Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[med6753]

I've scared the crap out of more than one person (especially girls  ) with this......

[Specmaster]

[..]
If you don't own any Tektronix, you can't have any pudding!
How can you have any pudding if you don't own hp!
[..]

No Tektronix in my wall of TE -so, no pudding for me.      

I've got one so only a little bit of pudding me 

[Specmaster]

I've scared the crap out of more than one person (especially girls  ) with this......

That reminds of Phil Collins and his "In The Air Tonight", people turn up the volume for the first part because its quiet and then when he gets onto the drums, jump out their skin 

[med6753]

 

[mnementh]

speaking of repair queues... i put the second 191 on the bench yesterday, did a quick mechanical and visual check, then powered it up. it worked more or less but it clearly had, um, issues.  besides finding that it was way out of calibration and the amplitude control was wonky, i noticed a problem with the peak detector board:



the dielectric disks in C60 and C64 were pushed almost all the way out from under the clip, which might have contributed to the amplitude control problem. that was an easy fix. then it appeared that a 1KOhm custom tektronix pot with many mechanical doodads had dead spots and linearity problems.    here's the culprit:



but the TE gods smiled upon me. dripping deoxit into the pot where the front and back plastic case mated and patient rotation seemed to do the trick. after fixing the peak detector and cleaning the pot, the amplitude control circuit started working as intended.

it was far enough out of voltage cal that i started from step one. i had to loop through the reference voltage, amplitude tracking, and amplitude calibration three times to get it back to spec.

after that, a quick check of the frequency output in each of the bands suggests that i have to go through the full frequency calibration procedure, too. that's for tomorrow, as it has already been a long day and here are the first two adjustments, tucked under a wafer switch   

Wow... that is some hardcore Doc Brown looking shit right there, man. Well done!

That said... I vaguely remember some discussion in one of my usenet groups ages ago suggesting that the location of those discs (how much of the fingers left exposed) was actually a micro-tuning mechanism for the capacitance of the circuit as a whole, and that it was a mechanism Tek had used in many designs of the space-race era.

As usual IIRC, DQMOT, YMMV, etc... 

mnem

[Mortymore]

I've scared the crap out of more than one person (especially girls  ) with this......

That reminds of Phil Collins and his "In The Air Tonight", people turn up the volume for the first part because its quiet and then when he gets onto the drums, jump out their skin 

One of my favourites, that also starts slow... them BANG!

Soma - Smashing Pumpkins

[mnementh]

actually I am watching what my friend Matt have done yesterday,
that looks extremly fast 

https://www.wellenkino.de/557/viewtopic.php?f=5&p=1245#p1245

So, from context (as I couldn’t be arsed to do translate from my iPad), it appears he brought it back to life by replacing a single 30 cent tant in a plugin...?

Fukkin’ a-diddy! 

“ground” is a convenient fantasy

 

That one is going in the personal file...

Here's the re-do of

"Another Brick In The Wall (Part II)"

Contributions by certain members are obvious. 


....Wrong! Solder it again!
If you don't own any Tektronix, you can't have any pudding!
How can you have any pudding if you don't own hp!
You! Yes, you, behind the equipment rack, stand still, laddy!

Papa Smurf approves. 

Welp, paint it blue then...

@xrunner -

Well and truly filked... thanks for bringing that. 

Now this will be a point of contention, as there are so many mis-transcribed lyrics on the intardnet that trying to make them right is like sweeping back the oven with a broom... but I know for a fact that at one time the end of that bit was generally accepted to correctly read “You..! Yes, you behind the paint shed; stand still willya!!!”

Now the consensus is that it’s supposed to be “You! Yes, you, behind the bike sheds, stand still, laddy!”

 

  IS a “bike shed”...? Is this really a common Brit thing I don’t know anything about? Or is this just the usual intardnet dumbassery multiplying like nulls again?

mnem
Another one from the most misunderstood lyrics file: ”.... hold me closer, Tony Danza; count the head lice that fly away...”

[med6753]

One more. This one wakes you up real quick. 

[Addicted2AnalogTek]

My all time favorite album hands down is Pink Floyd - The Division Bell, and all time favorite song is High Hopes.

Blasting it loud enough to drown out any background noise and the lap steel solo gives me chills

https://youtu.be/7jMlFXouPk8

[med6753]

New shelving unit completed and installed.

[bd139]

My all time favorite album hands down is Pink Floyd - The Division Bell, and all time favorite song is High Hopes.

Definitely their best album  . Decent cover of High Hopes: https://youtu.be/4oEDnVeYYyM


Quick PC porn. This is one of the most important bits of test gear really these days. Threw it together at lunch.





Black. Yes. Lots of it. Not fired it up yet as the bloody monitor hasn't turned up yet!

I'm liking the case. But next time I buy a modular power supply as there's basically a large bundle of snakes hiding in the bottom.

[beanflying]

Neat @med 

Next Cable Hanger installed and another couple should be 'enough'. Now what to put in the soon to be empty drawer from the rest of the junk

Printed a simple washer for the back on the wire frames.

[beanflying]

My all time favorite album hands down is Pink Floyd - The Division Bell, and all time favorite song is High Hopes.

