Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[beanflying]

Many Many Months after I started building these finally functional and ready to Resist. Not up to the standard of Cambridge et al but much more abuse proof for the bench and playing.

[Martin.M]

I need the application (PSU fail) for Advantest R 3765CG opt 11 (network analyzer)
Martin

[mnementh]

Storage scopes were available well before the 24xx series. I used one in the 70s, and they weren't a new concept then.

Of course they were a pain to use, but it took a surprisingly long time for analogue storage scopes to be completely supplanted by digitising storage scopes.

Let me guess - Nicolet?

I was aware of but never touched Nicolet. ISTR they didn't have reputation for allowing you to do your job.

I thought Nicolet made great Mid-IR Spectrometers.  Of course... in later years I got the ABB Bomem NIR and Mid-IR tanks to work with and of course NIR almost entirely.   I still have withdrawals from spectrometers, programming, standards, statistical analysis and chemometrics.   

The electronics and RF engineering studies (mainly only reading, watching videos and asking questions for now... with a few problems) with the new RF modules (AD603, AD8307, AD8362, AD8317, HMC189, AD831, BFG135, AD9850, Si5351A, a range of attenuators, various NARDA directional couplers and two other brands, an RF bridge, a SET duplexer mixer and even a generic dual balanced mixer RFin=1.5-4.5GHz RFout=DC-1.5GHz) especially just looking and touching the Pacific Measurements 1038 kit really feels good.  The RG316 pigtails came in the mail yesterday so I can prototype with those before I solder some RG402 cables tuned with SMA connectors for the final designs.  Feels good.   

I even picked up some free items I found online and had an easy Eureka cyclonic vacuum cleaner model AS1104 repair that I was planning to part out and put some of the pieces into a trash container or bucket shop vac design with a gamma seal lid... and the thing only needed cleaning thoroughly and I think other than added weight and less maneuverability... performs better than the Dyson DC25 which is more a pain with the cord and switching to use the hose. 

I'm ready to tear apart an HP free printer or two I picked up also and stare down some components to see if I can get motivated to make a CNC Arduino controlled multi machine... router, laser, printer, etc.  Thinking the router/laser will be handy to make stripline, microstrip and PCB components with.  I was thinking the scanner glass might not be a bad donor for a solar panel build too for a weather station I need to update from my previous skill set design capabilities.   

Stepper motors from printers are A) not powerful enough (except to move a laser) to do anything useful and 2) always use some idiotic mounting system that does not play well with anything except molded plastic bosses and stamped sheet metal and Ω) almost globally use oddball windings that aren't compatible with any stepper driver that will play nicely with common ardu-based 3DP/CNC controllers.

I've done the "hackaday project" route... it's SO worth the ~$70 cost of entry for a modern MKS Gen board and NEMA 23 steppers. If you want to go absolutely balls & braces, a RAMPS 1.4 board can be had as cheap as $11 if you don't care about quiet steppers; and NEMA 17 for ~$7 each. But those will pretty much barely move a 300w router spindle in MDF.

And if you actually want to produce something... or if you just want to get to LEARNING sometime in the same week as you unpack the gear... starting with one of the popular 8020/4020 or better yet, OpenBuilds V-Slot Aluminum extrusion based kits is the way to get your feet wet. The 8020 frame takes 95% of "noob user error" out of the equation, as by default it makes the first, most important part[/b] of any 3DP/CNC build "trained ape easy":

"Build it rigid, flat and square, THEN add motors & electronics".

Just consider that $250-350 as your tuition; cost of entry. It really is the cheapest way to get into "learning mode" quickly, rather than spending days and weeks in "pulling your hair out" mode. The thing with all of this is that it's all "hobbyist" and "experimental" gear; it's not like a Craftsman table saw that comes with instructions and even a "User Guide" so you have some idea where to start. Most everything requires trawling the web and usergroups to get knowledge, then build your own instruction set that works for YOU.

Please... learn from my mistakes.  You will save yourself oodles... just oodles... of wasted time, money and aggravation. 

mnem


And if you know all this, just consider my post as a PSA for the next guy who doesn't. 

