Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[mnementh]

*snip*
mnem
*off in search of a better HDMI switch*

If you find one let me know, mine regularly crashes   

Yeah, mine was purchased because it was well-rated and an "Amazon's Choice" for only $15 Canadian; but it seems to have a cyclic glitch every 30-60 seconds. I was going to just hit the local Best Buy for a name-brand replacement, but they were nucking futs; having only one no-name Chinese import model in stock at $113.

I've decided to do some testing to see if I can find the cause before I send this one back; I have until March to get a answer.

mnem

[mnementh]

In Other News... a Alberta Clipper beat me up last night!



Yesterday I got caught in a Nor'Eastern phenomenon; when the North American Jet Stream decides to take a dip South, it makes a precipitous drop in local temps. As in it was around zero yesterday afternoon when I went out to do grocery shopping... by the time the sun went down, it was -20°C with windchill below -30°C.

I was doing fine yesterday with only my normal coat... on the very brief trips to the car I'd just turn my collar up against the wind. THEN I went to put gas in the car.  The gas station was a fucking wind tunnel, and by the time I'd finished pumping (6-8 minutes), to protect my burning ears I had my coat hiked up around my head like when we'd play Headless Horseman for Halloween as kids.

When I woke up this morning, it was clear I'd gotten a bit of frostbite... not enough that bits fall off, but it still feels like when grandma would box my ears for giving her sass.

So, today I decided to give my wife a Unicorn wearing earmuffs.

mnem

[AVGresponding]

*snip*
mnem
*off in search of a better HDMI switch*

If you find one let me know, mine regularly crashes   

Yeah, mine was purchased because it was well-rated and an "Amazon's Choice" for only $15 Canadian; but it seems to have a cyclic glitch every 30-60 seconds. I was going to just hit the local Best Buy for a name-brand replacement, but they were nucking futs; having only one no-name Chinese import model in stock at $113.

I've decided to do some testing to see if I can find the cause before I send this one back; I have until March to get a answer.

mnem

Wow, that's way worse than my problem. I just get no sound and/or picture sometimes when switching sources, or sometimes the sound drops out when  the screen blanks (ie on game loading screens).

EDIT: Wow that's some serious negative delta t, you should glue some Peltier modules to your ears and generate some electricity...
   

[BU508A]

So, today I decided to give my wife a Unicorn wearing earmuffs.

I'm convinced, that the love of your wife for you is deep. Very, very deep. And true. With lots of patience.   

Edit:
Somehow this crossed my mind:


 

[mansaxel]

In Other News... a Alberta Clipper beat me up last night!

My backpack always contains an Ullfrotté^tm sweater and my left front pocket on my coat always contains a beanie. In the boot of the car I've got a down parka in a sleeping bag sack as long as it is remotely possible it'll be cold.  Being prepared is a ritual. I once had to wait in the car for a tow truck. Took some 2 hours. In the end, I was shuddering. Never again.

I hate freezing. Welcome to the Other Suck. 

[WastelandTek]

Several hours later still needs a proper edge but a bit of Linseed Oil and Vinegar combined with elbow grease works well.

Try mixing a bit of turps in that, makes an AMAZING cabinet rescue juice.  You do have to shake it up frequently.

[SilverSolder]

In Other News... a Alberta Clipper beat me up last night!

My backpack always contains an Ullfrotté^tm sweater and my left front pocket on my coat always contains a beanie. In the boot of the car I've got a down parka in a sleeping bag sack as long as it is remotely possible it'll be cold.  Being prepared is a ritual. I once had to wait in the car for a tow truck. Took some 2 hours. In the end, I was shuddering. Never again.

I hate freezing. Welcome to the Other Suck. 

I have several fleeces, coats, etc., in the trunk of my car during the winter months, for the same reason.  Most people don't think about how dependent they are on the engine running to stay cozy...   and if you have passengers with you, they won't have thought about it either.

[tggzzz]

So, today I decided to give my wife a Unicorn wearing earmuffs.

