Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[PA0PBZ]

Continued the fight with the 2230 today (see discord for the prequel). Replaced the cap, vacuumed the thing and put it back together.
I'd say it's a win 

[GreyWoolfe]

The joy of Christmas this year is Mrs GreyWoolfe and I have the house to ourselves since the children and grandchild are visiting son in law's father in Indiana. Dinner last night was scallops, salmon, rice and salad.  That would have never passed the sniff test.  Tonight is a nice cut of steak and salad.  Stepdaughter, son in law and granddaughter are stupidly picky eaters so it is nice to take pleasure in simple things.  The sucky part of the day is now having to help Mrs GreyWoolfe paint the granddaughter's room.   Merry Christmas to all

[Saskia]

another boat anchor. Old Compaq USV using lead batteries to refurbish. some 120lbs ...

[FransW]

Continued the fight with the 2230 today (see discord for the prequel). Replaced the cap, vacuumed the thing and put it back together.
I'd say it's a win 
(Attachment Link)

Paul,
Wishing you many further years of 2230 service.

[Martin.M]

my AC Option for the 204B is allready.
But the oscillator delivers only DC at the output, so I can search for a little problem
(components test required)

[SeanB]

another boat anchor. Old Compaq USV using lead batteries to refurbish. some 120lbs ...

How many lead acid batteries? I have a few old APC and Eaton UPS rack mounted ones that I am waiting for new batteries for, that between them need 14 7Ah SLA bricks. Better than the Tower one I used to service, where a battery change was a half gross of those bricks, and a good workout getting the battery bays back into position after installing the new cells, and connecting them up live. 40 odd kg for each bank fully loaded, and then you have to dead lift them up to the rails in the case and slide them part way in, then connect to the end cells.

[McBryce]

AC Option for HP204B (christmas edition, homebrew)

Required is ±13V for the oscillator.
I used 2 miniature transformers, some diode from the junk box, 2x 78L08 with a Zener 5,6V in the ground wire.

(Attachment Link)

I will put it in the apparatus and test 

Can you send me the gcode you used to CNC route that board?

McBryce.

[Saskia]

@SeanB
I would have to go into the garage and check. Colleague stated that it will take 4 lead batteries.

If you are interested I will look it up tomorrow.

[Sam Spastic]

AC Option for HP204B (christmas edition, homebrew)

Required is ±13V for the oscillator.
I used 2 miniature transformers, some diode from the junk box, 2x 78L08 with a Zener 5,6V in the ground wire.

(Attachment Link)

I will put it in the apparatus and test 

Can you send me the gcode you used to CNC route that board?

McBryce.

[xrunner]

On a less joyous note - I had the Grinch give me the finger....

And me ... 

I found the CAD file of the hp button tip. I was pulling off the tip of the power button of my hp 3457A with my fingers to compare to the CAD file and it just collapsed. Now we both need one. These original plastic items are getting old.

Will get back with the results. 

[mnementh]

   Welp... it's orificial. We survived another Christmas morning. Highlights include a vintage 3-foot-long edition of Luke's X-wing for the boy, James Avery for mommy, wooden Thomas the Tank Engine train for the girl, and a nice little two-drawer box for daddy's mechanic tools so I stop dropping them on my feet when trying to fish what I need out of the Kobalt bag I've been using.

Keeping it TEA, I've included my Hantek 6022BL, which wifey decided to make a present so I could spend more Xmas loot elsewhere. I have the best wife. 

Merry Christmas to all my TEA friends!!!

mnem

[mnementh]

   Continued the fight with the 2230 today (see discord for the prequel). Replaced the cap, vacuumed the thing and put it back together. I'd say it's a win 

   Hope that this is the last you have to meddle with it for a good long time. The 223x CAN be infuriating to work on... especially that row of age-embrittled pushbutton caps and that uber-fragile stopless pot they use for menu & cursor navigation all at the top of the digital board, which you have remove so you can flip that board up to work on anything. 

Cheers my friend!

mnem

[Specmaster]

Yah, my luck changed today, the TTi 30v2A power supply I was watching has had my offer accepted, £35 for a working one in reasonable knick as well. Some of the printing around the knobs is a bit faint in areas but I can live that. Pictures to follow as soon as I can get permission to slip up the A130 to collect it👍 My bench will now boast 5 items from the Thurlby / TTi stable on it and all items made only about 35 miles away from me. 😁

[bd139]

Nice one  . Hope you enjoy using it.

[med6753]

Continued the fight with the 2230 today (see discord for the prequel). Replaced the cap, vacuumed the thing and put it back together.
I'd say it's a win 

(Attachment Link)

Nice, wish my 2430 had logos but no joy. 

[AVGresponding]

AC Option for HP204B (christmas edition, homebrew)

Required is ±13V for the oscillator.
I used 2 miniature transformers, some diode from the junk box, 2x 78L08 with a Zener 5,6V in the ground wire.

(Attachment Link)

I will put it in the apparatus and test 

Can you send me the gcode you used to CNC route that board?

McBryce.

Looks to me like he used an angle grinder and welding goggles...   

[worsthorse]

Merry Whatever to one and all!

Only one TEA related gift here... a very teeny tiny clip-on-your-glasses LED lamp that my wife gave me to assist my peering into the innards of crufty, hopefully soon-to-be-working test equipment.

Oh wait, I forgot the Rigol signal generator I bought while it was on sale at Arrow, which arrived last night. That counts, right?   

[Specmaster]

Nice one  . Hope you enjoy using it.

