Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[worsthorse]

I'm glad that the 'one knob for everything' interface seems mostly to have gone the way of the dodo.

-Pat

Me, I prefer all knobs and buttons. This is my primary rig, which I bought as much for the user interface as I did the receiver inside:



Menu driven touchscreen interfaces on test equipment and radios makes me crazy.

okay, okay. makes me more crazy.

[bd139]

Also to note I am diverting some of my budget to buying a rather expensive bicycle and half a new wardrobe at the moment so need to keep things "as tight as a duck's arse"

*sigh* I miss being able to tolerate bicycles. I keep telling myself I could maybe actually ride one of the fatbikes with a electric motor assist; but then I start looking at the whole e-bike rabbit-hole and I realize I'd never actually finish building... 

mnem
 

I have a friend who has had three spinal surgeries and uses a recumbent bike now. Worth a look.

That usually turns into adding an extra wheel when I look at it.

Then a motor.

Then you end up with this which is basically an RC car you sit on 

https://youtu.be/_4ZCLd2fGl8

[mnementh]

No-o-o-o... THIS is the kind of Rabbit-Hole I always wind up peering down... 

While surfing around I've found this weird-looking scope from Metrix:   It is a Metrix MTX 3252 2 Channel 60Mhz Oscilloscope      https://www.ebay.com/itm/283474628268Never saw one of these before. 

That's certainly funky looking!!  I've never seen one either.

At first glance, I thought it was a fukkin' old HP printer.

mnem
*back to the bench*

[Specmaster]

hey bd

were you bitchin' a couple of weeks ago about a sweep problem in an hp 1740?

grabbed one of mine to look at some ttl stuff and discovered it was having sweep/retrace hiccups.

pulled the cover and found this note.  hmmmmmm.  that is my handwriting.  musta' put that note in there 15 or 20 years ago.

followed my instructions from the past (or maybe i am finally gonna' get around to that time machine and its from the future?).  it is now working a-ok once again.  most likely pushing at the top reseats that white connector waaaaaay down at the bottom of the board?

or did you already sell your only hp scope?     

Oh yes, while the 1740A is a great scope, its weakness and also its greatest feature at the same is its modularity via those push fit connectors. Unless these are kept clean on a regular basis they get dirty and cause intermittent contacts between the boards and the power buses.

[Cerebus]

I'm finding that many of the techniques I used as a kid are not exactly good for an old fart like myself; but trying to glean useful information from the sea of "Health & Fitness Guru" bundahoo is a mental workout like none I've ever faced before. Last session I literally went to bed with a pounding headache from all the BS.

Try finding a textbook of exercises that's aimed at physiotherapy students. Physios don't go in for woo-woo, bundhoo, or any of that malarkey.

My experience with physiotherapists here in the UK is that those guys and gals really know their stuff and can get you sweating and aching in minutes without putting you at any risk of doing yourself harm. I've had all kinds of aches, pains and dismobility go away by seeking advice and exercise plans from physios and, kind of obviously, actually following the advice and exercise plans.

[tautech]

hey bd

were you bitchin' a couple of weeks ago about a sweep problem in an hp 1740?

grabbed one of mine to look at some ttl stuff and discovered it was having sweep/retrace hiccups.

pulled the cover and found this note.  hmmmmmm.  that is my handwriting.  musta' put that note in there 15 or 20 years ago.

followed my instructions from the past (or maybe i am finally gonna' get around to that time machine and its from the future?).  it is now working a-ok once again.  most likely pushing at the top reseats that white connector waaaaaay down at the bottom of the board?

or did you already sell your only hp scope?     

Oh yes, while the 1740A is a great scope, its weakness and also its greatest feature at the same is its modularity via those push fit connectors. Unless these are kept clean on a regular basis they get dirty and cause intermittent contacts between the boards and the power buses.

Nope, the way the interconnects are factory soldered, wave I suspect left the TH pins light on solder that when combined with thermal cycling and other physical stress caused the solder fillets to crack. Reworking them and leaving beefy fillets generally fixes them.

[factory]

But when I looked at this scope, another one crossed my mind:
The scopes from Yokogawa (YEW), for example the Yokogawa DL1300A 100MHz digital scope.

This one comes with a printer too.


https://www.ebay.com/itm/293044805150

Has anybody worked with one of these scopes and can share one or two stories about them? Just curious how the perform and the handling is.

