Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[mnementh]

You sonuvabitch... you've been holding out on me!!!  All those times you posted those pics of tortured cables just to torque my turkey... and here you have a nice little Pomona-style cable-rack, all full of happy little UN-TORTURED cables... and one that by all appearances was crafted by your own hand!!!

You crusty, agitating, ornery old COOT!!! 

mnem
Oh yeah... nice job incorporating the TEA into your living space. Looks almost civilized.

[mindcrime]

Not much exciting going on here w/r/t GAS... no $$$ to buy anything major for a while. But I did buy and assemble one of those little XR2206 function generator kit thingies, just for kicks.



If nothing else, it gave me a chance to try out the new Hakko FX-951 soldering iron I bought a few weeks ago. And now I have a handy toy to use for playing around with my 'scope and learning to use some of the various features I haven't used yet.  I guess it's about time to actually break down and *gasp* read the manual... *gasp*

[Specmaster]

First. Effing. Try.   

It took me a little while to get there; I couldn't find the 8-pin ATX cable for my old OCZ PSU, so I took the time to make one up. But really. 

This just reinforces the old wisdom of "Never buy the top of the line or the bottom; get 2nd up from the bottom or 2nd down from the top." The top of the line will receive all the attention at bug-fixing; which will usually also apply to the 2nd down; 2nd up from the bottom of the line is usually based on high-end last-gen tech, which is going to be more mature with the bugs already worked out. 

I will try and remember this next time I'm vacillating between two models... I almost bought this Aorus X570 Pro WiFi MB first time around due to lack of stock on the Aorus X570 Elite; I SO wish I had. 

mnem

Yep, much the same applies to cars as well, mine is the top of the range in every sense apart from the engine and all the extra bits if you need them are an arm and leg and then another arm at least to buy. I think that they work on the basis that its the middle ones that are the biggest volume sellers  and the top will be the least, so if they have a few mildly pissed off customers, its preferable to a lot of pissed ones in the middle ground.

Now you need to do a copy of the drive so if it ever goes wrong, you can get the configuration files reinstalled correctly.

[Specmaster]

@med, If I was on my own, I'd love to have my living room looking like yours, most civilised, but sadly knowing how slovenly I am when it comes to keeping benches clean and tidy, there would nearly always be some project in bits on a bench or two and parts of others. Well done its a credit to you, a man with many talents 

[Specmaster]

I can't wait to see it on my 24inch monitor later, well done sir.

You should see it on my 46" LED TV that I am currently using for a monitor.  Looks almost life size.

Awesome job on the bench, med.  Bench envy now.  I can build for function but not really for aesthetics.

I agree with you on the building aspect, can't really tell from the photos but I expect that not only are the aesthetics right but I bet the finish is equally as smooth to the touch as well. As to the 46" monitor, I'm got monitor envy right now...... but if had one that big, I'd have no bench at all so I'll have to put with my little one for know, but maybe one day I might be able rearrange my room to accommodate a bigger one.

[bd139]

Well you know you've got the kids right when the postman arrives and the six year old points to your delivery and says "toroids" 

As for living space, living room corner it is for me. Keeping it tidy is an art though. And I'm not an artist 

Edit: and for some RS "description craziness" 

[Specmaster]

Well you know you've got the kids right when the postman arrives and the six year old points to your delivery and says "toroids" 

As for living space, living room corner it is for me. Keeping it tidy is an art though. And I'm not an artist 

Edit: and for some RS "description craziness" 

The writer was suffering from  letting his mind go walk about while compiling the catalogue 

[tggzzz]

Well you know you've got the kids right when the postman arrives and the six year old points to your delivery and says "toroids" 

And then you go to "Krispy Creme Doughnuts", and they ask for a ....

[med6753]

Wow, did something very unusual today. I slept for over 6 hours straight.  Here it is 0800 hours already and I'm still in my skivvies drinking coffee. (I know, TMI.  ). Normal for me is about 3 to 4 hours max and then I'm awake. But not today. Gotta get my arse moving. I have to get to the post office before they close at noon today. But right now my old bones don't want to move. 