I'm sure I will, strange thing is it also has had a knock on the same location as yours, but nowhere near as bad. Here's the eBay listing photos, well some of them at least, now I'm champing at the bit to go and get this, but will have to wait till the 27th.

[bd139]

Merry Whatever to one and all!

Only one TEA related gift here... a very teeny tiny clip-on-your-glasses LED lamp that my wife gave me to assist my peering into the innards of crufty, hopefully soon-to-be-working test equipment.

Oh wait, I forgot the Rigol signal generator I bought while it was on sale at Arrow, which arrived last night. That counts, right?   

AWG FTW. Enjoy.

I bought precisely SFA that was TE related for Xmas. Got the coolest thing though from my mother: a telescopic back scratcher. Bloody amazing thing that is.

Running last load of olds home then I’m sticking some headphones on and winding the final one of these bad boys, the dreaded T1. Four windings of dooom.

Nice one  . Hope you enjoy using it.

I'm sure I will, strange thing is it also has had a knock on the same location as yours, but nowhere near as bad. Here's the eBay listing photos, well some of them at least, now I'm champing at the bit to go and get this, but will have to wait till the 27th.

My PL154 was dinked like that as well. It’s a design flaw really. I just had to bend that one a bit though.

[Specmaster]

Merry Whatever to one and all!

Only one TEA related gift here... a very teeny tiny clip-on-your-glasses LED lamp that my wife gave me to assist my peering into the innards of crufty, hopefully soon-to-be-working test equipment.

Oh wait, I forgot the Rigol signal generator I bought while it was on sale at Arrow, which arrived last night. That counts, right?   

AWG FTW. Enjoy.

I bought precisely SFA that was TE related for Xmas. Got the coolest thing though from my mother: a telescopic back scratcher. Bloody amazing thing that is.

Running last load of olds home then I’m sticking some headphones on and winding the final one of these bad boys, the dreaded T1. Four windings of dooom.

(Attachment Link)

Nice one  . Hope you enjoy using it.

I'm sure I will, strange thing is it also has had a knock on the same location as yours, but nowhere near as bad. Here's the eBay listing photos, well some of them at least, now I'm champing at the bit to go and get this, but will have to wait till the 27th.

My PL154 was dinked like that as well. It’s a design flaw really. I just had to bend that one a bit though.

Its only minor flaw, easy enough to fix, and it's only a 15-minute drive away. I also got a pretty good condition Avo 8 MK4 complete with leads with the scope like pincher clips, and these leads on their own go around £30-40 a set and I'm only paying £15 for the complete set. I think I'll sniff around a bit more and see what I can find while I'm on a roll.

[worsthorse]

I've been pondering my bench related activities for the coming months and I think I am going to shift out of repairing test equipment to just using it for a while. I have a stack of kits, a long list of home brew stuff I want to build, a couple of new antennas I want to test, and so on. This will give me a chance to learn how to better use some of the gear I've acquired, like the nanovna, and get back to doing what re-ignited my TEA syndrome in the first place.

I am also going to try and clear out some of the gear here, like the RTTY stuff, that I acquired along the way; equipment that I think is beautiful and interesting but which, I am quite certain, I am never going to use. Almost all of it I took to keep it from going to the tip/dumpster and which should find a home or be properly broken down and the parts re-purposed.

[mnementh]

Yah, my luck changed today, the TTi 30v2A power supply I was watching has had my offer accepted, £35 for a working one in reasonable knick as well. Some of the printing around the knobs is a bit faint in areas but I can live that. Pictures to follow as soon as I can get permission to slip up the A130 to collect it👍 My bench will now boast 5 items from the Thurlby / TTi stable on it and all items made only about 35 miles away from me. 😁

Here's hoping they don't all get homesick and decide to go visit Mom for the holidays... 

   Continued the fight with the 2230 today (see discord for the prequel). Replaced the cap, vacuumed the thing and put it back together. I'd say it's a win

Nice, wish my 2430 had logos but no joy. 

https://vintagetek.org/vintagetek-demo-board-retired/

The PCB kit's been retired, but you can still buy the preprogrammed Atmega to build your own:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Tektronix-Logo-and-Wizard-Demo-Generator-Upgrade-DIY-Kit/113976115187?hash=item1a89817ff3:g:QcAAAOSwe6FdVL0C

I did take a quick look on github and googs to see if the code was out there for you to nuke your own from a Ardu Nano, etc... but no joy so far. 

mnem

[bd139]

If someone has the image in a vector format i can probably write some new code to do it. All it’s doing is reading a couple of arrays and sending it to DAC.

[bitseeker]

Because I'm a man of my word, here are some pics of the very special delivery Santa brought me a few hours early today (funnily enough, he looked a *lot* like a UPS guy). It's an 8566B, but not just any 8566B. It's an honest to God new old stock 8566B. You read that right, NOS. Sealed in factory packaging. Needless to say nothing is missing, and it's in perfect condition. Serial number prefixes are 31, and the firmware is dated 1989, which would make it possibly the final revision known to exist.

Merry Christmas, everyone. 

Wow! Talk about, "winner, winner, chicken dinner!" Congrats, Oculus. Added to POI.

[bitseeker]

Speaking of enablers, you all do some nice work, but no one comes close to my favourite enabler: My wife.
   
Under the tree, there was a chinesium desoldering station, a Sirio broadband UHF GP antenna, and a NanoVNA!

  Impressive. Congrats, mansaxel.

When I told my wife I got a great deal on a brand new function generator, she actually asked what it does. Good sign? We shall see.