Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[TERRA Operative]

Well, today was productive. I sucessfully transferred the Option 05, TV trigger from a TDS744A to my TDS784C, all working nice.
Then promptly bricked the TDS744A with a screwy firmware update, then just finally managed to unbrick it now.

I've pulled the CRT out as it had a few of the typical blotches on the LCD shutter and it looks overdue for a recap (it takes a couple minutes for the image to appear and stabilise), but unless I find a replacement shutter, I won't bother replacing any other parts. Instead I just ordered a 7" 800x600 LCD screen from ebay that I'll stick in instead, mounted on a custom mounting plate I whipped up in CAD.

After that, I'll try to find a later firmware that works (anyone got a TDS744A they can rip firmware from for me? ) and maybe mod it up to 1GHz for fun.
Then finally, hopefully sell it for more than it owes me. (With full disclosure on mods of course).

[Vince]

Cerebrus's meal would make me hungry had I not seen his post just after finishing dinner, sadly nothing anywhere near as yummy. Where do you all find time to cook stuff like that ? Are you all retired or what ? Or is it just a week-end special and the rest of the week it's pizza ?

Anyway. An ad just popped up here that made me sick. Something I had not yet seen. People exploiting the "vintage" fashion have now gone oen more step farther, one step too far. Selling crusty untested dead Tek scope as a decoration, for 10 times the price of a mint fully restored one was not greedy enough.

Mutilating a nice piece of gear by adding retro looking big incandescent light bulbs to it to turn it into a lamp.. was not enough either.

We have entered a new era of greed and waste. Makes me sick, I lack words... I just would like to murder the seller but I guess I can't ?!   

Look at that :

https://www.leboncoin.fr/collection/2063642625.htm

Guy is not just selling a rare, particularly interesting glowing Tek... a sampling scope Type 661..no.

He is selling not the scope, but just THE FACE PLATE !!!

He wants 50 Euros just for the face plate !

What the fuck happened to the rest of the scope ?! What the fuck did he do with it ?! I AM SCARED TO THINK ABOUT IT !!!! 
Sold the tubes and then instead of scrapping the corpse he thought hey let's try to make some money with the face plate to extract even more money from this scope ?! 

And how the fuck did he manage to make all the knobs stay in place ?! Did he just glue them on the face plate or something ?! 

Humanity is lost, I am telling you.... human race needs to be wiped off of the face of the earth, we are not worthy for sure.... 

[AVGresponding]

And Lo, did Saturday Night ring out with the Discordant sounds of tants being immolated and ppms being Measured

[Cerebus]

Cerebrus's meal would make it hungry had I not seen his post just after finishing dinner, saldy nothing anywhere nzear as yummy. Where do you all find time to cook stuff like that ? Are you all retired or what ? Or is it just a week-end special and the rest of the week its pizza ?

There's nothing to it really - practice more than anything else. That took two hours from start to ready to eat today, most of it spent surfing the web or watching TV. Fifteen minutes mise-en-place to get all the veg ready, steam the spuds for 20 mins, roast them and the parsnips for 1 hour. Most of that time is just waiting when you can be doing something else. With twenty minutes left turn on the steamer again and chick the carrots in. Put the Ox-Cheek and gravy (that was cooked yesterday, it takes about 6 hours in the slow cooker) on to warm through. Eleven minutes later chuck in the green beans, broccoli and cauliflower. Chuck some butter and garlic into a frying pan and cook the mushrooms. with four minutes left chuck the mangetout into the steamer and start plating up everything but the steamed vegetables.

Although the Ox-Cheek takes a long time to cook I do it in the slow cooker that can just be left to it' own devices for hours on end. The actual active cooking part of getting it ready yesterday was probably only 20 minutes. Also it's a bargain. An Ox-Cheek that feeds two people and tastes fantastic if you cook it right cost me all of £1.74. This time I just did the one, but it's exactly the sort of thing you can cook several at once, eat one and put the others into the freezer for another day.

I cook most days. Sometimes it's only twenty minutes making a simple tomato sauce with some pasta. Most days it only takes a hour all together to cook something decent from scratch.

[Vince]

OK.... that sounds like routine work for you.. maybe one day I will get to that point.

When I get to build the kitchen maybe.... unfortunately not the top priority. Building the garage/workshop first. Kitchen in a year or two maybe... don't even have an oven, it's high on my list !   That, and a dishwasher..

Seeing Xrunner sort his screws gave me some motivation to sort through my pile of  car parts. Just done sorting the electrical stuff : fuses, exterior lights, interior &dash lights, relays.  That was easy enough.

Now the hard and tedious bit.. sorting the 10+kg box on the left, full of screws nuts plastic clips, hose clamps, rubber bits and miscellaneous H/W...

