Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Specmaster]

Am I a timenut? -No, I just need it to verify and calibrate my 5359A time synthesizer.    

Confucius he say "man who has two clocks needs another".

You're right citing this.   

Next step: What tools do I need for verifying and calibrating the 5270b itself?      

Well, actually it goes more like "Man with watch always knows what time it is. Man with two is never sure."

Which of course, y'all timenuts use as fodder for a whole herd, so as to be able to bell-curve your uncertainty factor into a statistical time-out.

I'll just average the value of my four different GPSDOs and am done. Hmm. perhaps add my two different rubidium oscillators to the equation. No, I'm not a timenut, I'm not a timenut, I'm not...    

How do you manage to get to sleep at night with all of these things running through your brain at night?

[URI]

Am I a timenut? -No, I just need it to verify and calibrate my 5359A time synthesizer.    

Confucius he say "man who has two clocks needs another".

You're right citing this.   

Next step: What tools do I need for verifying and calibrating the 5270b itself?      

Well, actually it goes more like "Man with watch always knows what time it is. Man with two is never sure."

Which of course, y'all timenuts use as fodder for a whole herd, so as to be able to bell-curve your uncertainty factor into a statistical time-out.

I'll just average the value of my four different GPSDOs and am done. Hmm. perhaps add my two different rubidium oscillators to the equation. No, I'm not a timenut, I'm not a timenut, I'm not...    

How do you manage to get to sleep at night with all of these things running through your brain at night?

As long as it's not the equipment itself going through my brain, I'm fine, thank you.      

Nevermind. Off to bed now.

[mnementh]

gimp ist your friend, man..      

What's wrong with you people?  I do not lack tools, I'm annoyed at the inability of orientation metadata to work in a portable fashion. 

We're here in the TEA house thread...

Besides, using Gimp (which is a nice program, if you need that kind of editing power) to flip a JPEG 90° is like shooting fish in a barrel with a Gatling gun.
Total overkill. (which I defined as "appropriate" upthread, I know!)

Right you are.     

A much more appropriate solution is to use convert from the ImageMagick suite, like so:

convert input.jpeg -rotate 90 output.jpeg

With a small matter of programming you can flip an entire album if you so wish, without opening every file by hand.

I'm with you. I use the gimp regularly though. But not for just rotating images -that's done best with a small tool that does just that. 

I've had Image Resizer & Rotate from PowerToys in every Windoze build since XP except Vista. It includes image rotation from folder view, as well as an Image Resizer tool; it's been here for over a decade. Now it appears it has been merged back into master; with the re-release of PowerToys, MS has included Brice's updated version. 

mnem
 

[Zoli]

Since it's home made PCB time, let me present my little build:
In 2003, I've been gifted two(2) Brüel & Kjær(yes, I can pronounce it) mikes, 4188 capsules with 2671 preamp:

Those familiar with the system knows, that those preamps need current supply between 2 and 20 mA, and the output will stabilise around 12V DC.
Back then, I was still living in a former communist country, but working for an international electronics building company, I've had access to some scraps and leftovers(the B&K's were leftovers from a production line).
So, let's build an adapter!

And now, let's see what crimes I've commited 17 years ago...

The wire harness:

The PCB, in the front is the rewinded transformer: originally 12V, now 2X15V+30V; SMPS duties done by TOP224Y;

From the left: that's how it looks when you make a mistake late in the carving process(first OP07 from the left); center: TL431 reference for the current generators, 7824 supply for the current generators;

Top left: current generators; Bottom left: output amplifiers(10X, IIRC);

Overview of the whole teardown; the Lifelex LC-301 knife was used to carve out the PCB;

I've took out this adapter from his storage to change the interiors to something more modern and lower noise, like LT3080 current generators with OPA1602 amplifiers,
since this unit has a S/N ratio around 40dB(maybe? I really should take some measurements befor I retire it..).
When I retire this board, it will get his own, nice ESD-safe bag, within a nice LDPE bag - I can't imagine better retirement for a board, but I'm open to suggestions.
Tools used:
50VA East Germany soldering gun, 100VA Soviet soldering gun, fret saw(for the front and back panels), Fluke 75 Mark II(yes, I already had it) and much more that I don't remember and got lost, but certainly was no scope involved, since I din't own/rented one around that time.
Materials:
The only parts what I've bought for this project are:
 - The case
 - The blue LED
 - Copper clad for the PCB
Everything else is leftover or recovered from scrap; some parts(like the TOP224Y) were brand new, but dropped on the production floor, so deemed "unreliable".

[WastelandTek]

Can somebody help me out with this switch?  That I don't have this in stock is bugging the shit out of me.  I have, literally, 3 liters of salvaged switches here, and I am quite sure I have had some of these, but right now I don't even have anything close enough to raid the plastic out of to fix this one.

Tek 260-0450-00, it looks like 260-0251-00 is the same thing, there is a 2 pack of the latter on ebay...for $22 shipped...

Switchcraft still makes it, 46313TDRX, $11 plus shipping at Digi-Key 

What make it so I can't just throw a $1.50 switch at it is that the mounting studs are part of the chassis and are on 1.406" centers, not the 1" all the switches have now.

