coax or a screened cable, coming from the back of it, is that so bad?

Not "baaaad"... I mean just unpracticla and weird, having a coax looping from the back.... woud you find it convenient and natural to have every piece of TE in your lab, your scopes and generator and power supply and what not require you to plug the oupui cable at the back ?! 

Power socket however, you only plug it once and you do'nt want it in the way, so every piece of TE, even vintage stuff (but Metrix it seems !  ) have the power cable/socket at the back... seems obvious and natural to every manufacturer...

After all, you are talking about putting a IEC socket there to stop it from zapping you, I doubt that you would be able to mount it in the front where the old 2 pin socket is located 

Well I guess one could make anything fit, with a big enough chainsaw ! 
But it wold look really too out of place... a BNC socket in comparison is much more acceptable... to me 

Any way, its over to you, its yours, and you will have to live with what ever solution you come up with

Yes it's mine !    ... and having a BNC at the front an IEC / power at the back is just like any scope ever made (but Metrix...) probably, so yes I could " live with that " just fine, just like everybody here lives just fine with the same setup and every piece of gear they have !

Why don't you try pushing one of these adapters you have into the antenna socket on that TV you have been given and see if it fits as tightly in that?

Hey good idea !    Result : fits perfectly !

Then I had another idea.... have that other piece of Metrix TE, that huge Wobulator boat anchor if you remember that one. It has many sockets, and comes with a little jumper cable so you can connect one socket to another, in order to setup the instrument properly. So, first I tried the adapter into all the sockets on that Wobulator : would never go in, hard as a rock.

Then I took the jumper cable and tried to shove into the RF generator... fits perfectly, both ends of the cable do !

So... does not look like tolerance issue... looks more like the size was 9.0mm back in the day when these were used for TE stuff, but 60 years later where they are only used for TV consumer stuff, they now make it 9.5mm instead, that is all... so it's a lost cause so... if I get bored of my hack sawed adapter one day, I guess next step is retrofit a BNC socket instead.... and you would won that one... you get a cookie... you want them with just chocolate chips, or hazelnut chunks as well mixed in ?!

I also note the refined / elaborate construction of the plugs of the jumper cable, see pic below. It's a 4 slit design, which measures exactly the same diameter as the socket (9mm), so again no tolerance issue there, and it has a circular spring/clip inside , towards the top, inside a little groove. Clever... the 4 slits let the plug deform a bit to get into the socket, but the spring keeps it from deforming too much. Makes for a more reliable contact. Someone was thinking and trying to get these crappy connectors as best they could make them.

[mnementh]

Thanks to BU508A showing his Xiaomei Wiha toolkit on Discord last Saturday, I found out about a real piggery from Wiha. Once it was general understanding in the tool business that, although they might be called 4mm, this type of micro bits had to conform to the 5/32" drive standard. This standard places the retaining element (spring-loaded ball) at the bit. Wiha was compliant with this too, as I bought bits from them for use in a Belzer 5/32" handle. Now they sell the apparently same kit and bits - and they are lacking the retaining element.
I only got behind it because one vendor of Wiha bits lists the Wiha numbers for his remaining stock. And they are totally different to what they currently offer. They call that drive C4 now. so it might be even a coordinated piggery.
Those that bought Wiha micro bits before and assume that the currently offered parts will fit their use, are the fools. And they don't tell that anyone, like a company with their standing should do. So one can say now
*** WIHA has lost their balls! ***

mnem
Oh wait, here they are...

[tautech]

Better Be Right Or Your Great Big Venture Goes Wrong.

mnem
 

Bad Beer Rots Our Young Guts But Vodka Goes Well. 

Big Boys Race Our Young Girls But Violet Generally Wins (taught to us by our electronics shop teacher in freshman (9th) year; he then told us to talk to the juniors (11th year) to get the 'other' mnemonic that probably shouldn't be repeated in polite company - in that one the boys were bad, and did something else spelled very similarly to the young girls, however Violet was a willing participant.)

