Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[GreyWoolfe]

In honor of the TEAnniversary and for my mental health, i bought a HP 3312A (seemingly) almost pristine for $60, fingers crossed please.
I actually need it for once, i only got one working frequency source which caps out at 2 MHZ.

Edit to add:
Bit dirty but so far as i see no permanent mars.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Hewlett-Packard-HP-3312-A-Function-Generator/202186803911?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

I got mine for $35 but I have 3 broken button caps.  Anyone know where you can get them?  My GoogleFu turned up nothing.

[Cubdriver]

Nice.

Geeze - two HP units posted in a row. You guys are killing me here.

My fingers are getting itchy for that Ebay search ... 

Well, get ready to die a little more.   

I have an evilBay search saved for the HP 209A oscillator, for no good reason other than I don't currently have one.  A cheap but somewhat abused specimen showed up last week as a BIN, but in the short time between when I watched it and dug out a catalog to research it and an hour or so later when I decided to give it a home, someone else had already done so.  Oh well. 

But...  ...on the page opposite the 209A listing in the 1973 Book of Crack (more commonly known as the Hewlett-Packard Electronic Instruments and Systems for Measurement/Analysis/Computation Catalog) was the image of a device called an HP 4204A Digital Oscillator.  Hmmm - that looks interesting.  <search>  Sweet - here's one for $50 plus shipping, with the manual.  And its badge!  And all five feet & the tilting bail!!!!  Sold!!  (It arrived today (perfectly timed!); I haven't photographed or plugged it in yet, but it appears to be in decent physical shape.  I'll poke at it shortly.)

But the catalog is still open.  <flips page>  Hmm...  A 3300A function generator.  I was looking at a function generator earlier, but it got bought out from under me, and this one looks more boat anchor-y and has more personality than the other one.  <search>  Oh, look - here's one with a sweep/offset plug in, not too $$, shipping not insane.  Sweet - all five feet and the bail!!  Sold!  (this one has the engraved/paint filled emblem).  It arrived on Saturday, and I resisted opening it till last night around midnight in deference to TEAnniversary.  A cursory going over shows it to be working, but the contacts will need some cleaning and I need to get a scope onto the power rails to see how the caps are.  This one I currently have pictures of:


Front panel overall:



Open chassis, from above:



The output on the scope:



And finally, a rarity in gear of this vintage - it's fully shod!:


There are a few more pics of the 3300A on the SmugMug page (https://pmanning.smugmug.com/Electronics/HP-3300A3304A), but it hasn't yet had a thorough teardown, and will be getting in line behind the long suffering 5340A counter that's beginning to grow roots next to the bench waiting its turn.

Now to get the 4204A on the bench and posed...

-Pat

[Cubdriver]

Sometimes you just need to 

Nixies
Knobs
Null Meter
1000V DC output or Input
Oven controlled reference
Apparently working

and best of all

12 Voyeurs who didn't push the button ahead of me 

HP740B

Sweet!!      Welcome, and congrats on being sucked into the black hole that is HP nixie gear!!  That old beast looks to be in fine fettle!

Now, for your next trick, try to find the connector boxes with their special unobtanium plugs.  At some point I'm going to look in to other connectors - that's probably the easiest course of action to be able to connect to and operate it.

-Pat

[xrunner]

Well, get ready to die a little more.   

I have an evilBay search saved for the HP 209A oscillator, for no good reason other than I don't currently have one.  A cheap but somewhat abused specimen showed up last week as a BIN, but in the short time between when I watched it and dug out a catalog to research it and an hour or so later when I decided to give it a home, someone else had already done so.  Oh well. 

Like this one?

I got it a couple of years ago from a local ham friend that worked for the local electric utility Co. He just gave it to me. It worked OK and just needed a cal touch-up and cosmetic cleaning from the field use. It's part of my prized collection here. 

[Cubdriver]

I got mine for $35 but I have 3 broken button caps.  Anyone know where you can get them?  My GoogleFu turned up nothing.

Unfortunately, I think a parts unit might be the only source.  They were used on a lot of HP gear from that time period, so it should be possible to scare them up somewhere.  I have a few things that are missing some of them, too.  I can't recall ever seeing any as NOS.

-Pat

[Cubdriver]

Well, get ready to die a little more.   

I have an evilBay search saved for the HP 209A oscillator, for no good reason other than I don't currently have one.  A cheap but somewhat abused specimen showed up last week as a BIN, but in the short time between when I watched it and dug out a catalog to research it and an hour or so later when I decided to give it a home, someone else had already done so.  Oh well. 

Like this one?

I got it a couple of years ago from a local ham friend that worked for the local electric utility Co. He just gave it to me. It worked OK and just needed a cal touch-up and cosmetic cleaning from the field use. It's part of my prized collection here. 