DP3T, 3A 125VAC, 0.5A 125VDC, 1.406" hole spacing, or if someone has something close I can raid the plastic out of that works too

I just can't see paying $15 for this

[beanflying]

gimp ist your friend, man..      

What's wrong with you people?  I do not lack tools, I'm annoyed at the inability of orientation metadata to work in a portable fashion. 

We're here in the TEA house thread...

Besides, using Gimp (which is a nice program, if you need that kind of editing power) to flip a JPEG 90° is like shooting fish in a barrel with a Gatling gun.
Total overkill. (which I defined as "appropriate" upthread, I know!)

Right you are.     

A much more appropriate solution is to use convert from the ImageMagick suite, like so:

convert input.jpeg -rotate 90 output.jpeg

With a small matter of programming you can flip an entire album if you so wish, without opening every file by hand.

I'm with you. I use the gimp regularly though. But not for just rotating images -that's done best with a small tool that does just that. 

Irfranview for all the quick jobs is still hard to beat and it will do simple batch jobs if needed. Gimp, Inkscape /  Adobe if you have to for serious tweakage.

https://www.irfanview.com/

[worsthorse]

Spent a good part of the day at the bench, replacing capacitors in the S-38 and rewiring the AC side of things to include an isolation transformer and fuse. Here's the top and bottom as of 300PM local time...





The fixture holding the previous multi-section cap was too small for the new one. Luckily I had a few big honkin' tie wraps laying about, one of which was sacrificed to the cause.

The good news: I powered it. No explosions and I did not immediately electrocute myself plus was actual noise on the speaker.  Alas, that is where the good news ends.  The power lamp is cycling on and off and the AC voltage on the chassis side of the transformer is going up and down by four or five volts.  I checked the filament resistances of the tubes and it appears the rectifier tube has a problem... all of the filaments but for one of the two in the rectifier measure about ten ohms.

I left it for tomorrow. First I will check that I didn't make a mistake rewiring the AC or installing caps. Then will power it up and look at the rectifier output to see what is going on.

[WastelandTek]

oh wow

my first radio was an S38 that had suffered some lightning damage

deaf as a post, I wonder if my dad still has that?

that chassis looks beautiful man!

[mnementh]

Here's an interesting evolution of Manhattan-style construction I stumbled across the other day...



Board prep is done with a Dremel using a coring bit like this one: https://www.amazon.com/Dremel-663DR-4-Inch-Glass-Drilling/dp/B004Q01OAK/

mnem
*currently beating fusion360 about the head with a null-bit mallet*

The Dremel bit is something like 30$. But you can find bunch of those really cheap from China.

Ex: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Diamond-Hole-Saw-Drill-Bit-Set-Glass-Ceramic-Tile-Cutting-Tool-10pcs-3-18mm/133048582776

Yeah, that was just the first one of decent quality I found that fit a Dremel. The ones you link to are okay if you plan to use a drill press, maybe. Depends on just how roughshod those bits are whether they'll make those nice neat ring cuts or gouge the fuck outta everything. Or worse yet, dig in/bind up and beat you in the face with the PCB.

Not sure what Horror Fraught has to offer; but at least if they have them, you can put hands & eyeballs on the thing before you plunk your money down.



https://www.woodcraft.com/products/screw-extractor-1-4

Alternately, one could buy or even make one of these miniature plug cutters.

mnem
moo?

[URI]

New addition to my TE-Stack: Hewlett Packard 5370b time interval counter:


Did a reasonable low offer that was accepted. Shipping plus customs fees will be more than the price though.   
I hope It'll go into my TE stack without problems and not into my repair stack.
I just hope the seller follows my plea for a strong cardboard package and strong padding on all sides..   

Now. all I can do is wait...

Am I a timenut? -No, I just need it to verify and calibrate my 5359A time synthesizer.    

have never used an emoji before in my entire life.

 

Did I miss something? Why are you clapping hands? 

Shipping plus customs will be more than 200 yankee-bucks so no Jammy Git imho.   

All prices for 5370b's being offered in the *bay at the moment are much higher though.

[Zucca]

Edit: question for all. I need to set up a separate VLAN for my test gear including potentially a 34401A at some point (serial only). Is buying an old Cisco 2600 router with a 16 port EtherSwitch and serial port WIC classified as overkill for this?  . You can pick them up for £12 (!) now inc delivery. Just add console and serial cables + etherswitch module and sorted.

I am doing my network at home, do you have a separate LAN just for the Test Equipment?
There are some unused  Intel NIC under my bench and I am wondering if it make sense to complete separate the TEA Ethernet from the rest.

[beanflying]

You just need to skip the 34401A and jump up to the 34461A     

[mansaxel]

I am doing my network at home, do you have a separate LAN just for the Test Equipment?
There are some unused  Intel NIC under my bench and I am wondering if it make sense to complete separate the TEA Ethernet from the rest.