-Pat

Yep, much prefer the version that ends with Violet Gives Willingly. 

[Specmaster]

As to having a coax or a screened cable, coming from the back of it, is that so bad?

Not "baaaad"... I mean just unpracticla and weird, having a coax looping from the back.... woud you find it convenient and natural to have every piece of TE in your lab, your scopes and generator and power supply and what not require you to plug the oupui cable at the back ?! 

Power socket however, you only plug it once and you do'nt want it in the way, so every piece of TE, even vintage stuff (but Metrix it seems !  ) have the power cable/socket at the back... seems obvious and natural to every manufacturer...

After all, you are talking about putting a IEC socket there to stop it from zapping you, I doubt that you would be able to mount it in the front where the old 2 pin socket is located 

Well I guess one could make anything fit, with a big enough chainsaw ! 
But it wold look really too out of place... a BNC socket in comparison is much more acceptable... to me 

Any way, its over to you, its yours, and you will have to live with what ever solution you come up with

Yes it's mine !    ... and having a BNC at the front an IEC / power at the back is just like any scope ever made (but Metrix...) probably, so yes I could " live with that " just fine, just like everybody here lives just fine with the same setup and every piece of gear they have !

Why don't you try pushing one of these adapters you have into the antenna socket on that TV you have been given and see if it fits as tightly in that?

Hey good idea !    Result : fits perfectly !

Then I had another idea.... have that other piece of Metrix TE, that huge Wobulator boat anchor if you remember that one. It has many sockets, and comes with a little jumper cable so you can connect one socket to another, in order to setup the instrument properly. So, first I tried the adapter into all the sockets on that Wobulator : would never go in, hard as a rock.

Then I took the jumper cable and tried to shove into the RF generator... fits perfectly, both ends of the cable do !

So... does not look like tolerance issue... looks more like the size was 9.0mm back in the day when these were used for TE stuff, but 60 years later where they are only used for TV consumer stuff, they now make it 9.5mm instead, that is all... so it's a lost cause so... if I get bored of my hack sawed adapter one day, I guess next step is retrofit a BNC socket instead.... and you would won that one... you get a cookie... you want them with just chocolate chips, or hazelnut chunks as well mixed in ?!

I also note the refined / elaborate construction of the plugs of the jumper cable, see pic below. It's a 4 slit design, which measures exactly the same diameter as the socket (9mm), so again no tolerance issue there, and it has a circular spring/clip inside , towards the top, inside a little groove. Clever... the 4 slits let the plug deform a bit to get into the socket, but the spring keeps it from deforming too much. Makes for a more reliable contact. Someone was thinking and trying to get these crappy connectors as best they could make them.

Hmm, it would seem then that Metrix either made their own modified version of that interface in an attempt to improve its reliability, and made a dimensional modification, or, there used to be another interface out there at that time that only Metrix seem to have adopted and therefore rare, but hey, at least you now know for sure there is a plug that will fit perfectly if you can find one, and you also know that the BNC option is still a possibility. 

[Vince]

Yeah regardless of the outcome of all this, in any case I learned stuff while pulling my hair on this thing, and learning is the interesting bit  ! 

Maybe I can try to buy some cheap Metrix junk in super poor state... if it has a jumper cable, and then salvage the plugs from that cable and make adapters out of them.

I am reluctant in using my existing cable to do that, because it's required for the Wobulator to work, so selling the Wobulator without its cable would be rather difficult... nobody would want it.

[Neomys Sapiens]

.
.

mnem
Oh wait, here they are...

And the extremely funny thing is, that I had no idea of your preceding post when writing the one about Wiha!

