Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[med6753]

Welp... The lady at the border crossing looked at us and the kids exactly twice, then waved us through. We're on the QEX about 45 minutes from Toronto.

Kosmic, think you should lock up the women & hide the fried chicken, eh...? Hoser-Dwagon is officially in da Great White North!!!

I just hope everything goes as smoothly with the rental property...

Canada will never be the same. 

P.S.....glad you got there safely. 

[beanflying]

Been busy with a 6 meter beam antenna. I took it down for the winter and I'm fixing it up a bit. The guy that made it for me in the spring had his friend 3D print some clamps for the director and reflector. But as you can see in the picture that person didn't use 100% infill - far less. It's a wonder it held up through all the storms. I have re-printed them (one on the left in the pic) with 100% infill and they are nice and strong now.

The plastic part that supports the driven element is from an old TV antenna. I might as well just re-design it because I have plenty of time, shouldn't be too hard. I don't need all the fancy angles on it - just basically a U shape over the beam support and U shapes going out either side. On top some ridges on either side where the rod sits to prevent it being torqued out of position by the wind (which happened during strong storms). And some screw holes ... done deal.

 

(Attachment Link)

Rather than go above 40% infill pump up the perimeters on all sides to 6. That broken print looks like 3 or may 4 at most? There is not a lot to be had above 40% based on some of the testing with numbers to back it up.

[xrunner]

Rather than go above 40% infill pump up the perimeters on all sides to 6. That broken print looks like 3 or may 4 at most? There is not a lot to be had above 40% based on some of the testing with numbers to back it up.

OK thanks for the tip! 

[beanflying]

More calibrations today. Fluke 8600A. This one did not go well and in fact stopped the process. It's out of spec.

When I first got this 8600A it had severe drift issues. In the process of attempting to repair I replaced the PSU caps, some tants and poly caps on the main board, the 1MHz oscillator crystal, plus a few other parts. I thought the problem was the zener reference itself but it has tested rock stable. I finally tracked the drift down to contact resistance on some of the range reed relays. So I replaced all of them. That finally fixed the drifting issues. I thought all the issues were fixed but apparently not.

I can calibrate the 190mV, 1.9V, 19V, and 190V and they are repeatable and right on. But if I check other DC voltages with the AD584-M the 2.5V, 5.0V, and 7.5V are OK but applying 9.99691V I get this:

10.001V. Way out. Should be max 9.9970V.


So I stopped the cal for now and this guy is in the repair cue. But I think it's going to be a tough issue to track down may not be worth the effort.   

Jeez you're a hard person to please aint ya? I would consider that being just 4mv after the many years of service, a win personally, come on now are you really going to noticing the differance in practise? 

Don't confuse Specification, Accuracy and Calibration 

If you look at the actual spec on the 20V range for the 8600A for example it is 0.02% + 0.005% of range. So an in spec reading of a 10V source would be 2mV reading + 1mV range. So it is well within Specification and at 10V (assuming an accurate source) it is accurate. The process to attempt to make it nearer is the Calibration bit.

Let me get you a bigger shovel and take away the ladder from your deepening hole 

_{you need a 6 1/2 digit meter, you need a 6 1/2 digit meter, you need a 6 1/2 digit meter, you need a 6 1/2 digit meter, you need a 6 1/2 digit meter}

[beanflying]

Rather than go above 40% infill pump up the perimeters on all sides to 6. That broken print looks like 3 or may 4 at most? There is not a lot to be had above 40% based on some of the testing with numbers to back it up.

OK thanks for the tip! 

This one is worth a watch. A bit of a search should find some others too.

[med6753]

More calibrations today. Fluke 8600A. This one did not go well and in fact stopped the process. It's out of spec.

When I first got this 8600A it had severe drift issues. In the process of attempting to repair I replaced the PSU caps, some tants and poly caps on the main board, the 1MHz oscillator crystal, plus a few other parts. I thought the problem was the zener reference itself but it has tested rock stable. I finally tracked the drift down to contact resistance on some of the range reed relays. So I replaced all of them. That finally fixed the drifting issues. I thought all the issues were fixed but apparently not.

I can calibrate the 190mV, 1.9V, 19V, and 190V and they are repeatable and right on. But if I check other DC voltages with the AD584-M the 2.5V, 5.0V, and 7.5V are OK but applying 9.99691V I get this:

10.001V. Way out. Should be max 9.9970V.