Yeah, like that one, only with paint splatters and missing the two rightmost binding posts.  Yours is in MUCH better shape!  It's a cute little box.   

-Pat

[bitseeker]

First bit of Nixie display gear and first HP badged item 

Oh, boy! You're in for it, now. The first of many potential candidates for future purchases.

Speaking of HP and waiting, the 3310A I scored over the weekend hasn't shipped, yet. The weekend + holiday + up to three days lead time of the seller = long wait.

[bitseeker]

Well, get ready to die a little more.   

I have an evilBay search saved for the HP 209A oscillator, for no good reason other than I don't currently have one.  A cheap but somewhat abused specimen showed up last week as a BIN, but in the short time between when I watched it and dug out a catalog to research it and an hour or so later when I decided to give it a home, someone else had already done so.  Oh well. 

Like this one?

I got it a couple of years ago from a local ham friend that worked for the local electric utility Co. He just gave it to me. It worked OK and just needed a cal touch-up and cosmetic cleaning from the field use. It's part of my prized collection here. 

Yeah, like that one, only with paint splatters and missing the two rightmost binding posts.  Yours is in MUCH better shape!  It's a cute little box.   

-Pat

I've been casually looking at that series, too. I feel some imminent TEA collisions coming.

[beanflying]

Sweet!!      Welcome, and congrats on being sucked into the black hole that is HP nixie gear!!  That old beast looks to be in fine fettle!

Now, for your next trick, try to find the connector boxes with their special unobtanium plugs.  At some point I'm going to look in to other connectors - that's probably the easiest course of action to be able to connect to and operate it.

-Pat

I don't like the chances either on the connector front but there is a few people I know that horde HP hulks and junk 'just in case'

[Cubdriver]

And finally, a few shots of the 4204A, which also seems to work though it needs some cleaning as a few settings have no output, and working the switches back and forth sometimes got it back.

The front, feeding a frequency counter.  Not TOO far off:



And the output on the scope (I'd changed the frequency setting to 999.9kHz before taking the scope picture - it's not THAT far off):


-Pat

[xrunner]

And finally, a few shots of the 4204A, which also seems to work though it needs some cleaning as a few settings have no output, and working the switches back and forth sometimes got

Chrysler cal sticker on the 4204A? Interesting.

[Cubdriver]

Sweet!!      Welcome, and congrats on being sucked into the black hole that is HP nixie gear!!  That old beast looks to be in fine fettle!

Now, for your next trick, try to find the connector boxes with their special unobtanium plugs.  At some point I'm going to look in to other connectors - that's probably the easiest course of action to be able to connect to and operate it.

-Pat

I don't like the chances either on the connector front but there is a few people I know that horde HP hulks and junk 'just in case'

I finally found the output connection box a while back after having a search in place for about a year or so.  Still haven't found the input box two years down the road.  My fingers are crossed one of your friends has something.

-Pat

[Cubdriver]

And finally, a few shots of the 4204A, which also seems to work though it needs some cleaning as a few settings have no output, and working the switches back and forth sometimes got

Chrysler cal sticker on the 4204A? Interesting.

Yeah, I noticed that, too.  It says Huntsville Electronics, and the seller was in Alabama.  It's got a 1975 serial number, and there was some plate on the back that appears to have been removed with a cold chisel based on the gouge in the panel.

Interesting - apparently they had a big aerospace electronics division in Huntsville:  https://www.allpar.com/corporate/factories/huntsville.html

I had no clue about that.  Very cool.

-Pat

[neo]

Just for fun let's see if anyone can guess where i am going to stick the HP 3312A 

^{_{(hint it is not going to be on top of the 8400A)}}

[neo]

More pictures,

[beanflying]

I finally found the output connection box a while back after having a search in place for about a year or so.  Still haven't found the input box two years down the road.  My fingers are crossed one of your friends has something.

-Pat

The earlier pre Nixie Version here has a good description of the boxes and what they contain on page 6. Good read anyway  http://www.hpl.hp.com/hpjournal/pdfs/IssuePDFs/1965-05.pdf

The simple thing may be to dump the connectors all together in favour of simple cable glands to Cast Alloy boxes with shielded teflon cable in between?

[Berni]

More pictures,

Having some issues with some of that really deep gear i see, lucky that you don't have your table up against a wall.

I thought that a 45cm deep shelf behind my bench would be enough for everything, but then i got in to some serious TEA and started getting much bigger boatanchors.

[GreyWoolfe]

I got mine for $35 but I have 3 broken button caps.  Anyone know where you can get them?  My GoogleFu turned up nothing.

Unfortunately, I think a parts unit might be the only source.  They were used on a lot of HP gear from that time period, so it should be possible to scare them up somewhere.  I have a few things that are missing some of them, too.  I can't recall ever seeing any as NOS.

