Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[mnementh]

Dawn Wells

Ahhh, so many adolescent dreams; being the middle of a Ginger & Mary Ann sandwich...

mnem
med, you can have Mrs Howell. 

[worsthorse]

Sometimes I work on test equipment. And sometimes I work on keeping the house from falling down.

begin   

We have this under sink hot water tank that my wife loves and a week ago I discovered that the hot water line was leaking, which of course ruined the cabinet underneath. I remove it to find that the plumber kinked the hose during the install because he mounted the tank too far forward in the cabinet and was too lazy to fix it. Spend two days repairing the floor of the cabinet and putting a couple of coats of polyurethane down, while waiting for parts from the manufacturer. Move the tank back, cut off the length of now bad hose, connect everything up. Result: hot water and a happy wife.

About three hours later, our zoned heating system fails and we have no heat on the second floor of the house. Of course it is the coldest week so far this winter. It appears that the control box for the second floor has stopped working, with the damper closed. Of course, the box is in our unfinished and unfloored attic, and is a right pain in the ass to get to, let alone fix. Decide to put extra blankets on the bed and deal with it tomorrow because I don't have time to troubleshoot it today.

Meanwhile, my wife throws a load of wet laundry in the dryer, which begins squealing like a pig. Worked fine yesterday. Drum isn't off kilter, so it is either a bad belt or one or more of the rollers have failed.  I think, the hell with it I don't have time for this right now, I will call a repair shop and let them deal with taking the damn thing apart. The first shop wants $125 to come out and "diagnose the problem" and won't give me a quote without paying them first. The second shop quotes a high but i-can-live-with-it repair price. Then I ask about parts (which I have priced) and it turns out that their markup is four to five times, which pisses me off.  I decide I should have started an appliance repair business at some point in my life and decline the offer to put the owner's kid through Yale.

I take the wet laundry to the the laundromat, order the parts to repair the dryer while I wait, and add that to my to do list.  I think it may be a couple of days before I get back to the bench.

end 

[URI]

Today my Fluke / Philips PM6681 arrived. Including a nice ring file with the owner's manual and the programmer's manual.

I've powered it on first before I turned it apart. The  vent is a bit loud, perhaps it has some issues with the  bearing.

Since it's a standard 80mm fan you can replace it with any other standard fan of that size with a matching air throughput.
And there are plenty outside there -I chose a noise silence optimized maglev one and mounted it with rubber anti vibration mounts.

Front side, feeded in 10MHz from my RTB 2004:


[..]

Oh, quite good for that very basic (standard) quartz oscillator.
Now you have a (uncalibrated) thermometer.   

There was this mysterious plastic thing on the frontside. Turns out: this is a cable holder!
It sits directly on the spare hole for the C-input (prescaler 3GHz for example)

[..]

Couldn't imagine that. The previous owner was kind of pragmatic, wasn't he..?   

This is a funny bodge, no idea if this was done by Fluke or the previous owner.

That's interesting! I'm curious what signal is on that connector. Have you found out yet?

And next to it sits the 100MHz multiplier:


[..]

Yep, that's the one that adds the bit of extra resolution to the PM6681 over the PM6680/PM6680B (and also the PM6685).

Next step is cleaning this buddy and checking the electrolytics with my incoming DER EE 5000 (should arrive by end of the month)

And then I'll add a 3GHz prescaler and a 10MHz OCXO to improve stability.

Hope you've enjoyed this little teardown.

Thanks, I did, though the inside of my PM6681 is just a Torx screwdriver away. I'm sooo lazy..   
Did you find a spare mask for the channel C Option inside your unit? I think one of mine has one inside, not sure.

Go for a GPSDO straight away, save the money of an OCXO upgrade. You have to warm the OCXO every time you want to use the counter (unless you don't care for the standby power). With one GPSDO + distribution 24/7 you can every instrument syntonized with from power-on.      

Since you already ordere a replacement for the filter IEC inlet I won't say anything more but that I still have to order five for all my Philips/Fluke counters (2xPM6685, 1xPM6680, 2xPM6681).   

