Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Specmaster]

Been soak testing the PL320 now for 5 hours and regulation is rock solid. The voltage indicated on the panel is slightly out compared to an external volt meter by approx 30mV, not the end of the world will attempt to tweak this a tad later and see if I can get them to agree a bit closer. It is very difficult to set a precise voltage around 5v and lower but might be due to dirty controls, I'll clean them as well when I'm in there but overall I'm pleased with this addition to my bench apart from it require 1 knob cap and the only place that I can see they are available from is Rapid Electronics in Colchester, part number Cliff CL1764 K21 Knob Cap - Black With Marker Line, £5.94 including postage for 5 key caps,  Is anyone here about to place an order with them for anything who would be willing to add them to their order to get carriage paid status? The actual caps are £1.20 for 5.



Edit the DSO138 was only being used as a load, it was not measuring anything and the current drawn by it was 108.14mA, so the current readout is about bang on.

[bd139]

Looking good. If only if known a few days ago. Just got rapid delivery this afternoon.   

Power supply looks pretty good. Definitely no nasty issues from what I can see.

Just got back from actual shopping and am now considering Dignitas.

[mnementh]

The soup divides families in this country too. But I am an insistent supporter of it.  A very dry (Sercial) Madeira is the optimum drink to go with the soup.

There is not enough wine in Paris to wash the taste of that from my mouth... I tried it once, and in all honesty I'd rather eat mud bugs than so much as SMELL it again.

I don't think you'll find very good Sercial in Paris, since Madeira is part of Portugal, and the French, for reasonably good reasons, think they have enough good wine in-country. 

I tend to agree with that opinion, and I grew up in wine country.  Given that I was speaking expressly of the monstrous quantities of wine in and under Paris, I feel no need to make two stops for this equally monstrous conjecture; my gorge rises again at the mere thought of this hypothetical "appetizer". 

Thanks for sharing, though.

mnem
 

[mnementh]

That's fairly nice compared to what is out there. Go find yourself a Tiet Canh. Last time I ever step foot in a Vietnamese restaurant and get them to recommend something. Bleurgh. That rates up there with fermented Herring on the list of things that actually made me gag. The latter someone bought me as a joke and I opened it, nearly puked in the tin, bailed out of the back door and slung it over the back fence 

Now I begin to understand why you seem to want to move somewhere where the neighbours aren't too close to your house    Or did you think their dog/cat would like it, eat it, and... ? For more amusement w.r.t. traditional foods, lookup garum /  liquamen; wakypedia is sufficient.

Oh yes. I've heard of that before. It certainly sounds grim! From the article, my favourite line happens to be "The biological anthropologist Piers Mitchell suggests that garum may have helped spread fish tapeworms across Europe." All this talk of food is making me hungry again! Will raid the veg section and knock up something steaky and salady related later. May attempt duck again tomorrow.

haggis.

mnem
that is all.

[bd139]

Ahh yes stewed in a bag assholes 

[mnementh]

by assholes. for assholes.

mnem
and there's hair.

[mnementh]

THIS:         IS WHY THIS:     


Clean your fucking toaster.   

mnem


This PSA brought to you by:
The Society for the Prevention of Toaster Fireballs. 

[med6753]

535A clean up.....


These are the tools I'll be using to clean the 535A interior. A duster to loosen the dirt and a gentle vacuum (hoovering) to pull it out. I want to be the least invasive as possible and therefore I won't be pulling tubes or other components unless necessary. It just invites additional problems. And definitely no liquids. Now that will obviously leave some dirt/dust behind but I consider it a good compromise. But I will pay special close attention to the HV cage and the B+ circuits. Those areas will be done last.



And this is what I'm faced with.  I'll post pix after clean up. And in addition I still have to pull the bottom plate and clean/inspect under there. That's gonna be fun flipping this beast on it's side.     

[Specmaster]

@MED, How many valves/tubes has that got? It should also double up as a space heater when being used.

[med6753]

Here's the Vertical Amplifier after cleaning. The brown crap on the chassis was a dried liquid so I had to resort to using a liquid cleaner to remove it.




Lots more to go. 

[med6753]

@MED, How many valves/tubes has that got? It should also double up as a space heater when being used.

According to bd139's data somewhere in the ballpark of 63 tubes. I haven't got enough fingers and toes to count them myself. 

[bd139]

That’s looking marvellous. Keep up the good work 

[xrunner]

Here's the Vertical Amplifier after cleaning. The brown crap on the chassis was a dried liquid so I had to resort to using a liquid cleaner to remove it.

Coffee from a long lost session with the scope. 

[Specmaster]

Looking good. If only if known a few days ago. Just got rapid delivery this afternoon.   

Power supply looks pretty good. Definitely no nasty issues from what I can see.

Just got back from actual shopping and am now considering Dignitas.

Nah, don't do it, we'd all miss our London buddy badly, you know that. Rapid order is in, I bit the bullet, my OCD part of me snapped into place and made me do it, it would drive me up the wall looking at it and wondering just where in the scale things was the fine pot positioned.  I'm loving the DC load switch, it avoids any overshoot and also allows for easy current limit adjustment. I have to say however that the cheaper Chinese power supply I'm retaining has finer adjustments on both current and voltage.

