Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[McBryce]

Additionally, I just bought one of these: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Upgrade-Aluminum-Extruder-Drive-Feed-Frame-For-Creality-Ender-3-3D-Printer-/292865286118

Not because Aliminium is any better than the acryllic one that's there already, but mainly because the hole in the black one is almost impossible to find without turning the machine around (I can't access it from the side). So the red colour along with the tapered inlet should make things a bit easier.

McBryce.

That's interesting. Have the same problem trying to find the hole in the thing. Added to pimping list 

On a related note, while browsing the interwebs I came across this: https://i0.wp.com/makersteve.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/New20190319_204501.jpg?w=678&ssl=1

Evidently, the acryllic clamp is a softer material than the filament, so after a while the filament will cut through the clamp and start jamming in the slot it created. Obviously I haven't printed enough yet (not for lack of trying) for this to have happened, but the aliminium clamp will avoid this too.

McBryce.

[notfaded1]

Hahaha. This is standard stuff if you go with the lowest bidder.

Remember the T12. Same thing. Got replaced with Metcal which is perfect still.

GOD bless my Metcal MX5k!

Bill

[notfaded1]

interesting if the new batteries from the 204B are healthy, they are the original batterie set (ca 1961) 

http://hpmemoryproject.org/wb_pages/wall_b_page_10a.htm

At least the owner or seller was nice enough not to leave them in the generator... we all know what that can be like.

Bill

[Zucca]

GOD bless my Metcal MX5k!

Bill

Enjoy this:

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/metcal-mx-5200-and-mx-5000-firmware-and-data-eeprom-information/

[tggzzz]

Happy happy joy joy my Ender bed is warped  . Ordered glass one.

Maybe the 3D printer technology is not quite there yet then....maybe a bit more development time before dipping the toe into that rabbit hole eh

You just had to go there and open up that wound again.....didn't you. 

I'm quite pleased that I didn't respond, and didn't mention the word "fettling".

Oops.

[bd139]

I punched it. It’s fine now   

Incidentally i fixed my PC issue today. It was the power supply. Cracked it open and saw it instantly. Bad solder joint on the ATX power PWR_OK line. Looks it it behaved after it had warmed up a little bit and the start and restart thing was a misnomer. Flooded it and it works every time now.

Lead free = ugh!

Probably passed on their test jig as well.

[nixiefreqq]

well this is awkward.

made the mistake last week of pissing and moaning about med cannibalizing an 8810 that was misbehaving just a teeeny bit.  (like the drama queen that i apparently am).

well today the mail lady dropped off a box that had a picture of papa smurf where the return address should be.  wtf?

almost had swmbo open it (under the assumption that it was full of tarantulas).


turns out that med noticed that my 8810 was missing a handle.   well it has one now.

I HEREBY RETRACT ANY OVERT OR IMPLIED NEGATIVE STATEMENTS MADE ABOUT THE FINE AND NOBLE CITIZENS OF THE EMPIRE STATE!

EXCELSIOR!


(thanks papa!)

[tautech]

med is my new hero.jpg

It isn't blue ! 

[med6753]

well this is awkward.

made the mistake last week of pissing and moaning about med cannibalizing an 8810 that was misbehaving just a teeeny bit.  (like the drama queen that i apparently am).

well today the mail lady dropped off a box that had a picture of papa smurf where the return address should be.  wtf?

almost had swmbo open it (under the assumption that it was full of tarantulas).


turns out that med noticed that my 8810 was missing a handle.   well it has one now.

I HEREBY RETRACT ANY OVERT OR IMPLIED NEGATIVE STATEMENTS MADE ABOUT THE FINE AND NOBLE CITIZENS OF THE EMPIRE STATE!

EXCELSIOR!


(thanks papa!)

See...Karma will bite you in the ass every time. 

I saw that 8810A sitting lame on Styrofoam with no handle and couldn't let it go by.   

You're welcome......it's the least I could do. 

 

[mansaxel]

Probably an artefact of the irrational fear of three-phase in  UK corraborating (sic) with the technical debt of the brain-dead Edison DC distribution in US.

Eh? There's no fear of 3 phase here. Most 'men in the street' have no idea that it exists. There's a dislike of 3 phase only machinery because, outside industrial premises, the incoming feed will normally be single phase and getting a 3 phase incomer fitted is mucho expensivo.

In Sweden, all houses have three-phase, and most modern flats, too.  The last time I was in the OB Van business (I'm sort of in it again, now) I was told about the insane BBC and ITV vans that took a single phase 63A feed because there (so we were told) you could not have two outlets from separate phases closer than 2 meters, which is Very Far Away in an OB van without Serious Amounts Of Red Tape and Men In Hi-Viz Clothing With 3-Ring Binders Following Rules.  The first  van I worked on took 3x63A so we could have a 3x32A outlet in the rear for sundries. Or feed a single-phase 32A circuit to the BT satellite van, which, being british, did not do three-phase...