That will be my Saturday night while you are all giving your keyboard a hard time on Discord.

[Specmaster]

Revenge for the rest of you making me hungry:



Ox-Cheek braised in red wine with pancetta, herbs and a mirepoix.
Roast potatoes, roast parsnip.
Steamed broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, carrot and mangetout.
Garlic butter mushrooms.

Hmm, roast parsnip you teasing git, I love roast parsnip but SWMBO doesn't and so will do it for Christmas dinner 

[Vince]

Sorting. Was not that bad... under 2 hours later it's done. All done under the tight supervision of the Metrix Wobuloscope.

Well, just the first pass of course... now need to go through all the bins/boxes again to sort all the bits and bobs into more detailed categories.... tomorrow maybe.

Then some of the stuff will need cleaning/de-greasing, and some of the stuff will need some sort of rust removal treatment...
It's all gonna be a bit costly and time consuming and not very ecological... but who cares, keeps me busy and at long last I can hope to one day make use of all that stuff, once it's all clean and sorted properly.

[xrunner]

Seeing Xrunner sort his screws gave me some motivation to sort through my pile of  car parts. Just done sorting the electrical stuff : fuses, exterior lights, interior &dash lights, relays.  That was easy enough.

Wow I motivated somebody in France to do something. That sounds important, I gotta tell my friends. Maybe I should be an ambassador? 

My sorting is going to take several more days. It's good though, I'm finding the small stuff at the bottom, like M2.5 which I didn't realize I had until I sized it with some plastic stand-offs I bought several years ago. Some other small stuff is yet unknown at this time. I think probably SAE stuff but I don't have anything to size it to.

[Vince]

Good luck with the small stuff... will have to do that too, when I sort all the small screws salvaged from electronic stuff. Just thinking about it makes my head hurt... not looking forward to it...

[med6753]

The Fluke 8060A showed up today. Excellent packaging. And exactly as pictured on Ebay. A little dirty.

Ebay picture....



After clean up. So far DCV and Ohms are right on the money. Still need to check ACV. Teardown later and will check to see if caps have been replaced. If not, will prepare a BOM.

[Kosmic]

The Fluke 8060A showed up today. Excellent packaging. And exactly as pictured on Ebay. A little dirty.

Ebay picture....



After clean up. So far DCV and Ohms are right on the money. Still need to check ACV. Teardown later and will check to see if caps have been replaced. If not, will prepare a BOM.

looking good 

I really don't understand why people don't clean their stuff a little before trying to sell them.

[xrunner]

Looks good. Brings back fond memories because I used one from time-to-time in the lab at work.

[Kosmic]

Cerebrus's meal would make me hungry had I not seen his post just after finishing dinner, sadly nothing anywhere near as yummy. Where do you all find time to cook stuff like that ? Are you all retired or what ? Or is it just a week-end special and the rest of the week it's pizza ?

Anyway. An ad just popped up here that made me sick. Something I had not yet seen. People exploiting the "vintage" fashion have now gone oen more step farther, one step too far. Selling crusty untested dead Tek scope as a decoration, for 10 times the price of a mint fully restored one was not greedy enough.

Mutilating a nice piece of gear by adding retro looking big incandescent light bulbs to it to turn it into a lamp.. was not enough either.

We have entered a new era of greed and waste. Makes me sick, I lack words... I just would like to murder the seller but I guess I can't ?!   

Look at that :

https://www.leboncoin.fr/collection/2063642625.htm

Guy is not just selling a rare, particularly interesting glowing Tek... a sampling scope Type 661..no.

He is selling not the scope, but just THE FACE PLATE !!!

He wants 50 Euros just for the face plate !

What the fuck happened to the rest of the scope ?! What the fuck did he do with it ?! I AM SCARED TO THINK ABOUT IT !!!! 
Sold the tubes and then instead of scrapping the corpse he thought hey let's try to make some money with the face plate to extract even more money from this scope ?! 

And how the fuck did he manage to make all the knobs stay in place ?! Did he just glue them on the face plate or something ?! 

Humanity is lost, I am telling you.... human race needs to be wiped off of the face of the earth, we are not worthy for sure.... 

Yeah, always a shame when TE is sold in parts.

Might help someone to fix another one though.

[Cerebus]

The Fluke 8060A showed up today. Excellent packaging. And exactly as pictured on Ebay. A little dirty.

Ebay picture....



After clean up. So far DCV and Ohms are right on the money. Still need to check ACV. Teardown later and will check to see if caps have been replaced. If not, will prepare a BOM.

looking good 

I really don't understand why people don't clean their stuff a little before trying to sell them.

