Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[0culus]

That thing looks brand new.  Awesome! I kinda wish my 2465B had the counter/timer option.

[bd139]

Nice job. Nice to see someone as anal as me about cleaning stuff 

[Specmaster]

Can't stand having dirty test gear, that's a job well done, did you do the knobs in a ultrasonic bath? That's what I use, a few minutes in there and they are as good as new again.

[mnementh]

Someone should really make @Med a nice 3DP Fan mount for that butchered horror show hack 

I'm game. What you got? 

I need something dimensionally to work from and I don't own a Tek of that persuasion   Failing that you do the drawings and someone might make it for you 

After midnight and I am waiting for the last Tek foot Cap to come off the printer  Foreground is the 100% 3DP rear is the complete surviving original one.

You fuckers; now you're ganging up on me. You're gonna make me drag out my parts mule and figure out what he needs to fix it right, aren't ya? 

Bean, maybe you should move that OE foot up to the top row, so it's not the one that always gets whacked when you pick the beast up. That worked for several years on my 454 before the remaining ones crumbled of their own accord...

mnem
*Shuffle-shuffle... rummage-rummage...*

I think it only appropriate that he who has stirred the pot the most should offer a solution 

   

Well, now I've hit a snag. All this while, I figured it would be a relatively easy mod to install a standard-size 7530 or 8030 size blower in there, provided you take the top off. Here's a 9533 size ALMOST fitting in the cavity in the back cover. Problem is, to work it needs to face THE OTHER WAY... which means the blower is turning in the wrong direction. And yes, such blowers DO exist; but they're generally custom parts.

Any of the common computer hardware blowers you can buy will be made for THIS orientation... nothing off-the-shelf affordable is made for "reverse-rotation". 

Now I find myself looking to axial fans like med did... so I'm experimenting with this Dell 80x25 server fan I have oodles of. The thing that makes it different is it has a thermistor control that can be nipped off and remote located pretty easily, so temp sense can be put right in the middle of the PSU just like the original. I have an Arctic F8TC on the way from Amazon; if this one proves to be "fittable", I'll see how that one does.

Cheers,

mnem
*Off to do the useful-husband thing now*

[0culus]

Yes, but my point was that the entire MHz Hz part of the MHz symbol is a single custom character in a custom font, purpose-made and baked into the silicon, just so they could fit it all in the space of one character; and that they did this so it could be generated fast enough to render legibly in the space between sweeps on a 400MHz scope. In the age of the VIC-20 and Commodore-64.

Now THAT is some fucking hardcore engineering, and it was on something so mundane, we don't even give it a second thought... things like THAT are what set Tek apart. 



mnem
*Big fan of old school*

I had this discussion the other day... Why do you use this old stuff when you can buy a brand x fill-in-the-blank that does all that, is firmware upgradable, weighs a tenth as much, and has a color screen and wifi, to boot? Because...

• dollar for dollar, it generally works better, especially at the limits,
• it is often more reliable in the oops-i-shouldn't-have-done-that sense,
• it is thoroughly documented with schematics, BOMs, test procedures, and almost always, theory of operation information,
• it is repairable by design,
• it is more carefully manufactured,
• it was designed by people that used what they built, every single day.

I am glad I own a Siglent SA that, for 1300USD, doesn't take a lot of square inches of bench, and works well enough for ninety-five percent of what I do. But it is, for the most part, an unfathomable, unrepairable, unmodifiable (except by accident) black box. More importantly, it is not a joy to operate because Siglent's objectives are quite different from those of the people that designed and built my big, heavy, beautiful 475 and it shows in every way.

At this point, the eyes of my young interlocutor glazed over, and I stopped ranting. 

And, yes, I need coffee.

Totally agree.

The most modern (read: the only one that runs Windows  ) piece of test equipment I have in my lab is my Tek TLA 715 logic analyzer. The rest of it is the best of the 1980s for the most part, save for my 8664A signal generator which hails from 1997 right around the spinoff of Agilent (it is badged Agilent).

