Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Specmaster]

Seen some shit in my time but this ...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/362782549796

 

Holy shit, I'm not surprised at it not working. It's like I said in another post, some people lack brains and what makes it even worse is that more than likely some stupid dipshit will more than likely buy this as well 

[0culus]

I received a very special package, which certain people on this forum should appreciate. 

[mansaxel]

Trip report:

To escape the the heat, visit fortifications.

To manage wine buying habits, install reinforced springs on your car.

Accidental TE:

From Fort d'Uxegney just west of Epinal. Meter is from the original 1914 installation of "Groupes Electrogènes" in the fort.

Today, having visited the immaculate condition fort above, we're going to teach the realities of war, with a visit to forts Douaumont and Vaux, along with the actual boneyard,  outside Verdun.

After having been to Munster, you should consider going to Saumur:

https://www.museedesblindes.fr/

We did of course not miss Saumur, and naturally observed the "Always wear another Panzer museum T-shirt" rule; I wore my brand new "Bis einer heult" from DPM, and Middle Boy wore his "Panzer:innen", also from Munster. (To Munster I wore the Valentine T-shirt from Bovington  and he wore the Arsenalen T-shirt from the Swedish museum. )

[bd139]

I received a very special package, which certain people on this forum should appreciate. 

We approve, apart from someone who shall not be mentioned 

[Specmaster]

I received a very special package, which certain people on this forum should appreciate. 

Well that's nice, but it has 2 things wrong with it, 1/ it has a really crappy LCD screen which seriously detracts from its usability, poor resolution and contrast, 2/ It doesn't  have an = key 

The second, is not really a problem, just an inconvenience and requires a small rewire of one's brain in order to work it correctly, the first is in my view a major design flaw especially when the cost is taken into account, a few cents more on the BOM and it could have been a winner. 

[TERRA Operative]

A bit of fun today on the bench.
First I reassembled the first one of roughly three IBM Thinkpad T42 laptops from the box of parts I have. I have one good one that I use for the times I need an old laptop with a real parallel port or dual PCMCIA slots etc which works great, so time to build up a couple working laptops to sell off.


Then it was time to fix a Philips PM 5518-TX VPS colour TV pattern generator. I have two and this one with the RGB output option wasn't working but it just turned out to be the main logic board that needed to be reseated, so it got a bit of Deoxit on the card edge connector for good measure. The second one (without RGB output) will get sold off.


And finally, I dug out this Trio (Kenwood) CS-1577 30MHz analogue dual-trace scope.
I bought it years ago, like maybe 6 years for peanuts, I think maybe 1000yen, or less than US$10... and it had some new capacitors installed and a bunch of stuff deoxited by me at the time, but I never got around to reassembling it properly.
I somewhat reassembled it a few months back and found no trace, so now I want to get rid of it I thought I'd get it working..

So far I have found it works fine in X-Y mode with a beautiful trace, so HV works, the input board works, and the PSU is ok.
But when I try to use it in Y-V mode, no trace...
After poking around at the panel controls I found if I hit the trigger reset button a trace briefly flashes on the screen, showing the expected waveform but only for a brief moment.

Ok, so the horizontal is working, but the trigger is somehow busted. Luckily I have the schematics, so time to go huntin'..........   

[mnementh]

Seen some shit in my time but this ...

   https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/362782549796

 

Holy shit, I'm not surprised at it not working. It's like I said in another post, some people lack brains and what makes it even worse is that more than likely some stupid dipshit will more than likely buy this as well 

Hey, at least you can see everything that's been robbed off it before you waste your time & money... and if I were in dire need of something it actually has, I might pay more than I want to for it to save myself myself the guilt of robbing it off a decent example. 

Just sayin'...

mnem
might, I say... might. If I were really desperate for that part.

[Specmaster]

I received a very special package, which certain people on this forum should appreciate. 

We approve, apart from someone who shall not be mentioned 

Heh, I resemble that remark 

[0culus]

I received a very special package, which certain people on this forum should appreciate. 

Well that's nice, but it has 2 things wrong with it, 1/ it has a really crappy LCD screen which seriously detracts from its usability, poor resolution and contrast, 2/ It doesn't  have an = key 

The second, is not really a problem, just an inconvenience and requires a small rewire of one's brain in order to work it correctly, the first is in my view a major design flaw especially when the cost is taken into account, a few cents more on the BOM and it could have been a winner. 

