Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[BiffoBear]

Nah, you just haven't found the right one, yet. Very nice and tidy rack of goodness!

Biffo, welcome to our madness. Based upon what I see you will fit right in.  Some details of what you got there? 

Yes, our TEA stuff is definitely not chick magnet material. All it does is confuse them.  But what DOES impress the ladies is when you use our equipment and fix something for them. 

Thanks for the welcome....I've been registered for a while but that was my first post...I guess I felt a kindred spirit when I read some of the posts in this thread.

Rack contents from top to bottom.....

1. Racal Dana 6000 6.5 digit DMM
2. Solartron 7055 5.5 digit DMM
3. Exact 628 20MHz Pulse Function Generator
4. Fluke 720A Kelvin Varley Voltage Divider
5. Fluke 721A Lead Compensator
6. HP 8903B Audio Analyser (now sold)
7 & 8. Marconi Instruments 2305 Modulation Meter
9. Adret 740A Signal Generator (100kHz - 560MHz)
10. HP 8901A Modulation Analyser
11. HP 8642B Signal Generator (100kHz - 2.1GHz)

Gear I've acquired over the years, I put it in the rack just for storage....and I think it looks good
Loads more stuff in other rooms....I really should have a clear out, just can't seem to bring myself to do it.

[Specmaster]

Nah, you just haven't found the right one, yet. Very nice and tidy rack of goodness!

Biffo, welcome to our madness. Based upon what I see you will fit right in.  Some details of what you got there? 

Yes, our TEA stuff is definitely not chick magnet material. All it does is confuse them.  But what DOES impress the ladies is when you use our equipment and fix something for them. 

Thanks for the welcome....I've been registered for a while but that was my first post...I guess I felt a kindred spirit when I read some of the posts in this thread.

Rack contents from top to bottom.....

1. Racal Dana 6000 6.5 digit DMM
2. Solartron 7055 5.5 digit DMM
3. Exact 628 20MHz Pulse Function Generator
4. Fluke 720A Kelvin Varley Voltage Divider
5. Fluke 721A Lead Compensator
6. HP 8903B Audio Analyser (now sold)
7 & 8. Marconi Instruments 2305 Modulation Meter
9. Adret 740A Signal Generator (100kHz - 560MHz)
10. HP 8901A Modulation Analyser
11. HP 8642B Signal Generator (100kHz - 2.1GHz)

Gear I've acquired over the years, I put it in the rack just for storage....and I think it looks good
Loads more stuff in other rooms....I really should have a clear out, just can't seem to bring myself to do it.

Yep, welcome to the group and as to that clear out thingy, we can all understand that, as we all get to that point eventually 

[xrunner]

This is in my hallway at home.....

Wow nice what's in the bathroom?   

Probably why I'm still single!

Yep same here. When people come over and walk in my living room I say "Warning: Do not attempt if married" 

[Wolfgang]

This is in my hallway at home.....




Probably why I'm still single!

Cant understand. Any woman of class should be strongly attracted to men with such a distinguished taste.
I mean, this thing looks a lot more impressive like mediocre regular furniture 

Live a life less ordinary !!!

[mnementh]

So TEA experts. Consdiering buying a "powers up but munted" bit of kit.

So what do you think the probability that N connector and attenuators behind it is fucked is? Not worried about the BNCs really - can probably fix that.



Am I insane for even looking at this?

I've bought munted kit from the seller before and has been fine after some hammer thwacking on the chassis. But this is a bit more sensitive

I'm looking at that on my phone ATM, so not best view of the damage. But from here, those look like deliberate 🔨 hammer blows.

So I guess my first question would have to be... What could this thing have done to piss somebody off so bad they felt a need to beat it to death with a hammer? 

mnem
*sent by threatening my phone with  a 25mm wrench*

[Wolfgang]

IMHO, I would stay away from an instrument that somebody tried to Widlarize.
A lot of internal parts could also be broken off due to the acceleration imposed.

[tggzzz]

But what DOES impress the ladies is when you use our equipment and fix something for them. 

My sister-in-law's car once went completely dead in the drive, despite having moved a couple of minutes earlier.

I reached in my toolbox, got out a big hammer, put on a slightly manic smile, and asked her to open the bonnet.

After savouring the worried look and somewhat tense questions, I peered around for 60 seconds, and then delivered a single blow[1] with the hammer. Instant success, followed by my savouring the expressions indicating I am a wizard.