-Pat

That's where my squirrelly brain is going also.  What gets me is parts units are more than I paid for my working unit.  I can still press the buttons in.  It comes down to what I am willing to spend for a purely cosmetic issue.

[tggzzz]

I got mine for $35 but I have 3 broken button caps.  Anyone know where you can get them?  My GoogleFu turned up nothing.

Unfortunately, I think a parts unit might be the only source.  They were used on a lot of HP gear from that time period, so it should be possible to scare them up somewhere.  I have a few things that are missing some of them, too.  I can't recall ever seeing any as NOS.

-Pat

That's where my squirrelly brain is going also.  What gets me is parts units are more than I paid for my working unit.  I can still press the buttons in.  It comes down to what I am willing to spend for a purely cosmetic issue.

That's not uncommon. Have a look at the prices for bits out of Tek 24x5 scopes, and do the arithmetic.

[bd139]

There's a guy here in the UK that strips everything to almost dust and shifts it on ebay. It's quite depressing, but alas the parts are mostly worth more than the sum these days on old kit.

If you can afford to keep it around, it's good money.

[Cubdriver]

I finally found the output connection box a while back after having a search in place for about a year or so.  Still haven't found the input box two years down the road.  My fingers are crossed one of your friends has something.

-Pat

The earlier pre Nixie Version here has a good description of the boxes and what they contain on page 6. Good read anyway  http://www.hpl.hp.com/hpjournal/pdfs/IssuePDFs/1965-05.pdf

The simple thing may be to dump the connectors all together in favour of simple cable glands to Cast Alloy boxes with shielded teflon cable in between?

That's along the lines of what I ultimately expect to do.  Or find a similar small circular connector that's currently available and make up replacement boxes.

-Pat

[Cubdriver]

I got mine for $35 but I have 3 broken button caps.  Anyone know where you can get them?  My GoogleFu turned up nothing.

Unfortunately, I think a parts unit might be the only source.  They were used on a lot of HP gear from that time period, so it should be possible to scare them up somewhere.  I have a few things that are missing some of them, too.  I can't recall ever seeing any as NOS.

-Pat

That's where my squirrelly brain is going also.  What gets me is parts units are more than I paid for my working unit.  I can still press the buttons in.  It comes down to what I am willing to spend for a purely cosmetic issue.

The good thing in this case is that they were used in so many different things that it doesn't have to be the same type of instrument, and there may be something really cheap that uses them.  (Or someone parting one out). I'll see if I can find the part number later, if you don't already have it.  That sometimes helps in searches.

Just to be sure we're on the same page, you mean the little square pushbutton tops, right, not the ones in the knob centers?

-Pat

[neo]

More pictures,

Having some issues with some of that really deep gear i see, lucky that you don't have your table up against a wall.

I thought that a 45cm deep shelf behind my bench would be enough for everything, but then i got in to some serious TEA and started getting much bigger boatanchors.

It's only a problem if you lack creativity.

[Specmaster]

Postman came today while I was in the you know where.., when I came out, I found a card on the door mat telling me that I have a parcel to sign for but I'll have to go and collect it tomorrow from the sorting office.

Just a few minutes ago my son put some recycling out and noticed package on the outside the front door and brought it in, low and behold, it had Quicko packing tape all over it which meant one thing, it was the missing items I needed to make up my second T12 soldering station from AliExpress, which had been shown on their tracking page as still being somewhere between China and the UK?

Checked on the tracking site again and it has miraculously jumped from having "departed country of origin"  to being "with local carrier", what happened to "arrived at destination country", "in customs", "cleared customs" and at "Local distribution dept"??

Anyway, everything is now here so I'll get this one made up and compare the different T12 systems side by side, one thing I have noticed is that the case for the 2nd one is 16mm longer so that makes for greater clearance between the PCB and the IEC socket giving me greater options over how I earth it and route the incoming mains supply. 

So now the great mystery is what is in the other parcel, could be my microscope, T-Conn board for the monitor, or something off eBay? 

[URI]

Not delivered to me but today on TEAnniversary at 06:41:42 AM my HP 5006A Signature Analyzer arrived in germany and will hopefully soon be delivered! 

The HP 5006 was delivered to a neighbour of mine today. 

I got it for little money off ebay because the nose of the tip was broken off and because of that the tip fell into parts.
Link to the ebay image:


The tip has one PCB inside that holds together the tip but here the PCB was broken.

I fixed it with SMW (Surface Mounted (Copper) Wire):


A bit of liquid superglue onto the cracked PCB:


After reassembling the tip I triggered a self test:


Winner! 

Ok now, what was next in the table of recommended test gear in that service manual...