Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[0culus]

Well, it had to happen eventually. The 8664A sig gen I bought arrived with severe damage. The unit had to have been dropped from some height, because the right rack handle is destroyed and the RF output is bent severely.

   The obvious damage. The other rack handle is bent too. The instrument seems functional, but it had a message "hardware failure 8" which is now gone, that I am trying to find a definition of.

Hoo booy... that blows. Hope you get lots of money back on the shipping claim.

Good luck!!!

mnem
Needs more cowbell.

Oh,my word, what a bummer that is. Was a local ebay purchase or was on their GSP scheme from an international seller?

Normal Ebay purchase, shipped via UPS ground in the US.

[bitseeker]

Bread makers for making bread are to limiting in particular if you like proper bread. When I had a Cafe and less than Zero life I used to make the all the Bread and Dough we used. Loaf 1 is actually a Gluten Free one of mine. The Triple loaves are my take on an English Bloomer light Rye Loaf, slow rise overnight the middle one is loaded with 300g of rough chopped dried fruits. And the last one is one of the 'proper' uses of Fresh Turkish Breads 

Still make Bread at home and for markets.

Edit added some more just because  Bit of Crumpet for the Pom's, Danish Pastries because Fruit is Healthy and a Cutaway of the Fruit Loaf.

Wow, bean! It's a good thing you don't live next door. I'd be a perpetual customer of Beanflying Bakery.

[0culus]

Yeah. I am going to examine it thoroughly before making a send back decision. I think I'd rather get some money refunded and keep it, because so far, it appears that rack handle absorbed the brunt of the damage. I was able to bend back the bracket the N connector is mounted on.

It's a busted up precision instrument. I'd say it's a total loss and any use you get out of it beyond that is luck.

It's functioning perfectly fine. I've exercised all the functions with my 8566A and things appear to be fine on that front. If all I need to do to fix it is a $40 pair of 4U rack handles plus a bit of refund from the seller, I'll consider it a win.

Assuming HP were still using a similar casting material it responds well to moderate heat and mild pressure. So no smacking it with a hammer but leverage and a Butane torch should get it straight. In case you haven't seen it https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/hewlett-packard-740b-dc-standard-digital-voltmeter-(and-740a)/msg1419955/#msg1419955

Some of the parts at the break had to be straightened prior to being joined.

Yikes, hadn't seen that. Good to know heat works to straighten things out.

[bitseeker]

Don't ask for a refund from the seller. Take lots of pictures; of the box, inside the box, how the box & packing is damaged, and the article itself. Send them to him, and ask him to initiate the shipping damage claim process. Then see what he offers.

With all the muppets on fleaBay and slAmazon, etc... I've gotten in the habit of taking copious numbers of photos of ANY package that arrives ANYTHING NOT PERFECTLY INTACT. BEFORE I MAKE THE FIRST CUT. Then more pictures as I "peel the onion".

Exactly. I've also recorded one-take unboxing videos, just in case. You can always upload them to YouTube to show the seller, eBay customer service, the shipping company, etc.

[mnementh]

A taunting of my very own!!! Thank you so much! I shall treasure it always! 

mnem
“It is mine, I tell you. My own. My precious. Yes, my precious-s-s-s.”

[bitseeker]

What, did no one notice that we are now at page 1100 after just 27 months since the TEA thread was first kicked of by bitseeker, little did he realise what a monster he created that fateful day, 16th January 2017 

Wee! The noodle monster's got nothing on the tentacles of TEA!

[0culus]

Don't ask for a refund from the seller. Take lots of pictures; of the box, inside the box, how the box & packing is damaged, and the article itself. Send them to him, and ask him to initiate the shipping damage claim process. Then see what he offers.

With all the muppets on fleaBay and slAmazon, etc... I've gotten in the habit of taking copious numbers of photos of ANY package that arrives ANYTHING NOT PERFECTLY INTACT. BEFORE I MAKE THE FIRST CUT. Then more pictures as I "peel the onion".

mnem
*adjustment*

I'll keep that in mind, thanks.

[bitseeker]

Good thing about making Danish Dough is it takes a heap of energy and time to make so there is only a 'small' weight gain when consuming a sample one 

This is not the kind of knowledge I needed.