[Cerebus]

synthetic leather, Tek blue, here in stock. can go in a letter
the handles must have a metal plate inside, easy to build from packing steel band.

Synthetic leather? Please no.

@med
If you want I can send you some real leather. Plenty to choose from here: tan English saddle leather in two weights, some black grained automotive leather (I have ~2 m² left of that stuff from re-lining the car roof) and odds and sods in all sorts including some nice Pittards gloving leather offcuts. If you can come up with a pattern I'll even cut, sew and finish handles for you.

[med6753]

Here's the Time Base A Trigger Circuit after careful vacuuming. Not much different but every little bit helps. The switch decks and pots in that area have now been deoxit'ed. Just knock off one little section at a time. 

That's it for today. Got other things must get done. The B+ cover to the immediate right and the HV cage far back right will be done last after the rest of the chassis is cleaned.



 

[med6753]

synthetic leather, Tek blue, here in stock. can go in a letter
the handles must have a metal plate inside, easy to build from packing steel band.

Synthetic leather? Please no.

@med
If you want I can send you some real leather. Plenty to choose from here: tan English saddle leather in two weights, some black grained automotive leather (I have ~2 m² left of that stuff from re-lining the car roof) and odds and sods in all sorts including some nice Pittards gloving leather offcuts. If you can come up with a pattern I'll even cut, sew and finish handles for you.

Thanks for the offer. I have some 3/4 inch nylon webbing ordered. Let me try that out first. If it doesn't work out or I don't like it I'll get back to you. 

[bd139]

Looking good. If only if known a few days ago. Just got rapid delivery this afternoon.   

Power supply looks pretty good. Definitely no nasty issues from what I can see.

Just got back from actual shopping and am now considering Dignitas.

Nah, don't do it, we'd all miss our London buddy badly, you know that. Rapid order is in, I bit the bullet, my OCD part of me snapped into place and made me do it, it would drive me up the wall looking at it and wondering just where in the scale things was the fine pot positioned.  I'm loving the DC load switch, it avoids any overshoot and also allows for easy current limit adjustment. I have to say however that the cheaper Chinese power supply I'm retaining has finer adjustments on both current and voltage.

Don't worry - post shopping depression has worn off now

Yeah the output switch is the best feature on them. A step above all the other vendors of the era who didn't bother with output switches. Makes it considerably easier to set up, particularly in lab environments. Talking of which, they used those supplies at NPL for clock subsystem power  . Think they used later rev ones similar to my PL330QMD for the cesium fountain clock stuff.

[tggzzz]

Just got back from actual shopping and am now considering Dignitas.

Before shopping I can understand, unless shopping for TEA type things.

After shopping, not so much.

[mnementh]

Post-Shopping Depression Disorder is often a byproduct of the year-end tally after all the XMas spending has gone through.

mnem
Because you feel like you're in The Great Depression...

[Cerebus]

Just got back from actual shopping and am now considering Dignitas.

Before shopping I can understand, unless shopping for TEA type things.

After shopping, not so much.

I suspect that in this case the despair is brought on by observing the rest of humanity in action while shopping and losing all hope for the race. 

[SilverSolder]

[...]
I suspect that in this case the despair is brought on by observing the rest of humanity in action while shopping and losing all hope for the race. 

Somehow, we made it out of the caves...   lean back, chill!  it's good for you.

[tggzzz]

Just got back from actual shopping and am now considering Dignitas.

Before shopping I can understand, unless shopping for TEA type things.

After shopping, not so much.

I suspect that in this case the despair is brought on by observing the rest of humanity in action while shopping and losing all hope for the race. 

Ah. An inexperienced youngster, then.

[bd139]

On a positive note I managed to snag some nice steak while out. All the talk of food resulted in this for dinner.



Mostly left overs apart from the steak and avocado.

[mnementh]

535A clean up.....      These are the tools I'll be using to clean the 535A interior.

A duster to loosen the dirt and a gentle vacuum (hoovering) to pull it out. I want to be the least invasive as possible and therefore I won't be pulling tubes or other components unless necessary. It just invites additional problems. And definitely no liquids. Now that will obviously leave some dirt/dust behind but I consider it a good compromise. But I will pay special close attention to the HV cage and the B+ circuits. Those areas will be done last.

      

https://www.amazon.com/US-Art-Supply-Assorted-Varnishes/dp/B01MCYP53Y/   

NATURAL BRISTLE chip brushes (NOT synthetic) are my first choice for cleaning in this manner; I used to buy a similar assortment to this from Horror Fraught, but now they only sell single sizes.  https://www.harborfreight.com/search?q=chip+brushes

I'll usually get enough at a time to have extra so I can cut the bristles on a 1/2" & a 2" brush to about half the original length with a sharp pair of scissors; this nets me a stiffer brush as is sometimes necessary. 

  Also very useful is a "Dragging" brush; these are much fuller and have longer bristles, which are good for working gently in a circular motion between fan blades and close-packed components to dislodge stuck on dust so that vacuum or compressed air can get it all clean. Avoid plastic handles like the one on the right though.

For static-sensitive gear, I'll usually wash the brush beforehand/dry on a towel and periodically during use to ensure it discharges through my body to the equipment chassis or ground-strap on my wrist. 

mnem
*hoeing out the office-ily*