[med6753]

Oh I've been where you are over the years but there are distinct advantages to living in an apartment.

Begin. 

Leak? Call the landlord.

No heat? Call the landlord.

Dryer in laundry room squealing like a pig? Call the landlord.

End. 

[URI]

Sometimes I work on test equipment. And sometimes I work on keeping the house from falling down.

begin   

We have this under sink hot water tank that my wife loves and a week ago I discovered that the hot water line was leaking, which of course ruined the cabinet underneath. I remove it to find that the plumber kinked the hose during the install because he mounted the tank too far forward in the cabinet and was too lazy to fix it. Spend two days repairing the floor of the cabinet and putting a couple of coats of polyurethane down, while waiting for parts from the manufacturer. Move the tank back, cut off the length of now bad hose, connect everything up. Result: hot water and a happy wife.

About three hours later, our zoned heating system fails and we have no heat on the second floor of the house. Of course it is the coldest week so far this winter. It appears that the control box for the second floor has stopped working, with the damper closed. Of course, the box is in our unfinished and unfloored attic, and is a right pain in the ass to get to, let alone fix. Decide to put extra blankets on the bed and deal with it tomorrow because I don't have time to troubleshoot it today.

Meanwhile, my wife throws a load of wet laundry in the dryer, which begins squealing like a pig. Worked fine yesterday. Drum isn't off kilter, so it is either a bad belt or one or more of the rollers have failed.  I think, the hell with it I don't have time for this right now, I will call a repair shop and let them deal with taking the damn thing apart. The first shop wants $125 to come out and "diagnose the problem" and won't give me a quote without paying them first. The second shop quotes a high but i-can-live-with-it repair price. Then I ask about parts (which I have priced) and it turns out that their markup is four to five times, which pisses me off.  I decide I should have started an appliance repair business at some point in my life and decline the offer to put the owner's kid through Yale.

I take the wet laundry to the the laundromat, order the parts to repair the dryer while I wait, and add that to my to do list.  I think it may be a couple of days before I get back to the bench.

end 

Let me tell ya.. Your wife has chosen you for you being also practically gifted and she's very comfortable with you being her household maintenance man/multi-talented workman.   
Don't ask me...   

...and (@med) in Germany you don't call the landlord for every little fault. Here we differentiate between things the landlord is definitely responsible for (e.g. condition of the building, e.g. windows, walls, stairs/the supply of heating, power, water, etc.) and smaller faults costing up to 80-100€ ("Kleinreparaturen"-minor repairs). And the landlord is only responsible for the washing machine or the dryer if it's part of the rental contract.

[tautech]

LOL... You WOULD ask. 

I bled all over the inside of the PSU, which is what cut me... I probably missed some somewhere cleaning up. 



I'm afraid this is as close to gory detail as I can muster at this late stage of the game... I kindof had to wash my hands when I made dinner.

Nice, blunt, no-need-for-sharpy-things frozen lasagna. 

mnem
Hey, a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do... my wife won't eat MY homemade lasagna; it has actual flavor.   

Is that ALL ?
A mere scratch that didn't even put me off my dinner ! 

An old saying round here you might like:
Blood and gore upon the floor and.........me without my spoon ! 

[med6753]

...and (@med) in Germany you don't call the landlord for every little fault. Here we differentiate between things the landlord is definitely responsible for (e.g. condition of the building, e.g. windows, walls, stairs/the supply of heating, power, water, etc.) and smaller faults costing up to 80-100€ ("Kleinreparaturen"-minor repairs). And the landlord is only responsible for the washing machine or the dryer if it's part of the rental contract.

It's no different here. If there's a leak, that's part of the "building". Landlord is responsible. No heat? My heat is included in my total rent payment. So if it ain't working the landlord is responsible. Dryer broken? We have a community laundry room for all the tenants. Landlord is responsible. That's not say that if something minor is broken I won't fix it myself. For example: the toilet valve assembly was worn out. I replaced it.     