So I stopped the cal for now and this guy is in the repair cue. But I think it's going to be a tough issue to track down may not be worth the effort.   

Jeez you're a hard person to please aint ya? I would consider that being just 4mv after the many years of service, a win personally, come on now are you really going to noticing the differance in practise? 

Don't confuse Specification, Accuracy and Calibration 

If you look at the actual spec on the 20V range for the 8600A for example it is 0.02% + 0.005% of range. So an in spec reading of a 10V source would be 2mV reading + 1mV range. So it is well within Specification and at 10V (assuming an accurate source) it is accurate. The process to attempt to make it nearer is the Calibration bit.

Let me get you a bigger shovel and take away the ladder from your deepening hole 

_{you need a 6 1/2 digit meter, you need a 6 1/2 digit meter, you need a 6 1/2 digit meter, you need a 6 1/2 digit meter, you need a 6 1/2 digit meter}

Not in spec unless I'm doing something wrong.  9.99691V plus 0.003V equals 9.99991V. The 8600A is reading 10.001V. Yea, it's close but no cigar.

And I don't need 6.5 digits 

[nixiefreqq]

Welp... The lady at the border crossing looked at us and the kids exactly twice, then waved us through. We're on the QEX about 45 minutes from Toronto.

Kosmic, think you should lock up the women & hide the fried chicken, eh...? Hoser-Dwagon is officially in da Great White North!!!

I just hope everything goes as smoothly with the rental property...

HOSER.......take off eh!

[med6753]

More calibrations today. Fluke 8600A. This one did not go well and in fact stopped the process. It's out of spec.

When I first got this 8600A it had severe drift issues. In the process of attempting to repair I replaced the PSU caps, some tants and poly caps on the main board, the 1MHz oscillator crystal, plus a few other parts. I thought the problem was the zener reference itself but it has tested rock stable. I finally tracked the drift down to contact resistance on some of the range reed relays. So I replaced all of them. That finally fixed the drifting issues. I thought all the issues were fixed but apparently not.

I can calibrate the 190mV, 1.9V, 19V, and 190V and they are repeatable and right on. But if I check other DC voltages with the AD584-M the 2.5V, 5.0V, and 7.5V are OK but applying 9.99691V I get this:

10.001V. Way out. Should be max 9.9970V.


So I stopped the cal for now and this guy is in the repair cue. But I think it's going to be a tough issue to track down may not be worth the effort.   

Jeez you're a hard person to please aint ya? I would consider that being just 4mv after the many years of service, a win personally, come on now are you really going to noticing the differance in practise? 

Don't confuse Specification, Accuracy and Calibration 

If you look at the actual spec on the 20V range for the 8600A for example it is 0.02% + 0.005% of range. So an in spec reading of a 10V source would be 2mV reading + 1mV range. So it is well within Specification and at 10V (assuming an accurate source) it is accurate. The process to attempt to make it nearer is the Calibration bit.

Let me get you a bigger shovel and take away the ladder from your deepening hole 

_{you need a 6 1/2 digit meter, you need a 6 1/2 digit meter, you need a 6 1/2 digit meter, you need a 6 1/2 digit meter, you need a 6 1/2 digit meter}

Not in spec unless I'm doing something wrong.  9.99691V plus 0.003V equals 9.99991V. The 8600A is reading 10.001V. Yea, it's close but no cigar.

And I don't need 6.5 digits 

Been mulling this over and here's what I'm going to do. I've been using the Fluke 8050A to set up and monitor the 190mV, 1.9V, and 19V references. Rather than the 8050A I'll use the Siglent SDM 3055. That way I'll get better resolution and better accuracy. I'll run through the 8600A cal again. If the result is that reading is 10.000V or less I'll quit my bellyaching and be happy. If it's still above 10.000V the sucker is broke...no 2 two ways about it.

Just powered both of them up and going to let them sit and stabilize for at least 12 hours.

[xrunner]

This one is worth a watch. A bit of a search should find some others too.

Right, so yea he did a good series of tests. I will use 6 perimeters on the new center beam-to-element part and less infill. 

[Sam Spastic]

Downunder in NZ
Single phase
Phase Red
Neutral Black
Earth Green/yellow

3 Phase
Phases Blue, White, Red,
Earth Green/yellow

However Flex cables can be different with Brown and Blue for phase and neutral in single phase leadout cables.

