Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[factory]

Incoming queue +1

Today, my HP 3460A arrived. Delivered via Hermes.
The packet is looking okay from the outside, but when I opened the box, I found this: 



     

I checked the meter from the outside but it seemed to be undamaged. Except for this switch:



But, to be fair, on the pictures from the seller this switch looks also damaged. So I am not sure if it was damaged during transportation.

[snip]

Glad, it did not explode. A reason could be, bd139 wasn't there. 

How about 5V?



Not bad but not really spot on.
The display is also a bit dull and dim.
This poor little thing needs some loving care and a good cleaning.
I hope, I can found this switch somewhere and the mechanical damage is not that big.
But this is a project for later, I will put it back into my incoming queue.

Personally I don't care what is used for packing as long as it did it job & protected the contents. Sometimes they even give you free unused boxes & jiffy bags too.

I'm a little surprised as I have pictures of this meter from 2012 when it was last sold (some interesting high voltage stuff in the background too), the control knob wasn't damaged then, you should be able to find one as they appear from time to time when sellers butcher equipment instead of trying to sell it complete.

If it was during transportation, you should find the missing part in all that rubbish.

This poor little thing needs some loving care and a good cleaning.

I'm quite sure it will receive both in abundance.

Congrats to your nice Nixie win!

Thanks. 
I'll do my very best. The father of a friend of mine is running a thing which is called "Rundfunk Museum".
When I'm done with the 3460A I'll going to donate it to his collection.

If you do donate it, make sure the museum actually want it, museums have the same problem we often do i.e. limited space, they often sell on donated stuff they don't want too.

David

[BU508A]

Personally I don't care what is used for packing as long as it did it job & protected the contents. Sometimes they even give you free unused boxes & jiffy bags too.

I'm a little surprised as I have pictures of this meter from 2012 when it was last sold (some interesting high voltage stuff in the background too), the control knob wasn't damaged then, you should be able to find one as they appear from time to time when sellers butcher equipment instead of trying to sell it complete.

Wow, thanks for that.    Seems, this meter has a kind of a history. And the knob has been damaged somehow since then. 

If you do donate it, make sure the museum actually want it, museums have the same problem we often do i.e. limited space, they often sell on donated stuff they don't want too.

I am aware of that. But I know for sure, that they are still looking for some stuff. 

[factory]

A few pictures of the Dana 5330.  It definitely needs some work - applying an input voltage gives no corresponding reading, and it randomly drifts around.  It's mid-late '72 vintage, so it may well need filter caps for starters.  It's a bare bones version, DC voltage measurement only.  The AC and resistance selectors are locked out and there is no AC/ohms circuitry in the measurement section.  At least all the nixies appear functional.  Into the queue it goes.

Lab Cat has brushed upon it and granted his purr of approval:


-Pat

Catching up again.
Looks very nice, strange how they have the extra connectors & switches for the ohms/AC ranges without the required circuitry, especially as I've seen them without the extra switches/connectors too. 

David

[factory]

Personally I don't care what is used for packing as long as it did it job & protected the contents. Sometimes they even give you free unused boxes & jiffy bags too.

I'm a little surprised as I have pictures of this meter from 2012 when it was last sold (some interesting high voltage stuff in the background too), the control knob wasn't damaged then, you should be able to find one as they appear from time to time when sellers butcher equipment instead of trying to sell it complete.

Wow, thanks for that.    Seems, this meter has a kind of a history. And the knob has been damaged somehow since then. 

I tend to save pictures from ePay of anything interesting or unusual, like your early 3460A.

Forgot to say to check inside to see if the spring clip for the indicator has come loose or is missing, it should look something like this one inside my 606B.



David

[factory]

Not a HP 200-series oscillator...?

damn.. No more clues for you  

Yeah, I didn't dare believe it myself as I was typing it. I just remembered when the topic of conversation was "All Things HP and The HP Way" you remarking that you've been seeking such a unicorn for decade(s). 

How close to the 200A? Still the same incandescent bulb filament-regulated Wien bridge oscillator circuit? 

http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/abouthp/histnfacts/museum/earlyinstruments/0002/0002history.html   HP 200A United States patent No. 2268872

mnem
*CPS-ily*

It's a very late model starting 1968. It's the successor design which is an all BJT/FET wein bridge and has an AGC feedback loop instead of the bulb. But 0.1% THD sine and 1% flatness is pretty good. And it doesn't bob around when tuning like the bulb networks do (unless it's in low distortion mode).

I don't do tubes in that stuff any more. Had enough of the damn things!

