Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Specmaster]

med6753, nice job, love the red glow of LEDs.

[tautech]

I'm working on a repair to a inverter board for the battery charging system on a Solartron 7045 meter and the board has has some suspect capacitors and other items which I can identify easily from the service manual. However the capacitor looks to me to be a tant but the manual says that these are ceramic and are C154 and C155 (C155 has shorted) which are shown in the BOM as .047 25V?  R158 (68ohms) is blown wide open. The circuit does not indicate polarised capacitors at all?

That's a dipped bead tant alright  replace it with a 50V version.
Whether they're supposed to be there at all, get out your Sherlock glasses and look if someone's been into this unit before.

[Specmaster]

I'm working on a repair to a inverter board for the battery charging system on a Solartron 7045 meter and the board has has some suspect capacitors and other items which I can identify easily from the service manual. However the capacitor looks to me to be a tant but the manual says that these are ceramic and are C154 and C155 (C155 has shorted) which are shown in the BOM as .047 25V?  R158 (68ohms) is blown wide open. The circuit does not indicate polarised capacitors at all?

That's a dipped bead tant alright  replace it with a 50V version.
Whether they're supposed to be there at all, get out your Sherlock glasses and look if someone's been into this unit before.

Oh they have been in here before for sure, the diodes 150 and 151 along with these tants had one leg lifted, hence the doubt for these being here as the schematic (attached) shows ceramics as does the BOM (attached). The tants are sitting across +15 and -15V rails and look to me like filter caps for dumping any AC component to ground rather then into the battery?

[tautech]

OK, one leg lifted but has the other been mucked with at all ?
C'mon Sherlock ! 

[Specmaster]

Sherlock has his huge magnifying glass out and the others don't appear to have been touched, however the 2 in question, I'm not sure because I had remove them in order to test them but I can't say that I paid that much attention to the joints while desoldering them  That said C156 and 157 are 100% ceramics (47n @25v) as per BOM so I suspect that these 2 should also be the same. and C152 and 158 are dipped tants as per BOM

[med6753]

Sherlock has his huge magnifying glass out and the others don't appear to have been touched, however the 2 in question, I'm not sure because I had remove them in order to test them but I can't say that I paid that much attention to the joints while desoldering them  That said C156 and 157 are 100% ceramics (47n @25v) as per BOM so I suspect that these 2 should also be the same. and C152 and 158 are dipped tants as per BOM

It sounds like someone wanted to use this inverter for another device as was originally intended and found it to be too noisy so they hung those tants on the output in an effort to smooth the ripple.

[bd139]

There's a couple of tants tacked on like that inside my Heathkit AC voltmeter. Assume it was for the same reason. Not unusual to see them retrofitted to be honest.

Nice job with the counter. I really like the look of one of them. Might snag one if one goes past.

Got new motor. Phew. "buyer collects" TEA auctions back on. French, runs on gnat farts, has air con. Me happy. Would be happier with a Nissan GT-R but that's not how family life goes

[Kosmic]

Well, I'm not sure why I did it but I bidded on a lot on the surplus government auctions. To my surprise, I actually won! Now I'm stuck with bunch of stuff I don't need, like a UV gun

All I wanted was one of the Keithley 181 ... and maybe the HP 3456a

I was able to test around 80% of that stuff and sadly everything is working. Most of the voltmeters are still pretty accurate.

[Specmaster]

Pretty good, looks like you'll have a job fitting it all in somewhere in your lab?

[Specmaster]

There's a couple of tants tacked on like that inside my Heathkit AC voltmeter. Assume it was for the same reason. Not unusual to see them retrofitted to be honest.

Nice job with the counter. I really like the look of one of them. Might snag one if one goes past.

Got new motor. Phew. "buyer collects" TEA auctions back on. French, runs on gnat farts, has air con. Me happy. Would be happier with a Nissan GT-R but that's not how family life goes

French you say, well it should mean that it will be comfortable as french cars are renowned for their comfort and also for something else which I hope will not be the case with your example, indeed they have cured it now, but they used to have a nasty habit of catching fire all on their own, allegedly according to many motoring hacks and journals.   

[Kosmic]

Pretty good, looks like you'll have a job fitting it all in somewhere in your lab?

Well that's another problem. I don't think I have the space right now. I will probably temporarily improvise a new bench. So much cleanup and organisation to do in the workshop, i'm definitely due.

[bd139]

There's a couple of tants tacked on like that inside my Heathkit AC voltmeter. Assume it was for the same reason. Not unusual to see them retrofitted to be honest.

Nice job with the counter. I really like the look of one of them. Might snag one if one goes past.

Got new motor. Phew. "buyer collects" TEA auctions back on. French, runs on gnat farts, has air con. Me happy. Would be happier with a Nissan GT-R but that's not how family life goes

French you say, well it should mean that it will be comfortable as french cars are renowned for their comfort and also for something else which I hope will not be the case with your example, indeed they have cured it now, but they used to have a nasty habit of catching fire all on their own, allegedly according to many motoring hacks and journals.

AFAIK French cars catching fire is usually intentional. The French like to get a bit rowdy. Vauxhall on the other hand...