Much better 3-phase colours than the new dull colours (black/brown/grey) we were forced to change to (though we had yellow instead of white). 
It makes you wonder how many mistakes are made (or will be in future) when cables end up dirty & illegible.

David

Yellow is sometimes used for phase in 3 ph too here. 

About the 2 pole mains Black and Blue you mentioned, obviously a UK sparky couldn't bring himself to use the Black for phase as the US do so used the Blue like you would for 3ph. 
Sorta makes sense for us that don't use Black for phase. 

But we now do use black for a phase, makes me glad I'm not a sparkie.
(Attachment Link)

David

In the U.S. houses I see black and red as 220V line with white neutral and green or green/yellow or bare copper as ground.

In an industrial setting I see black as three phase line maybe with white,black,red terminal insulation/markers.
Then red - hot 120v. white - neutral.
And blue - DC 24V everywhere.  Then the deadly yellow - power from around the corner down the block or that panel in the next building over.
Then more black for whatever motor spins everything.
and the same green or green/yellow or bare copper - ground.

Or in the old Hot Rocks warehouse white neutral. Red,black, and green three phase lighting power.  Conduit was ground.  Tried to object to working the lighting as out of my assigned area but boss said "The whole plant is your area."

They never wrote me up for being out of my area. I had the run of the whole place, roof, basements, breakrooms, outside, tunnels.....

[mnementh]

Holy Fucking ASSCRACKERS!!!  WERE THEY THINKING?!?

mnem
Probably some ignorant BS color scheme generated by some complete backbirth lobbyists because those 4 colors were somehow most profitable to some manufacturer or somesuch wank...

It is the standard EU scheme. It's been like that for at least 30 years, which does not exclude your theories from having influenced it, but that, then, must have happened a long time ago.

I guess... if you’re there it makes sense.

But from here, especially as you’re dealing with almost a century of Brit wiring that evolved into the preceding color code... using most of the same colors again, but specifically flipping one Hot and the Neutral feels like if we here in North America swapped black for white in 120VAC or Red for Black in 12VDC automotive wiring... it just makes my hackles rise and teeth grit involuntarily... 

mnem
I still blame lobbyists. And more often than not, I’m right.

[mnementh]

This one is worth a watch. A bit of a search should find some others too.

Right, so yea he did a good series of tests. I will use 6 perimeters on the new center beam-to-element part and less infill. 

There’s also a couple settings to make the wall pass overlap the infill pass every other layer; it essentially “stitches” the wall to the infill. Makes a huge difference in rigidity, as does using grid infill in perpendicular plane to compression loading.

If I had “my PC” right now I’d take a look in Cura to get the exact right setting so I could explain it better, but for a while I’ll still be sucking wind, stuck with only with my iPad. 

But hey... at least it’s working properly now... when I built this iPad last Christmas, I spent $100 on a “new aftermarket” LCD/ digitizer screen that I could NEVER get the Home button working on... not the original, or later a new aftermarket one. Plus, it had a region on the screen that worked, but didn’t consistently register taps correctly on like three or four letter “keys”, making typing literally an exercise in aggravation as the condition worsened from occasional to constant, and then it developed a pixel stuck bright right in the middle of the screen.  Of course by the time I determined it was just a POS “new part”, I was well beyond any return window.

Anyways... fast-forward to a couple weeks ago when we’d just started our “Cross-Country Vacation”... I was looking for screen protectors and I scored a “Grade B” OEM Pull LCD/Digitizer glass on fleaBay for $35 shipped. I had To have them ship it to my dad in NY because I didn’t exactly have an address yet. It has several very faint scratches in the surface, but none noticeable with my OtterBox installed. Bonus, the home button actually worked (not fingerprint ID tho) just plugging it in!

I actually  LIKE my iPad again!!! 

mnem
time for this waddle dwagon to toddle off to ded, ya hosers...

[med6753]

Here you go HP fan boys...

https://newyork.craigslist.org/jsy/ele/d/adelphia-oscilloscope-hewlett-packard/7003609195.html

[Martin.M]

Canada will never be the same. 

correct.
https://www.wellenkino.de/video/olimpik.mp4

[tautech]

Welp... The lady at the border crossing looked at us and the kids exactly twice, then waved us through. We're on the QEX about 45 minutes from Toronto.

Kosmic, think you should lock up the women & hide the fried chicken, eh...? Hoser-Dwagon is officially in da Great White North!!!

