Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[bd139]

Fucks sake. Doesn't anyone know how to pack stuff properly?

Also on power up, HT arcing!

Refund-o-clock.

[Specmaster]

OMG, not your 2235 scope?? I thought that they showed it working in the photos, might have been old photos though I suppose?

If you can get a full refund, it could still turn out OK with your skill set, you'd have it up and running and purring a pussycat in next to no time 

[bd139]

Yes it's the 2225. Shown as working and not damaged in photos.

Depends what is broken really. Sounds like HT arcing. very much depends on where that is. Might be a cap gone, might be something worse. Common problem on these is the intensity control. There's calibration seals on it so I'm not going to crack it open until I've secured some kind of deal from the seller for either return or refund.

I'd probably take it on as a repair risk if they offer a decent refund. If it's a return, they can take it away. Shrug 

[Specmaster]

Thats quite solid looking plastic on that foot as well so its received a hell of a whack in transit. Did the seller wrap it in bubble wrap or what?

[bd139]

Yeah plenty of bubble wrap. Problem was the box was too large or the wrap was stingy so it was bouncing around inside the box.

Edit: uploading video of arcing ...

[bd139]

Here we go....

[bd139]

Good news. Firstly the cal seals were all broken so I cracked it open.

Secondly the HT is fixed. There was a massive clog of shit on top of the wire going from the HT transformer to the multiplier. We have stable, silent operation now!

Now all I need is some compensation for the shitty packaging.

[Specmaster]

Thats good news, could you hear the arcing then because there no sound on the video other than traffic noise 

Thats the tradition, "Don't switch it on, take it apart" 

[bd139]

Turn the volume up

I live in London on a main road so traffic noise I don't even hear now. I also live under the approach for Heathrow

It's not making any noises now. In fact it's slightly refreshing compared to my other Teks and the Rigol.

Edit: also the HT bit me. One of the caps had some volts left in it. Didn't hurt as much as I thought it would

[Specmaster]

Volume was up, when you moved the chair or something, I jumped out of my skin 

You know the rules, leave it to sit for a while so the charge dissipates and then discharge the caps via a resistor and then short the buggers out if you can with a lead and croc clips to stop the bugger recuperating a charge again, I think your getting a bit complacent in your old age 

[bd139]

Hahaha. Funny but true

I actually thought I'd done that but clearly missed one.

[tggzzz]

Fucks sake. Doesn't anyone know how to pack stuff properly?

Often not; it isn't on the school curriculum

I did get a Mac M0001AP sent from Edinburgh. I chatted with the vendor, beat him down in price, said how I would like it packed (multiple layers bubble wrap, box, foam polystyrene, box). He complied, it arrived safely.

He said the packing materials had cost more than expected and requested (not demanded) I pay the extra. I did => two satisfied people.

[bd139]

This was certainly not for lack of packaging, just bad packing and a shitty courier (Tuffnells):

[Specmaster]

Ive always found Tuffnells to be good

[bd139]

Our local depot is populated by dumbasses unfortunately. I think the culprit here was it wasn't packed tight and the box was single-walled.

I've recovered all the broken plastic bits from the packaging now and I reckon I can reconstruct the foot first with solvent plastic weld and then fill with epoxy and it'll look pretty much new. 

I'll still push for some cash back as it wasn't as described. Don't want to return it.

[HalFET]

When a 500W power supply is found looking at that thing 

Heheh, power supply I'm not worried about since it can only draw the maximum the PCI bus supports. And whatever it draws will pale in comparison to the graphics card really. I'm more worried about the length of the thing, was going to quickly try it in my desktop at work here, but turns out the card is longer than my computer 

Sad to see the damage on that old beast though! They often forget things like removing the rackmount brackets as well, rotary encoders should be taped down so they don't get damaged, stiff cardboard padding in front of any display, double boxing, etc. Like I was massively scared when I saw the packaging on my R&S SMH, it was just with some foam padding and relatively loose. Luckily Rohde builds them like not-so-miniaturized tanks.