Process, make dough, knock back, flatten out add LOTS OF BUTTER slices, roll and fold multiple times, refrigerate, roll and fold multiple times, refrigerate, roll and fold multiple times, refrigerate, roll and fold multiple times, refrigerate, roll out into a slab and cut to portion sizes and use or freeze for later reuse. 5 or 6 hours in bursts.

I miss the result but not the process. 

OK, that made up for it. Not inclined to make Danishes now.

[Cubdriver]

Don't ask for a refund from the seller. Take lots of pictures; of the box, inside the box, how the box & packing is damaged, and the article itself. Send them to him, and ask him to initiate the shipping damage claim process. Then see what he offers.

With all the muppets on fleaBay and slAmazon, etc... I've gotten in the habit of taking copious numbers of photos of ANY package that arrives ANYTHING NOT PERFECTLY INTACT. BEFORE I MAKE THE FIRST CUT. Then more pictures as I "peel the onion".

Exactly. I've also recorded one-take unboxing videos, just in case. You can always upload them to YouTube to show the seller, eBay customer service, the shipping company, etc.

I do the same if something is rattling or shifting about inside.  Thus far I've been fortunate in that nothing has gone terribly sideways, but it seems a good practice if there's any potential issue.

-Pat

[Brumby]

Well, that was disappointing.

No fresh bread in the house (we aren't a big bread consuming household) so I had to settle for some that was two days old - but I dug down a few slices to find a couple that had some semblance of moisture.  I then had the choice of some home made jams - a strawberry that has set rather firm, an apricot that went the other way (but sort of stays put if refrigerated) and a blueberry that set properly.

Had some apricot that has been living in the fridge - and while it took the edge off, it was hardly satisfying.

[tautech]

Nearly into the Top 10 Topics (by Views) but languishing near the bottom of most thanked threads. 

Who hasn't thanked the OP bitseeker ?     Get onto it ! 

Nice work guys, we've jumped up the thanked threads to where we're unlikely to get pushed off it in a hurry and now into Top 10 Topics (by Views) where we can only go higher. 

Still we can do better < to all those holding back ! 

[Brumby]

Since we have people here who like talking about RF things, I just wanted to get a feel for just how bad my efforts are in checking out the 8568B I have on my desk.

I've recently upgraded to some real RG58 (courtesy of Bean), but the only termination option I have is the BNC "T" with 50 ohm terminators on the other leg, as follows:



My question is: How bad is this?  At what frequency will I start tearing my hair out (the scope is a TDS220) - and what sort of amplitude variations can I expect with frequency change?

Before putting it up for sale, I'm trying to check out this unit as thoroughly as I can so that I can give some accurate statements that will help a buyer decide.  Everything I've checked out so far seems to function, but I can't be certain of the accuracy of frequency or attenuation, because I simply don't have suitable equipment.


Therein lies another question...  This unit will have to be sold as uncalibrated - but aside from that, what risks do I face if I were to sell it as "used"?  I don't want this baby coming back at me since shipping won't be cheap.  What can I do to be fair to the buyer, but not give it away?

[tautech]

Before putting it up for sale, I'm trying to check out this unit as thoroughly as I can so that I can give some accurate statements that will help a buyer decide.  Everything I've checked out so far seems to function, but I can't be certain of the accuracy of frequency or attenuation, because I simply don't have suitable equipment.

Typically a 50 ohm source signal amplitude will be double into 1 M.
The 1 KHz probe cal will be very close to correct unlike CRO's where they can be all over the place.

If it's not throwing any errors it will be plenty good for hobbyist usage and to go further than that you'd have to do a verification of accuracy which is what Cal labs do before undertaking any adjustments.
Grab the service manual from Tek or TekWiki and check a few values of V & Hz as it's likely it's still within spec.
Just the SMPS should be checked .....didn't bd139's one go into tick mode a few days ago due to a dud secondary side SMPS cap ?

[0culus]

I went through the inside of the 8664, a little dusty but overall clean and nothing fishy going on. Getting the Option 10 low leakage cover off is a bear. Took a bit of strategic prying on scrap cardboard to get it loose.