Need it for filters. Turns out the 3310A is a great function generator but the sine on it is jammed full of harmonics as it's a shaped triangle wave.

I confess I was too busy fiddling with the transmitter above to bid on that HP 200 series on ebay  . Fortunately it was relisted and no one bid!   

I think know which one you were looking at too, possibly the yellow(ed) fronted one with missing serial number label, I was watching that & the sellers overpriced Gould counter too.

David

[bd139]

That’s the one. 

[mnementh]

In Germany DHL means "Dauert Halt Länger" (takes even longer) which seems to be very true in your case. 

Heh... when I first saw that I read it as "Dauert Halt Lager", and my own poor internal translator said "Holds & takes beer...?"

Needless to say, I wasn't seeing a downside to the idea of a delivery company that specialized in beer... 

mnem

 

We are all victims of our prepossesions, aren't we?  Edit: Here, especially for you:   

LOL...  Actually... as a youth I drank enough beer for a lifetime. Pitchers full every other night with my cousin & beer nuts were my well-considered diet. 

Since then, I absolutely loathe the stuff; I NEVER EVER liked the taste (I don't care WHAT brand... it's the taste of undistilled bubbly fermented grain I loathe, so NO, I am NOT going to change my mind for YOUR favorite ale, lager, stout or what-teh-fuckever artisan brew you may think is unicorn's nuts/ambrosia of the gods), and since I've embraced my inner curmudgeon, I no longer feel compelled by peer pressure to drink something I don't like just to be "sociable".   

When I drink, I start with vodka & then move on to the harder stuff. I love a double shot of Tito's Handmade in an icy glass of Mt Dew Diet Dew or Pomegranite/Raspberry/Mango tea. Tito's is absolutely colorless as any proper vodka should be; you can't even tell it's there. Most of what's called Vodka here in the US is actually closer to gin, as it is usually flavored with juniper berry or some other fruit extract. 

I like a number of wines though my palate is pretty unrefined; I usually prefer the sweeter stuff. I love brandy and cognac; one of my favorite dessert drinks is Frangelico, fermented from the nuts of monks. 

I only like certain whiskeys... shockingly, only the ones that hide their malted barley origins well seem to taste good to me. A proper aged Scotch usually takes that "barf"-flavored edge off; of course here in the States any Scotch of any repute is so expensive as to be consumed only as an aperitif or on special occasions. 

So yeah... there's so much alcohol out there that tastes so much better than any form of beer; I no longer have time to waste on it. 

mnem

[BU508A]

I don't drink beer either because of the taste.     

@mnem: Maybe you'll like this? This is a huge pott full of Rum and fruits.
In Germany we are doing this "Rumtopf" (fruit in rum) for Christmas. It will be opened on 1st of Advent.

[bd139]

That’s looking pretty excellent.

When can we come to your house? 

[BU508A]

December, 8th, because then I'm done with my Christmas bakery and I can you offer some Christmas biscuits AND fruit in rum. 

[med6753]

I've come to the end of the road with this 485 until I can hook up with tggzzz. If you reference the partial schematic I posted yesterday both transistors have been changed with exact TEK replacements from a 465B parts mule. Both capacitors were pulled and tested. Both are OK. All the resistors in that area have been checked. Trace continuity done. No issues. The only thing I can figure is that something is forcing the IC to ground pin 16. That's the unknown.

I did some quick comparative measurements with a 465B and found something very interesting. On the 465B the pulse to pin 17 is NEGATIVE. On this 485 it's POSITIVE. From what I can figure out both are correct...which makes absolutely no sense. So given that brain twister I'm giving up for now.

I just knew the Sirens were gonna drive me insane.   

[mnementh]

mnem
*back out into the suck*

[med6753]

You got that right. 

[Specmaster]

I've come to the end of the road with this 485 until I can hook up with tggzzz. If you reference the partial schematic I posted yesterday both transistors have been changed with exact TEK replacements from a 465B parts mule. Both capacitors were pulled and tested. Both are OK. All the resistors in that area have been checked. Trace continuity done. No issues. The only thing I can figure is that something is forcing the IC to ground pin 16. That's the unknown.

I did some quick comparative measurements with a 465B and found something very interesting. On the 465B the pulse to pin 17 is NEGATIVE. On this 485 it's POSITIVE. From what I can figure out both are correct...which makes absolutely no sense. So given that brain twister I'm giving up for now.

I just knew the Sirens were gonna drive me insane.   

Is the IC in the 465 different to the 485 then? I suppose it must be or else you'd have already swapped that out as well?

