Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[GreyWoolfe]

AA leak bastard included for scale:

Hmm, that's not a typical cinema movie projector lamp. The source size is too big. Movie projectors use a small spot source, carbon arc or high pressure discharge. The lamp you have may be from a still image projector or theatrical lamp.
Cool though.

Back in the dim and distant past (70's), the Leico and Fresnel spot lights we used in college theater were bi-post.  We had a 1000W blow during a show, sounded like a gun shot and there were sparkles falling from the light--the glass and metal innards were all over the floor.  The really scary bulbs were the 3000W in the small follow spots.  They were a foot tall and had lead balls in them that you would turn the bulb upside down and swirl the balls around to remove the carbon buildup on the glass.  The bigger super trouper spots had carbon arc.  We had rented one that didn't track properly and would have to keep opening the side plate just enough to get a pair of pliers inside to tweak the rod posts to keep the light bright.  Those Bastards had a dark green glass insert like a welding helmet because directly looking at the arc would blind you according to the rental place.  Fun times.

"The T/15 is much more harmless. But the "hold by base only" rule still applies. Finger grease is bad. I still am a bit reluctant to touch ordinary valves, having been brought up in stage lighting and being used to those rules."

We had fluffy hand towels to handle the small 500W and 1000W bulbs and always gave them a good wipe down when replacing.  When we had the larger lights and follow spots, the rental place would include a spare bulb/rods and cotton gloves to keep any finger grease off.  Over 40 years later and I still don't handle serious bulbs such as halogens bare handed, I at least wear nitrile gloves.

[beanflying]

Fairly rough head but a bit of history. eBay auction: #254570010219

[mnementh]

@bean - Juicy!!!




Currently printing this to go under my 54645A; idea is to make the space occupied by my new UTG962E Arb a little more user-friendly. Well, printing the first half of it. Even at 0.28 LH and 20% infill, that half is still 11 hours worth.

mnem
*toddling off to ded*

[mansaxel]

Fairly rough head but a bit of history. eBay auction: #254570010219

It's very cute, and if shipping was sensible I might. But not at those prices.

Edit: The children have had their computers upgraded to 16GiB (kilo-kilo-kilo-octets) as a Christmas Eve morning gift and "HP" (ie. Compaq) take forever to download manuals. Not surprising 2x4 kilokilokilooctets and 1x8 kilokilokilooctets can only coexist in one way, and I chose the wrong way first. The machine reacted in a most clear and descriptive way by not enabling any video output, not beeping, but instead ran the system planar fan on max. Obviously the most clear way to say "Oi! Memory's inserted worngly, you git".

But, I digress. The manual, translated by someone who has seen a computer before, does say, in a circumspect way, what to do, so now bank 0 got the "tubafore" and bank 1 got the old 8 kilokilokilooctets one. All is well, tank battles are being played again.

[bd139]

That always makes my head hurt. Did the same with my daughter’s new PC. No boot panic is the worst. What I found bloody annoying is I plugged the thing into my 4K display and it spewed green lines over everything. Small panic over this obviously. Turned out to be a combination of BIOS upgrade required and finding a slightly less shit HDMI cable 

I like my Mac. Turned it on and it worked. I’m getting old 

[mansaxel]

A fixer-upper, certainly, but we all need a DC clamp meter, don't we?

eBay auction: #312843162068

[med6753]

Ebay is beginning to look like a year end dumpster sale. 

[factory]

A fixer-upper, certainly, but we all need a DC clamp meter, don't we?

eBay auction: #312843162068

Anyone considering that HP 428B should make sure that the probe is the correct one before bidding, as there are identical looking HP oscilloscope current probes that terminate with a BNC.

David

[factory]

Fairly rough head but a bit of history. eBay auction: #254570010219

It's very cute, and if shipping was sensible I might. But not at those prices.

Bit odd that one in much nicer condition (no rust) that is only $10 more hasn't sold (has make offer), only ships to Canada or US though.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/252427857938



Anyone considering anything from that range of PSU's should make sure the seller can pack it properly, scAmazon style will end up with a trashed front panel.