Very comfortable so far even though I've only done 7 miles in it. Spent 30 minutes pissing around trying to get my phone to pair to the damn thing. Got it eventually.

[Specmaster]

Yesterday it was the Swedes who were rowdy and set several cars on fire,

[bd139]

Oh joy didn't see that. What a bunch of cunts.

When the riots kicked off in London they dealt with the little assholes quickfire.

[Specmaster]

Yeah I remember that, here's the link to yesterdays wanton destruction, bastards, those cars were someones pride and joy.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-45181321

EDIT.
I note that it took around 15 minutes for the first fire engine to arrive, seems that we are not alone in reducing the fire cover provided by governments, madness.

[mnementh]

I'm currently waiting for my HP 6114A power supply from the US.

Speaking of which, what's a good way to find other HP equipment of the era that have the same bar-style feet as the 6114A/6115A? That style of enclosure was used with equipment of different widths and, hence, would have different length feet.

My bargain-bin 6114A didn't come with feet.

Same problem here. My first 6114A came without feet. 

I saw some that were $25+shipping. For a similar cost, or slightly more, I'd rather get an entire parts unit of something less desirable, but having the same feet.

Oh, you found feet only?
Glad one! I haven't found sets of feet matching the 6114A/6115A yet.
Hence I looked for HP gear with enclosures of the type of the 6114A/6115A. Used old HP-catalogs for that.   
But nothing really bargain-type-wise, since shipping over the pond makes that too expensive for me, over all. 

This is one of the many reasons I got into 3D Printing; I've already made up some sets of custom feet so I could rearrange my stereo equipment with hot, large-vented surround receiver on top of Blu-Ray player that's 120mm shallower and tidy up gaming gear with all its oddball profiles. The nicest part is that you can't even see the parts I made.


I intend to also make new back of bottom feet/cordwrap for the NASA 2465 when I recap it; they've dry-rotted like the ones from my 454.


             

Of course I'm not the first to have this idea; Thingiverse has oodles of .stl files for Tektronix parts. And even if they don't have exactly what you need, with over 4,000 different kinds of feet, there has to be SOMETHING in there close enough to start with that you can make it work.

Remember that many 3D printers can do MUCH finer detail work than what you see as examples; the default settings a lot of people use are pretty coarse, as they're optimized for a middle ground between speed and precision. Personally, I'd put up with a 3-hour print for something I'm going to handle all the time like a knob, for example. Or you can go the opposite route by printing quick then sanding and painting to make it shiny.

  This is what I bought on EBay. Still in transit. Should be here tomorrow.

It looks very clean but has some physical damage. The "B" Trigger Level/Slope switch in the upper right is bent/broken. The DM44 has some damage. The case is missing the handle. All those issues I can fix in a jiffy with my parts mule. Hopefully the rest of it is more or less functional.

Awresome! Plus you can probably punt the "parts mule" down the road... IF you can make yourself let go of the misery it represents. 

I was about to get all snarky too... but my 189 has finally been marked "shipped". No actual confirmation from the carrier that it's been received, but it appears they used USPS. Will probably arrive in a flat-rate Priority Mail carton which means I'll have paid $24 for $14 worth of shipping... but a $10 handling fee is not really unreasonable, especially if actual value insurance is part of that.    meh.

  Small project that's been in the que due to the recent 465 marathon. Re-cap of the Fluke 1900A Counter power supply.
(SNIP)
After. $15 USD for an axial 2500uf cap? I think not. Radial installed instead.

med6753, nice job, love the red glow of LEDs.

Truly and well-bodged!  Fuck those electrons; they can damn well go round a corner. Once the lid's back on WGAF? 

  Sherlock has his huge magnifying glass out and the others don't appear to have been touched, however the 2 in question, I'm not sure because I had remove them in order to test them but I can't say that I paid that much attention to the joints while desoldering them  That said C156 and 157 are 100% ceramics (47n @25v) as per BOM so I suspect that these 2 should also be the same. and C152 and 158 are dipped tants as per BOM

Hmmm... my money's on "undocumented feature" rather than foul play. That thing's of just the right age to have been made when tants were the "new hawtness"; capacity of an electrolytic in the size of a ceramic with super low (for the time) ESR. Then along came electrolysis altering the internal composition, and before you knew it there was "Ka-ZORCH!" and running & screaming...   

Pretty good, looks like you'll have a job fitting it all in somewhere in your lab?

Well that's another problem. I don't think I have the space right now. I will probably temporarily improvise a new bench. So much cleanup and organisation to do in the workshop, i'm definitely due.

Oh, you poor bastard. My heart bleeds for you. 

Yeah I remember that, here's the link to yesterdays wanton destruction, bastards, those cars were someones pride and joy.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-45181321

EDIT.
I note that it took around 15 minutes for the first fire engine to arrive, seems that we are not alone in reducing the fire cover provided by governments, madness.

Or worse yet, as is usually the case with the economy/metro class of cars, they were somebody's very necessary means to work. And they were probably several thousand dollars upside-down on their loan, so insurance isn't going to cover but half of what it'll cost them to pay it off and replace.   