I just hope everything goes as smoothly with the rental property...

Pancakes and Maple syrup for your first breakfast in the GWN  memn ?

[Specmaster]

Not in spec unless I'm doing something wrong.  9.99691V plus 0.003V equals 9.99991V. The 8600A is reading 10.001V. Yea, it's close but no cigar.

And I don't need 6.5 digits 

Well, if you can't have a cigar, have a cigerrette then 

[bd139]

Ugh woke up to DST change and about 50 emails where shit has fallen over. Fun fun fun. Going back to bed 

More seriously, considering a 56400a for the HP collection. I have full schematics for one of them. Memory depth is awful and it’s only good for repetitive signals but it is currently cheap and they’re fun to use.

[med6753]

Ugh woke up to DST change and about 50 emails where shit has fallen over. Fun fun fun. Going back to bed 

More seriously, considering a 56400a for the HP collection. I have full schematics for one of them. Memory depth is awful and it’s only good for repetitive signals but it is currently cheap and they’re fun to use.

Our DST ends next Sunday, November 3rd.

And yes, for some reason there's always some systems/programs that can't handle the time change and crash. We had our main log system that always did that and no one ever fixed it. 

[med6753]

Not in spec unless I'm doing something wrong.  9.99691V plus 0.003V equals 9.99991V. The 8600A is reading 10.001V. Yea, it's close but no cigar.

And I don't need 6.5 digits 

Well, if you can't have a cigar, have a cigerrette then 

[bd139]

Ugh woke up to DST change and about 50 emails where shit has fallen over. Fun fun fun. Going back to bed 

More seriously, considering a 56400a for the HP collection. I have full schematics for one of them. Memory depth is awful and it’s only good for repetitive signals but it is currently cheap and they’re fun to use.

Our DST ends next Sunday, November 3rd.

And yes, for some reason there's always some systems/programs that can't handle the time change and crash. We had our main log system that always did that and no one ever fixed it. 

Indeed. My favourite one was the hour long appointment system I saw. It was a slot booking system which obviously did hour long appointments. So it stored the start time in UTC. Fair enough. But then they had a requirement to have 30 minute and 2 hour appointments so they hired the lowest bidder to modify it. Alas along came DST and 99% of the appointments were still 1h long. But the idiots stored the end time as a local time so it collapsed everything to 0h long and caused chaos and about £500k or loss  I only charged then 2% of that to fix it 

[med6753]

Ugh woke up to DST change and about 50 emails where shit has fallen over. Fun fun fun. Going back to bed 

More seriously, considering a 56400a for the HP collection. I have full schematics for one of them. Memory depth is awful and it’s only good for repetitive signals but it is currently cheap and they’re fun to use.

Our DST ends next Sunday, November 3rd.

And yes, for some reason there's always some systems/programs that can't handle the time change and crash. We had our main log system that always did that and no one ever fixed it. 

Indeed. My favourite one was the hour long appointment system I saw. It was a slot booking system which obviously did hour long appointments. So it stored the start time in UTC. Fair enough. But then they had a requirement to have 30 minute and 2 hour appointments so they hired the lowest bidder to modify it. Alas along came DST and 99% of the appointments were still 1h long. But the idiots stored the end time as a local time so it collapsed everything to 0h long and caused chaos and about £500k or loss  I only charged then 2% of that to fix it 

So no TE for you today. Go fix all those crashes and earn those big bucks(pounds)   

[bd139]

No one seems to want to pay me to fix anything yet 

[med6753]

Reminds me of Y2K. I was a manager of an equipment maintenance area responsible for device placement equipment. Full of PC/AT's with DOS, OS/2, and Win3.1. Months and months of prep work and we were all on site that night waiting for the world to collapse.

Not even a fucking whimper. 

[med6753]

No one seems to want to pay me to fix anything yet 

Then that's an easy answer. "Go away" 

[bd139]

Reminds me of Y2K. I was a manager of an equipment maintenance area responsible for device placement equipment. Full of PC/AT's with DOS, OS/2, and Win3.1. Months and months of prep work and we were all on site that night waiting for the world to collapse.

Not even a fucking whimper. 

Hahaha exactly the same outcome where I was working. 

No one seems to want to pay me to fix anything yet 

Then that's an easy answer. "Go away" 

I’m not even gracing them with a response! That’ll solicit a reply