Ah, but there you'd be wrong! This is an example of a later 48GX that has the high contrast screen (standard on the 49 and 50g). Very hard to find. 

[BU508A]

I received a very special package, which certain people on this forum should appreciate. 

We approve, apart from someone who shall not be mentioned 

Heh, I resemble that remark 

I think, he meant our orange-glowing-addicted friend from over the pond.

Discord is open for the early birds.

[Specmaster]

Seen some shit in my time but this ...

   https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/362782549796

 

Holy shit, I'm not surprised at it not working. It's like I said in another post, some people lack brains and what makes it even worse is that more than likely some stupid dipshit will more than likely buy this as well 

Hey, at least you can see everything that's been robbed off it before you waste your time & money... and if I were in dire need of something it actually has, I might pay more than I want to for it to save myself myself the guilt of robbing it off a decent example. 

Just sayin'...

mnem
might, I say... might. If I were really desperate for that part.

Yep, you'd have to be really desperate for that part as after seeing the clear abuse it has been subjected to, their is real and dangerous possiblity that that part is going to be equally knackered one way or another 

[Specmaster]

I received a very special package, which certain people on this forum should appreciate. 

We approve, apart from someone who shall not be mentioned 

Heh, I resemble that remark 

I think, he meant our orange-glowing-addicted friend from over the pond.

Discord is open for the early birds.

I don't think I'm going to be on it tonight either, I still have plenty of things to get done here that have been delayed yet again because we had to the weekly shopping for Mother-in-Law as Sister-in-Law who normally takes her, has had a nasty accident on the train home from work and has damaged her leg and it's muscles after a fall in the train. A&E have told her to keep off her leg so is unable to go to work, driving, shopping etc, so we also had to do her shopping as well. Then I still have to sift through, 1137 photos taken at the air show yesterday and a bead curtain to sort out for the backdoor in preparation for the massive spike in temperatures we are expecting to hit us soon, so I tender my apologies for yet another no show on discord.

[med6753]

Seen some shit in my time but this ...

   https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/362782549796

 

Holy shit, I'm not surprised at it not working. It's like I said in another post, some people lack brains and what makes it even worse is that more than likely some stupid dipshit will more than likely buy this as well 

Hey, at least you can see everything that's been robbed off it before you waste your time & money... and if I were in dire need of something it actually has, I might pay more than I want to for it to save myself myself the guilt of robbing it off a decent example. 

Just sayin'...

mnem
might, I say... might. If I were really desperate for that part.

Yep, you'd have to be really desperate for that part as after seeing the clear abuse it has been subjected to, their is real and dangerous possiblity that that part is going to be equally knackered one way or another 

WTF is that POS? I might use it for target practice. 

[mnementh]

I received a very special package, which certain people on this forum should appreciate. 

Well that's nice, but it has 2 things wrong with it, 1/ it has a really crappy LCD screen which seriously detracts from its usability, poor resolution and contrast, 2/ It doesn't  have an = key 

The second, is not really a problem, just an inconvenience and requires a small rewire of one's brain in order to work it correctly, the first is in my view a major design flaw especially when the cost is taken into account, a few cents more on the BOM and it could have been a winner. 

mnem
mmmm... creamed spinach color...

[Specmaster]

I received a very special package, which certain people on this forum should appreciate. 

Well that's nice, but it has 2 things wrong with it, 1/ it has a really crappy LCD screen which seriously detracts from its usability, poor resolution and contrast, 2/ It doesn't  have an = key 

The second, is not really a problem, just an inconvenience and requires a small rewire of one's brain in order to work it correctly, the first is in my view a major design flaw especially when the cost is taken into account, a few cents more on the BOM and it could have been a winner. 

Ah, but there you'd be wrong! This is an example of a later 48GX that has the high contrast screen (standard on the 49 and 50g). Very hard to find. 

What, I'd sure hate to see the old screen then, that one would seriously give me a massive headache quickly, like so many of the graphical calculators do, of which I have a few in my collection, that do not see the light of day for that reason. Perhaps I just need to get my eyes tested again but I doubt a fresh set of glasses would make me think that the screen was high resolution 

[bd139]

I received a very special package, which certain people on this forum should appreciate. 