[kj7e]

Can't stand having dirty test gear, that's a job well done, did you do the knobs in a ultrasonic bath? That's what I use, a few minutes in there and they are as good as new again.

No, just Q-Tips and IPA, removed the inner knobs for cleaning but that's it.  Spent some time polishing the blue filter with Novus plastic polish, started with 2500 grit wet sand, then 3000, then Novus #3, 2 and 1.  The filter looks like glass now.

[med6753]

Nice job. Nice to see someone as anal as me about cleaning stuff 

Ditto. Hate dirt and grime. 

[bd139]

Nice job. Nice to see someone as anal as me about cleaning stuff 

Ditto. Hate dirt and grime. 

And glitter here. If I see glitter it makes me go postal 

Stepping away from TEA for the evening to watch Cloud Atlas...

[med6753]

Someone should really make @Med a nice 3DP Fan mount for that butchered horror show hack 

I'm game. What you got? 

I need something dimensionally to work from and I don't own a Tek of that persuasion   Failing that you do the drawings and someone might make it for you 

After midnight and I am waiting for the last Tek foot Cap to come off the printer  Foreground is the 100% 3DP rear is the complete surviving original one.

You fuckers; now you're ganging up on me. You're gonna make me drag out my parts mule and figure out what he needs to fix it right, aren't ya? 

Bean, maybe you should move that OE foot up to the top row, so it's not the one that always gets whacked when you pick the beast up. That worked for several years on my 454 before the remaining ones crumbled of their own accord...

mnem
*Shuffle-shuffle... rummage-rummage...*

I think it only appropriate that he who has stirred the pot the most should offer a solution 

   

Well, now I've hit a snag. All this while, I figured it would be a relatively easy mod to install a standard-size 7530 or 8030 size blower in there, provided you take the top off. Here's a 9533 size ALMOST fitting in the cavity in the back cover. Problem is, to work it needs to face THE OTHER WAY... which means the blower is turning in the wrong direction. And yes, such blowers DO exist; but they're generally custom parts.

Any of the common computer hardware blowers you can buy will be made for THIS orientation... nothing off-the-shelf affordable is made for "reverse-rotation". 

Now I find myself looking to axial fans like med did... so I'm experimenting with this Dell 80x25 server fan I have oodles of. The thing that makes it different is it has a thermistor control that can be nipped off and remote located pretty easily, so temp sense can be put right in the middle of the PSU just like the original. I have an Arctic F8TC on the way from Amazon; if this one proves to be "fittable", I'll see how that one does.

Cheers,

mnem
*Off to do the useful-husband thing now*

See, it's not a simple as you thought.  Hence the cutting, crowbar, and booty fab. 

Edit...maybe I should submit here:

https://whitetrashrepairs.com/

[worsthorse]

Thank goodness for IPA and Q-Tips.

After;


On to my next project...

I buy IPA by the case, so I concur with the grit and grime sentiment.  The scope looks great! Unfortunately, the photos triggered a raging bout of NBR (Non-Buyers Remorse) for passing up the chance to buy either the TDS420A or the 2246 last night when we were sorting through gear. 

* wch wonders if it is too late...

[mnementh]

      Well, now I've hit a snag. All this while, I figured it would be a relatively easy mod to install a standard-size 7530 or 8030 size blower in there, provided you take the top off. Here's a 9533 size ALMOST fitting in the cavity in the back cover. Problem is, to work it needs to face THE OTHER WAY... which means the blower is turning in the wrong direction. And yes, such blowers DO exist; but they're generally custom parts.

Any of the common computer hardware blowers you can buy will be made for THIS orientation... nothing off-the-shelf affordable is made for "reverse-rotation". 

Now I find myself looking to axial fans like med did... so I'm experimenting with this Dell 80x25 server fan I have oodles of. The thing that makes it different is it has a thermistor control that can be nipped off and remote located pretty easily, so temp sense can be put right in the middle of the PSU just like the original. I have an Arctic F8TC on the way from Amazon; if this one proves to be "fittable", I'll see how that one does.