Another slightly higher powered one (6200A) with current limit controls (make offer too), US only with the extra pricey international shipping.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/352688881484



David

[factory]

Another US listing, pair of Keithley DMM's for parts repair, one has knackered display;
https://www.ebay.com/itm/383877158042


And in Germany, some heavyweight RF voodoo plumbing from Hernia Producer;
https://www.ebay.de/itm/203224667146


And in the UK, in the wrong category for a compact HP triple output PSU (has make offer);
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/383850904512


David

[bd139]

Urf someone please buy that cute little HP so I don’t 

[mnementh]

   Currently printing this to go under my 54645A; idea is to make the space occupied by my new UTG962E Arb a little more user-friendly. Well, printing the first half of it. Even at 0.28 LH and 20% infill, that half is still 11 hours worth.

mnem
*toddling off to ded*

      

Left side finished. Looking good, fits the 54645A like it was made for it. Which it was. Now printing right side.

mnem
*wanders off in search of caffeine*

[Specmaster]

Urf someone please buy that cute little HP so I don’t 

No No, you're off HP now remember after your last issues with them........

[bd139]

Urf someone please buy that cute little HP so I don’t 

No No, you're off HP now remember after your last issues with them........

Yeah talked myself out of it now 

[mnementh]

And in Germany, some heavyweight RF voodoo plumbing from Hernia Producer;
https://www.ebay.de/itm/203224667146


David

   

Ooooh... you gotta love equipment rated in ergs and GHz... and is that a Starrett micrometer movement repurposed as a variable air gap? What exactly is the purpose of a "Adjustable Short" in this scenario...?

mnem
 

[mnementh]

Urf someone please buy that cute little HP so I don’t 

No No, you're off HP now remember after your last issues with them........

Yeah talked myself out of it now 

   https://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-Agilent-54645A-100MHz-Oscilloscope/143819152692

_{Oh, bd... AllTest still has some [hp] goodness for you...}   


Actually, looking closer... it appears we can scratch AllTest off our "trusted vendors" list. This is the first time I've seen a listing from them with "5 of a kind" and only a single photo.

More disturbing; the last time I checked, they had exactly five 54645A units that light up with display in "as-is" condition, including 2 with the BNCs all smashed up. This listing makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up; the cynic in me says these are those exact same units...

med, I owe you a beer. 

mnem
All good things...

[med6753]

Urf someone please buy that cute little HP so I don’t 

No No, you're off HP now remember after your last issues with them........

Yeah talked myself out of it now 

   https://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-Agilent-54645A-100MHz-Oscilloscope/143819152692

_{Oh, bd... AllTest still has some [hp] goodness for you...}   


Actually, looking closer... it appears we can scratch AllTest off our "trusted vendors" list. This is the first time I've seen a listing from them with "5 of a kind" and only a single photo.

More disturbing; the last time I checked, they had exactly five 54645A units that light up with display in "as-is" condition, including 2 with the BNCs all smashed up. This listing makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up; the cynic in me says these are those exact same units...

med, I owe you a beer. 

mnem
All good things...

I won't gloat, I promise. 


Just a little, I told you.

[bd139]

£98 post to UK. Nope 

[factory]

The Racal 9839 UHF frequency meter/counter arrived earlier, packaging very poor as usual, thankfully no further damage other than what it already has. The 9839 has a pre-scaler for up to 560MHz & eight number readout bulbs in quite a compact size case and no fan. 


It appears a previous owner has done quite a bit of work before giving up (possibly why an IC is missing).



I like how they thoughtfully sleeved the fuse holder & mains socket, but then fitted a filter board with exposed connections above these, the transformer connections are right above the +5V adjustment pot too. 


I've no idea why the track from the +200V fuseholder has been cut (dotted green line) and a link added between R60 & the electrolytic capacitor.  The 60mA fuse for the +200V rail is OK.


The display only has a few digits working, I should be able to work through the faulty sections using the 9835/7 manual as the display boards are similar (no manuals exist for the 9839), some IC's have been replaced & a number of tracks repaired by a previous owner, I can see at least one broken track that got missed.


I've already adjusted the +5V rail as it was around +5.2V.

David

[Specmaster]

Urf someone please buy that cute little HP so I don’t 

No No, you're off HP now remember after your last issues with them........

Yeah talked myself out of it now 

   https://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-Agilent-54645A-100MHz-Oscilloscope/143819152692

_{Oh, bd... AllTest still has some [hp] goodness for you...}   


Actually, looking closer... it appears we can scratch AllTest off our "trusted vendors" list. This is the first time I've seen a listing from them with "5 of a kind" and only a single photo.

More disturbing; the last time I checked, they had exactly five 54645A units that light up with display in "as-is" condition, including 2 with the BNCs all smashed up. This listing makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up; the cynic in me says these are those exact same units...

med, I owe you a beer. 

mnem
All good things...

