Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Specmaster]

I guess that person reflowed the other joints to disguise the location, or were the trainees that rubbish?

[Specmaster]

Oh, meant to say also, another lot of Unilab modules arrived; collecting them in order to bully the grandkids into learning electronics. I'll glue them to their Lego or something...

Also, going to be selling some meters soon. HP 3468A, Thandar 1905a, TTi 1906, Solartron 7150 for starters. I'll clean the 3468 this weekend, do some comparisons against The Quorum (Fluke 8840A, recent cal, Keithley 2015, less recent cal, Agilent 34401A, recentish cal), then pack it up and wait for a sucker buyer. Will be sold in the BSW sub-forum here, not going near ebay.

Downsizing or just making room for something massive incoming soon?

[Vince]

The test equipment purchase I was looking forward to turned into quite a disappointment last night.  I was really looking forward to this curve tracer.

Wow, left for groceries thinking TEA is all over the place and full of shit recently... now I am back from the super market and what do I see.... a new 575 on TEA, the thread is back in business !!! 

.... then saw that you didn't take it in the end.

Given that you already paid for the road trip, and spent all that time driving, I would have taken it anyway, and offered the guy 50 bucks for parts, to help you fix / restore / maintain the next 575 that you will hopefully find later, in better condition.
Guy wasn't willing to let it go for cheap for parts, once he saw what an horror story this 575 really was ? Or you were so disappointed that you didn't even think of negotiating a "For parts" price ?

I sure would love to have this one for parts to help me restore mine ! Too bad shipping would be prohibitive, oh well....

Well, you will find a better one one day, eventually, don't despair ! 

[AVGresponding]

Oh, meant to say also, another lot of Unilab modules arrived; collecting them in order to bully the grandkids into learning electronics. I'll glue them to their Lego or something...

Also, going to be selling some meters soon. HP 3468A, Thandar 1905a, TTi 1906, Solartron 7150 for starters. I'll clean the 3468 this weekend, do some comparisons against The Quorum (Fluke 8840A, recent cal, Keithley 2015, less recent cal, Agilent 34401A, recentish cal), then pack it up and wait for a sucker buyer. Will be sold in the BSW sub-forum here, not going near ebay.

Downsizing or just making room for something massive incoming soon?

Need the space, need the coin.

[AVGresponding]

Ok, which one of you bar stewards overbid me on the TITS?   

Also just missed out on an old Krohn-Hite sig gen, probably for the best...

[Squarewave]

[
I think it would be useful for me to have it, it's a lot more portable than my Marconi TF2370 and TF2380 and there's so much more I could do with one too.

With the cost of VNAs, though, my old boat anchor HP VNA will probably always stay, but I do have a nano also which is great for setting up HF antennas too.

I don't know how funds are with you, but have you thought of getting a Rigol or Siglent SA, maybe as well as the HP?

I have a few scopes here, Tek, an HP, a 20MHz solid state scope about 30 years old. I have a few valve scopes, most of which work. The one I reach for is the 100MHz Siglent. It's pleasant to use, it's light, it doesn't take up any room, it has a load of features that are useful enough, such as a fairly good frequency counter, which often saves the trouble of firing up a dedicated frequency counter.

Indeed I've considered one, I'd happy pay the price as they're not all that expensive really. I don't think I'd buy one AND the HP though. Perhaps later on I could if I need space. I think I will go the the HP for the price as it'll certainly prove useful for a few projects, where the range is outside of the RF unit I have for my TF2380 at present.

[Specmaster]

Ok, which one of you bar stewards overbid me on the TITS?   

<snip>

If that was a red head, then it'll be bd 

[bd139]

Ok, which one of you bar stewards overbid me on the TITS?   

<snip>

If that was a red head, then it'll be bd 

No comment 

Just bought a fairly large bottle of vodka and am scanning eBay. What could possibly go wrong 

[Vince]

Ok, which one of you bar stewards overbid me on the TITS?   

Also just missed out on an old Krohn-Hite sig gen, probably for the best...

You mean someone bid more than your usual 50 pence ?! Shocking ! 


 

[dl6lr]

Send it to me. I'll break it in some unexpected and difficult to diagnose way and send it back to you.   

That’s actually an interesting idea: diagnostics practice as a service 

Not so far off. Either Jim or Bob described just that in one of their favourite books: They repaired equipment from colleagues, but as there was too less broken the fellows broke things to diagnose it.

[bd139]

Send it to me. I'll break it in some unexpected and difficult to diagnose way and send it back to you.   

That’s actually an interesting idea: diagnostics practice as a service 

Not so far off. Either Jim or Bob described just that in one of their favourite books: They repaired equipment from colleagues, but as there was too less broken the fellows broke things to diagnose it.