A classic example of "£100: £1 for the hammer blow plus £99 for knowing where to hit it"

[1] to the starter motor

Yep, the BFH (Big Fucking Hammer) is a fix all and must have in the toolbox.

Even the PTB (German equivalent of NPL or NIST) had one on their stand at the recent Hannover Maker Faire:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/metrology/ptb-at-the-maker-faire-in-hannover/msg1874483/#msg1874483

[bd139]

IMHO, I would stay away from an instrument that somebody tried to Widlarize.
A lot of internal parts could also be broken off due to the acceleration imposed.

Noted. Running a mile. Unless they accept my £20 offer lol 

[Wolfgang]

Well, any offer below the spare parts value is fine, I suppose 

[shakalnokturn]

Metrix MX52 tear down session begins, The first thing you notice about this meter apart from its slightly odd looks is that there are no screws holding it together, how then do you gain access to the insides. Trawling the web for a manual reveals what the French jokingly call a user manual, 8 pages of general information about the meter and a cryptic picture that sort of shows you how to without actually stating it, there was a reference on the opening pages that the kickstand was a patented tool. You have to pull the input guard up and off, remove the kickstand and insert the tips in the side of the meter as indicated by the red arrow in my photo and pry the cover upwards and outwards to release 3 clips on each side.

This reveals the batter and fuse compartment, sealed against liquid ingress (IP66) and there are 2 ceramic fuses 10A and 630ma. Use the kickstand in the same fashion to remove the rear casing of the meter and this reveals a very beefy seal for the back so the IP66 rating is very believable. The input jacks are solid tubes and are connected to the pcb by way of 4 nuts and washers, very impressed and similar to the Fluke 25/27 series (albeit they used screws). Removing the nuts and washers and 2 self tappers halfway along the pcb, accessible via holes in the shielding and the pcb assembly is then only held in place by the battery and the fuses. Removing these allowed the assembly to be gently teased out of the case.

I have to say the case itself is made out of pretty thick plastic and is pretty rigid and impressive in its construction, the soft membrane buttons are released in a similar fashion as the fuses to maintain the IP66 rating.

Taking the photos during the process also revealed that this particular meter has had a hard life and the plastic has suffered some cracking, not visible normally so this deterred me from attempting to take apart the pcb layers of the meter any further as it was working OK and I didn't want to break it just for the sake of of some pron shots  although I did want to but I rather like this meter and its charm so I didn't go further with it.

I had already tested it and blow me down with a feather it still seems to be in calibration when connected up to my voltage, current and resistance references.

With the leads that would have been supplied with it when new, the leads are securely locked in to the input jacks and the there is a small locking mechanism that needed to be pressed at the time of unplugging each lead to release the lock. Given that the leads were shrouded, I'm not too sure what added safety this feature afforded although it is attention to detail.

It has Max hold function, Logic function, frequency, 5 steps of data logging and a nice centre zero function on the barograph so it is also very useful of working on FM radios etc.

A few comments, and a little porn for your pleasure.

The MX52 is a decent meter, lower grade models with the same look are the MX20, MX50, MX51, none of which are true RMS. They are all hardware calibrated.
They often suffer from bad zebra strip contacts to the LCD.

The serious models are the MX53, MX54, MX55, MX56 with optical serial link, 50k counts, true RMS and software calibration.

The older MX40, MX43, MX45 are well built meters too, cut down to just about the minimum you can expect from a DMM, there is also the true RMS MX47 model but that is just about unobtainium.

I have mucky bits of service manual, too big to upload here...

[Cerebus]

That's an impressively blatant bodge:

[shakalnokturn]

French engineering at it's finest !

[med6753]

French engineering at it's finest !

I take it French engineering doesn't include cleaning the flux off the board?  Wow, does that look terrible. 

[bd139]

The flux cleaners were on strike! 

[Mr. Scram]

That's an impressively blatant bodge:

Figures, hiding that you're using Maxim parts.

[Wolfgang]

... I dont know what this kludge does, but to me it looks that the theory of stable control loops has been introduced to this project at a rather late stage, am I right ? 

[Mr. Scram]

... I dont know what this kludge does, but to me it looks that the theory of stable control loops has been introduced to this project at a rather late stage, am I right ? 

I like how your personal text says "if it finally works" rather than "when it finally works". Keeping the Electrogods and Murphy happy is a prudent move.