[mnementh]

Quick ethical question here. Is it morally acceptable to eviscerate a piece of HP gear which is entirely not useful for the knob caps for my 6236B, guts and the extremely nice case it comes in which will be reused for a project? HP 3551A is the device in question.

When I first started reading your ethical conundrum, I was thinking you were talking about something cool. I've run into that moment of pause, too. Some of the stuff I have was destined to become a parts mule until I found one in even worse shape that could be used to restore the former mule back to life, and so on down the line (TEA!).

Then, I saw that it was just an old transmission test set. What?!? You're fretting over that?

Not only is it a nice source for knobs, it's got binding posts that match a wide range of HP gear, too! (And the enclosures are often worth more than a lot of the old, useless gear that sits around on eBay for months.)

"just an old transmission test set"

as a former telephone bum, the freqq is shocked, appalled , and yes...….a little hurt by your harsh uncaring comment.

you can take my tims when you pry them from my cold dead hands.

While I can appreciate your POV personally from other addictions... my own experience with these Ifni-accursed things in my High-School AV Dept days (we had the joy of maintaining the school's inter-office intercom network) has been one of absolute frustration and actual physical pain lugging them from one end of a campus to the other, and occasionally having them knocked off/fall over onto my feet. 

Every last one of them can burn in Hell, along with Unit #722, which I took great personal delight in beating to death with a post maul and shoveling the remains into the school's dumpster when it was replaced with a handheld Fluke tester and butt-set kit, the entirety of which was smaller and weighed less than the cable bag for that monstrosity. 

mnem
No remorse.

[med6753]

Quick ethical question here. Is it morally acceptable to eviscerate a piece of HP gear which is entirely not useful for the knob caps for my 6236B, guts and the extremely nice case it comes in which will be reused for a project? HP 3551A is the device in question.

When I first started reading your ethical conundrum, I was thinking you were talking about something cool. I've run into that moment of pause, too. Some of the stuff I have was destined to become a parts mule until I found one in even worse shape that could be used to restore the former mule back to life, and so on down the line (TEA!).

Then, I saw that it was just an old transmission test set. What?!? You're fretting over that?

Not only is it a nice source for knobs, it's got binding posts that match a wide range of HP gear, too! (And the enclosures are often worth more than a lot of the old, useless gear that sits around on eBay for months.)

"just an old transmission test set"

as a former telephone bum, the freqq is shocked, appalled , and yes...….a little hurt by your harsh uncaring comment.

you can take my tims when you pry them from my cold dead hands.

While I can appreciate your POV personally from other addictions... my own experience with these Ifni-accursed things in my High-School AV Dept days (we had the joy of maintaining the school's inter-office intercom network) has been one of absolute frustration and actual physical pain lugging them from one end of a campus to the other, and occasionally having them knocked off/fall over onto my feet. 

Every last one of them can burn in Hell, along with Unit #722, which I took great personal delight in beating to death with a post maul and shoveling the remains into the school's dumpster when it was replaced with a handheld Fluke tester and butt-set kit, the entirety of which was smaller and weighed less than the cable bag for that monstrosity. 

mnem
No remorse.

Do you realize what you just did?  You vilified and puked all over the man's passion and hobby.    Have you no mercy?? 

This is for you. 

[mnementh]

Yeah could be right there. It's a right fucking mess in that department for sure.

It's £1 listing weekend so I'm going to see if I can palm off some high value shit before April 14th deadline I think. May be much more difficult to shift it after.

Seriously... eBay is the shithole of e-commerce, and it poisons everything it touches. Even NewEgg treats them as a dumping ground. 

*Cue flashiebackie music*

Last week, after effing around with all sorts of "workarounds" to get my Rift DK2 working on STEAM with my old 1055T, I decided to just throw a small amount of money at the problem... the current Oculus runtime requires SSE4.1 which is just new enough that the 1055T doesn't support it. So I stepped back and took a look at the larger picture... and realized that while I was really beating my head against the wall with my old 1055T, my MB and the RAM onboard were not quite maxxed out.

Shopping around I found the max they can support is an FX8350/FX8370, which to my surprise, are still being sold in bottom-end entry-level gaming combos. I found NewEgg blowing FX8350s out for $65, then later for $58 each, which gets me 2 generations newer, 8 4.2GHz cores and SSE4.1/4.2/SSE4a support.

