I think the best solution is your option 2. Bypass the whole mess with a separate regulated 5V supply.
In other news....cleanup and restoration of a Tek military OS-245(P)U scope. Civilian is the 7603N. The scope was filthy and the covers somewhat scratched and battered. But it did work. It cleaned up pretty well and I spray painted the covers dark gray (Were originally light gray, not Tek blue since it was military). Functionally one of the AM-6565U Vertical plug-ins had a busted knob and some compensation and roll off issues. So I replaced it with the civilian equivalent 7A15A which are pretty cheap on E-bay. It has a linear power supply and as far as I know original caps but everything is working so for now I'm leaving that alone. But I have no room on my bench so I had to do something. The solution was a home built scope cart. Fixed angle at about 10 degrees. It's only about 26 inches high at it's peak since it's for bench use, not “stand up” use. I made it wide for stability, safety and so it could accommodate portable scopes and maybe a 79XX series if I get one. Good quality casters with wheel locks. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.
Pending project is a Tek 465/DM44. It is one sick puppy and needs lots of work.
![](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/test-equipment-anonymous-(tea)-group-therapy-thread/?action=dlattach;attach=412564;image)
Is there something wrong with me in that I'm far more impressed with your woodworking than the restoration project?
![Laughing :-DD](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/smiley_laughing.gif)
It seems that for some reason, woodworking is NOT an area where most engineers and e-nerds seem to excel. Or even to be slightly interested, even. My own case is highly unusual; considerable experience in multiple disciplines (auto and machinery mechanic, welding, writing, and back in the day, radio DJing to name a few), of which woodworking is only the latest and dabbling at best...
![](http://i1183.photobucket.com/albums/x462/mnemennth/Patio%20Chair%20Project/Patio%20Chair.jpg)
This is my current woodworking project... started last fall after the weather got cool enough for me to breathe, and now stalled for the time being, but still "in the queue". Amusing provenance of this project is that it is literally made entirely of and with "ground score" materiel.
I found the table saw almost complete by the side of the road a few blocks from my house; recognizing the quality I took it home and began restoring it. While I was doing that bit by bit with cheapest possible bits from the internet, I rescued the high chairs, which are actually quite collectible "Space Age" Brown Jordan vintage all aluminum pieces being discarded due to rotted webbing. While researching the "correct" replacement canvas to restore the chairs, I then found several dozen lengths of tropical hardwood 2x2 being discarded from a house renovation/make ready nearby, and decided to put them together into this project.
I have cut all the lumber, including the cedar (?) crown and foot with rollover you see and matching accent slat for the arms and foot rungs. All that remains now is to build a router table so I can finish all the pieces, and I even have a couple of nice Craftsman routers in repairable condition that were given to me by a neighbor who saw me working on the table saw.
I really do need to get back to this and finish it while the nice weather holds out; maybe even bump it up next on my list...
Oh, and to keep this post "TEA-related"; I agree. Simplest solution is to Polish-engineer a separate 5V regulated power supply using an old 12V wall-wart transformer plugged into an extension cord and a 7805 with some filtering, then see how everything behaves running on that; no need to even mod the circuit in the meter until you've done your reality check using that. Cheers,
mnem
*Morning wood*