Cheers,

mnem
*Off to do the useful-husband thing now*

See, it's not a simple as you thought.  Hence the cutting, crowbar, and booty fab. 

Edit...maybe I should submit here:

https://whitetrashrepairs.com/

Well, no. Not that hard at all; it just means I have to do a little research.   

For MYSELF, in your place, I'd have modded the OE squirrelcage to fit the motor portion of one of the oodles of fans from my "cooling" bin. Would take me a couple hours tops, including balancing the rotating mass. But my model aviation hobby has given me considerable practice building "fans" from scratch, and I've accumulated the tools to make it relatively easy. 

So NO... still no way in hell I'd be committing the atrocity you did... and like I said, there was no need to hack that back cover up that way when you could've just left it off. Would've made YOUR hack a LOT easier too.

I'm looking for a solution that OTHER PEOPLE can readily replicate. 

I have a couple cheap 7525 and 7530 24V blowers on the way from China... if the 80x25 axial fan mod doesn't please me, I'll revisit later.

Cheers,

mnem
*sghetti time for da kiddles*

PPS: *SNERK!!!* at whitetrashrepairs.com

[bitseeker]

Yeah, especially when they're posted in succession like that.

The colors of the Hantek are rather Philips-like.

Or of course it could be that the Hantek is much newer and uses advanced chipset so complexity is reduced 

Protek / Hang Chang not Hantek

Woops, I didn't even realize that I was auto generating portmanteaus.

[bitseeker]

You can do that shit with a 44780 controller these days. Cool use:

https://youtu.be/_bMoR3Q6gzM?t=244

Very cool! I had only considered using custom characters for making bar graph animations.

[bitseeker]

While picking up my 55310A MDA earlier this week I asked the previous owner if he had anything else interesting 
So he showed me this Racal Dana modulation meter and I offered to take it with me for EUR 50 which was accepted.
It autotunes from 1.5MHz to 2GHz, here's the beauty measuring 7KHz FM deviation, it looks like everything is working as it should.

Cool. I haven't seen one of these before. Added to the POI.

[bitseeker]

Thank goodness for IPA and Q-Tips.

After;


On to my next project...

I buy IPA by the case, so I concur with the grit and grime sentiment.  The scope looks great! Unfortunately, the photos triggered a raging bout of NBR (Non-Buyers Remorse) for passing up the chance to buy either the TDS420A or the 2246 last night when we were sorting through gear. 

* wch wonders if it is too late...

Great job, kj7e!

wch is on a rampage!!

[Neomys Sapiens]

While picking up my 55310A MDA earlier this week I asked the previous owner if he had anything else interesting 
So he showed me this Racal Dana modulation meter and I offered to take it with me for EUR 50 which was accepted.
It autotunes from 1.5MHz to 2GHz, here's the beauty measuring 7KHz FM deviation, it looks like everything is working as it should.

Cool. I haven't seen one of these before. Added to the POI.

So have I, since CJay explained to me how the Sayrosa 257 works.

[Specmaster]

All this talk of calculators. Well, here's mine. Fit's anywhere. Does what I want. No batteries to leak or change. 

Thats a kiddies one, a basic 4 banger, here's a proper calculator, 54 years old, its the very one I brought when I was at college and its still going strong, uses a 9v battery and has never even had as much as a battery leak in that time and is still my personal favorite goto calculator out of all the ones in my collection.

[worsthorse]

Thank goodness for IPA and Q-Tips.

On to my next project...

I buy IPA by the case, so I concur with the grit and grime sentiment.  The scope looks great! Unfortunately, the photos triggered a raging bout of NBR (Non-Buyers Remorse) for passing up the chance to buy either the TDS420A or the 2246 last night when we were sorting through gear. 

* wch wonders if it is too late...

Great job, kj7e!

wch is on a rampage!!

I am afraid I have been on a bit of a tear. I might plead circumstances - two abandoned caches of gear appearing within four weeks of each other and I hate to pass up a good deal - but my definition of deal is obviously rather broad.

