Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Ero-Shan]

A damp cloth and an iron set just hot enough to make steam can often raise the grain back mostly to where it should be. Then a little epoxy leveled with a razor blade to fill in the remaining gap and seal the wood, or if it's close enough, seal with polyurethane varnish.

I filled so many dings in my old desk this way it looked like jaguar hide when the light hit it right. 

mnem
*Off to cast my vote*

Thanks for the good advice. Thought about epoxy also, but trying to raise it back a bit before is a good idea!

[mnementh]

This seems like the perfect time to repost this... 




This old Chestnut...                                         By mnem


Chestnuts roasting on an open Tek scope;

Jacks and plugs aligned in rows...

Yuletide songs played on tube amplifiers,

And folks warming their hands by the triodes' glow.

Every TEA'er knows... a little extra grid bias and a heated cathode,

Help to make their nixies bright.

EEs and HAMs with their benches all aglow,

Will find it hard to flip that breaker tonight.

They know the carrier's on his way;

He's loaded all kinds of scopes and meters and maybe a 2-way.

And every nerdling's child is going to spy,

To see if a Therumin can really make you fly.

And so I'll offer to tune the phase;

on antennas from one to ninety-two...

Although it's been tuned, many times, many ways,

There's no such thing as just right, even when it's Christmas, at two...


Merry Christmas all you maniacs, and may your God go with you!


mnem

[GreyWoolfe]

I'm not retired yet, but I purchased my retired company van last year.  Picture a dark blue Dodge Grand Caravan as a cargo van, it doesn't even look like a cargo van.  It was stupidly cheap and even Mrs GreyWoolfe is very happy about buying it.  Comes in very handy for trips to the home improvement store.

One like this 2011 van? (I couldn't find a photo of a blue one  )

A few years ago I also purchased my companies old Ford Transit van, it had a seized clutch. A few hours of working on it soon freed that up, some sheets of 8x4 plywood I laid a new floor and sidewalls (insulated with fibreglass wadding) and also the roof. Moved the twin passenger seat back and fitted a single seat in its place and it also then became a family runabout for a while, very pleased with that purchase, like you say, handy for trips to the home improvement sheds etc.

Yes, but I have glass all the way around.  If you look in the back window, I still have the metal cage installed on the hatch because the panel was all cut up to install it.  Good thing I left it.  Took the lawnmower to help a friend out and didn't collapse the handle or tie it down.  First acceleration slammed the handle into the cage hard.   I would have lost the back window for sure.  I did tie it down for the rest of the trip over.  Like I said, love the van and I can still get 25-27 MPG on the highway loaded with stuff.  And there is no forgetting I can carry full sheets of plywood/drywall.  No complaints about mileage when it is basically as aerodynamic as a brick on wheels.  It is also a second vehicle so not driven near as much as the primary car so I really only gas it up about once every 3 weeks to a month.

We had the transit connect as company vehicles with they first came out in 2010.  Worse vehicle I ever drove.  The company ended up renegotiated the lease agreement before the vehicles were due to be replaced and we ended up with the Tradesmans.  Now we are back to 2017 transit connects.  It is a better vehicle than the 2010.  I will not be buying this when it goes off lease.  I am not letting go of my tradesman.  I was sorry to hear that they discontinued them and replaced them with the pro city vans which are every bit as ugly as the PT Cruiser.  Especially since they kept the same body style with the Pacifica.

This seems like the perfect time to repost this... 




This old Chestnut...                                         By mnem


Chestnuts roasting on an open Tek scope;

Jacks and plugs aligned in rows...

Yuletide songs played on tube amplifiers,

And folks warming their hands by the triodes' glow.

Every TEA'er knows... a little extra grid bias and a heated cathode,

Help to make their nixies bright.

EEs and HAMs with their benches all aglow,

Will find it hard to flip that breaker tonight.

They know the carrier's on his way;

He's loaded all kinds of scopes and meters and maybe a 2-way.

And every nerdling's child is going to spy,

To see if a Therumin can really make you fly.

And so I'll offer to tune the phase;

on antennas from one to ninety-two...

Although it's been tuned, many times, many ways,

There's no such thing as just right, even when it's Christmas, at two...


Merry Christmas all you maniacs, and may your God go with you!


mnem

 

[bd139]

 

[mnementh]

[RANDOMLY TRIPPED OVER ON THE INTERNET MODE]



Hey bd -

Got any resistors left? 

[/RANDOMLY, ETC MODE]

mnem
*Off to cast my vote* No, REALLY this time...

[bd139]

Hahaha.

I've got about 3/4 of a box left still. Mainly use them for giving legless things legs like SMD adapter boards. I managed to shift the other box for £25 I think it was 

I thoroughly regret not buying some 1k and 10k ones.

[med6753]

As promised, progress report on my bench renovation and expansion. Trim work done. Sanding done. Stain done. To do: several coats of poly, then install electric and fashion legs. I am way ahead of where I thought I'd be and there's a good chance I'll be done and installed by the end of next week. 

[med6753]

This seems like the perfect time to repost this... 




This old Chestnut...                                         By mnem


Chestnuts roasting on an open Tek scope;

Jacks and plugs aligned in rows...

Yuletide songs played on tube amplifiers,

And folks warming their hands by the triodes' glow.

Every TEA'er knows... a little extra grid bias and a heated cathode,

Help to make their nixies bright.

EEs and HAMs with their benches all aglow,

Will find it hard to flip that breaker tonight.