Mmm, makes you stop and think twice now, especially for us over this side of the pond as the shipping costs more than the scope itself. On the other hand they also state in the description that they tested good so I suppose for the more local to them, they would still be a reasonable bet apart from the single photo being used??

[mnementh]

...Actually, looking closer... it appears we can scratch AllTest off our "trusted vendors" list. This is the first time I've seen a listing from them with "5 of a kind" and only a single photo.

More disturbing; the last time I checked, they had exactly five 54645A units that light up with display in "as-is" condition, including 2 with the BNCs all smashed up. This listing makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up; the cynic in me says these are those exact same units...          med, I owe you a beer. 

mnem
All good things...

I won't gloat, I promise.          Just a little, I told you.

mnem
 

[bd139]

The Racal 9839 UHF frequency meter/counter arrived earlier, packaging very poor as usual, thankfully no further damage other than it already has. The 9839 has a pre-scaler for up to 560MHz & eight number readout bulbs in quite a compact size case and no fan.


It appears a previous owner has done quite a bit of work before giving up (possibly why an IC is missing).



I like how they thoughtfully sleeved the fuse holder & mains socket, but then fitted a filter board with exposed connections above these, the transformer connections are right above the +5V adjustment pot too.


I've no idea why the track from the +200V fuseholder has been cut (dotted green line) and a link added between R60 & the electrolytic capacitor. The 60mA fuse for the +200V rail is OK.


The display only has a few digits working, I should be able to work through the faulty sections using the 9835/7 manual as the display boards are similar (no manuals exist for the 9839), some IC's have been replaced & a number of tracks repaired by a previous owner, I can see at least one broken track that got missed.


I've already adjusted the +5V rail as it was around +5.2V.

David

Nice. Does the standard work? I’ve had two Racals with bust standards. One wouldn’t pull anywhere near 5Mhz and the other one was completely dead (Crystal died)

[mnementh]

...Actually, looking closer... it appears we can scratch AllTest off our "trusted vendors" list. This is the first time I've seen a listing from them with "5 of a kind" and only a single photo.

Mmm, makes you stop and think twice now, especially for us over this side of the pond as the shipping costs more than the scope itself. On the other hand they also state in the description that they tested good so I suppose for the more local to them, they would still be a reasonable bet apart from the single photo being used??

It's possible they hired someone competent to repair and test... but if so, I don't know that I'd believe they're going to sell that repaired, tested unit for $125.

EDIT: Still makes my hackles rise, but I'd probably take a gamble on one with the usual ~$30 shipping in the US.

mnem
 

[med6753]

I would still order from AllTest even though they sometimes use stock photos. Just be aware of it. I have gotten screaming deals from them with no complaints. Their packaging is second to none. And as I see it if you do get a dud you can claim not as described.

In other news.....Lady Cop just left her house in route to Grand Central. She'll call me again when she's on the train.

[factory]

The Racal 9839 UHF frequency meter/counter arrived earlier, packaging very poor as usual, thankfully no further damage other than it already has. The 9839 has a pre-scaler for up to 560MHz & eight number readout bulbs in quite a compact size case and no fan.


It appears a previous owner has done quite a bit of work before giving up (possibly why an IC is missing).


I like how they thoughtfully sleeved the fuse holder & mains socket, but then fitted a filter board with exposed connections above these, the transformer connections are right above the +5V adjustment pot too.


I've no idea why the track from the +200V fuseholder has been cut (dotted green line) and a link added between R60 & the electrolytic capacitor. The 60mA fuse for the +200V rail is OK.


The display only has a few digits working, I should be able to work through the faulty sections using the 9835/7 manual as the display boards are similar (no manuals exist for the 9839), some IC's have been replaced & a number of tracks repaired by a previous owner, I can see at least one broken track that got missed.


I've already adjusted the +5V rail as it was around +5.2V.

David

Nice. Does the standard work? I’ve had two Racals with bust standards. One wouldn’t pull anywhere near 5Mhz and the other one was completely dead (Crystal died)

Yeah that Racal 9025 had a dead crystal, I haven't checked this one other than noting it warmed up, the check mode does give a reading on the three working number readout bulbs was planning to work through the display counting logic, maybe need to check the oven too now, by the way I haven't got anything here that is calibrated.
Also edited my original post as I messed up the picture numbers.

David