Yes. Jim Williams in The Art and Science of Analog Circuit Design:

https://xdevs.com/doc/_Books/Jim_Williams_The_Art_and_Science_of_Analog_Circuit_Design.pdf

Chapter 1 - The Importance Of Fixing. Breakers vs Fixers.

And thus declared the Blessed Williams: Oh boy, it's broken! Life doesn't get any better than this.

I'd be dangerous if I was religious 

[mnementh]

Ok, which one of you bar stewards overbid me on the TITS?   

<snip>

If that was a red head, then it'll be bd 

No comment 

Just bought a fairly large bottle of vodka and am scanning eBay. What could possibly go wrong 

bd139 has TITS...? No way! Don't be flaunting your TITS all over the thread; now I want TITS!!!  It's NOT FAIR! Everybody has TITS except me!   

mnem
bd, can I borrow your TITS...?

[bd139]

Ok, which one of you bar stewards overbid me on the TITS?   

<snip>

If that was a red head, then it'll be bd 

No comment 

Just bought a fairly large bottle of vodka and am scanning eBay. What could possibly go wrong 

bd139 has TITS...? No way! I want TITS!!!  It's NOT FAIR! Everybody has TITS except me!   

mnem
bd, can I borrow your TITS...?

As requested and keeping it TE 

[Saskia]

the only one here who should have tits oughta be me.

but I digress.
Lugforced myself into moving my butt even though I was darn tired today after a seemingly successful negotiation with some quebecian secessionists.

So I dragged my carcass into my storage, took the 2 Yamaha monitors that were sold as broken for 25 or so €. Took the Nakamichi RE3 which I had obtained for about a hunnerd. dug for some cable and some loudspeaker connectors, hooked it up and was thoroughly disappointed after listening to some PF WYWH.
Problem: the Yamaha monitors being about miniature size do not produce any significant amount of bass.
But they sure aint broken. Neither is the Nakamichi. Less stuff to fix.
Plus a receiver to test the Montans after I get to the cross overs tomorrow.
To squash my disappointment I am drowning in blueberry wine after having told my boss that I'm gonna take a day off tomorrow.

[25 CPS]

The test equipment purchase I was looking forward to turned into quite a disappointment last night.  I was really looking forward to this curve tracer.

Wow, left for groceries thinking TEA is all over the place and full of shit recently... now I am back from the super market and what do I see.... a new 575 on TEA, the thread is back in business !!! 

.... then saw that you didn't take it in the end.

Given that you already paid for the road trip, and spent all that time driving, I would have taken it anyway, and offered the guy 50 bucks for parts, to help you fix / restore / maintain the next 575 that you will hopefully find later, in better condition.
Guy wasn't willing to let it go for cheap for parts, once he saw what an horror story this 575 really was ? Or you were so disappointed that you didn't even think of negotiating a "For parts" price ?

I sure would love to have this one for parts to help me restore mine ! Too bad shipping would be prohibitive, oh well....

Well, you will find a better one one day, eventually, don't despair ! 

I really wonder how this machine spent some of its time after it was removed from service given the state of the insides and the odour it had.  There's the characteristic smell running tube electronics has when it's hot is one thing but this was something else, and it wasn't on long enough to get up to temperature either time which is why I wasn't so concerned about not having the fan blowing over it for a quick test to see how long the high voltage lasted before the CRT went dark.  And note that this was without the benefit of the fan moving air around either.  If Shango066 wanted to do a video of resurrecting a curve tracer, this machine would be a candidate.

It's a shame about the curve tracer but I wouldn't consider it a waste of a drive though.  I got to spend some quality time with one of my friends and we enjoyed the drive and dinner out on a beautiful summer day.

[Specmaster]

As requested and keeping it TE 

That raised a smile 

[mnementh]

As requested and keeping it TE     

Yer still flaunting yer TITS at me. 

In all seriousness... how many of the transistors in that x-ref are even still around to use as substitutes? I remember a similar book that used to be popular over here in the TV repair trade; was a thick 1/4 A4 tome like the NADA price guide. Only problem was that about half the cross-references in it were as obsolete as the transistor you were trying to find a sub for, and the only place you were gonna find them is in another TV or whatever of similar vintage.

mnem
 

[Saskia]

oh, I am bipolar, too !!! 

sorry about off topic, I'll try to behave. I promise.

[factory]

I've got a couple of vintage TE clocks, these were made by a few TE manufacturers for adding timecode to recorder printouts & tape recording. In the case of the HP can also be used to automate the printing, with several selectable rates.

David

Wowwwwww.... this thing looks the business !!!   

Beautiful, I want one as well now ! What do you mean it took you 20 years to find one and it's the only one you have ever seen ?!

Oh well.... 

Even though HP made so many millions of their TE, some of their old stuff none the less is as rare as hens teeth nowadays.