Now I have it stacked with the 8566A so I can run it through it's paces more easily. The only fault I can find is that from 2.5-3 GHz the output is a few dB low. I know it's not the 8566A because it was just adjusted.

[0culus]

And the beauty shot.

[URI]

Oh my g**!
Went to bed at 10pm last night and at 06:30am the next morning there are three more pages.
How many more will it be when I come home from work today?   

This thread is so time consuming to keep up with I don't have the time left for other TEA things..       

[bd139]

I think this thread is evolving into its own forum 

[Specmaster]

It's funny how whenever we mention either bread or bacon that everyone gets the munchies on and tucks into some[emoji16]

[beanflying]

We also sometimes make and play with TEA stuff

Today I built two rails and worked on a Hole for my 1-10  power decade. The heatsink brick is now one piece held to the Case by 6 4mm tapped holes. Fans and duct to go then some wiring. Only taken two months in between life and such to get this far

[VK5RC]

A very belated thank you to bitseeker - congratulations on a corker of a thread

@beanflying - I will appreciate the work behind Danish pastries in the future - but there is a lot of poor quality food out there now - the mass produced stuff is getting worse but some of the hype around "boutique" gets up my nose - I detested nouvelle cuisine - I nearly commit murder if a waiter says "enjoy" after placing the plate. I also want to kill all of the master chef judges and contestants - "dis-mount" 
Having said that we have a few craft breweries around here that do a great lunch and a pleasant Ale or two - mmmmmmm

Re TEA still awaiting a back up battery, coming from the other side of the world, for the HP 8970A Noise Figure Meter, I think I might go with the bigger battery version as suggested in the post http://www.simonsdialogs.com/2015/05/hp-agilent-keysight-8970a-noise-figure-meter-getting-started-error-e26/

Rob

[bd139]

some of the hype around "boutique" gets up my nose - I detested nouvelle cuisine - I nearly commit murder if a waiter says "enjoy" after placing the plate. I also want to kill all of the master chef judges and contestants - "dis-mount" 
Having said that we have a few craft breweries around here that do a great lunch and a pleasant Ale or two - mmmmmmm

Totally agree. A colleague of mine and myself went to a "business lunch" with the director of a fintech a few months ago. I got three bits of potato and some meat like substance with a couple of blobs of slop on a plate for his £50 per seat. The director bailed out to the office after the meal and we both had to "make calls" quickly. The calls were actually us going in McDonalds quick and cramming a quarter pounder with cheese so we didn't die of starvation that afternoon 

[beanflying]

There is plenty of fakery in Cafes and Restaurants. Fairly much everything I was selling was prepped or baked from scratch by my Chef or me and a few of the staff.

The exception was Croissants I and fairly much every 'Bakery' in Australia buys frozen by the hundred then thaws/proves and Bakes. I have made them but they are another level of time up again from Danishes. We sourced a very good Butter based one but most are oil base with no flavour and of course 1/2 the cost. There is maybe 3 or 4 Bakers in Adelaide for example scratch making while the rest are doing the frozen thing.

Plenty also pass off frozen par bake bread   or do the Coles/Safeway thing and buy in dough and claim it as their own.

Packing my Agilent Multimeters up for a $1k AUpeso trip to Keysight 

[VK5RC]

Hello from fellow Adelaidian!
A lot of work can go into some things - not often widely appreciated - my food preparation knowledge is pretty poor. I must admit to being amazed at some of the conference dinners producing many hundreds of meals of pretty reasonable quality, being served in a 10min window.
I do a mean creme brulee - it took me about 6 or 7 batches to get the correct cream and oven temp - I did it to keep SWMBO happy! I don't need that much cream on my waist!
The HP multimeter visit sounds great!
Rob

[SilverSolder]

When something you bought from eBay arrives in bad condition...   just raise a case with eBay, you are entitled to return the item if it was not packaged properly.  I always return stuff that arrives crushed...  otherwise, how are the silly senders ever going to learn?

[Mechatrommer]

When something you bought from eBay arrives in bad condition...   just raise a case with eBay, you are entitled to return the item if it was not packaged properly.  I always return stuff that arrives crushed...  otherwise, how are the silly senders ever going to learn?

moral is not embedded...