One of my friends has sufficiently bad taste that he makes "pony probes" that look like that unicorn.

FFI, if you must, see https://www.flickr.com/photos/anachrocomputer/albums/72157701549708181

[bd139]

And the phrase "clopping" pops into my head again. Thanks for that 

Edit: more fun arrived. I figured I'd grab another copy of AoE 3rd edition at the previously mentioned in another thread price of £23.50 to go with the X chapters. If it turned up as "improved edition" I'd shift the old one as it's 5 years old first printing edition. If it wasn't I'd just return it to Amazon. It was improved version! Bargain!



15th printing 2019

[tggzzz]

And the phrase "clopping" pops into my head again. Thanks for that 

Thank you so much for introducing me to that concept. NOT.

Since you were alread familiar with it and have shared it with us, I'm sure everybody will now associate that with you 

[bd139]

I am not and never will be a bronie 

[tggzzz]

I am not and never will be a bronie 

The gentleman doth protest too much, methinks, but "gentleman" is questionable in this context.

[bd139]

Yes definitely questionable

Well X chapters book I am finding absolutely excellent. Diving into the section on inductors and magnetics seeing as I'm done for the day.

[WastelandTek]

TIL about clopping

FML

[Kosmic]

Cheapest amazon P6100 probes. I am confused:

Need me some Bodnar.

Sure nice rise time. Now if you would have a step it would look like this:



P.S: This was a nice squarewave. P6100 probes really suck 

[AVGresponding]

Cheapest amazon P6100 probes. I am confused:

Need me some Bodnar.

Sure nice rise time. Now if you would have a step it would look like this:



P.S: This was a nice squarewave.

Looks almost like an ECG   

[Kosmic]

 

[med6753]

Decided to check over the vertical board I removed from the 485 parts mule yesterday to insure there would be no surprises. Well, SURPRISE! The +15V is shorted.  Son of a bitch.  Found it quickly. 15uf/20V tant shorted.

Going to borrow bd139's pix.



The board swap should take place next week when the thermal grease arrives.

[mnementh]

If it were the amplifier pair directly East on bd's pic of the PCB above, I'd agree. But I see very little objective reason it couldn't have been moved North or South.

I suspect not wanting to move that part once the cramped location was discovered had a lot more to do with time constraints and the "advanced layout & design process" documented above (which I have worked with personally  ). A lot easier to warn the factory techs with an in-house memo than to spend time & man-hours relocating because it turned out to be a bit of a PITA to service.

mnem
*off in search of a better HDMI switch*

mebbe yes, mebbe no, though i was thinking more about the connector than that particular IC.  as for the IC location, it may just have been too expensive and time consuming to re-spin the board if they considered it an issue at all.  and for those that weren't around then, board layout was a very different animal than it is today.  when we were doing 16x18 inch eight layer boards with two traces between pads (1981ish), there were two board houses in the United States that could do the work (and weren't captive). these tek boards, though not as dense or complicated had, i imagine much more stringent characterization requirements.

for me it is fun to see the design choices that were made then. that's why i like the tek 184 so much even though i cant get the damn thing to run. it really pushed the edge for the time.


edit: wish i had watched the tektronix video before i posted... that was two generations before the boards i worked with. i haven't done a board "the tek way" since high school shop.  man, that brought back some memories, thanks for posting it. 

Yup... that was what I was talking about there.  I haven't worked on a board the Tek way since my first gig right out of tech school... they hired me BECAUSE I had training in the multiple cel overlay design process. They were a bit paranoid about having any digital version of anything they made stored anywhere.

I still have an occasionally recurring dream where I come in to work to find I'd laid out a whole board in the wrong scale; somehow the project made it all the way thru the first run in board fab before they realized the boards were 2.54 times too large... and I'm not wearing pants.

mnem
I am not my pants. No, I am not your pants either.

[bd139]

That reminds me when I was doing “technology” at school. We had to etch a PCB using those horrible dalo rub down transfers on acetate. The technician was a bit of a bastard and waved through everyone’s boards just to educate them on debugging and paying attention  .

