List your test equipment "scores" here!

[TheSteve]

A Simpson 360, which cosmetically looks bad at first glance, but is just dirty. The battery compartment has probably never had batteries in it, and it powers up (but doesn't measure properly).


Oh, the price; it was on the "by donation" table, and $10 took it.  Last swap meet I got a dead [now fixed] Philips scope for $10, and now this for $10.  Less than the can of deoxit I'll need to clean the contacts

I was wondering how the swap went, I didn't make it out.

[TerraHertz]

Not really *electronic test* gear as such, but I'm quite happy about this week's score.
For a long time I've been searching for a turbomolecular pump, for a project involving a vacuum chamber. No luck at all. And worse, even one instance of extremely frustrating near-score, killed by a guy in the US who was willing to sell me some nice ones, but then decided they must be prohibited exports (because he severely misunderstood the pumping specs for vacuum pumps and was impervious to education. Did not understand the difference between Liters/hr at ten to the minus 5 Torr, vs same AT ATMOSPHERE.)

Anyway, I've gone from zero to four turbo pumps. Plus a pile of vacuum plumbing, gauging and other stuff that will be a big help.

And for icing on top, something I never dreamed I'd own - a Residual Gas Analyzer. Pretty much complete and fingers crossed, it might actually be restorable to full function. (It's a low pressure gas mass spectrometer, for those who've never heard of an RGA.)

For extra karmic laughs, one of the turbos is the exact same model as the ones the guy in the USA insisted were so special they couldn't be exported. Hmm... the forum seems to be missing a 'blows raspberry' emoticon.

Pic is just three of the turbo pumps. The rest of it is still in boxes.

The price was - drive Sydney to Melbourne in one day, a day in Melbourne with friend, in one day drive back to Sydney with friend (me still doing all the driving due to car insurance fine print), swap cars at my place, drive up to Blackheath in the mountains so we could both go to another friend's party (in a cave in the bush), then at 1am leave there and drive to Kanangra via Jenolan, me set up two tents at 4am (he's never camped before), next day take him for a walk around the sights at Kanangra Walls (some I bet no other forum Sydney-ites have ever seen, since, ahem, my grandfather created the Blue Mountains Nat. Park), then drive back to Sydney that night. And before he flew back to Melb, give him a tour of a cool Sydney urbex sight called Fortress. It's underground, but I can't say where.

[PA0PBZ]

Pic is just three of the turbo pumps. The rest of it is still in boxes.

Interesting to see they are already wearing their tin foil hats.

*hides*

[JonM]

I'm a cryopump guy, but turbopumps make a lot more sense for home use.

Nice collection!

Jon

[TerraHertz]

I'm a cryopump guy, but turbopumps make a lot more sense for home use.

Also a lot more sense than oil diffusion pumps, which were the alternative since I have a few. But I really don't like them. I hate cleaning oil-fouled things.

Nice collection!

One nice thing, is one of the turbo pumps has no controller. So I have an excuse to take it apart. Wheee!
Will have a brief search for a controller on ebay, fingers half-crossed I don't find one.

Currently working through refurbishment of the mass spectrometer. The dicey part was getting the old PII/Win98SE PC going, that has all the application software on its HDD. When I first tried the drive in an external dock it spun and sounded like it initialized OK, but totally failed to be recognized as any kind of drive. Depressing, since without the software there'd be no chance. And chances of getting the software through other channels are low to zero.

But then when looking at the PC motherboard, the BIOS flash chip has an odd sticker that says only "MAVERICK".
Hmm.... a custom BIOS? Thinks: Maybe to allow boot from a HDD made non-standard, as part of a software protection scheme?

And lo and behold, after dealing with other machine problems like a failed DRAM DIMM, and faded electros in the power supply, the 'no response' drive boots, and is working fine, everything there.
Still looking for a drive partition image backup util that works in both Win98SE, and my other PC's WinXP & Win7.

The whole machine had been out in the weather (semi-covered) for a long time, but is surprisingly undamaged. Probably I'll do a thread in Repair on it.

Pics: the mass-spec quadrupole sensor driver module (been in the rain), and the system interface card from the PC.

[JonM]

Yes, diffusion pumps are horrible anywhere but especially at home.  I last used them around 1980 when Varian was the big brand.

What brand is the RGA you have?

I once wanted a home ultrahigh-vacuum system but would only do it now if a really great deal appeared and I had room for it. I'm sure that my wife would not be excited...

[TerraHertz]

What brand is the RGA you have?

Anglo Scientific Instruments
  DCQ2000 Mass Spectrometer
  Quadrupole control head:  Model: DCQ300RF
  Turbo vacuum pump on this:   Varian TV-301 Navigator   Model 9698919  Made 2007

[cheeseit]

NI GPIB-232CT-A including 1.5m cable but without power supply for €53. Seller also kindly included a FTDI DB9-USB module.

Weston cell for €20. Mostly as a display item but it's spot on.

[HighVoltage]

Weston cell for €20. Mostly as a display item but it's spot on.

Nice looking Weston Cell.
Can you open it up and show us the inside?

[cheeseit]

Absolutely. Any idea how old it is?

[Jester]

Weston cell for €20. Mostly as a display item but it's spot on.

How long do these hold a charge, and how are they charged?

[HighVoltage]

Absolutely. Any idea how old it is?

