Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Martin.M]

Triangels and rectangles looks OK

[med6753]

There might be a distortion adjustment for the sine wave.

[Martin.M]

I will check the power rails for peaks + pokes, here are more scopes then the apparatus have transistors 

[Zucca]

Martin if you can't fix it nobody can.

[Kosmic]

My inner VoltNut is saying yes, but my wallet is saying where's the make offer button 
https://www.ebay.com/itm/254412212863

Better not touch that thing. Could easilly cost you another 2K$ to fix the unit. 3458a parts are super expensive. 

[AVGresponding]

My Fluke 1953A arrived, in the usual bomb-proof packaging I've come to expect from this seller. Even having sat for hours in a near-biblical downpour, the TE was dry and undamaged.

Which is not to say there aren't any issues however, the rotary switches clearly need a lot of cleaning, and there's so much instability on the readings I'll have to poke around a bit to figure out what's going wrong.
1MHz square wave:

Fluke says:

and

and

also

and


The fact I can't find my BNC-BNC lead is not helping either   

Even considered chopping the ends off a TV aerial lead and soldering BNCs onto it, but decided against it in the end...

At least it comes in the med-approved colour scheme   


Meanwhile in Canada...

s

[mnementh]

   I think they were "working some shit out" after getting laid off when LucasFilms closed up shop after ROTJ... 

mnem
 

I think you're onto something there. Local surplus joint has a stack of thermometer/thermocouple controllers in that some case style. Assume they are largely worthless without the sensors.

No doubt being offered for sale by this guy...

mnem
med... is that you...? 

[0culus]

I won't say there isn't a resemblance between them. 

[worsthorse]

Hey @med I found another meter you could stack on your ugly duckling Fluke. Even painting it blue wouldn't help    eBay auction: #401819975598

All the nay sayers.  I think it's cool.   It's in the same case design as my 7260A Frequency Counter.

And yes.....I would paint it blue. 

That's the standard issue look from the  "every box must look like a short distance transporter from star trek" industrial design era.   

[worsthorse]

Back to TEA, why the previous owner is always a moron?
(Attachment Link)

My PITA Points:

1) the two elco caps on the top are not deformed but smaller in diameter than what they should be.
2) the big ass blue (dedicated to med) elco cap is not stripped down with a zip tie to the board
3) the relocation of the T220 is nice for thermal but I do not like the execution:
 a) no heat shrink on the T220 legs
 b) flux is like saturday night vomit out of the local bar

it's a legendary 7.5 DMM, you should work with gloves on it.
It's not a cow to milk out, you moron. I hate you.

Temped to put the T220 where the R&D decided to place it.

Why does my name always get dragged into a situation? 

hmm.... maybe it's your avatar? or that post you defaced with blue scrawls?

[FransW]

Amazing what just turned up before the weekend.

Star-Tek, aliens and distorted sinuses

[bsfeechannel]

And yes.....I would paint it blue. 

The satin bowerbird be like "Bitch, please!".

[mnementh]

Potentially ROM replacement and re calibration needed  Lots of possible downside without checking the error numbers.

Potentially two work months to get it working again and $2000 more in parts/board to invest.
Oh no, it is drifting after 24h test... what I do now?
Finally after a lot of cussing it will work but the cal of that beast costs again Kdollars so you want to jump out the next window you find.

Absolutely. Once you get up into that kind of money there's no point buying a pig in a poke; it's penny-wise & pound foolish. If you're willing to go thousands of dollars, TEQ has them Refurb with warranty for "only" $2500 more pretty much every day.

mnem

[mnementh]

Back to TEA, why the previous owner is always a moron?
(Attachment Link)

My PITA Points:

1) the two elco caps on the top are not deformed but smaller in diameter than what they should be.
2) the big ass blue (dedicated to med) elco cap is not stripped down with a zip tie to the board
3) the relocation of the T220 is nice for thermal but I do not like the execution:
a) no heat shrink on the T220 legs
 b) flux is like saturday night vomit out of the local bar

it's a legendary 7.5 DMM, you should work with gloves on it.
It's not a cow to milk out, you moron. I hate you.

Temped to put the T220 where the R&D decided to place it.

I don't see it being any improvement whatsoever; in fact, relocating there looks like it places U629 right next to an edge, with nut and screw protruding to hang up on everything. Thermal obviously is a non-issue here; the original location is a threaded boss swaged into the same exact piece of aluminum deckplate. The only arguable reason for relocating thusly is if threads in the boss were damaged and one was too lazy/cheap/ignorant to hunt up a tap & fix them. Given the barely tolerable execution of the "mod", I'd go with  lazy/cheap/ignorant; probably all in some measure. 

Ummm... okay. There's none on the OEM deployment either. I often mount LM7Xxx with the legs nipped to approx 2mm long and no heat-shrink. I know you're not supposed to due to "thermal shock"; but if you solder quick it doesn't harm the reg (over 3 decades using this method and zero fails I can reasonably attribute to it) and makes a nice tidy install with easy maintenance. A real LM7Xxx from a reputable manufacturer is a wonder of abuse-tolerance; witness my recent adventure with one dumping approx 25V through a 10Ω resistor.

Damn Skippy. Unfuckerizing TE fucked by others is what we do for fun here.

mnem

[Martin.M]

Hey @med I found another meter you could stack on your ugly duckling Fluke. Even painting it blue wouldn't help    eBay auction: #401819975598

stop  that do not have the digital data output option to use it with the funny little thermo printer

[Kosmic]

Temped to put the T220 where the R&D decided to place it.

I would do that yes 

[Martin.M]

 

[Martin.M]

I will make adaptor sockets to give him better Opamps.
There are µA741 (in 14 pin DIP, that sucks! )
With some NE5534 or BB chips that it will be better..

[Zucca]

F§%& you moron!

[Zucca]

I will make adaptor sockets to give him better Opamps.
There are µA741 (in 14 pin DIP, that sucks! )
With some NE5534 or BB chips that it will be better..

I need some of your love right now, please share.

[mnementh]

5000 Posts... Damn. Time for a Change.

Candidates are:         

Choose wisely; mnem has a strange sense of humor and may make you regret it.

mnem
muahahaha!!!

[Martin.M]

I need some of your love right now, please share.

it must not be allone in the cold ... dark ... working room, I found a little brother 

[Zucca]

Nice Martin you should open a museum.

mnem DragonMohito-Avatar.png all the way... full steam ahead.

[URI]

UPS-rant..

I took a day off for receiving the two packets with parts for my TE rack.
UPS announced delivery between 8am and 6pm.
No option of early or late delivery. Had to wait the whole day and I waited.
No UPS. No delivery.   
At 6:10pm UPS notes "delayed delivery, next delivery attempt on monday, november 11th! 

Had to call the (tall free? -no!  ) customer service line to have it delivered to a UPS service point where I can fetch it and don't have to wait for it all day long.

UPS sucks. 

No TE rack this weekend.   

[bd139]

Karma is balanced somewhere. UPS were good to me today. They phoned me up first thing apologising that they were going to be late for parcel collection. Then turned up on time!