Edit: also mine didn’t work. The clock source for my “device” (usual electronic dice project) was a 555 which was bought from RS own brand line and had been abused by previous students until it was well and truly buggered. Technician denied any problems with the device so I swapped it for one of my own ones the next lesson and carefully placed the buggered one back in the parts drawers for someone else to suffer 

[mnementh]

So, today I decided to give my wife a Unicorn wearing earmuffs.

I'm convinced, that the love of your wife for you is deep. Very, very deep. And true. With lots of patience.   

Edit:Somehow this crossed my mind:   

Are you kidding...? As soon as she was done laughing, she turned to me and said You do realize... I'm going to wear them. EVERY TIME we go walkies with your daughter!!!

But, just between us and the TEA... I fully expected that response! And you're absolutely nail-on-the-head correct in the nature of our love for each other. 

mnem
I have yet to supercharge her WaterPik, but we BOTH know it's only a matter of time...

[Kosmic]

Found a new usage for my reflowR (normally used to reflow pcb). Make a nice and stable hotplate 



I'm using it to heat up mineral oil to precisely 60 deg. Trying to measure the Seebeck effect between a copper wire and a brass tinned binding post, not working so good right now 

[mnementh]

In Other News... a Alberta Clipper beat me up last night!

My backpack always contains an Ullfrotté^tm sweater and my left front pocket on my coat always contains a beanie. In the boot of the car I've got a down parka in a sleeping bag sack as long as it is remotely possible it'll be cold.  Being prepared is a ritual. I once had to wait in the car for a tow truck. Took some 2 hours. In the end, I was shuddering. Never again.

I hate freezing. Welcome to the Other Suck. 

I have several fleeces, coats, etc., in the trunk of my car during the winter months, for the same reason.  Most people don't think about how dependent they are on the engine running to stay cozy...   and if you have passengers with you, they won't have thought about it either.

Oh, I have the usual thermal blankets and extra gloves stuffed in with the spare tire; and the Rav4 always has a moving blanket on the floor in the boot. But even if I'd had a beanie inside it wouldn't have mattered... I was in that "trapped in the wind tunnel by a gas nozzle without a trigger-lock thingum" scenario, and couldn't think of anything but getting it over with and back inside. I did at least somewhat wisely choose the absolute smallest prepay amount from the screen to minimize time spent dancing with Jack Frost.

mnem

[Kosmic]

In Other News... a Alberta Clipper beat me up last night!

My backpack always contains an Ullfrotté^tm sweater and my left front pocket on my coat always contains a beanie. In the boot of the car I've got a down parka in a sleeping bag sack as long as it is remotely possible it'll be cold.  Being prepared is a ritual. I once had to wait in the car for a tow truck. Took some 2 hours. In the end, I was shuddering. Never again.

I hate freezing. Welcome to the Other Suck. 

I have several fleeces, coats, etc., in the trunk of my car during the winter months, for the same reason.  Most people don't think about how dependent they are on the engine running to stay cozy...   and if you have passengers with you, they won't have thought about it either.

Oh, I have the usual thermal blankets and extra gloves stuffed in with the spare tire; and the Rav4 always has a moving blanket on the floor in the boot. But even if I'd had a beanie inside it wouldn't have mattered... I was in that "trapped in the wind tunnel by a gas nozzle without a trigger-lock thingum" scenario, and couldn't think of anything but getting it over with and back inside. I did at least somewhat wisely choose the absolute smallest prepay amount from the screen to minimize time spent dancing with Jack Frost.

mnem

I ended up realising that I hate humidity and not necessarily temperature. When it's below -20 the air is always really dry, so a lot more tolerable (for me at least). Call me crazy but I loved it this morning

[med6753]

I ended up realising that I hate humidity and not necessarily temperature. When it's below -20 the air is always really dry, so a lot more tolerable (for me at least). Call me crazy but I loved it this morning

I don't like humidity either but -20? No thank you.