We have a 150MHz DL1520 version at work, most people (myself included) preferred the Yokogawa (or Kawasaki as it usually got called) over the digital LCD Tek scopes.
The menus aren't too bad on that version (in my opinion), plus there is separate timebase knob, the printer was also very useful.
The internal battery is only used for saved data & the clock, so no problems with cal data when it dies.

Bad points are the amber CRT being hard to see with over bright modern lighting, the printer paper is thermal so will fade over time (+ expensive), the floppy drives are unreliable and like most Yokogawa test gear I've never found any component level service manuals.

I can't comment on other versions as I've not used any.

I liked it so much I ended up buying one too;



How many things do I really need to measure simultaneously?


Still can't find the "Any" key though.


David

[bd139]

hey bd

were you bitchin' a couple of weeks ago about a sweep problem in an hp 1740?

grabbed one of mine to look at some ttl stuff and discovered it was having sweep/retrace hiccups.

pulled the cover and found this note.  hmmmmmm.  that is my handwriting.  musta' put that note in there 15 or 20 years ago.

followed my instructions from the past (or maybe i am finally gonna' get around to that time machine and its from the future?).  it is now working a-ok once again.  most likely pushing at the top reseats that white connector waaaaaay down at the bottom of the board?

or did you already sell your only hp scope?     

Oh yes, while the 1740A is a great scope, its weakness and also its greatest feature at the same is its modularity via those push fit connectors. Unless these are kept clean on a regular basis they get dirty and cause intermittent contacts between the boards and the power buses.

Nope, the way the interconnects are factory soldered, wave I suspect left the TH pins light on solder that when combined with thermal cycling and other physical stress caused the solder fillets to crack. Reworking them and leaving beefy fillets generally fixes them.

Yep. Here's the inside of my 1740A. Was not happy about having to repair this one. Was difficult as hell!



This was the worst bit



End game:





Yep the traces were gone. I had to scrape out all the carbon and epoxy it then run new traces with wire out of some ladder line.

[med6753]

Took a break from the bench and got away from that blasted 485. I'll dive back into tomorrow (maybe...I may wind up tossing it in the closet).

Anyway, weather forecast for the next 6 days is sunshine and no rain/snow. Got outside and gave the CR-V a good mid-Winter cleaning. Touch free car wash, hand towel dry by me, dressing on the tires, Amor-all wipes on the black trim. Looking spiffy!  So watch it snow a foot tomorrow. 

Behind it under the cover is the Civic hibernating. Haven't taken it out in almost 3 weeks because the weather has been shitty. Tomorrow I should be able to get it started, drive it, and charge up the battery.



 

[tautech]

Yep I forgot how much other damage can occur from those cracked solder fillets from heating and now remember the fun you had with yours bd. 
Yet it’s a nice concept that is nice for fault finding and checking the PSU before lighting up the rest of the scope.

[med6753]

Yep I forgot how much other damage can occur from those cracked solder fillets from heating and now remember the fun you had with yours bd. 
Yet it’s a nice concept that is nice for fault finding and checking the PSU before lighting up the rest of the scope.

Go back to what I posted yesterday and view the video of some knuckle head fixing a Tek 422 scope. It's amazing in the end he fixed it. 

[factory]

And some how he got away without replacing a single tant. 

David

[bd139]

Those are just waiting patiently for when he's fixed it before they die

Edit: mini rant. Electricians. Never shall I allow one in my house after being sent something a few minutes ago from a family member. I've advised her to NOT power up her upstairs lighting which appears to have been fixed by being wired into a 13A plug and inserted into the socket in her cupboard because the lazy fucker couldn't work out how to replace the breaker in the CU. At no point did the thought go into his head as to why the breaker kept going pop? 

[Specmaster]

SNIP
Also to note I am diverting some of my budget to buying a rather expensive bicycle and half a new wardrobe at the moment so need to keep things "as tight as a duck's arse"

Yeah, here is a public announcement for people in the TW and SW post codes of London to be on lookout for a man clad in Lycra and cycling crash helmet riding a new expensive bicycle and if spotted to look in the opposite direction as it will not be a very pretty sight and you may if spotted and you fail to look other way experience some disturbed and interrupted sleep yourself

You have been warned. 

[Specmaster]

Yep I forgot how much other damage can occur from those cracked solder fillets from heating and now remember the fun you had with yours bd. 
Yet it’s a nice concept that is nice for fault finding and checking the PSU before lighting up the rest of the scope.

Go back to what I posted yesterday and view the video of some knuckle head fixing a Tek 422 scope. It's amazing in the end he fixed it. 