That van also had a RCCB bypass. Among other things.

[VK5RC]

In oz, most homes younger than 40yrs have 3 phase - mainly for the airconditioner!

[med6753]

Probably an artefact of the irrational fear of three-phase in  UK corraborating (sic) with the technical debt of the brain-dead Edison DC distribution in US.

Eh? There's no fear of 3 phase here. Most 'men in the street' have no idea that it exists. There's a dislike of 3 phase only machinery because, outside industrial premises, the incoming feed will normally be single phase and getting a 3 phase incomer fitted is mucho expensivo.

In Sweden, all houses have three-phase, and most modern flats, too.  The last time I was in the OB Van business (I'm sort of in it again, now) I was told about the insane BBC and ITV vans that took a single phase 63A feed because there (so we were told) you could not have two outlets from separate phases closer than 2 meters, which is Very Far Away in an OB van without Serious Amounts Of Red Tape and Men In Hi-Viz Clothing With 3-Ring Binders Following Rules.  The first  van I worked on took 3x63A so we could have a 3x32A outlet in the rear for sundries. Or feed a single-phase 32A circuit to the BT satellite van, which, being british, did not do three-phase...

That van also had a RCCB bypass. Among other things.

Residential 3 phase is unheard of here. 240VAC single phase center tap neutral yielding two branches of 120VAC each. Some like to call that "2 phase" but it isn't. It's one HV drop [anywhere from 2KV (old) to 13.8KV (typical new) to a transformer that has center tap at neutral (ground)].

[mansaxel]

What a fool i am asking a bunch of addicts if i need more TE.  I have a Symetricom Sync Sever S300 coming my way very soon it doesn’t have a 10Mhz output as standard but I am desperately hopeful that there is a way to extract 10Mhz from it or at least learn something before i let the smoke out trying. 

As for the Anritsu I hooked it up to the 1 Khz output on my rigol and it is displaying 1000.001 Hz.  The 10Mhz output is stable at 9.99997 Mhz according to my DSO.  This is after the frequency counter had been warming up for about 2 hours.  But without a standard i suppose its all just near enough is good enough. 

(Attachment Link)

I did get my Philips 6662 earlier this week. Sadly enough it's suffered damage to the display in (I guess) transit. LCDen for this most likely are unobtanium, so the hunt will go on for another. I did barter from the start and ended up paying 7,5% of the asking price, but it deserves to arrive complete regardless, since the pics in the ad do not show any damage to the display.  Accuracy-wise, it is reasonably OK, measuring my 10MHz out from the Meinberg M300:



When I split the 10MHz and feed the reference input as well, the result is predictable:



Discussions have been initiated with the supplier.


Edit: I have the best wife in the world. When I proudly showed the 10.manyzero display and explained the setup, she immediately said: But how can you tell that that 10MHz is accurate? I explained that short of a Cs clock, the GPS system is as close as it gets for most of us. She concluded we need another GPSDO to check the first. (I do have friends in time-nut-land, so a Cs can be borrowed, if need arises..)

[tggzzz]

This article, from the latest Which? magazine, will come as a complete shock to everyone in the UK.



Or not, as the case may be

[Martin72]

Breadboard de luxe....
Saw it, bought it, build it up (diy kit), useful thing.

[mansaxel]

This article, from the latest Which? magazine, will come as a complete shock to everyone in the UK.

Or not, as the case may be

You are talking about the Swedish carriers, as well.

The problem is that the attention of the carrier follows the money, and the money flows from the sender. The recipient is merely an inconvenience for the carrier, one that seems unavoidable in order to get the money from the sender. Does not stop them from trying to get the recipient out of the loop, though.

A locally very famous singer/songwriter here in Sweden is known for once saying "A cancelled concert is also a concert".  Apparently carriers all over the world have taken that to heart, with the twist "An allegedly attempted delivery is also a delivery".

[AVGresponding]

Here in the UK you'll only see 3 phase on medium to large residential properties.

TBH I don't see the need on a small residence, given an overall load probably peaking at less than 10KVA.

[mansaxel]

Here in the UK you'll only see 3 phase on medium to large residential properties.

TBH I don't see the need on a small residence, given an overall load probably peaking at less than 10KVA.

Of course it's not strictly necessary, but having that much power from one outlet is practical, if for instance a slightly older Finnish stick welder shows up: (yes, I simply borrowed the pic, I do not own one, yet..)



That one has a 32A plug (i.e. ~20KVA) but it can be run with some care and thinner electrodes on 16A.

I've got an air compressor, a lathe and a drill press, all with three-phase motors. Also, my geothermal heat pump has an induction motor compressor (as well as three-phase booster heaters) and the pool pump is three-phase too. The market for cool cast-iron machinery simply is larger with a proper supply available ;-)

[AVGresponding]

32A @ 230V is 7.32 kVA

[Tepe]

32A @ 230V is 7.32 kVA

Times 3?
400V three phase

[bd139]

This article, from the latest Which? magazine, will come as a complete shock to everyone in the UK.