Still... nobody died as a direct result. So still less harmful than any given day with our corrupt Congress in session. 


mnem
Nice pants.

[bd139]

I blame this random violence on smartphones. Parents too distracted today to apply any discipline. Alas this is way off topic for TEA.

Back on topic now scouting eBay for bargains as I turned my script off yesterday because eBay changed their html again so it was emailing me python stack traces every 5 minutes all Monday night. Also attempting to get three children to clean up the bloody mess the eldest let them make while we were out sorting car out. Grr.

[Specmaster]

Hmmm... my money's on "undocumented feature" rather than foul play. That thing's of just the right age to have been made when tants were the "new hawtness"; capacity of an electrolytic in the size of a ceramic with super low (for the time) ESR. Then along came electrolysis altering the internal composition, and before you knew it there was "Ka-ZORCH!" and running & screaming...   

mnem
Nice pants.

Yeah you could well be right because the component layout view of the board does not even show or mention C159 alongside the relay or IIRC D154 just above the socket tubes.   

[bitseeker]

Well, I'm not sure why I did it but I bidded on a lot on the surplus government auctions. To my surprise, I actually won!

Congrats!

Now I'm stuck with bunch of stuff I don't need, like a UV gun

Yeah, that's called auction overhead. A UV gun sounds like it might be useful for UV-cured adhesives and fillers (i.e., TEA enclosure repairs).

All I wanted was one of the Keithley 181 ... and maybe the HP 3456a

And nice ones they are, too. Generally speaking, you got some nice overhead here. I got some of those relay actuators in an auction lot, too. They're kinda neat, though I haven't put them to use, yet. A few of the relays connections in mine have a few ohms resistance. Hopefully, the contacts still have enough plating and just need a little cleaning.

I was able to test around 80% of that stuff and sadly everything is working. Most of the voltmeters are still pretty accurate.

Such a terrible situation, I tell ya. Well, people, sounds like a fellow TEA needs some help shifting some nice gear.

[bitseeker]

I'm currently waiting for my HP 6114A power supply from the US.

My bargain-bin 6114A didn't come with feet.

Same problem here. My first 6114A came without feet. 

I saw some that were $25+shipping.

I haven't found sets of feet matching the 6114A/6115A yet.

This is one of the many reasons I got into 3D Printing; I've already made up some sets of custom feet so I could rearrange my stereo equipment with hot, large-vented surround receiver on top of Blu-Ray player that's 120mm shallower and tidy up gaming gear with all its oddball profiles. The nicest part is that you can't even see the parts I made.



Of course I'm not the first to have this idea; Thingiverse has oodles of .stl files for Tektronix parts. And even if they don't have exactly what you need, with over 4,000 different kinds of feet, there has to be SOMETHING in there close enough to start with that you can make it work.

Those claws are pretty neat!

OK, I'll take a look at Thingiverse. If they don't have anything to fit, I guess a worst case scenario would be to learn to use a 3D design program and reproduce the 6114A feet, since I have a fully working and complete 6114A to use as a model.

Another question is whether PLA or some other filament could stand up to the stress of the steel tilting bail being rotated into and out of position.

Remember that many 3D printers can do MUCH finer detail work than what you see as examples; the default settings a lot of people use are pretty coarse, as they're optimized for a middle ground between speed and precision. Personally, I'd put up with a 3-hour print for something I'm going to handle all the time like a knob, for example. Or you can go the opposite route by printing quick then sanding and painting to make it shiny.

Ah, that's good to know. Most examples I've seen weren't very fine at all.

[bitseeker]

Neat. There's a 3D file for the bracket that holds the analog meters in old HP bench supplies.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:225449

[med6753]

Well, I'm not sure why I did it but I bidded on a lot on the surplus government auctions. To my surprise, I actually won! Now I'm stuck with bunch of stuff I don't need, like a UV gun

All I wanted was one of the Keithley 181 ... and maybe the HP 3456a

I was able to test around 80% of that stuff and sadly everything is working. Most of the voltmeters are still pretty accurate.

Wow! That is quite a haul! Congrats! 

Edit....how did you manage to get all that stuff into your lab and not get the stink eye from the SWMBO? 

[Kosmic]

Wow! That is quite a haul! Congrats! 

Edit....how did you manage to get all that stuff into your lab and not get the stink eye from the SWMBO? 

haha good question. I have a separate entrance for the basement. So when I came in I just had one of the Keithley 181 and HP 39506a in my arms. I went downstairs and used the other entrance to get the rest 

[Kosmic]

Wow! That is quite a haul! Congrats! 

Edit....how did you manage to get all that stuff into your lab and not get the stink eye from the SWMBO? 

haha good question. I have a separate entrance for the basement. So when I came in I just had one of the Keithley 181 and HP 39506a in my arms. I went downstairs and used the other entrance to get the rest 

Man I read myself and I really sound like a addict 

[Cubdriver]

Neat. There's a 3D file for the bracket that holds the analog meters in old HP bench supplies.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:225449

Excellent!  That was one of the things on my list to come up with when I finally get my FDM printer.  I have several with broken meter retention brackets.

-Pat