And it's humid as hell in here because the A/C has been off all night. 

[xrunner]

FT-991 now has 100W output. 

I'll just go through some minor adjustments from the service manual and call the customer.

Another job well done LOL. 



That's the bullshit level emoticon but I needed a pegged meter!

[med6753]

You sonuvabitch... you've been holding out on me!!!  All those times you posted those pics of tortured cables just to torque my turkey... and here you have a nice little Pomona-style cable-rack, all full of happy little UN-TORTURED cables... and one that by all appearances was crafted by your own hand!!!

You crusty, agitating, ornery old COOT!!! 

mnem
Oh yeah... nice job incorporating the TEA into your living space. Looks almost civilized.

Guilty as charged. And proud of it.  Keep'em on their toes and keep'em guessing. 

[BU508A]

TEA is really a plague! 

Once I sneaked around ebay (yes, here the evil starts) I stumbled over a
HP 3460A meter. A 6 1/2 digit nixe tube digital voltmeter for EUR 120.- in "for parts only / defect" condition.

I couldn't resist and pulled the trigger. 
Now I can't wait until it arrives.   

This is the evil thing:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/202722194710

picture of it:


I hope that the surprises won't be that nasty. We'll see.

It comes with no power cord and it has this weird oval HP connector.
But, surprisingly, a guy is offering some of those cords, so I ordered two of them:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/202531165401

Picture:


Now I'm looking for a service manual which doesn't cost a fortune for shipping...

There is no end of this road, is it?      

[Neomys Sapiens]

Some more philips love / fanboyism. They put all the damn caps on the same sheet as the power supply on the schematic 

For any caps on the rails exactly as good schematics should be. 

I disagree. For caps which function are specifically localized decoupling and/or stiffening/brute force filtering, they should be on the same schematic sheet as the device they serve. If you "run out of room", that usually means you've got too many devices on the same sheet. Time to decerealinize.

NAMING/NUMBERING CONVENTION, however, should place ALL caps on a specific rail in the same alpha-numeric series so that they are easy to aggregate from the parts list.

mnem

I fought this battle countless times since I ever was becoming involved in the E/E trade and sadly, I often lost. How can I trust the reasoning of someone who does not have the intellectual capacity to recognize the benefit of assigning his reference designators in a structured manner?
Your statement above is a interesting variant. I have to check some plans to find out how much usage it gets. But normally the violations start earlier, when you see a repeating structure where the RD's have no commonality from one channel to the other.

And no, it was not caused by the automatic naming of EDA tools, merely worsified. Idiocy predated automation here.

[TERRA Operative]

Here's a mission for y'all, if you choose to accept it.

I'm restoring a Yokogawa 2554 DC volt/current standard and I need new banana jacks as the screw-down bits are missing on mine...

Problem is, they are a bit of a strange looking type.
If anyone has seen something like this or knows what the manufacturer/part number is, let me know! This device is working really well so far otherwise after a little tweak of the trimpots (I think I'll replace some of the single-turn with multi-turn so I can really dial it in), so it'll be awesome to get it all 100% complete if I can...

[Cubdriver]

TEA is really a plague! 

Once I sneaked around ebay (yes, here the evil starts) I stumbled over a
HP 3460A meter. A 6 1/2 digit nixe tube digital voltmeter for EUR 120.- in "for parts only / defect" condition.

I couldn't resist and pulled the trigger. 
Now I can't wait until it arrives.   

This is the evil thing:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/202722194710

picture of it:


I hope that the surprises won't be that nasty. We'll see.

It comes with no power cord and it has this weird oval HP connector.
But, surprisingly, a guy is offering some of those cords, so I ordered two of them:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/202531165401

Picture:


Now I'm looking for a service manual which doesn't cost a fortune for shipping...

There is no end of this road, is it?      