I am sure you must be very glad you stumbled upon this one ! 

If I pay you 20 quid, can I visit your lab for an hour and play with this thing ?! 

I found the digital recorder/clock about 9 years ago, took quite some to arrive via slow parcels, from somewhere in Europe, very important it was a 50Hz version. Weight is only 83lbs (37.65kg) according to the book. 

And yes I've not seen another complete recorder/clock combo since, come to think of it haven't seen any of these large digital recorders (on their own) for many years now. Have seen a couple of the clocks on their own, think one was on youtube.

You might have to wait a while before you can play with it, still need to move to somewhere I can set up a proper lab to work on my boat anchor size TE, the tiny room in my Dads workshop is not big enough. 

Another problem the recorder part is completely seized up, large motor is much louder than any other TE fan here. On the plus side it uses standard size paper & typewriter ribbon.

The PSU that runs the electromechanical clock, also runs a bunch of vacuum bulbs (comparator circuits), this also runs part of the counter or voltmeter it would connect to, via changeover relay in the counter/voltmeter (need to be added too as neither counter has the extra parts fitted). It would be nice to run the clock continuously from a separate supply, with another changeover relay to allow printer use as well. 

Hey, hey.. You should repurpose those things, as... Nixie clocks!

Wait a sec.........

 



(Needs moar blue LED  )

My eyes hate blue LEDs, along with cold white ones and any used with excessive brightness. 
The amber plastic filter in front of the tubes would help block the light, from those pesky blue LEDs. 

David

[bd139]

As requested and keeping it TE     

Yer still flaunting yer TITS at me. 

In all seriousness... how many of the transistors in that x-ref are even still around to use as substitutes? I remember a similar book that used to be popular over here in the TV repair trade; was a thick 1/4 A4 tome like the NADA price guide. Only problem was that about half the cross-references in it were as obsolete as the transistor you were trying to find a sub for, and the only place you were gonna find them is in another TV or whatever of similar vintage.

mnem
 

Yup. The book was stupid at the time. It's even more pointless now because the whole substitutes thing is almost irrelevant. There is declining demand for repairs and the overall availability of exactly the right transistor on eBay is the best ever.

But the killer is understanding what to substitute in and the associated cost trade offs. They only ever leveraged that no one seems to know what transistor characteristics are important in a circuit. It's not even rocket science. I think NTE are still ripping people off for the same concept 

The one that always gets me is the insane prices that an MPF102 JFET fetch these days. It's basically the crappiest unbinned JFET they could muster only popular because the Rat Shack sold them in large quantities as they were generic enough to sell a 3 pack for of which one would have roughly the right Idss for whatever you were building and they would get away with it and make a ton of money. Realistically a suitable 2n548x is cheaper and better and will work out of the box.

I'm taking that rant to my death bed 

[bd139]

oh, I am bipolar, too !!! 

sorry about off topic, I'll try to behave. I promise.

NPN or PNP? 

I think we all have bipolar days.

Today I identify as a N channel JFET though.

Edit: oh bollocks just missed a Kenwood TS430S for £85  (Ferengi antics there - no I'm not going to use it)

[factory]

For the sake of common understanding, you should stick with 'BK' for this company, as 'B&K' usually denotes Bruel & Kjaer in the world of Test & Measurement.

Yes, B&K means Bruel & Kjaer. Top notch stuff in the sound and vibration measurement industry.

Never heard of them because clueless here, but what do you know, I just stumbled upon some of their stuff over here, so yeah I know now ! 

https://www.leboncoin.fr/autres/2191713102.htm

Look at this bad boy !

A Brüel and Kjaer Heterodyne Analyzer Type 2010

I am sure someone here knows what to do with that....

Looks beautiful and not just because of the Nixie display !
Looks like a work of art... wooden cabinet as well, factory it looks like.

It's a piece of lab equipment but polished like they meant it to be displayed in your living room ! 

Priced at " only " 700 Euros ! 

Not for me...

Beautiful piece isn't it ??

Description says it works in the audio range, from 2 to 200kHz... maybe Saskia could buy it...

Guy says no shipping. I guess the better because if he were OK to ship it, he would probably pack it so badly that it would not survive the trip anyway... would be tragic for such a nice piece.

I guess these are quite hard to find since LMNC & Hainbach have bought up lots of B&K TE and made many videos on their use in analog synth music, seem to remember in one of the LMNC videos that these had options for wood or metal cabinets.

Also made with Panaplex display too; https://vintage-radio.net/forum/showthread.php?t=73478

David

[factory]

Well the slightly younger HP 34401A that arrived last week seems to function OK (quick check on Sunday evening), quite a noticeable difference in display brightness too.