[BU508A]

So, this is it what a native english speaker means with "Head in the clouds"?

[mnementh]

LOL... no... That is a graphic depiction of the popular expression "head explodes"; commonly used in cases of "mental overload", "infodump overload", "organic CPU stack overflow", or simply "mental anguish" or being "terminally stressed out".

Cheers!

mnem
Viva la difference lingua!!!

[tggzzz]

I've come to the end of the road with this 485 until I can hook up with tggzzz.
...
I just knew the Sirens were gonna drive me insane. 

"differently abled" sanity isn't in doubt, here.

Earliest I can look at my 485 will be Monday, but that presumes nothing gets dumped on me between now and then.

[med6753]

I've come to the end of the road with this 485 until I can hook up with tggzzz. If you reference the partial schematic I posted yesterday both transistors have been changed with exact TEK replacements from a 465B parts mule. Both capacitors were pulled and tested. Both are OK. All the resistors in that area have been checked. Trace continuity done. No issues. The only thing I can figure is that something is forcing the IC to ground pin 16. That's the unknown.

I did some quick comparative measurements with a 465B and found something very interesting. On the 465B the pulse to pin 17 is NEGATIVE. On this 485 it's POSITIVE. From what I can figure out both are correct...which makes absolutely no sense. So given that brain twister I'm giving up for now.

I just knew the Sirens were gonna drive me insane.   

Is the IC in the 465 different to the 485 then? I suppose it must be or else you'd have already swapped that out as well?

As I noted in prior posts it is the SAME IC. Tek P/N 155-0049-02 and it has been swapped out.

[med6753]

I've come to the end of the road with this 485 until I can hook up with tggzzz.
...
I just knew the Sirens were gonna drive me insane. 

"differently abled" sanity isn't in doubt, here.

Earliest I can look at my 485 will be Monday, but that presumes nothing gets dumped on me between now and then.

No problem.....whenever you can. I greatly appreciate it.   

[mnementh]

I don't drink beer either because of the taste.            @mnem: Maybe you'll like this? This is a huge pott full of Rum and fruits. In Germany we are doing this "Rumtopf" (fruit in rum) for Christmas. It will be opened on 1st of Advent.

Oh... that looks so yummy. Definitely a "Holiday Treat" though; the insulin dump a few hours after eating that would be atrocious and probably give me a migraine. 

Over here, at least in my Welsh immigrant grandmother's family tradition, it is common to take a fruitcake (not your common grocery store "fruity brick of pain" but a proper one baked in a Bundt ring, whose composition is more candied fruits and nuts and molasses than cake) and leave it in the ring for a week before Christmas, then pour rum or brandy into it every day until Christmas or New Year's. By the time the bottle was all soaked in, the resulting product turned into a dense, chewy thing with the consistency of heavy fudge and highly alcoholic. No sane person would eat a slice more than a finger wide at a time.

The GPs would eat a slice or two and get knocked on their asses... the whole "too cheerful family thing"; even singing "Auld Lang Syne" loud enough for the neighbors to hear half a mile away. 

The closest thing I've ever found that was close to her fruitcake is the "Claxton Family Recipe" "dark recipe" fruitcakes popular in Florida and Arkansas. Every few Christmases I'll find a vendor online selling them (they've had an e-store for several years now) and brandy it up in honor of them...

*mnemories*

[Specmaster]

I don't drink beer either because of the taste.            @mnem: Maybe you'll like this? This is a huge pott full of Rum and fruits. In Germany we are doing this "Rumtopf" (fruit in rum) for Christmas. It will be opened on 1st of Advent.

Oh... that looks so yummy. Definitely a "Holiday Treat" though; the insulin dump a few hours after eating that would be atrocious and probably give me a migraine. 

Over here, at least in my Welsh immigrant grandmother's family tradition, it is common to take a fruitcake (not your common grocery store "fruity brick of pain" but a proper one baked in a Bundt ring, whose composition is more candied fruits and nuts and molasses than cake) and leave it in the ring for a week before Christmas, then pour rum or brandy into it every day until Christmas or New Year's. By the time the bottle was all soaked in, the resulting product turned into a dense, chewy thing with the consistency of heavy fudge and highly alcoholic. No sane person would eat a slice more than a finger wide at a time.

The GPs would eat a slice or two and get knocked on their asses... the whole "too cheerful family thing"; even singing "Auld Lang Syne" loud enough for the neighbors to hear half a mile away. 