Beautiful!!  Here is a pic of its younger sibling, the 'B' version:


And a link to assorted photos of its innards, and the removal of the grunge that coated mine when I got it:

https://pmanning.smugmug.com/Electronics/HP-3460B-Digital-Voltmeter

Enjoy your 'new' anchor - tis a thing of beauty!

-Pat

Edit to add - one of the things that impressed me about it was the attention to detail typical of HP gear of that era - the board layout silkscreened on the underside of the top cover, for instance:

[mnementh]

...For caps which function are specifically localized decoupling and/or stiffening/brute force filtering, they should be on the same schematic sheet as the device they serve. If you "run out of room", that usually means you've got too many devices on the same sheet. Time to decerealinize.

NAMING/NUMBERING CONVENTION, however, should place ALL caps on a specific rail in the same alpha-numeric series so that they are easy to aggregate from the parts list.

mnem

   I fought this battle countless times since I ever was becoming involved in the E/E trade and sadly, I often lost.

How can I trust the reasoning of someone who does not have the intellectual capacity to recognize the benefit of assigning his reference designators in a structured manner?  Your statement above is a interesting variant. I have to check some plans to find out how much usage it gets. But normally the violations start earlier, when you see a repeating structure where the RD's have no commonality from one channel to the other.  And no, it was not caused by the automatic naming of EDA tools, merely worsified. Idiocy predated automation here.

A large part of the problem arises in "revision" and documentation. Revision requires alterations to part numbers, BOMs and back up the chain to the corresponding schematic; this is an oft-chaotic process which creates countless opportunities for confusion to entrench. 

You may have different specialist engineers writing up the final documentation who feel THEIR schema is "The one true schema" but due to time constraints the resulting product is a hybrid that is not true to EITHER schema, or worse yet, people who aren't engineers at all revising your BOMs according to "bean counter" priorities rather than "Engineering-type-person" priorities. They will reorganize according to their own "one true schema" so it's easiest for them to catalogue; say pulling all the electrolytic caps into a group, ceramics into another, wirewound resistors another, etc.

Then by the time the originating engineer sees actual documentation, it's a fait accompi; the new schema is in the draft already sent to publishing and the boards are in production with the corresponding silk-screens already printed on half a run... 

It all boils down to the same "design by committee" constellation of problems that is endemic to corporate structure. As long as that structure is allowed to dominate our lives, so the ensuing product of anything it touches will continue to be dominated by the "too many hands spoil the stew" phenomenon.

mnem

[GregDunn]

It comes with no power cord and it has this weird oval HP connector.
But, surprisingly, a guy is offering some of those cords, so I ordered two of them:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/202531165401

Picture:

Be sure that's actually an HP cord - there are TWO varieties of oval connector and they are wired differently.

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/repair/replacing-hp-oval-style-power-connector/

[Neomys Sapiens]

Agreed! I was thinking the build quality on that unit looks more like medical or mil-spec hardware. VERY well thought out. I also like the fact it has the AC cord exiting the front; this is a feature usually found on gear intended to be used while kept inside an accessory storage case, or for small workbenches where test equipment is kept in a locker (Naval comms, etc) and only brought to the bench during actual use.

A delightfully well-preserved specimen... no idea WHY a postal service would need such hardened and high-quality gear though...  ?!?

Thank you mnem for your kind words. 

The thing with the German Post is: back in the 70's they were also a phone company,
today known as the magenta coloured German Telekom. That's why you can find on top
of the meter this logo (right next the "URU"):



And this is a better visible version of this logo:

I always loved the sound of their designations. I mean, who would not like to have been a 'technischer Fernmelde-Oberamtsrat' (TFOAR)? I recently had some guy look at me like a ghost when I asked him whether they could bring me a new Fernsprech-Tischapparat. And there was the FTZ, without the approval of which nothing was allowed to connect to a telephone line (and which had the power to enforce this) and not a half-assed regulator like now. And the 'Unterrichtsblaetter fuer das Fernmeldewesen' were really well made, I had them subscribed. The complexity of their regulations and training materials was indeed surpassed only by the military.