Yeah, yeah... I know that money is still probably better spent on a Ryzen 5-7 or 7-8th gen Intel... but needing DDR4 RAM and supporting MB puts cost-of-entry around $300 minimum. That I just can't do. Right now.   

*Cue Flashie-forward-to-now music*

Besides, the NewEgg listing was "Guaranteed Delivery by Thursday, 3/21", so I'm right now in tinkerer heaven, swapping out the processor in my new-old beast, right?

Errr... no. Seems they didn't even ship out until Tuesday the 19th, via the cheapest possible ground service. So it will be a day a week late, not due to arrive until NEXT Wednesday. Since I can't do ANYTHING about it until TODAY, and the eBay platform gives them 3 days after THAT, their "Guaranteed Delivery by 3/21" means bupkis. They just respond to me as if I'd bought off their own website and CHOSEN the cheapest "Egg-Saver" shipping. 

I've already filed a dispute; the eBay rep has intimated that they have a lot of similar complaints, and especially with this listing. Hopefully fleaBay will actually do something this time.

The really frustrating thing is that I bought this thing without hesitation BECAUSE it was NewEgg. I've been a satisfied customer of theirs for literally decades; I never imagined they'd ever treat ANY customer like this for ANY reason. 

mnem
One of these days I'll learn... 

[mnementh]

While I can appreciate your POV personally from other addictions... my own experience with these Ifni-accursed things in my High-School AV Dept days (we had the joy of maintaining the school's inter-office intercom network) has been one of absolute frustration and actual physical pain lugging them from one end of a campus to the other, and occasionally having them knocked off/fall over onto my feet. 

Every last one of them can burn in Hell, along with Unit #722, which I took great personal delight in beating to death with a post maul and shoveling the remains into the school's dumpster when it was replaced with a handheld Fluke tester and butt-set kit, the entirety of which was smaller and weighed less than the cable bag for that monstrosity. 

mnem
No remorse.

Do you realize what you just did?  You vilified and puked all over the man's passion and hobby.    Have you no mercy??     This is for you.     

Thank you sir, may I have another? 

And I'm totally down widdat. I stand behind my statement and take full responsibility for it. It was a judgement call; I made it. And if it means saving another innocent nerd from the misery I suffered at the handles of those evil, evil machines, I'll make it again. 

mnem

[nixiefreqq]

Quick ethical question here. Is it morally acceptable to eviscerate a piece of HP gear which is entirely not useful for the knob caps for my 6236B, guts and the extremely nice case it comes in which will be reused for a project? HP 3551A is the device in question.

When I first started reading your ethical conundrum, I was thinking you were talking about something cool. I've run into that moment of pause, too. Some of the stuff I have was destined to become a parts mule until I found one in even worse shape that could be used to restore the former mule back to life, and so on down the line (TEA!).

Then, I saw that it was just an old transmission test set. What?!? You're fretting over that?

Not only is it a nice source for knobs, it's got binding posts that match a wide range of HP gear, too! (And the enclosures are often worth more than a lot of the old, useless gear that sits around on eBay for months.)

"just an old transmission test set"

as a former telephone bum, the freqq is shocked, appalled , and yes...….a little hurt by your harsh uncaring comment.

you can take my tims when you pry them from my cold dead hands.

While I can appreciate your POV personally from other addictions... my own experience with these Ifni-accursed things in my High-School AV Dept days (we had the joy of maintaining the school's inter-office intercom network) has been one of absolute frustration and actual physical pain lugging them from one end of a campus to the other, and occasionally having them knocked off/fall over onto my feet. 