Well that's nice, but it has 2 things wrong with it, 1/ it has a really crappy LCD screen which seriously detracts from its usability, poor resolution and contrast, 2/ It doesn't  have an = key 

The second, is not really a problem, just an inconvenience and requires a small rewire of one's brain in order to work it correctly, the first is in my view a major design flaw especially when the cost is taken into account, a few cents more on the BOM and it could have been a winner. 

Ah, but there you'd be wrong! This is an example of a later 48GX that has the high contrast screen (standard on the 49 and 50g). Very hard to find. 

What, I'd sure hate to see the old screen then, that one would seriously give me a massive headache quickly, like so many of the graphical calculators do, of which I have a few in my collection, that do not see the light of day for that reason. Perhaps I just need to get my eyes tested again but I doubt a fresh set of glasses would make me think that the screen was high resolution 

Prefer a shit screen on a good calculator myself 

[bd139]

I received a very special package, which certain people on this forum should appreciate. 

Well that's nice, but it has 2 things wrong with it, 1/ it has a really crappy LCD screen which seriously detracts from its usability, poor resolution and contrast, 2/ It doesn't  have an = key 

The second, is not really a problem, just an inconvenience and requires a small rewire of one's brain in order to work it correctly, the first is in my view a major design flaw especially when the cost is taken into account, a few cents more on the BOM and it could have been a winner. 

mnem
mmmm... creamed spinach color...

Hahahaha not seen that. I did actually own a Game Gear 

[mnementh]

Seen some shit in my time but this ...

   https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/362782549796

 

Holy shit, I'm not surprised at it not working. It's like I said in another post, some people lack brains and what makes it even worse is that more than likely some stupid dipshit will more than likely buy this as well 

Hey, at least you can see everything that's been robbed off it before you waste your time & money... and if I were in dire need of something it actually has, I might pay more than I want to for it to save myself myself the guilt of robbing it off a decent example. 

Just sayin'...

mnem
might, I say... might. If I were really desperate for that part.

Yep, you'd have to be really desperate for that part as after seeing the clear abuse it has been subjected to, their is real and dangerous possiblity that that part is going to be equally knackered one way or another 

WTF is that POS? I might use it for target practice. 

Naaah... not that bad. Timebase knob is in good shape, and it has those trapezoidal switch caps bd139 needs also in nice & black finish. I'd offer the moke 10 quid for it.



This is what I'd find more worrisome. Ships from the US but does not ship to the US. I know exactly where that is; I've been there. I suspect maybe they've had a irate customer come dot a eye for 'em or summat. 

I've seen this vendor before too; they're regulars in the "TE Junque" trade.

mnem
 

[Cerebus]

Well, hopefully this break will give you a chance to seek out and hire some competent workers.

He doesn't have a choice - housing association property, therefore not his call.

Uggghhh... missed that part. Is that like subsidized/government managed housing over here, or like "Deed Restricted" "Homeowner's Association" crap where you supposedly own your property but some dipshit PTA queen has final say over the color of your drapes if they face the street?

I'm assuming the former... but after some of the horror stories I've heard, I wouldn't be surprised if "approved contractors" were also part of the latter over there. 

mnem
*sand-ily*

Actually it's neither, the house used to be owned by the Local Council and I rented it from them. Then they transferred all their housing stock to a housing association as part of the Governments great idea of let's sell off as much as we possibly can to raise some cash for itself and then put more money into the hands of wealthy people via the tenants rental payments.

That rather misrepresents the rôle of a housing association. Housing associations are set up on a statutory not-for-profit basis as suppliers of rented property that grew out of the Victorian philanthropic schemes that various people such as Peabody set up, and later stepped in to manage former council housing stock precisely as a way of getting it into the hands of organisations with some positive social ethos as opposed to for-profit commercial landlords. Nobody is getting rich off your rent, indeed housing association properties are often rented out, as was council housing, at significantly less than market rents.

I used to know a penniless artist (now deceased) whose work is on my walls who lived in a Peabody flat in Brownhart Gardens, just around the corner from Bond Street (for the 'Merkins that's like saying "just off 5th Avenue"). Needless to say, a penniless artist wouldn't be even able to consider paying a fully commercial rent there. Current purchase prices for property in that area start at several million and just go up.

[mnementh]

mnem
mmmm... creamed spinach color...

Hahahaha not seen that. I did actually own a Game Gear 

I recently unearthed a Banker Box labeled "Vintage Portables" that I'm pretty sure has at least 2 each of GG, PSP and GBC. Might even have some PSV and 3DS as well.