Definitely their best album  . Decent cover of High Hopes: https://youtu.be/4oEDnVeYYyM


Quick PC porn. This is one of the most important bits of test gear really these days. Threw it together at lunch.


Black. Yes. Lots of it. Not fired it up yet as the bloody monitor hasn't turned up yet!

I'm liking the case. But next time I buy a modular power supply as there's basically a large bundle of snakes hiding in the bottom.

Was there a heatsink for the NVME with the MB? Cable management is so much easier with a lot of the modern cases too

[bd139]

No heatsink for the NVMe drive. Should be fine. I'm really liking these modern ATX cases. I haven't built one for about 15 years now. They are so much better than the "bundle of shit in the middle" of yesteryear.

[Mr. Scram]

Those cable hangers look somewhat frail with the print lines perpendicular to potential forces and relatively narrow prongs. I'm curious how they'll hold up in practice as I may be overthinking it.

[beanflying]

Those cable hangers look somewhat frail with the print lines perpendicular to potential forces and relatively narrow prongs. I'm curious how they'll hold up in practice as I may be overthinking it.

In bed for the night but I think from memory they are 3x14 (might have been 12) with a 2mm web under them for support. I gave the IEC leads a good downard pull and there was no real deflection so for sensible leads should be fine.

[beanflying]

Not sure if you have seen this. 19x19 with a 7mm hole and smacked across the layer lines. 200C fused works but 190 maybe not so much, there is some good work on youtube by CNCKitchen on this with proper testing.

[URI]

Just burned 64€ for nothing.   
I searched, found and ordered a Pretec 1MByte SRAM PCMCIA Card for my HP 8110A. HP has an option number for it...
Plugged it in and ...my two working 8110A say it's corrupted.   

Asked the seller if I could return the SRAM card if it is clearly defective.
Reply: What mode does my device work with; 8 Bit or 16 Bit?

Turns out that around 2017 the chipset in those cards that could switch between those modes got obsolete and newer cards only support one of 8 Bit or 16 Bit native mode. Should have known earlier.   

Question is: Will I be willing to potentially burn more n*60€ for probing through the different models of 1MByte SRAM cards that exist..?

I should have read this product change note before:
http://www.pretec.com/images/stories/news/PCN-SRAM-Linear-Flash-card-revised-2017-1013.pdf

If anyone has information about of what exact specification a SRAM PCMCIA Card for the HP/Agilent 8110A has to be I'd be very happy to hear/read about.

[AVGresponding]

Quick tips on this:

1. Screen bezel is the first thing to break on these. Always is. I have a good one here. 3d print? Possibly when I get some time (and more CAD skills ).
2. The jammed inner knobs is normal after a front impact. Pull them straight off then put them back on and all should be good. If it's a really hard impact the attenuators could be fucked. Mine were but I have spent a very long time rebuilding the damn thing and it's ok now.  Also with the knobs, the cap is glued on. Don't try and remove it.
3. There's a RIFA in the back panel under the bit of fibreglass. Replace it lest the firey spooge be emitted into your scope. It'll never smell the same again.


RIFA bastard replacement Watch the solder tags - they are mega fragile.

Power supply recap. Don't bother with Philips caps like I did. Too much effort. I made an adapter PCB for the big one. Watch the board. Single sided and quite fragile too.

Thanks for these tips!

I will try to rebuild the bezel at first; I'm a dab hand with the resin and micro-fine fibreglass 


The Division Bell?!?   

Wish You Were Here for me, followed by Obscured By Clouds, then Relics...

I think The Division Bell is my least favourite Floyd album 

[med6753]

Nah.....

Dark Side of the Moon
The Wall
Animals
Wish You Were Here

  

[AVGresponding]

There is no 'dark side of the moon'.

There is 'the side of the moon currently facing away from the sun', but I guess that's not a snappy enough title for an album

[Mr. Scram]

Not sure if you have seen this. 19x19 with a 7mm hole and smacked across the layer lines. 200C fused works but 190 maybe not so much, there is some good work on youtube by CNCKitchen on this with proper testing.

It's not just regular hanging I'd be worried about but snagging a cable and inadvertently pulling on one of those prongs with force. That would invariably happen to me sooner or later. Not sure it's actually a problem here. There are a few tricks to mitigate the issue should it arise.

[med6753]

There is no 'dark side of the moon'.

There is 'the side of the moon currently facing away from the sun', but I guess that's not a snappy enough title for an album

"As a matter of fact it's all dark" 

[0culus]

There is no 'dark side of the moon'.

There is 'the side of the moon currently facing away from the sun', but I guess that's not a snappy enough title for an album

When the moon is full (from our perspective) it actually is dark. However, the term was originally in use because no one had ever seen the far side of the moon before spacecraft capable of reaching were a thing.

[tggzzz]

That said... I vaguely remember some discussion in one of my usenet groups ages ago suggesting that the location of those discs (how much of the fingers left exposed) was actually a micro-tuning mechanism for the capacitance of the circuit as a whole, and that it was a mechanism Tek had used in many designs of the space-race era.

For example, in the Tek 184 it is easy to see the tuned circuit, but note the easily tweakable transformer coupling coefficient.