They know the carrier's on his way;

He's loaded all kinds of scopes and meters and maybe a 2-way.

And every nerdling's child is going to spy,

To see if a Therumin can really make you fly.

And so I'll offer to tune the phase;

on antennas from one to ninety-two...

Although it's been tuned, many times, many ways,

There's no such thing as just right, even when it's Christmas, at two...


Merry Christmas all you maniacs, and may your God go with you!


mnem

Cute! 

[Specmaster]

Who says I only have one? Or two? Or five?

I haven't confirmed but on the TEA side of a dozen I suspect for me

I think I have about 19, 5 digital bench, 8 digital handhelds, 2 clamp meters (1 analogue and 1 digital) 4 analogue bench meters

[Specmaster]

[RANDOMLY TRIPPED OVER ON THE INTERNET MODE]



Hey bd -

Got any resistors left? 

[/RANDOMLY, ETC MODE]

mnem
*Off to cast my vote* No, REALLY this time...

I know I have a few thousand left.

[mnementh]

   As promised, progress report on my bench renovation and expansion. Trim work done. Sanding done. Stain done. To do: several coats of poly, then install electric and fashion legs. I am way ahead of where I thought I'd be and there's a good chance I'll be done and installed by the end of next week.     

 



That tabletop is much too fine to work on. More like to serve Christmas Dinner on. Or something like this...   

mnem
Does it really need fashion legs...? Wouldn't ordinary, unfashionable table legs be easier and less high maintenance?

[bd139]

That’s rather good that. I’d have that as a picture in the living room 

[Neomys Sapiens]

(SNIP)
Now, 250 volts are not really 'high voltage', but compared to my standard lab supplies it feels like that.

Here, stick out your tongue... 

I always wondered if the tongue would show the ripple, when a non-battery voltage is applied!
Maybe the one who tries would turn into a Zungenfrequezmesser?

[Neomys Sapiens]

Wooo - a parcel thug surprised me with a voluminous package with a official SCHWILLE sign. WTF? I bought panel meters from them 30 years ago - but I didn't order any Schwille goods now.
Turns out the Tek DC503 is from the Schwille factory. Now I don't have the slightest doubt that it will work as advertised. 'Tested and aligned by expert' equates to the houselab of a T&M manufacturer in this case. And the fact that they send it with their logo on (and a catalogue enclosed) provides additional certainty, even if I have it not tested yet.

[mnementh]

(SNIP)
Now, 250 volts are not really 'high voltage', but compared to my standard lab supplies it feels like that.

Here, stick out your tongue... 

I always wondered if the tongue would show the ripple, when a non-battery voltage is applied!
Maybe the one who tries would turn into a Zungenfrequezmesser?

In all seriousness, I had a coworker at one job who would use two fingertips to test for live AC voltage in appliance he was working on. 

As for "stick out your tongue", I can confirm empirically that there is a distinct qualitative difference between DC and AC, up to the input's tolerance level. 

Now measuring ripple... hmmmm. While I am somewhat infamous for my talented tongue, I'm not sure that even I could detect such nuance, unless the ripple were considerable. Also not sure about telling the difference between pulsing DC vs AC, though I CAN tell the difference between a sine wave and saw/square wave, if the frequency is low enough.

Again, up to the input's tolerance level. 

mnem
~12-18V P-P, if you were wondering. 

[mnementh]

That’s rather good that. I’d have that as a picture in the living room 

https://www.deviantart.com/raisegrate/art/Doctor-Who-Penultimate-Supper-155877850

Original artist offers them.

mnem
*Grocery time*

[med6753]

mnem
Does it really need fashion legs...? Wouldn't ordinary, unfashionable table legs be easier and less high maintenance?

The legs will be fashioned from ordinary dimension lumber. Nothing fancy. 

[bd139]

Always put as much effort into the legs too

[beanflying]

I thought taking steroids only made other bits smaller 

Meter Count - Multimeters handheld working - 6    non working - 2 (nostalgia my 1st meter & Dad's)
Bench - 2 (34401a and Advantest)
Multichannel Agilent loggers with 6 1/2 digit dmm's fitted - 2

This doesn't include dedicated voltmeters (2) milliohm meter (1) and a couple of cheapy LCR meters.

Only a dozen so there is still room for 'one' more I think. Yes, Yes I am in the right place TEA 

[neo]

You can't see it, so its perfectly hidden, isn't it?
Now, 250 volts are not really 'high voltage', but compared to my standard lab supplies it feels like that.

I got a HP 0-320 regulated dc power supply 

[mnementh]

So.... howzit taste? 

mnem
"From here, you can almost taste the EMF..."

[mnementh]

   Always put as much effort into the legs too

https://youtu.be/4c7jCh1xsQk

Make sure you do the whole undercarriage. 

mnem
So-o-o-o-o wrong.

[Housedad]

The whole Deadpool comics and movies are soooo wrong on sooooo many levels.

I just can't stop reading and watching.

It's kind of watching a train wreck type of thing....

[bd139]

They’re hilarious. The demise of X Force had everyone in tears of laughter in the cinema. I figured we were all sickos

Off to get my power supply in a bit. 200 mile round trip because someone wouldn’t post it. Road trips FTW though.

[Specmaster]

must have got it a real bargain price then to be doing a 200 mile trip for it, especially at the way you cost out everything, fuel cost, wear and tear on car, and of your time