I'm afraid to open it. 

mnem
If you don't know what those acronyms mean, count yourself lucky.

[Cerebus]

Seen some shit in my time but this ...

   https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/362782549796

 

Holy shit, I'm not surprised at it not working. It's like I said in another post, some people lack brains and what makes it even worse is that more than likely some stupid dipshit will more than likely buy this as well 

Hey, at least you can see everything that's been robbed off it before you waste your time & money... and if I were in dire need of something it actually has, I might pay more than I want to for it to save myself myself the guilt of robbing it off a decent example. 

Just sayin'...

mnem
might, I say... might. If I were really desperate for that part.

Yep, you'd have to be really desperate for that part as after seeing the clear abuse it has been subjected to, their is real and dangerous possiblity that that part is going to be equally knackered one way or another 

WTF is that POS? I might use it for target practice. 

Why does Mr Magoo with a rifle suddenly pop into my head?

[0culus]

I received a very special package, which certain people on this forum should appreciate. 

Well that's nice, but it has 2 things wrong with it, 1/ it has a really crappy LCD screen which seriously detracts from its usability, poor resolution and contrast, 2/ It doesn't  have an = key 

The second, is not really a problem, just an inconvenience and requires a small rewire of one's brain in order to work it correctly, the first is in my view a major design flaw especially when the cost is taken into account, a few cents more on the BOM and it could have been a winner. 

Ah, but there you'd be wrong! This is an example of a later 48GX that has the high contrast screen (standard on the 49 and 50g). Very hard to find. 

What, I'd sure hate to see the old screen then, that one would seriously give me a massive headache quickly, like so many of the graphical calculators do, of which I have a few in my collection, that do not see the light of day for that reason. Perhaps I just need to get my eyes tested again but I doubt a fresh set of glasses would make me think that the screen was high resolution 

Well, I happen to have an older 48G, and the screen is indeed shite. The screen on the GX shown above is miles better.

[Specmaster]

<snip>

Naaah... not that bad. Timebase knob is in good shape, and it has those trapezoidal switch caps bd139 needs also in nice & black finish. I'd offer the moke 10 quid for it.



This is what I'd find more worrisome. Ships from the US but does not ship to the US. I know exactly where that is; I've been there. I suspect maybe they've had a irate customer come dot a eye for 'em or summat. 

I've seen this vendor before too; they're regulars in the "TE Junque" trade.

mnem
 

Ten quid, yah that would be much nearer the value if it had the part you needed, did you clock the price they are asking for it? Fifty-six quid and the GSP want a further one seventy-eight quid and forty pennies just to ship it to us here in the UK, hence you would have to be so desperate for what ever part, that you'd be prepared to kill for it. The total cost would be £134.91, put  just a few more £ to it and buy a new one 

[Specmaster]

I received a very special package, which certain people on this forum should appreciate. 

Well that's nice, but it has 2 things wrong with it, 1/ it has a really crappy LCD screen which seriously detracts from its usability, poor resolution and contrast, 2/ It doesn't  have an = key 

The second, is not really a problem, just an inconvenience and requires a small rewire of one's brain in order to work it correctly, the first is in my view a major design flaw especially when the cost is taken into account, a few cents more on the BOM and it could have been a winner. 

Ah, but there you'd be wrong! This is an example of a later 48GX that has the high contrast screen (standard on the 49 and 50g). Very hard to find. 

What, I'd sure hate to see the old screen then, that one would seriously give me a massive headache quickly, like so many of the graphical calculators do, of which I have a few in my collection, that do not see the light of day for that reason. Perhaps I just need to get my eyes tested again but I doubt a fresh set of glasses would make me think that the screen was high resolution 

Prefer a shit screen on a good calculator myself 

Now combine the Casio screen with the workings of the HP, yes it might well be one of the best calculators in the world, but as they are, both have flaws.

[nixiefreqq]

was just down the basement bodging a little fan into an hp1740a.  according to the fluke temp probe those poor little rectifier bridges were cooking along at 165-170 F.  the replacement bridge was just as hot.

after installing the fan they all measure at 105-100 F.

while doing this i had a feeling that someone somewhere was talking about me.

no idea who it could have been, but thankfully you fine gentlemen would NEVER do such a thing.