And some components which were designed by the FTZ and which the made all the manufacturers of telecommunication gear use were very well designed, like the switch series shown. they looked quite different, but when you looked closer, all critical dimensions were the same and they were totally interchangeable.

The POST included even their own officers with police powers (Betriebsschutz) and they kept their internal civil defence sections.


It was a glorious thing, if there would not have been those ugly caps. Can't find a picture of one, unfortunately.
Further reads:
https://www.fernmeldelehrling.de/index.php
https://grauepost.wordpress.com

[SilverSolder]

What was wrong with the other half of the bag??

[mnementh]

And So it Begins...

Now I've had my morning cuppa and cudgeled my last few remaining brain cells into something approaching conditio functionalis, assembly of the new MB can begin. I got these two SSDs up at MicroCenter while I was picking up the MB; I asked for the older considerably slower version and they were out, but since both were on sale, they substituted the newest model for the same $49.98 each.

Intent was to deliberately buy the cheapest nvmeM.2 SSDs I could find, and see if both slots actually operate at full bandwidth as advertised; this is something that has not been available before due to prior AMD chipset limitations. I figure that once native nvme/pcie4.0 SSDs are actually released, I can relegate these to laptop service and get dual use from them.

I had actually noticed the big hole on the shelf before I asked and was HOPING for such "customer servitude" as I was buying this expensive MB; I won't tell them if you don't. 

Now I've switched in liquid cooling bracketry and RAM/SSDs... it can go in the case.

And then I can start making up new power cables... as it uses not 4-pin, not 8-pin, but 4-pin PLUS 8-pin ATX power. 

mnem

[mnementh]

I know, right?  Don't care. I got them for $20 off of an already sale price. Dunno how I can go wrong there. 

mnem

[mnementh]

Okaaaay... no, there isn't something jamming up under the MB or effed up in the case... my new MB is just warped AF. 

mnem
 

[mnementh]

Well you know you've got the kids right when the postman arrives and the six year old points to your delivery and says "toroids"     As for living space, living room corner it is for me. Keeping it tidy is an art though. And I'm not an artist 

   Edit: and for some RS "description craziness" 

The writer was suffering from  letting his mind go walk about while compiling the catalogue 

Or he had ball-pein hammers on his mind because one had been liberally applied to his brainpan... 

mnem
Step 3: "Apply cluebrick; test for compliance. Repeat as necessary."

[Specmaster]

Well you know you've got the kids right when the postman arrives and the six year old points to your delivery and says "toroids"     As for living space, living room corner it is for me. Keeping it tidy is an art though. And I'm not an artist 

   Edit: and for some RS "description craziness" 

The writer was suffering from  letting his mind go walk about while compiling the catalogue 

Or he had ball-pein hammers on his mind because one had been liberally applied to his brainpan... 

mnem
Step 3: "Apply cluebrick; test for compliance. Repeat as necessary."

As has your MB FFS, that is not good, is it working OK when in the case or not? I'd be inclined to take it back and swap it over, that's an accident waiting to happen right there. 

[med6753]

The Heath OL-1 again. I thought I was done with this one. Not so fast. After I put it in the case within 15 minutes the LM350 VR for the filament supply overheated and shut down. I had a feeling that was going to happen. So today I moved the LM350 to the rear plate. That fixed the overheating. It now has plenty of heat dissipation. It's been powered on inside the case for over an hour with no issues. I also took the opportunity to add another 10uf to the B+ supply. You have to be careful here. Adding too much capacitance puts added stress on the 6X4 rectifier and you can blow it out. The scope's B+ supply really should have had a filter choke design to minimize the ripple but Heath decided not to go that route. So it is what it is but the trace looks decent.

Did some quick response tests. Heath specs the -3db point at 200kHz. Yep, as soon as you hit 200kHz you can see it start dropping off. It also specs -6db at 400kHz. Sure is. By that point the sine wave is half the size it was at 200kHz. So at least after 60+ years it meets it's specs.

Now it REALLY is done.