[BU508A]

Thanks to BU508A showing his Xiaomei Wiha toolkit on Discord last Saturday, I found out about a real piggery from Wiha. Once it was general understanding in the tool business that, although they might be called 4mm, this type of micro bits had to conform to the 5/32" drive standard. This standard places the retaining element (spring-loaded ball) at the bit. Wiha was compliant with this too, as I bought bits from them for use in a Belzer 5/32" handle. Now they sell the apparently same kit and bits - and they are lacking the retaining element.
I only got behind it because one vendor of Wiha bits lists the Wiha numbers for his remaining stock. And they are totally different to what they currently offer. They call that drive C4 now. so it might be even a coordinated piggery.
Those that bought Wiha micro bits before and assume that the currently offered parts will fit their use, are the fools. And they don't tell that anyone, like a company with their standing should do. So one can say now
*** WIHA has lost their balls! ***

I'm convinced, this was the idea of some MBA holders and not of the engineers at Wiha.  

[mansaxel]

Ok, sometimes, now and then, the AA501A will work, register a clean waveform, and present the wave and the gunk on its monitor and function outputs. I also learnt that the Chinesium solder-sucker is a RFI source.

[mansaxel]

I was sitting around at the bench and soldering XLR's like one does. Nice, fine XLRs. As I was through 4,6,5 and 1,3 I heard "*pop* Fssssszzzzzzzzz"

UH-OH.

Of course.

[Cerebus]

Has anyone ever tried this style of test clips (accidentally spotted on eBay while looking for something else)? Any good?

[tggzzz]

Better Be Right Or Your Great Big Venture Goes Wrong.

mnem
 

Bad Beer Rots Our Young Guts But Vodka Goes Well. 

Big Boys Race Our Young Girls But Violet Generally Wins (taught to us by our electronics shop teacher in freshman (9th) year; he then told us to talk to the juniors (11th year) to get the 'other' mnemonic that probably shouldn't be repeated in polite company - in that one the boys were bad, and did something else spelled very similarly to the young girls, however Violet was a willing participant.)

-Pat

Yep, much prefer the version that ends with Violet Virgins Gives Willingly. 

FTFY.

But then I also have "virgin pliers".

"PC means personal computer"

[Specmaster]

Has anyone ever tried this style of test clips (accidentally spotted on eBay while looking for something else)? Any good?

Nope, I just hope and pray that the 1mm shaft is insulated otherwise it is a short circuit city in the making.

[xrunner]

Has anyone ever tried this style of test clips (accidentally spotted on eBay while looking for something else)? Any good?

Nope, I just hope and pray that the 1mm shaft is insulated otherwise it is a short circuit city in the making.

Never seen them. Might have pulled the trigger to test them but they're $26.50 + $2 shipping. At about half that I would have done it.

eBay auction: #373777648951

[mnementh]

Yep, much prefer the version that ends with Violet Virgins Gives Willingly. 

FTFY.

But then I also have "virgin pliers".

"PC means personal computer Perverted Confuser"

FT-FTFY.

mnem
I am not a pervert, I am a prevert: I was this way before it was cool.

[mnementh]

Has anyone ever tried this style of test clips (accidentally spotted on eBay while looking for something else)? Any good?

Nope, I just hope and pray that the 1mm shaft is insulated otherwise it is a short circuit city in the making.

Never seen them. Might have pulled the trigger to test them but they're $26.50 + $2 shipping. At about half that I would have done it.

eBay auction: #373777648951

Looks like SDK08 Test Clip is the relevant search term:

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2047675.m570.l1313&_nkw=SDK08&_sacat=0

https://www.aliexpress.com/premium/SDK08.html

https://www.banggood.com/10Pcs-SDK08-Test-Clip-SMD-Grippers-Test-Clips-Ultra-Small-Clip-Foot-Clip-Micro-Chip-Online-Burning-Clip-p-1823454.html

Different style here:  https://www.amazon.com/Adapter-oscilloscope-multimeter-Generator-Programmer/dp/B07XNQ8CQW

Looks like the barrel is insulated:



mnem
 

[0culus]

I had to completely replace the foam in the case of test fixture boards I got for my 4145B. I was lucky the set contained the tiny leads for connecting up your DUT, but it's missing one of them. I've been looking for an extra to complete the set, so if you come across any, let me know!