Yep, I must admit to cringing when he filmed that capacitor foaming, he got up real close and personal and never once gave any thought to the consequences or to switching it off. He really was a danger to himself  and ought to be certified.

[tggzzz]

I'm finding that many of the techniques I used as a kid are not exactly good for an old fart like myself; but trying to glean useful information from the sea of "Health & Fitness Guru" bundahoo is a mental workout like none I've ever faced before. Last session I literally went to bed with a pounding headache from all the BS.

Try finding a textbook of exercises that's aimed at physiotherapy students. Physios don't go in for woo-woo, bundhoo, or any of that malarkey.

My experience with physiotherapists here in the UK is that those guys and gals really know their stuff and can get you sweating and aching in minutes without putting you at any risk of doing yourself harm. I've had all kinds of aches, pains and dismobility go away by seeking advice and exercise plans from physios and, kind of obviously, actually following the advice and exercise plans.

Seconded.

They are cheap, they acknowledge that there's little point in more than half a dozen sessions, and they are unlikely to do harm. What's not to like?!

If still in doubt, compare that with many other parts of the medical industry

[Specmaster]

Those are just waiting patiently for when he's fixed it before they die

Edit: mini rant. Electricians. Never shall I allow one in my house after being sent something a few minutes ago from a family member. I've advised her to NOT power up her upstairs lighting which appears to have been fixed by being wired into a 13A plug and inserted into the socket in her cupboard because the lazy fucker couldn't work out how to replace the breaker in the CU. At no point did the thought go into his head as to why the breaker kept going pop? 

, He clearly was not an electrician at all, if he has any qualification at all it is probably for something like PAT testing or some other crap. He had no right to be allowed to touch electrics at all, it is a silent killer. Get round there quickly and sort it out for her. 

[factory]

Those are just waiting patiently for when he's fixed it before they die

Edit: mini rant. Electricians. Never shall I allow one in my house after being sent something a few minutes ago from a family member. I've advised her to NOT power up her upstairs lighting which appears to have been fixed by being wired into a 13A plug and inserted into the socket in her cupboard because the lazy fucker couldn't work out how to replace the breaker in the CU. At no point did the thought go into his head as to why the breaker kept going pop? 

, He clearly was not an electrician at all, if he has any qualification at all it is probably for something like PAT sticker testing or some other crap. He had no right to be allowed to touch electrics at all, it is a silent killer. Get round there quickly and sort it out for her. 

There you go, fixed that for you.

David

[bd139]

SNIP
Also to note I am diverting some of my budget to buying a rather expensive bicycle and half a new wardrobe at the moment so need to keep things "as tight as a duck's arse"

Yeah, here is a public announcement for people in the TW and SW post codes of London to be on lookout for a man clad in Lycra and cycling crash helmet riding a new expensive bicycle and if spotted to look in the opposite direction as it will not be a very pretty sight and you may if spotted and you fail to look other way experience some disturbed and interrupted sleep yourself

You have been warned. 

No lycra here. I refuse. 

Actually reminds me of something I saw the other day. Two lycra clad folk on carbon fibre bikes in Richmond at the lights got completely owned by a hipster on a fixie who kept turning around and making loser signs at them. 

Those are just waiting patiently for when he's fixed it before they die

Edit: mini rant. Electricians. Never shall I allow one in my house after being sent something a few minutes ago from a family member. I've advised her to NOT power up her upstairs lighting which appears to have been fixed by being wired into a 13A plug and inserted into the socket in her cupboard because the lazy fucker couldn't work out how to replace the breaker in the CU. At no point did the thought go into his head as to why the breaker kept going pop? 

, He clearly was not an electrician at all, if he has any qualification at all it is probably for something like PAT testing or some other crap. He had no right to be allowed to touch electrics at all, it is a silent killer. Get round there quickly and sort it out for her. 

Apparently NICEIC registered although I suspect that's the company and not this turd. She's got another one arriving on Friday to sort it out. My instructions were simply to "don't turn anything on that is on that circuit and refuse to pay them"

[Cubdriver]

SNIP
Also to note I am diverting some of my budget to buying a rather expensive bicycle and half a new wardrobe at the moment so need to keep things "as tight as a duck's arse"

Yeah, here is a public announcement for people in the TW and SW post codes of London to be on lookout for a man clad in Lycra and cycling crash helmet riding a new expensive bicycle and if spotted to look in the opposite direction as it will not be a very pretty sight and you may if spotted and you fail to look other way experience some disturbed and interrupted sleep yourself

You have been warned. 