[Specmaster]

I live in what was a Local Authority house or a council house if you will. The government changed the rules, and they were transferred to Housing Associations and it was always in the tenancy agreement that minor things were the tenants' responsibility. Recently I discovered that bathroom taps on the wash basin were leaking so we purchased some new replacement taps. Went to turn the water off at the stop cock, only to discover the spindle had snapped. Called out the HA plumber who asked me how did discover the problem, so I told him about the new taps to be fitted. He replied did they give me permission to do that? He then went on to explain that the HA has since changed the rules and to replace taps I needed permission which costs £50, just asking for the permission to go ahead.  Thats just a blatant grab for money. He then said, If I were you, I'd just right ahead and not tell them, which is what I did anyway                                                                       

[bd139]

Sounds about right for HA. They're all bastards.

Solution:



Probably the best film ever made IMHO.

[Specmaster]

Yeh, saw that one as well, brilliant film 

[Cerebus]

Look what the postman just handed to me!



No questions on the contents yet please, I've literally had this 5 minutes.

[Specmaster]

Downloaded that free from the web 

[nixiefreqq]

Yeh, saw that one as well, brilliant film 

i am a bastard.  used the 27B/6 tactic all the time.  the army had so many forms that you could just make up your form number at random and the bean counters would spend days looking for one.

in my short time with the navy the form was a "2 kilo" (form4790-2k).  have seen little old lady clerks in tennis shoes send chiefs into insane fits over a 2 kilo.  and then they made them fill out a "chit" just to get the 2 kilo. 

[BU508A]

This is a funny bodge, no idea if this was done by Fluke or the previous owner.

That's interesting! I'm curious what signal is on that connector. Have you found out yet?

I had only a brief look into the schematics but I'll find out this evening and post the results here.
I'm curious about this bodge as well.

Thanks, I did, though the inside of my PM6681 is just a Torx screwdriver away. I'm sooo lazy..   

So far I have used 3 Torx screwdrivers: a T-10, a T-15 and a T-20.

Did you find a spare mask for the channel C Option inside your unit? I think one of mine has one inside, not sure.

I saw two stand-offs made of copper. I think, they are the holders for the prescaler. I'll post some pictures here,
when I'll put the prescaler into it. (But I have to order it first from fellow TEA member jadew )

Go for a GPSDO straight away, save the money of an OCXO upgrade. You have to warm the OCXO every time you want to use the counter (unless you don't care for the standby power). With one GPSDO + distribution 24/7 you can every instrument syntonized with from power-on.      

Too late, I've already ordered the PCB @Osh-Park and the parts @Mouser. You are right about the warming up, but I do not really care about this.
I'm planning to setup a 10MHz lab wide reference which will come then from an EFRATOM Rubidium normal (this will be GPSDO disciplined, I think).
This setup exceeds my needs for time/frequency accuracy about several order of magnitudes. 

Since you already ordere a replacement for the filter IEC inlet I won't say anything more but that I still have to order five for all my Philips/Fluke counters (2xPM6685, 1xPM6680, 2xPM6681).   

Wise man says: "Exploded RIFA madness stinks! *blergh*"   

[FransW]

Downloaded that free from the web 

Complete 3rd ed including the X-files?

[Cerebus]

Downloaded that free from the web 

Look properly lad, it's not the third edition, it's the mythical X-chapters.

[Cerebus]

This is a funny bodge, no idea if this was done by Fluke or the previous owner.

That's interesting! I'm curious what signal is on that connector. Have you found out yet?

I had only a brief look into the schematics but I'll find out this evening and post the results here.
I'm curious about this bodge as well.

My presumption has been that it's an impromptu test point. I too am curious as to what signal's there

So far I have used 3 Torx screwdrivers: a T-10, a T-15 and a T-20.

One of my best tool purchases ever:

About the size of a junior Swiss army knife and has T6 through T20 'bits'. Although I have a pretty full set of proper handled Torx screwdrivers this is the one that gets used most becuase it's just so convenient.