Thanks for the picture
Yours looks much older than mine and I have one from 1971

We have a really nice eevblog discussion about Weston Cells, started by Dr.Frank:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/metrology/1000-my-(hi)story-of-the-weston-cell-of-the-volt-and-of-being-a-volt-nuts/

[cheeseit]

We have a really nice eevblog discussion about Weston Cells, started by Dr.Frank:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/metrology/1000-my-(hi)story-of-the-weston-cell-of-the-volt-and-of-being-a-volt-nuts/

Great thread, thank you! I did search on the forum before purchasing it but didn't find that thread. Dr. Frank rocks!

How long do these hold a charge, and how are they charged?

I'm no expert but it is stable for potentially several decades, if used and stored correctly. Mine looks quite old and is still spot on at 1.0186V @~20-21°C which is the limit of my equipment ±(0.05%+5 dig.). You don't charge it and you don't load it.

[HighVoltage]

I'm no expert but it is stable for potentially several decades, if used and stored correctly. Mine looks quite old and is still spot on at 1.0186V @~20-21°C which is the limit of my equipment ±(0.05%+5 dig.). You don't charge it and you don't load it.

Make sure to put your meter in high Z mode ( > 10 GOHM ) before you measure the Weston Cell
Otherwise the load from the DMM is to high already.
Best to use a second source and a Null-Detector which reduces the load on the cell to zero

[kcbrown]

I'd say, "Welcome to TEA (Test Equipment Anonymous)." So glad you could join us.

Thanks - the first step is to admit I have a probelm, I realize that now. 

If anyone wants some of the drug I got - here is the seller of the drug meter - they have more ... just look for the shady guy on the corner with the black trenchcoat.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/GW-Instek-120-000-Counts-Dual-Display-Multimeter-GDM-8251A/291980567514

Thanks a lot!  Now I have (or will have, once this arrives) 8 multimeters, and my wife has thrown me into the dog house outside, and I have to eat from the doggie bowl.   And the worst part is that the dog house isn't wired for power.   This is all your fault.   

 

[bitseeker]

Thanks a lot!  Now I have (or will have, once this arrives) 8 multimeters, and my wife has thrown me into the dog house outside, and I have to eat from the doggie bowl.   And the worst part is that the dog house isn't wired for power.

Ah, so now you need to buy some batteries, solar panels and charge controllers. You always wanted to get into solar power electronics, right?

[kcbrown]

Thanks a lot!  Now I have (or will have, once this arrives) 8 multimeters, and my wife has thrown me into the dog house outside, and I have to eat from the doggie bowl.   And the worst part is that the dog house isn't wired for power.

Ah, so now you need to buy some batteries, solar panels and charge controllers. You always wanted to get into solar power electronics, right?

The wife's garden looks like an awfully convenient location for a batch of solar panels ...   Muhuhahaha... 

[TerraHertz]

Pics:
1. Some assorted vacuum plumbing. Part of my recent windfall from a friend in Melbourne.
2. A nice electrically operated vacuum butterfly valve.
3. A cute, quite recent oil diffusion pump. It has a pneumatic butterfly valve at the working end, for better oil containment. So nice it's almost tempting to try it out, my dislike of diffusion pumps regardless.

This is not all of it.

[Cubdriver]

Vacuum sucks!!   

That is a cute little DP.  I definitely don't miss cleaning them!  The ones that pumped the ion source section in the implanters back in my Nat Semi days used to get pretty nasty as I recall.  Fun, fun!

Is there a chevron baffle below the valve?

-Pat

[Cubdriver]

And are those Serto fittings I see on the water lines?   

[TerraHertz]

And are those Serto fittings I see on the water lines?   

Ha, I had never heard of Serto, till I looked at the hoses just now. See pic.
I can't believe how clean this thing is. Even the coolant fittings are clean inside.

Vacuum sucks!!   

Jokes aside, trying to do it with 90% salvaged gear sucks even more.

Is there a chevron baffle below the valve?

There is a water cooled baffle below the butterfly valve. Don't know about 'chevron'. Hard to see it, even with the throat removed and valve open.

I haven't yet begun the manuals/data hunt for all this stuff. I'm sure it will be painful.

Edit: One WTF, is the 210V AC heater rating on the nameplate of the diffusion pump. Huh? Are they serious? I'd have to arrange a big transformer just for this? Or is it supposed to be phase controlled for temp reg, so that's nominal? I guess find and RTFM.

[SeanB]

Just grab a mains transformer with a 240V primary, and a secondary of 24VAc at 3A. then connect it as an autotransformer, and you will have a tap with 210VAC and capable of supplying the 450W the heater needs.  If you can get one with a 220V primary only look for a 15-0-15VAC secondary at 4A, and use it instead.  I guess your local mains is going to be on the plus side of the 230VAC nominal, seeing as you have all the solar in the area, so it likely is always at around 240VAC.

[ralphrmartin]

Just got myself a previous generation Picoscope 3206 MSO direct from Picoscope themselves, brand new, for £300, by buying the previous generation model. Even if the sample rate is a bit low, it runs the latest software, and seems pretty good for most of the lowish speed stuff  I will be doing, with 16 digital channels. The Keysight alternative I was looking at was about 10 x the price..

[calin]

Nice free one saved from going in the junk box.  Look @ ze ol' one going head to head with a GPSDO !!  that can't be right



Update ... it started showing 10000.000 !!! WHAAAT !!! That is crazy 

[xrunner]

Update ... it started showing 10000.000 !!! WHAAAT !!! That is crazy 

Yea bigger numbers are cool - it's got to fill up the display with as many hertzes as possible.