<SNIP>

The older one I was having trouble with when testing the 745A AC calibrator, seems to have died completely on all AC functions & frequency measurement, it was OK when I acquired it, another DMM for the lengthy repair queue. 

<SNIP>

David

I fixed my 34401A that had the exact same problem. See my post:

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/test-equipment-anonymous-(tea)-group-therapy-thread/msg4267654/#msg4267654

Message me when you go to fix it and, if it helps you, I'll mail you the parts I used to fix it. I ordered spares since they were tiny and cheap.

EDIT:

Added picture of schematic (highlights are mine)

C312 is a "Capacitor-Fxd 22 uF ±20% 20 V"
CR304 is a "Diode-Zener 3.3V 5% TO-236"

I'm wondering if I should do a preemptive replacement on mine. I actually have the tants already.

It was even a featured failure on EDN 

https://www.edn.com/repair-hp-34401a-capacitor-failure/

And xdevs:

https://xdevs.com/fix/hp34401a/

Edit: now I'm looking at hot air stations. Seeeee what we do to each other 

The EDN & Xdev 34401As, had various other tants in the DMM die.

The faulty 34401A won't be used again till I get a chance to repair it, could the infrequent use have helped the tants fail? the voltage rating seems a little on the low side (20V on 15V supply), duckduck did you upgrade them to 35V?
Do I need to buy some more soldering kit? not sure two Pace irons in chopstick mode is the best idea  (have used on scrap boards in the past), can't use the Ersa tweezers at work as they grew legs & walked out. 

David

[bd139]

Well the slightly younger HP 34401A that arrived last week seems to function OK (quick check on Sunday evening), quite a noticeable difference in display brightness too.

<SNIP>

The older one I was having trouble with when testing the 745A AC calibrator, seems to have died completely on all AC functions & frequency measurement, it was OK when I acquired it, another DMM for the lengthy repair queue. 

<SNIP>

David

I fixed my 34401A that had the exact same problem. See my post:

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/test-equipment-anonymous-(tea)-group-therapy-thread/msg4267654/#msg4267654

Message me when you go to fix it and, if it helps you, I'll mail you the parts I used to fix it. I ordered spares since they were tiny and cheap.

EDIT:

Added picture of schematic (highlights are mine)

C312 is a "Capacitor-Fxd 22 uF ±20% 20 V"
CR304 is a "Diode-Zener 3.3V 5% TO-236"

I'm wondering if I should do a preemptive replacement on mine. I actually have the tants already.

It was even a featured failure on EDN 

https://www.edn.com/repair-hp-34401a-capacitor-failure/

And xdevs:

https://xdevs.com/fix/hp34401a/

Edit: now I'm looking at hot air stations. Seeeee what we do to each other 

The EDN & Xdev 34401As, had various other tants in the DMM die.

The faulty 34401A won't be used again till I get a chance to repair it, could the infrequent use have helped the tants fail? the voltage rating seems a little on the low side (20V on 15V supply), duckduck did you upgrade them to 35V?
Do I need to buy some more soldering kit? not sure two Pace irons in chopstick mode is the best idea  (have used on scrap boards in the past), can't use the Ersa tweezers at work as they grew legs & walked out. 

David

Kapton over all the bits you don’t want to fix, flux and hot air is the easiest way to get them off.

[Zenith]

I don't know how funds are with you, but have you thought of getting a Rigol or Siglent SA, maybe as well as the HP?

I have a few scopes here, Tek, an HP, a 20MHz solid state scope about 30 years old. I have a few valve scopes, most of which work. The one I reach for is the 100MHz Siglent. It's pleasant to use, it's light, it doesn't take up any room, it has a load of features that are useful enough, such as a fairly good frequency counter, which often saves the trouble of firing up a dedicated frequency counter.

Indeed I've considered one, I'd happy pay the price as they're not all that expensive really. I don't think I'd buy one AND the HP though. Perhaps later on I could if I need space. I think I will go the the HP for the price as it'll certainly prove useful for a few projects, where the range is outside of the RF unit I have for my TF2380 at present.

Well this is the Test Equipment Anonymous thread, it should be a bit like AA where we get together and support ourselves in getting out of this terrible addiction.

Consider what I say next as the Devil leading you into temptation.

Having wanted an SA for ages, and looked at Marconi etc and wondering about the problems with them, I was talking to a neighbour who had just blown north of 30 grand on a collectable newish BMW. He was explaining all about it. He washes it and polishes it and drives about 500 miles a year in it. I thought "Bugger it. Why shouldn't I spend £1,500 on an SA?" So I bought a Siglent. I use it for more hours than he uses his BMW and I don't have to wash and wax it all the time. I don't have to tax, insure, have it MOT'd and serviced either.

I might also get a Marconi or an HP, out of curiosity and the urge to acquire.

You can't take your dough when you go.