Speaking of which, didn't we recently have a discussion about the HP6101A power supply? I have one on the bench with a broken power switch, which, once I finagled the switch, seems to be working.  I am quite curious about it; it is touted as a high stability supply. Does anyone here have one?

And I am sure this question has been answered, though I seem to be search-engine-challenged this evening. The power button is gone, though the rest of the switch is in place and I can turn the unit on by pushing the actuator with a screw driver. What's the usual replacement for these switches?  (I will post photos later)

[tautech]

I am afraid I have been on a bit of a tear. I might plead circumstances - two abandoned caches of gear appearing within four weeks of each other and I hate to pass up a good deal - but my definition of deal is obviously rather broad.

Speaking of which, didn't we recently have a discussion about the HP6101A power supply? I have one on the bench with a broken power switch, which, once I finagled the switch, seems to be working.  I am quite curious about it; it is touted as a high stability supply. Does anyone here have one?

And I am sure this question has been answered, though I seem to be search-engine-challenged this evening. The power button is gone, though the rest of the switch is in place and I can turn the unit on by pushing the actuator with a screw driver. What's the usual replacement for these switches?  (I will post photos later)

Might be a job for a 3D printer ?
Calling mnem, Bean 

[beanflying]

Be careful poking anything inside the switch they are a Neon indicator 

My 740B runs the same part (2140-0244) which unless the likes of Sphere has any will be unobtanium. Easy to make a slug to replace it providing you still have the lock ring?

[worsthorse]

Be careful poking anything inside the switch they are a Neon indicator 

My 740B runs the same part (2140-0244) which unless the likes of Sphere has any will be unobtanium. Easy to make a slug to replace it providing you still have the lock ring?

Oh man, I forgot it was a neon indicator. I used a plastic pen to engage it but I likely would have reached for a handy screwdriver if you hadn't reminded me. Thanks!    I am an idjit sometimes.          Anyway, here are photos:







I will check sphere against that part number.  Yeah, maybe a printed slug would do the trick.

I found a copy of the manual on keysight's website so I am going to give it a thorough going over and cleaning.  I've been running it for a couple of hours at low, medium, and high voltage and it is rock solid, at least when it is not driving a load.

[beanflying]

Actually different design it seems so I cant design you a slug.

[worsthorse]

Actually different design it seems so I cant design you a slug.

Looks like it. The PN for this switch is 3101-0100. No joy at sphere or nebraska surplus. I will do the other testing, calibrating, cleanup work before I worry about it. Maybe I can fit a different push button switch and replace the whole thing. Thanks for checking.

Or I can buy this one on ebay,

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Agilent-3101-0100-Switch-Push-Button-SPDT-Alternating-5A-115V-Red/283029866807?epid=2128331606&hash=item41e5e50937:g:XVQAAOSwGdhbNKjG

which is priced at 2.5 times what I paid for the 6101A.   

[tautech]

Is it like the one in my HP sig gen ?
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/hp-8654b-10-520-mhz-sig-gen-light-teardown/

An opaque plastic button that lights up when pressed. Just an ordinary yellow/orange neon glow.

[Carl_Smith]

Whenever I see listings this fu**ed-up, my  detector goes nuts and I have to believe there's just got to be some some criminal activity involved. Like the listing is being used as a communication point for some drug deal, or it's part of a money-laundering/tax evasion scheme or something similarly convoluted.

The kind of twisted shit that only career criminals and those used to getting "money for nothing" ever even think of to game the system. 

Ha.  So I'm not the only one supicious of things like that.  It's gone now but for many months there was an ad on the free section of my local craigslist for someone giving away a roller shade.  A dirty beat up shade that was ripped on the side for about 4 inches in.  Should go straight into the garbage.  I was wondering if it was something similar -- a word of mouth thing where people say to contact the guy with the free roller shade and he'll set you up with what you need...

I've seen lots of other stuff that should go in the garbage on the free section of craigslist, but they usually don't get reposted after the first appearance.