Will they even let a homeowner do electrical work over there?  I seem to recall reading somewhere (may well have been here) that they were difficult about that - only licensed electricians were allowed to do any wiring, and that the inspectors could usually tell if a homeowner had done something themselves - the giveaway being that what the homeowner wired was done correctly rather than being the normal hack job typically done by a real electrician.

-Pat

[Specmaster]

hey bd

were you bitchin' a couple of weeks ago about a sweep problem in an hp 1740?

grabbed one of mine to look at some ttl stuff and discovered it was having sweep/retrace hiccups.

pulled the cover and found this note.  hmmmmmm.  that is my handwriting.  musta' put that note in there 15 or 20 years ago.

followed my instructions from the past (or maybe i am finally gonna' get around to that time machine and its from the future?).  it is now working a-ok once again.  most likely pushing at the top reseats that white connector waaaaaay down at the bottom of the board?

or did you already sell your only hp scope?     

Oh yes, while the 1740A is a great scope, its weakness and also its greatest feature at the same is its modularity via those push fit connectors. Unless these are kept clean on a regular basis they get dirty and cause intermittent contacts between the boards and the power buses.

Nope, the way the interconnects are factory soldered, wave I suspect left the TH pins light on solder that when combined with thermal cycling and other physical stress caused the solder fillets to crack. Reworking them and leaving beefy fillets generally fixes them.

No, I never had any issues like that  on mine at all. it was just down to the very contact between pins and their respective contacts in the sockets having got dirty / corroded after years of the heating / cooling cycles, after much pain staking cleaning resolved the issues.

[factory]

Go back to what I posted yesterday and view the video of some knuckle head fixing a Tek 422 scope. It's amazing in the end he fixed it. 

Yep, I must admit to cringing when he filmed that capacitor foaming, he got up real close and personal and never once gave any thought to the consequences or to switching it off. He really was a danger to himself  and ought to be certified.

He does have a face visor for the EOL videos, some of the stuff he does in the abandoned mine videos seems way more dangerous, like the recent one where he climbs a very dodgy ladder that's barely attached to anything.

David

[Specmaster]

No-o-o-o... THIS is the kind of Rabbit-Hole I always wind up peering down... 

While surfing around I've found this weird-looking scope from Metrix:   It is a Metrix MTX 3252 2 Channel 60Mhz Oscilloscope      https://www.ebay.com/itm/283474628268Never saw one of these before. 

That's certainly funky looking!!  I've never seen one either.

At first glance, I thought it was a fukkin' old HP printer.

mnem
*back to the bench*

Yeah, I think that Meteix is a French company and it looks to me that they have a few of the old styling engineers from Citroen working for them, as they loved to be quirky on their cars.

[bd139]

SNIP
Also to note I am diverting some of my budget to buying a rather expensive bicycle and half a new wardrobe at the moment so need to keep things "as tight as a duck's arse"

Yeah, here is a public announcement for people in the TW and SW post codes of London to be on lookout for a man clad in Lycra and cycling crash helmet riding a new expensive bicycle and if spotted to look in the opposite direction as it will not be a very pretty sight and you may if spotted and you fail to look other way experience some disturbed and interrupted sleep yourself

You have been warned. 

Will they even let a homeowner do electrical work over there?  I seem to recall reading somewhere (may well have been here) that they were difficult about that - only licensed electricians were allowed to do any wiring, and that the inspectors could usually tell if a homeowner had done something themselves - the giveaway being that what the homeowner wired was done correctly rather than being the normal hack job typically done by a real electrician.

-Pat

You can do anything you like but it needs to be signed off by an electrician if "notifiable" so any new circuits and bathroom/shower stuff usually. I  know someone who signs off anything I do if you slip him 50 quid without even looking at it . That shows how stupid the system is.

[Specmaster]

Also to note I am diverting some of my budget to buying a rather expensive bicycle and half a new wardrobe at the moment so need to keep things "as tight as a duck's arse"

*sigh* I miss being able to tolerate bicycles. I keep telling myself I could maybe actually ride one of the fatbikes with a electric motor assist; but then I start looking at the whole e-bike rabbit-hole and I realize I'd never actually finish building... 

mnem
 

I have a friend who has had three spinal surgeries and uses a recumbent bike now. Worth a look.

That usually turns into adding an extra wheel when I look at it.

Then a motor.

Then you end up with this which is basically an RC car you sit on 

https://youtu.be/_4ZCLd2fGl8

Geez, his legs literally become the crumble zone there