The closest thing I've ever found that was close to her fruitcake is the "Claxton Family Recipe" "dark recipe" fruitcakes popular in Florida and Arkansas. Every few Christmases I'll find a vendor online selling them (they've had an e-store for several years now) and brandy it up in honor of them...

*mnemories*

That description sounds more the traditional real Christmas Pudding, which would have been made with a lot of Brandy in the ingredients list and then had some Brandy or Rum slowly poured into a small hole made in the top of the pudding daily over the few days or so prior to Christmas and depending on the size of the bottle / pudding, consumed the entire contents  of the bottle. Then it would be served with some more brandy poured over the top and a flame applied.

[BU508A]

Over here, at least in my Welsh immigrant grandmother's family tradition, it is common to take a fruitcake (not your common grocery store "fruity brick of pain" but a proper one baked in a Bundt ring, whose composition is more candied fruits and nuts than cake) and leave it in the ring for a week before Christmas, then pour rum or brandy into it every day until Christmas or New Year's. By the time the bottle was all soaked in, the resulting product turned into a dense, chewy thing with the consistency of heavy fudge and highly alcoholic. No sane person would eat a slice more than a finger wide at a time.

The GPs would eat a slice or two and get knocked on their asses... the whole "too cheerful family thing"; even singing "Auld Lang Syne" loud enough for the neighbors to hear half a mile away. 

The closest thing I've ever found that was close to her fruitcake is the "Claxton Family Recipe" popular in Florida and Arkansas. Every few Christmases I'll find a vendor online selling them and brandy it up in honor of them...

That is so true! The cakes baked by grandmothers are the best! Always! No doubt about this. 
As a child I liked the "Linzer Torte" from my granny. Lots of raspberry marmelade on it and a bit of "Kirschwasser" (schnapps made of cherries). Yummy.

Nowadays I have to do this on my own. For Christmas, I'm doing twelve kinds of Christmas biscuits, one for each month of the year. 
Here are two examples (left is an "Espresso sphere" right is a "Zebra biscuit"):



Back to TEA:
I've found a knob for my damaged one. Of course in the US.  International shipping from there is really a pain.



And I stumbled over this, maybe one of you Nixie fanboys find it interesting: 
It is a "Vintage Bell Howell Heathkit IMD-202-2 Nixie-Multimeter"

https://www.ebay.com/itm/123771125240

[bd139]

Had a good day today. Arrived in Slough, got the phone, sorted. Proceeded to bugger off to McDonalds on the way home because it was pissing down. Felt like shit after having my foot stabbed up last night and being pretty ill this morning. McDonalds was spot on perfect. Good start.

Came back slightly refreshed. So I decided to look at the Tek 475 again. I refused to believe the multiplier had zonked out on it as I'd put a fresh one in it and they don't go that easy. I pulled every damn transistor and tant in the blanking and HT side of things. And found the culprit. Looks like the Q1316 (inverter base current source transistor) had gone iffy. Low beta. Was a typical Tek numbered TO5. Looked it up 2N3053. I have some of them! Chucked one in, still no banana however the voltages looked considerably better. Got the PM3217 hooked up and checked all the waveforms and the inverter was then running providing the correct HT voltages. So not the inverter. Was the current drive transistor.

Next issue was to find out what was happening. Hooked up the PM3217 to the blanking test point (TP1366) and found there was diddly squat happening there. Voltages were wrong. After tracing this out, I found that the current summing amplifier for the blanking (Q1338) was duff. Damn weird selected part ffs. Dug around in the transistor box and found exactly the right damn transistor. Nearly fell on my fat arse in surprise there  ... poked it in.

£5 tek 475 is alive!



And on that note I'm going to bed early before I penis fingers something and kill it again 

Edit: Am considering buying that HP 606B signal generator on ebay. It's 25Kg of tubes though which is pushing my luck somewhat 

[Specmaster]

That is some excellent news about your poor foot, I beat the air was a bit blue in your household this morning though when you discovered the truth of actually happened last night, I know if that happened to me, I'd ranting this morning for sure 

Liking the 475, its looking really good so that £5 could be good investment after all, even if it did need the help a Phillips to resolve it 

Edit, just looked up the HP 606B and thought that it looked remarkably similar to many of the Marconi Signal Generators of that era but with better ventilation.

[med6753]

And I stumbled over this, maybe one of you Nixie fanboys find it interesting: 
It is a "Vintage Bell Howell Heathkit IMD-202-2 Nixie-Multimeter"

https://www.ebay.com/itm/123771125240

Have one. And that asking price of $69.95 USD is nucking futs. At the most it's worth $30 USD.