Or not, as the case may be

I’m a bit of an expert at getting my way on things like that. First you should realise that the law is absolutely no use whatsoever and the retailer expects this to happen and doesn’t give a flying fuck really. If you have to ever try and exercise your legal rights you’ve probably lost from a time and money perspective. Secondly you need to understand that delivery companies do not like bad press especially on social media because it snowballs into a global shitstorm pretty quick. Like the recording of the Hermes driver lobbing a parcel onto a balcony. Thus the best place to get a problem fixed is Twitter. Get on there and shit post once every 30 minutes with their hashtag on it until someone replies from the company. They will ask for you to DM them at which point you should and point out that it is going to continue until the issue is sorted.

So far I’ve had Hermes, Yodel, Parcelforce and Royal Mail issue full refunds the same day when they fucked up.

Edit: I actually had the Royal Mail depot manager come out in his car and deliver something at 11pm once as well. This had sat in their delivery office for 3 days but was £26 worth of special delivery before 9am.

[Specmaster]

I punched it. It’s fine now   

Incidentally i fixed my PC issue today. It was the power supply. Cracked it open and saw it instantly. Bad solder joint on the ATX power PWR_OK line. Looks it it behaved after it had warmed up a little bit and the start and restart thing was a misnomer. Flooded it and it works every time now.

Lead free = ugh!

Probably passed on their test jig as well.

Yep, thought it would be the power supply, most common thing to fail on a PC, even new ones. I bet it isn't lead free now though 

[Neomys Sapiens]

One day I will have it on my bench.

You and I, you and I...

Me as well ... one day ...      

I could be bothered if someone pushed it into my arms. If they are not occupied. With, for example, the Times Electronics DMM. Seriously, while I have a need of precision and repeatability that my Prema does not fulfill due to its 100V limitation (Prema does only calibrations now, no other servicing like removing that dastardly scanner), when I go for a high-end DMM, I expect like to have some functions which are not only a benefit for volt-nuttery . So what would it be?

Before seeing the Time Electronics DMM with its very attractive kV ranges, bets were on the Keithley 2001/2002, as the current measurement function over existing uncut traces would be a real feature.

What else would I want from a premium DMM?
Well, I would want it to be fast. I would want it to have selectable, clearly specified min/max functions.
Like, 100µs vs. 1000ms values (and between and beyond those). I would want it not to have a ominous key named 'Filter' but HW and SW filter and averaging functions (and of the latter selectable length).
I would want it to have a integral, reasonably flat for at least 0.1mHz to 1MHz AC coupling function.
I would like it to perform as a mOhm- and GOhm-meter for most practical stuff (and with that, necessarely the currents for the former and the voltages for the latter). I would like to select my test voltage between (at least) 0.1, 1 and 10V for the 'normal' resistance ranges.

A scaled analogue output besides the connect-to-everything digital interfaces might come convenient.
And if I could get my perfect, personal Eierlegende Wollmilchsau DMM, it would be 2 channel and thereby fulfill the role of the so-called U-I-Functionmeter too. Of course the two would be available for calculations and the various AC parameters like Ueff U^ should be there without much fuss.
Rounding it out would be the ability to select various input resistances/impedances. And why can the well known beasts have only ONE conversion rate for a given resolution, if lucky, with seletable 50/60 Hz suppresion? Why not a variable one?

It could be only me, but even a significant subset of the features listed would hold a far higher appeal than one or two more digits beyond 6.5. And most of it would be feasible without much problems.

[Neomys Sapiens]

On the topic of the parcel ogres:
Herpes did beat anything I had experienced now.
I had given up all hope (not that it was much money, but a needed item) and I was only waiting for the opportunity to visit the police and enter criminal charges against unknown.

Yesterday, one month and one day after the GERMAN seller had deposited it into the care of a Hermes shop, I found a small, obviously undamaged parcel in front of my door!

See below:
Angaben zur Sendungsverfolgung
Hermes Sendungsnummer: 02285148000602

    14. Nov 2019    17:31    Delivered

    14. Nov 2019    11:26    In transit

    14. Nov 2019    8:23    In transit

    14. Nov 2019    8:23    In transit

    14. Nov 2019    7:36    In transit

    14. Nov 2019    2:16    In transit

    13. Nov 2019    14:53    In transit

    12. Nov 2019    9:18    Not yet received by carrier

    9. Nov 2019    0:36    Closed by system

    22. Okt 2019    9:17    Not yet received by carrier

    16. Okt 2019    12:41    Information

    15. Okt 2019    12:03    Information

    14. Okt 2019    16:22    Collection request

    14. Okt 2019    2:46    Despatched

    12. Okt 2019    9:44    Sendungsnummer angegeben

WTF?

[mnementh]

So... The small undamaged parcel contained Shrek's head...? Or was it that laundry list of lies printed out and delivered to make your head explode...?

mnem
🤔