[bd139]

Doh! When I bought my last desktop PC I actually decided to buy a workstation grade thing because I had the same trouble with an enterprise SSD I was supposed to be testing. It was about 5cm too long! Went for an HP Z620 which is a little large but workable: https://imgur.com/a/uRH5c

Just agreed a £20 refund for damaged foot and HT problems. I'm happy with that. Means total expenditure on this is £29 which isn't a lot for a decent 50MHz analogue scope.

Rack lugs are evil! We're forever getting damaged things with them just from moving servers around.

[Specmaster]

Great, sometimes a little damage can be a blessing in disguise by releasing more capital for the greater enhancement of TEA 

[Cerebus]

You know the rules, leave it to sit for a while so the charge dissipates and then discharge the caps via a resistor and then short the buggers out if you can with a lead and croc clips to stop the bugger recuperating a charge again, I think your getting a bit complacent in your old age 

There's an acronym for that. In case anyone doesn't know it:

• Switch  - off. (Doh!)
• Isolate. - Pull the plug out of the wall.
• Dump  - any charged component's charge.
• Earth   - any charged component to prevent dielectric absorbance re-charging it.

[bd139]

Good advice.

Also remember to discharge them all!

[bd139]

Foot epoxied and set. Looks like crap now but will be perfect in a few days.

Next is to grind out the ridges with the Dremel, then knock up some ABS cement and fill, sand and polish.

If you haven never done it before it's good fun making ABS cement. Get some acetone and some ABS the same colour (mine came from a printer tray), dissolve the ABS in the acetone (takes a couple of days). When it goes all gooey, use the goop and a cocktail stick to seal up the ridges. Leave it for another day then sand with wet-n-dry, then dremel polishing wheel. Looks like nothing has happened to the plastic ever

[Cerebus]

By the way. I learned that SIDE acronym, not as might be expected from a teacher or lecturer but from the "Trade Test Transmissions" that were transmitted on BBC2 as they got ready for colour television. That was when I was at home having lunch during junior school (That's ages 8-11 for any non-Brits).

Just goes to show how effective a teaching aide that a good memorable acronym can be; if you can get it into the head of a young schoolboy years before it could be of any practical use for him then you can teach it to anyone. The self-same test transmissions also meant that I went into later life ready trained to manually degauss and align a colour television set

[Cerebus]

If you haven never done it before it's good fun making ABS cement. Get some acetone and some ABS the same colour (mine came from a printer tray), dissolve the ABS in the acetone (takes a couple of days). When it goes all gooey, use the goop and a cocktail stick to seal up the ridges. Leave it for another day then sand with wet-n-dry, then dremel polishing wheel. Looks like nothing has happened to the plastic ever

If you want something a bit closer to a classic filler in texture, add a bit of (unscented) talcum powder to it. For something much stronger add a bit of finely chopped fibreglass to it (just repeated trim 1mm at a time off some fibreglass matting with scissors - wearing gloves and a mask). Either may change the colour a little, so experimentation may be necessary to get a good match.

[Zucca]

If you haven never done it before it's good fun making ABS cement. Get some acetone and some ABS the same colour (mine came from a printer tray), dissolve the ABS in the acetone (takes a couple of days). When it goes all gooey, use the goop and a cocktail stick to seal up the ridges. Leave it for another day then sand with wet-n-dry, then dremel polishing wheel. Looks like nothing has happened to the plastic ever

Guess what, TopLoser got me another time

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/buysellwanted/fs-(uk)-weller-fune-extractor-zero-smog-2-(damaged)/

I don't remember the name, there was a chemical  which has a small little brush to apply on cracked ABS. It will melt the two edge and the crack disappears. Didn't know about this ABS cement will try it on this fume extractor may be.

[bd139]

Good tip with the talcum powder.

You can buy ABS cement at the car parts shops. Works just as well. I'm a cheap arse though. Also I saw someone spill a whole can of that once. Was impossible to clean up!

Really liking this 2225, more than the Rigol, even though the bandwidth is half as much and it's analogue. x50 zoom is pretty cool. It is quite a good equivalent for delay sweep, at least for repetitive signals/glitch capture.

Feels like a more expensive scope!