Every last one of them can burn in Hell, along with Unit #722, which I took great personal delight in beating to death with a post maul and shoveling the remains into the school's dumpster when it was replaced with a handheld Fluke tester and butt-set kit, the entirety of which was smaller and weighed less than the cable bag for that monstrosity. 

mnem
No remorse.

am very sorry to hear you associate the TIMS with bad times.

as for me....spent many satsfying hours with one in the basement of the 5 sided building, or in cross connect huts, repeater  sites, dusty attics, and cramped closets in the desert,  jungle, and tundra.  (ya' ever been paged at the airport in tampa on the way home 2 days before Christmas and told to go pick up a ticket for a flight to san diego?)   despite all the black widow spiders, rattle snakes, banana slugs, opens, splits, or just the wrong pair...... the old trusty hp tims always found a good pair and you got the circuit up and went home. 

now the hp tripack…...that was a POS. 

https://testequipment.center/Products/HP-3550A

edit  what's a 722?

[Specmaster]

Yeah could be right there. It's a right fucking mess in that department for sure.

It's £1 listing weekend so I'm going to see if I can palm off some high value shit before April 14th deadline I think. May be much more difficult to shift it after.

Seriously... eBay is the shithole of e-commerce, and it poisons everything it touches. Even NewEgg treats them as a dumping ground. 

mnem
One of these days I'll learn... 

Shithole or not, what else do we have as an alternative over on this bank of the pond? As far as I'm aware we have Gumtree and Shpock, both of which are in my opinion and experience are even further down that shithole and maybe beyond the bend as well, I know that bd has also come across one seller on those platforms who deserves to be flushed down the particular hole as well.

So, I ask the lovely members here that if they know of any other selling platforms in the UK that they consider to be better than Ebay and if so to share the information with us all because currently I'm becoming disillusioned with Ebay. 

[bd139]

The pub used to be a pretty good sales ground. Unfortunately no test gear. Usually just pirate videos, televisions, video recorders, dogs, knives, whores and guns.

[Specmaster]

The pub used to be a pretty good sales ground. Unfortunately no test gear. Usually just pirate videos, televisions, video recorders, dogs, knives, whores and guns.

That sounds about right for where you live, apart from I suspect that a lot of the items are stolen. In all of my experience that is not so here in my region, I've never been approached and asked if I wanted to buy anything, other than when in a London boozer.

[med6753]

The pub used to be a pretty good sales ground. Unfortunately no test gear. Usually just pirate videos, televisions, video recorders, dogs, knives, whores and guns.

Whores and guns? Sign me up!    Seriously, I've had no issues with Ebay so far. The stuff has been as advertised, packaged well, and for the most part delivered when promised. And any correspondence with a buyer pleasant and courteous. No scammers or dirtbags. Not even counting some of the screaming good deals I've gotten. But I suppose one for these days my good fortune is going to run out.     

[mnementh]

While I can appreciate your POV personally from other addictions... my own experience with these Ifni-accursed things in my High-School AV Dept days (we had the joy of maintaining the school's inter-office intercom network) has been one of absolute frustration and actual physical pain lugging them from one end of a campus to the other, and occasionally having them knocked off/fall over onto my feet. 

Every last one of them can burn in Hell, along with Unit #722, which I took great personal delight in beating to death with a post maul and shoveling the remains into the school's dumpster when it was replaced with a handheld Fluke tester and butt-set kit, the entirety of which was smaller and weighed less than the cable bag for that monstrosity. 

mnem
No remorse.

am very sorry to hear you associate the TIMS with bad times.

as for me....spent many satsfying hours with one in the basement of the 5 sided building, or in cross connect huts, repeater  sites, dusty attics, and cramped closets in the desert,  jungle, and tundra.  (ya' ever been paged at the airport in tampa on the way home 2 days before Christmas and told to go pick up a ticket for a flight to san diego?)   despite all the black widow spiders, rattle snakes, banana slugs, opens, splits, or just the wrong pair...... the old trusty hp tims always found a good pair and you got the circuit up and went home. 

now the hp tripack…...that was a POS. 

https://testequipment.center/Products/HP-3550A

edit  what's a 722?

Yes to all the above scenarios, only IT related rather than telephony. Well, similar enough to be the same. Especially the spiders, snakes & blistering hot attic/IDF/MDF/randomly mounted demarcs.

I swear, you telecom guys seem to take delight in mounting your SmartJacks in the weirdest fucking places. 


From the previous owner's ridiculously huge Asset Tag and number stenciled onto the top in red; we referred to it in the shop just as "Unit 722". Usually with loathing dripping from every syllable.