You'd think so wouldn't you? The thing is, I suspect, that some people have what many of us might regard as low standards of cleanliness and think that the rest of the world don't care too. To whit, one member on here posted this photo at the top of a thread he started:



That, to my mind, is gross. Moreover, even if I was prepared to use it in that condition (I wouldn't be) I'd clean it before showing the world what I was like by posting a photo of it. Not to mention who the hell would probe high voltage with that much muck making a tracking path straight from the tip to their fingers?

I don't mind tools of any kind looking like they are put to use, that they've seen some action, but I also think that if you can't take care of your tools what goddam mess are you going to make of anything you work on with them?

[mnementh]

*looking at a refrigerator full of honey ham nobody else in the house seems interested in eating*

I was looking at a 850g piece of entrecôte, sliced it, let it come to room temperature, poured an oven tray full of potato wedges, chopped an onion, and let it reduce with estragon and vinegar, dunked 2 yolks in that, and poured, whiskingly, an ungodly amount of melted butter on top. Then fried the sliced cow in butter and olive oil. Served with a Barbera d'Alba.

I'm full. Happily so.

Fuck you. Very cordially, of course. I would mug you for the ribeye, if I were close enuf... but the rest is just torture.   

Revenge for the rest of you making me hungry:   

Ox-Cheek braised in red wine with pancetta, herbs and a mirepoix. Roast potatoes, roast parsnip.   Steamed broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, carrot and mangetout.   Garlic butter mushrooms.

A very cordial fuck you to you as well.     And a bit jealous of the carb count there.

I gave in and had a serving of the frizzled honey ham, burning my last 4 grams for the day rather than saving them for a couple dabs of Boursin.

Ehh, I was hungry.

Rest of the honey ham got baggied up and in the freezer before it spoils. I thought I'd have help, but as yummy as these bits o' pig are, I can only have 100-150 grams a day, so have to take measures.

mnem

[Wolfgang]

Cerebrus's meal would make me hungry had I not seen his post just after finishing dinner, sadly nothing anywhere near as yummy. Where do you all find time to cook stuff like that ? Are you all retired or what ? Or is it just a week-end special and the rest of the week it's pizza ?

Anyway. An ad just popped up here that made me sick. Something I had not yet seen. People exploiting the "vintage" fashion have now gone oen more step farther, one step too far. Selling crusty untested dead Tek scope as a decoration, for 10 times the price of a mint fully restored one was not greedy enough.

Mutilating a nice piece of gear by adding retro looking big incandescent light bulbs to it to turn it into a lamp.. was not enough either.

We have entered a new era of greed and waste. Makes me sick, I lack words... I just would like to murder the seller but I guess I can't ?!   

Look at that :

https://www.leboncoin.fr/collection/2063642625.htm

Guy is not just selling a rare, particularly interesting glowing Tek... a sampling scope Type 661..no.

He is selling not the scope, but just THE FACE PLATE !!!

He wants 50 Euros just for the face plate !

What the fuck happened to the rest of the scope ?! What the fuck did he do with it ?! I AM SCARED TO THINK ABOUT IT !!!! 
Sold the tubes and then instead of scrapping the corpse he thought hey let's try to make some money with the face plate to extract even more money from this scope ?! 

And how the fuck did he manage to make all the knobs stay in place ?! Did he just glue them on the face plate or something ?! 

Humanity is lost, I am telling you.... human race needs to be wiped off of the face of the earth, we are not worthy for sure.... 

Yeah, always a shame when TE is sold in parts.

Might help someone to fix another one though.

I have an idea how he got the panel off including all the knobs and switches. He submerged the scope in water, froze it to a brick and cut the back off with a bandsaw. If that is not halloween, I am asking myself what is.  Shocking !!

[Specmaster]

I really don't understand why people don't clean their stuff a little before trying to sell them.

You'd think so wouldn't you? The thing is, I suspect, that some people have what many of us might regard as low standards of cleanliness and think that the rest of the world don't care too. To whit, one member on here posted this photo at the top of a thread he started:



That, to my mind, is gross. Moreover, even if I was prepared to use it in that condition (I wouldn't be) I'd clean it before showing the world what I was like by posting a photo of it. Not to mention who the hell would probe high voltage with that much muck making a tracking path straight from the tip to their fingers?

I don't mind tools of any kind looking like they are put to use, that they've seen some action, but I also think that if you can't take care of your tools what goddam mess are you going to make of anything you work on with them?

Yuck, if that meter was mine and on my bench looking like that I'd hang my head in shame, but you're right, I see many meters in similar state, and it only takes a few minutes to keep them nice clean.

[tautech]

Not sure if I'll be on Discord later today.

Ya missed catching up with BD.
He doing good it seems, just busy.