[WastelandTek]

Let me tell ya.. Your wife has chosen you for you being also practically gifted and she's very comfortable with you being her household maintenance man/multi-talented workman.   
Don't ask me...   

I don't know man.  I spent...years...doing auto and home repairs for women in the blind hope of getting access to their bodies.  The "logic" was something like "if I do this she will see me as generous and capable and maybe she will want to have sex with me"  So many clutches, timing belts, leaky faucets...etc.

It was only after I had well and truly squandered my youth that I came to realize that this is not, at all, how women choose who to admit to their beds.  In fact, if such is your primary goal you are, sadly, better off treating them poorly.

Still not much sex, but at least I am not greasy and bleeding knuckled as often now.

[Cerebus]

Still not much sex, but at least I am not greasy and bleeding knuckled as often now.

Is sex dirty? Only if it's done right.

If you emerge greasy and blood knuckled you must be an expert, and it probably involved a female Klingon.

[Specmaster]

Downloaded that free from the web 

Look properly lad, it's not the third edition, it's the mythical X-chapters.

Oh yes it is, third edition, all 1225 pages of it, 3rd edition 2015, 7th printing 2016 with the corrections.

[WastelandTek]

I prefer cardassian girls

[Specmaster]

Let me tell ya.. Your wife has chosen you for you being also practically gifted and she's very comfortable with you being her household maintenance man/multi-talented workman.   
Don't ask me...   

I don't know man.  I spent...years...doing auto and home repairs for women in the blind hope of getting access to their bodies.  The "logic" was something like "if I do this she will see me as generous and capable and maybe she will want to have sex with me"  So many clutches, timing belts, leaky faucets...etc.

It was only after I had well and truly squandered my youth that I came to realize that this is not, at all, how women choose who to admit to their beds.  In fact, if such is your primary goal you are, sadly, better off treating them poorly.

Still not much sex, but at least I am not greasy and bleeding knuckled as often now.

Once you put a ring on their finger, the sex slowly dries up anyway, it gets to a point where you think, whats the point of it all, all that expense and grief that they give you and for what. If I knew then what I know now, I'd have stayed single and have more money in the bank and much more sex to boot as well, without the nagging etc. 

[Specmaster]

One of my best tool purchases ever:

(Attachment Link)

About the size of a junior Swiss army knife and has T6 through T20 'bits'. Although I have a pretty full set of proper handled Torx screwdrivers this is the one that gets used most becuase it's just so convenient.

I got one of them as well, bloody great tool. For a while I was coming across things that had screws so far recessed that those would not reach them so brought a set of long torx drivers that fit the 1/4" drives, and since I got them, have suddenly stopped finding devices like that 

[bd139]

Once you put a ring on their finger, the sex slowly dries up anyway, it gets to a point where you think, whats the point of it all, all that expense and grief that they give you and for what. If I knew then what I know now, I'd have stayed single and have more money in the bank and much more sex to boot as well, without the nagging etc. 

Bingo!

I prefer cardassian girls

Ocampa here. They drop dead after 9 years!

[mnementh]

Oh I've been where you are over the years but there are distinct advantages to living in an apartment.

Begin. 

Leak? Call the landlord.

No heat? Call the landlord.

Dryer in laundry room squealing like a pig? Call the landlord.

End. 

Provided your landlord isn't a total douche, yeah. If he is, then you have to suck it up and do without for the 2-3 calls and 2-3 days it takes to get his worthless ass out there.

Of course, that's when you vote with your dollars and move... which may take 2 or 3 tries before you find one that's actually a human being who gives half a shit. At least in the US, most in the landlord biz have a finely-honed "just-this-side-of-breach-of-contract" procrastination subroutine operating at all times; actually, it is possible that their OS is functionally derived from that core process.

Of course, that process has evolved specifically in response to the typical fixer-type-person reaction of "Oh fuck it... less trouble to DIY than get him out"; thereby compounding his profit margin at your expense.

mnem