GTE Corp. #722
Stamford, CT.
(Plus a bunch of other departmental ID stuff I can't remember anymore)

[EDIT] There was a remote unit we almost always used with; and it seemed no matter which way we started out, we'd eventually have to swap the two to confirm our diagnosis. Closed systems like that telephone-intercom were an utter dicksore. A lifetime ago... and I can still hear those effing decade relays ratcheting away...  [/EDIT]

mnem
No. alternately, Yes. But maybe...

[med6753]

And speaking of screaming good deals and just what I'm looking for. On watch list. I haven't bid on it and it's got 5 days left. And 17 watchers. I'm sure it's gonna get sniped.

I've bought from this seller before and he has good stuff. But you know what my fear is? That this 465B will work fine and I can't bring myself to rip out the channel 2 attenuator deck for mine. And I REALLY don't need a 2nd functional 465B. And my 465B has the DM44 and trying to swap that over could be a real PITA.

[mnementh]

I guess I have no ethics and my morals are questionable. I have 5 parts mules here. A Tek 465, Tek 2430, Tek DM44, Tek 7A15, and a Fluke 8800A. I have absolutely no intention of fixing any of them and they've all been scavenged for parts. My conscience is completely clear and with no lingering guilt. I am judge and jury in determining if something can be fixed and no one going to tell me different. If it goes into "no fix" it's parts.

And I'm not done sinning. If I can find a beat to crap 465B real cheap it's gonna give up it's channel 2 attenuator switch deck and go in the parts mule closet.     

There's those "nonexistent ethics" just kicking you right in the junk, eh? 

mnem
Irony, thy name is med.

[bd139]

The pub used to be a pretty good sales ground. Unfortunately no test gear. Usually just pirate videos, televisions, video recorders, dogs, knives, whores and guns.

That sounds about right for where you live, apart from I suspect that a lot of the items are stolen. In all of my experience that is not so here in my region, I've never been approached and asked if I wanted to buy anything, other than when in a London boozer.

All the items are stolen! I was in a pub in Catford once (I lived there for 6 months) and a guy comes up to me and taps me on the shoulder. I think oh oh, here we go. He says to me "are you the dude who wants to buy a shooter?". I said "nah not me mate". He goes "do you want to buy some coke instead?". I reply "nah not my thing". He says "fair enough - have a good one dude" and ambles off and taps on someone else's shoulder and does the same routine. Eventually I see out of the corner of my eye a large jiffy bag being swapped for a fad wad of 20s.

Despite all this shit going on, I feel totally safe in London.

[Specmaster]

The pub used to be a pretty good sales ground. Unfortunately no test gear. Usually just pirate videos, televisions, video recorders, dogs, knives, whores and guns.

Whores and guns? Sign me up!    Seriously, I've had no issues with Ebay so far. The stuff has been as advertised, packaged well, and for the most part delivered when promised. And any correspondence with a buyer pleasant and courteous. No scammers or dirtbags. Not even counting some of the screaming good deals I've gotten. But I suppose one for these days my good fortune is going to run out.   

Ebay itself is fine, but I suspect that our Brexit shit is scrambling people's brains, they either are asking top prices for shit that is listed as for spares or repair, good stuff has had price hike of late. I have seen tatty broken shit sell for similar prices to the same item, in good condition and working ffs.

[Specmaster]

The pub used to be a pretty good sales ground. Unfortunately no test gear. Usually just pirate videos, televisions, video recorders, dogs, knives, whores and guns.

That sounds about right for where you live, apart from I suspect that a lot of the items are stolen. In all of my experience that is not so here in my region, I've never been approached and asked if I wanted to buy anything, other than when in a London boozer.

All the items are stolen! I was in a pub in Catford once (I lived there for 6 months) and a guy comes up to me and taps me on the shoulder. I think oh oh, here we go. He says to me "are you the dude who wants to buy a shooter?". I said "nah not me mate". He goes "do you want to buy some coke instead?". I reply "nah not my thing". He says "fair enough - have a good one dude" and ambles off and taps on someone else's shoulder and does the same routine. Eventually I see out of the corner of my eye a large jiffy bag being swapped for a fad wad of 20s.