[cyclin_al]

[/i][/color] we did for much too little money as a youth!!!

mnem
And yet, having learnt those lessons by the skin of our teeth and by example of those who did not live to tell the tale... we still went ahead and had children.

Not all of us. SWMBO and I decided on a dog. We can always borrow  child for a wile if we need confirmation we were right.

We tried both.  Kid has been mostly well-behaved all week.  The dog Hell-hound has been a PITA.

Earlier this week, the dog went through the chain-link fence.
(Note: need to redo the photo.  Glare obscures the gaping hole.)


EDIT:  Chain-link is 9 AWG vinyl coated steel.  Currently waiting for quotes for 120 feet of 6 AWG chain-link.  That is going to blow the TEA budget for a long time...

I was looking at a 850g piece of entrecôte (snip)

I was looking at a full BBQ chicken sitting on the back burner of the stove.  Looked away to answer the kid on something.  Looked back and there was no more chicken.
Chicken was taken away from the dog with great difficulty (no reward for bad behaviour).
Had leftover spaghetti for supper...

[TERRA Operative]

My Fluke meters looked as dirty as that one above after just one job on-site when I was an electrician.
Ain't nobody got time to spit polish a work tool 5 times a day, just like no-one details their car after every drive.
Clients aren't gonna pay me to sit there and wash and wax my test gear...

I cleaned my gear at the end of the week, but workshops be dusty and sites be dirty so mucky meters are inevitable.

[GreyWoolfe]

Revenge for the rest of you making me hungry:



Ox-Cheek braised in red wine with pancetta, herbs and a mirepoix.
Roast potatoes, roast parsnip.
Steamed broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, carrot and mangetout.
Garlic butter mushrooms.

Different strokes for different folks.  We don't do red meat here any more once Mrs. GreyWoolfe found out it is a inflammation trigger for her psoriatic arthritis.  Since she is visiting the youngest daughter, I am left to my own devices.  Yellow lentils, green onion, Portobello mushrooms and spinach, sautéed in olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder and sweet basil and greek oregano from our container garden.  It is topped with roasted pepper and asiago chicken sausage.  It's fair dinkum for sure.

[vk6zgo]

[/i][/color] we did for much too little money as a youth!!!

mnem
And yet, having learnt those lessons by the skin of our teeth and by example of those who did not live to tell the tale... we still went ahead and had children.

Not all of us. SWMBO and I decided on a dog. We can always borrow  child for a wile if we need confirmation we were right.

But kids don't woof incessantly----only intermittently!

[vk6zgo]

Revenge for the rest of you making me hungry:



Ox-Cheek braised in red wine with pancetta, herbs and a mirepoix.
Roast potatoes, roast parsnip.
Steamed broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, carrot and mangetout.
Garlic butter mushrooms.

Bugger you, Cerebus---now I'm drooling!

[beanflying]

[/i][/color] we did for much too little money as a youth!!!

mnem
And yet, having learnt those lessons by the skin of our teeth and by example of those who did not live to tell the tale... we still went ahead and had children.

Not all of us. SWMBO and I decided on a dog. We can always borrow  child for a wile if we need confirmation we were right.

But kids don't woof incessantly----only intermittently!

There is a solution no kids and get a Whippet  They sleep 20 hours a day, hardly bark if at all, kill Rabbits and need two feeds a day. Kids on the other hand are fun when someone else owns them and can resume control (attempted) when they have outstayed their welcome 

[GreyWoolfe]

Since this has been a challenging year health wise and will continue to be so well into next year, I think it's time for some changes.  In an effort to make things easier for Mrs. GreyWoolfe down the road, I have made a decision to thin my workbench out a bit, a la BD.  I wanted to list my items here first for 2 reasons.  First, is to see if I am in the ballpark on prices and, second, to give you reprobates first chance.  I did check sold items on the Bay of Evil first.   

EDIT:  following suggestion, I am listing things vertically.

Tektronix 2465 with cover $300 plus shipping, could use a recap.  Traces are sharp, text is a bit blurry
HP 3466a meter-2-$60 each plus shipping.  Both have been modded with Pomona safety jacks and internal fuse holder
HP3478A meter $100 shipped.  Uncalibrated but I did replace the battery and rifas.
Leader LG 1301 function generator.  $100 shipped.  Did see one on the Bay for that price, parts only, this one works.

Kenwood TS-940SAT project radio $175 plus shipping.  Easing out of ham radio and can use the money.  No receive audio, not sure about transmit audio but it does transmit.  Also has the PIEXX board for rig control.  Heavy so shipping will be a bear.  If in central Florida, you can pick up or we can meet a reasonable distance and save shipping charges.

I will leave this here for a few days before posting in the buy/sell/wanted.  Trying to generate coin of the realm to finish a project my son and I are working on.
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