[nixiefreqq]

always wanted a digital scope that did a half decent job in xy mode.  a thing of beauty and a joy forever.

had to drive an hour and 45 minutes up the river today to snag this gem.  (the susquehanna...a very scenic drive)

[Wolfgang]

... I dont know what this kludge does, but to me it looks that the theory of stable control loops has been introduced to this project at a rather late stage, am I right ? 

I like how your personal text says "if it finally works" rather than "when it finally works". Keeping the Electrogods and Murphy happy is a prudent move.

... I am an old Viennese guy having learned to be a bit cautious by decades in the software industry. Murphy rules surpreme there. The situation is hopeless, but not serious, normally.

[xrunner]

always wanted a digital scope that did a half decent job in xy mode.  a thing of beauty and a joy forever.

had to drive an hour and 45 minutes up the river today to snag this gem.  (the susquehanna...a very scenic drive)

Cool glad you got one. I have an hp 54501A that I restored a few years ago but I don't have one from that series, need to look on Ebay myself. 

[nixiefreqq]

always wanted a digital scope that did a half decent job in xy mode.  a thing of beauty and a joy forever.

had to drive an hour and 45 minutes up the river today to snag this gem.  (the susquehanna...a very scenic drive)

Cool glad you got one. I have an hp 54501A that I restored a few years ago but I don't have one from that series, need to look on Ebay myself. 

thanks...….really like my 54502 and 54504,  but they are useless in xy mode.  have already ordered the bits needed to change out the damn dallas chip in this new one.  got it from craigslist.....Harrisburg pa.....the guy has a couple more.

[Cerebus]

always wanted a digital scope that did a half decent job in xy mode.  a thing of beauty and a joy forever.

had to drive an hour and 45 minutes up the river today to snag this gem.  (the susquehanna...a very scenic drive)

I've had my eyes on an HP 546xx for some time. I've twice narrowly missed getting one at a price I'm happy to pay.

Out of sheer curiosity, what part are you curve tracing there?

[mnementh]

I just noticed... I'm one post away from 1500. Most of them annoying folks in here.  This should be some sort of milestone, I suppose...     

Congratuations!

I think I'll celebrate with a "new" HP 3478A!
   Curse you, Specmaster!!! 

Ah, so you grabbed the other cheap one. Cool!  Yeah, it's all Specmaster's fault this time. He got both of us.

Cool, two with the same bullet, thats being really economical 

You're going to be unbearably pleased with yourself for at least a week, I just know it.   

This is like the inverse function of ... you've infected someone ELSE with it.  Actually, TWO someone elses...

So TEA experts. Consdiering buying a "powers up but munted" bit of kit.

   I think we have a neologism: Powers Up But Munted - pubmunted. I was pubmunted the other night, I even had a squint like those BNCs:

"pubmunted" being, obviously, the end result of a successful pub crawl... 

Yeah, and once they realize you can fix stuff, that's when you get your first "honey do" list. It just grows from there.

"If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy."

mnem
Maxim 28: If the price of collateral damage is high enough, you might be able to get paid for bringing ammunition home with you.

[nixiefreqq]

always wanted a digital scope that did a half decent job in xy mode.  a thing of beauty and a joy forever.

had to drive an hour and 45 minutes up the river today to snag this gem.  (the susquehanna...a very scenic drive)

I've had my eyes on an HP 546xx for some time. I've twice narrowly missed getting one at a price I'm happy to pay.

Out of sheer curiosity, what part are you curve tracing there?

one of these......2n657.   a couple of years ago my old man gave me a shoebox of transistors he had been hoarding since the 60's. (he is 93 and finally decided he might not use them).

[Specmaster]

You're going to be unbearably pleased with yourself for at least a week, I just know it.    This is like the inverse function of ... you've infected someone ELSE with it.  Actually, TWO someone elses...

mnem
Maxim 28: If the price of collateral damage is high enough, you might be able to get paid for bringing ammunition home with you.

Its all part of the function of TEA members to assist each other in the acquisition of new test gear, its the unwritten rule of membership so you see I was just carrying out my sworn commitment to the group by assisting you both in getting that extra digit resolution in the low ohms range so you can get it out of your system now.

Judging by what you paid for yours and I doubt bitseeker was far that either than very soon one or both of you can have the honour of wearing this badge as it certainly trumps my steal on the 3478A