Despite all this shit going on, I feel totally safe in London.

Crikey, maybe the shooter line was a local phrase for coke? [emoji848]

[bd139]

Nope definitely a gun. It really doesn't surprise me. Lots of guns here despite beliefs by everyone else not from the UK that this is not the case!

Down the road from me last month: https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/isleworth-shooting-man-shot-in-the-street-in-west-london-a4062371.html

Edit: Honestly though, unless you're actually fecking around with the local gangs then you're perfectly safe. They won't touch you. In fact they're usually pretty nice people, as long as you're not a dealer or gang member from other areas.

[Cubdriver]

Well, I now have two HP 6722B power supplies in unknown operational condition (one allegedly powers up at least), along with a 6299A 0-100V jobbie listed as 'for parts' incoming from the 'bay.  Made offers on all three, and all were accepted. 

More for the repair stack.

-Pat

[Specmaster]

Nope definitely a gun. It really doesn't surprise me. Lots of guns here despite beliefs by everyone else not from the UK that this is not the case!

Down the road from me last month: https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/isleworth-shooting-man-shot-in-the-street-in-west-london-a4062371.html

Edit: Honestly though, unless you're actually fecking around with the local gangs then you're perfectly safe. They won't touch you. In fact they're usually pretty nice people, as long as you're not a dealer or gang member from other areas.

All the same, you can keep it, I'm perfectly happy not to be anywhere near that kind of activity thanks, only takes a stray bullet with your name on it.

[mnementh]

Things that make you go "Hmmmmm..."

Okay... this is totally from out in left... well, further than left field; like from the empty lot just WEST of left field... but...

I've recently discovered a taste for STALE CHEESE BALLS.

I know, right?

I'm not talking about those little holiday snack cheeses rolled in nuts; though that would probably be less weird. I'm talking the "cheezy poof" kind like you get at the pub or baseball game instead of popcorn.

They've always been a "Ehhh... okaaayyy..."  at best snack for me, but I always preferred them to poofs simply because you can eat them from a plastic cup and not get your hands covered in powdered cheddar; but something about the combimnation of taste and texture when they just start to turn... they get crun-chewy on the outside and still crispy in the middle but they don't taste stale YET. THAT right there. I've developed a taste for THAT. 

Especially in my soup. I've never been a fan of crackers or anything in soup; if the soup isn't good all by itself, no amount of "add-ins" are gonna make it worth eating. But a handful in my soup just... it hits my "comfort food" spot like cornbread & butter. Which I guess sortof makes sense; they are mostly puffed cornmeal.

But why the eff NOW?!? Is this something everybody's always known about and I'm just now getting it?

Or am I just weirdening in my... okay, weirdening MORE in my old age?

mnem

[Specmaster]

Nothing wrong in that at all, sounds rather nice if you ask me, but then, I also like to put some grated cheese in a bowl of cream of Tomato soup and even on top of spag bol, nom nom.

[kj7e]

Well, I now have two HP 6722B power supplies in unknown operational condition (one allegedly powers up at least), along with a 6299A 0-100V jobbie listed as 'for parts' incoming from the 'bay.  Made offers on all three, and all were accepted. 

More for the repair stack.

-Pat

If you need caps, I can point you in the right direction.  Found out mine was made after 1991, and the 6227B listed for $2700 in the 93' catalog.

[Cubdriver]

Well, I now have two HP 6722B power supplies in unknown operational condition (one allegedly powers up at least), along with a 6299A 0-100V jobbie listed as 'for parts' incoming from the 'bay.  Made offers on all three, and all were accepted. 

More for the repair stack.

-Pat

If you need caps, I can point you in the right direction.  Found out mine was made after 1991, and the 6227B listed for $2700 in the 93' catalog.

Sounds good, I'll keep that in mind.  With luck, they'll be ok or re-formable.  If not, I shall pick your brain.  None of the ones I have coming had auction photos taken from an angle where the serial number is visible, so I've no idea of the date codes.  One of the 6722Bs has the more modern rocker style power switch like yours; the other has an old-school bat-handle toggle switch.  My money would be on the second being the more 'senior' of the two.

-Pat