Which wires do you need? I can get Staubli SLS205 stacking 2mm gold plated banana plugs, and also gold plated hook probes off the shelf in Akihabara so I'm making my own leads with teflon wire.
Maybe you can find these parts or equivalents locally?

https://www.sengoku.co.jp/mod/sgk_cart/detail.php?code=EEHD-5N3L

https://akizukidenshi.com/catalog/g/gP-11774/

Let me check...I believe the one I am missing is one of the 1mm to 1mm ones that allows you to connect up two DUTs in the regular transistor test fixture (using the switch).

[Vince]

Just popped up here :

https://www.leboncoin.fr/equipements_industriels/2101126198.htm

Guy sells NIB (original pouch, manual, all accessories...) Tek probes, passive, 1GHz, TPP1000.

Has 4 available, at 80 Euros each.

Sounds like a good deal no, what do you think ??

Am tempted to get at least one, can't afford more.

[mnementh]

Do you have anything with a input anywhere close to 3.9 puff...?

Or are you employing a variant of Bait Theory...?

mnem
 

[0culus]

Just popped up here :

https://www.leboncoin.fr/equipements_industriels/2101126198.htm

Guy sells NIB (original pouch, manual, all accessories...) Tek probes, passive, 1GHz, TPP1000.

Has 4 available, at 80 Euros each.

Sounds like a good deal no, what do you think ??

Am tempted to get at least one, can't afford more.

Looks like that is a TekProbe or newer interface, so it's a great deal if you have a scope that works with that.

[Specmaster]

Has anyone ever tried this style of test clips (accidentally spotted on eBay while looking for something else)? Any good?

Nope, I just hope and pray that the 1mm shaft is insulated otherwise it is a short circuit city in the making.

Never seen them. Might have pulled the trigger to test them but they're $26.50 + $2 shipping. At about half that I would have done it.

eBay auction: #373777648951

Looks like SDK08 Test Clip is the relevant search term:

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2047675.m570.l1313&_nkw=SDK08&_sacat=0

https://www.aliexpress.com/premium/SDK08.html

https://www.banggood.com/10Pcs-SDK08-Test-Clip-SMD-Grippers-Test-Clips-Ultra-Small-Clip-Foot-Clip-Micro-Chip-Online-Burning-Clip-p-1823454.html

Different style here:  https://www.amazon.com/Adapter-oscilloscope-multimeter-Generator-Programmer/dp/B07XNQ8CQW

Looks like the barrel is insulated:



mnem
 

I have taken one for the team and ordered a set from Aliexpress, £8.11 delivered, will advise more when I receive them.

[Vince]

Do you have anything with a input anywhere close to 3.9 puff...?

Or are you employing a variant of Bait Theory...?

mnem
 

Ah, so that's what the 3.9pf marking onthe probe means....

I was thinking of using them on my TDS 694C. Neither the front panel nor the user manual state what the input capacitance is, but it's a 3GHz scope so presumably it should do it ?!

But no.... bad idea. Just saw in the manual a section about probes. They clearly warn that because it's a 50ohms only scope, you can't use a general purpose x10 probe as it requires a 1Meg input.
So, it's a no no.

They say the scope is to be used with either of these two probes : P6249 or P6158.

They say that I should be using either an active differential probe as it's made for use with a 50ohms scope, or a low impedance probe, which also is meant for 50ohms scopes.

Well I can keep my money then, great ! 

Oculus you are right, I downloaded the manual for the probe and it does say it's meant for the newer fancier Tek scopes, not the ancient first gen TDS scopes...

So me needs a low impedance probe then.... good thing is that the manual says that they have one thing going for them : much better bandwidth / price value than a general purpose x10 high-impedance probe. More GHz for your Euros ! 

OK so now I can go to sleep in peace..., I learned something new today