I would argue that since we're mostly dealing with older devices, that won't see patches from either OS or equipment vendor, (For instance when an oscilloscope runs an embedded Windows or an unsupported 32-bit old Linux with special drivers that won't fit in newer OSes.) it is borderline reckless to give them the same connectivity as the rest of your computers. 

A separate (v)LAN with routing to the rest of your computers via a firewall holding a competent and restricted ruleset would be minimum security level, IMNSHO. For starters, the instruments shall not be able to connect to Internet resources. One shall not be able to connect to them except through a minimum set of ports and protocols, and those connections shall only be possible from specially approved computers on the usual LAN. This is assuming that the usual LAN only contains trustworthy computers. Media players, smart TV's, and other Orwellian Telescreens you've paid for yourself (like Alexa or Google Home) are not repeat NOT trustworthy.

Thus, you need a minimum of three LAN's; vintage, untrusted and trusted.

[bd139]

Edit: question for all. I need to set up a separate VLAN for my test gear including potentially a 34401A at some point (serial only). Is buying an old Cisco 2600 router with a 16 port EtherSwitch and serial port WIC classified as overkill for this?  . You can pick them up for £12 (!) now inc delivery. Just add console and serial cables + etherswitch module and sorted.

I am doing my network at home, do you have a separate LAN just for the Test Equipment?
There are some unused  Intel NIC under my bench and I am wondering if it make sense to complete separate the TEA Ethernet from the rest.

That is the plan. I'm segmenting my network heavily as I've got a couple of problems with address range clashes with some stuff I have to VPN into. Decided I'd do it properly.

10.232.0.0/24 -> WiFi guests
10.232.1.0/24 -> WiFi preapproved
10.232.2.0/24 -> test gear LAN
10.232.3.0/24 -> PC desktop / virtual machines

Plan is to run the core off a Cisco 2921. This will handle the FTTC connection, do NAT, DHCP, firewall etc. The router will have EHWIC-4ESG card for core switch and EHWIC-VA-DSL-A card for VDSL connection. Will get a Cisco 1252 AP for WiFi. Using the 2921 as it has PoE option installed so I can power the AP from it. Only problem is it's quite noisy!

The test gear VLAN will run off a Cisco 1901 with serial card and another EHWIC-4ESG. So the router will be a slave node on that VLAN, do DHCP for it and act as a terminal server for non ethernet hardware.

All this is crap I picked up from work or ebay for virtually nothing so far. I bought a cisco 1941 just to get the VA-DSL-A out of it for £38 the other day and that's it. Stuff is sooooo cheap and it all runs latest IOS 15 and is all still under support until 2022/2023 

I've basically got about £8k worth of cisco shit here for £40 spend

Edit: The Cisco 2921 is getting the 4G LTE card in it when I get one suitably cheap as well so I can fail over my FTTC onto 4G if I need to. Those cards are going for serious money though 

[Brumby]

You just need to skip the 34401A and jump up to the 34461A     

(Attachment Link)

Down, boy.  Sit!

[bd139]

I did consider the 34460A. By the time you've bought a 34401A, fixed all the wonky bits, got it calibrated you're 2/3 of the way there...

[tautech]

You just need to skip the 34401A and jump up to the 34461A     

(Attachment Link)

Down, boy.  Sit!

Yep, calm down Bean, it's just a rebrand Siglent. 

[beanflying]

You just need to skip the 34401A and jump up to the 34461A     

(Attachment Link)

Down, boy.  Sit!

Yep, calm down Bean, it's just a rebrand Siglent. 

Completely different look really they are.  Not the first time a good front panel was copied by Siglent, Rigol et al

[tautech]

This is what it's copied from 

[beanflying]

I call BS 

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/siglent-new-bench-dmm-sdm3055/

The 34461A had been out in the wild for a year or two more before that 

https://www.keysight.com/main/techSupport.jspx?cc=AU&lc=eng&nid=-32051.1242960&pid=2891615&pageMode=DS

[bd139]

Yeah. Keysight tend to set the standard and everyone rips it off.

Then Rigol come along after snooting some coke and come up with something vastly abstract. 

Edit: also the keysight is definitely an evolution of the 34410A

[tautech]

 
Only two of ya took the bait.

[bd139]

Well played 

I'm sitting here on a daily status meeting listening to politics at the moment so nothing else constructive to do other than bite

Another rip off...

[Zucca]

Edit: question for all. I need to set up a separate VLAN for my test gear including potentially a 34401A at some point (serial only). Is buying an old Cisco 2600 router with a 16 port EtherSwitch and serial port WIC classified as overkill for this?  . You can pick them up for £12 (!) now inc delivery. Just add console and serial cables + etherswitch module and sorted.

I am doing my network at home, do you have a separate LAN just for the Test Equipment?
There are some unused  Intel NIC under my bench and I am wondering if it make sense to complete separate the TEA Ethernet from the rest.

That is the plan. I'm segmenting my network heavily as I've got a couple of problems with address range clashes with some stuff I have to VPN into. Decided I'd do it properly.

10.232.0.0/24 -> WiFi guests
10.232.1.0/24 -> WiFi preapproved
10.232.2.0/24 -> test gear LAN
10.232.3.0/24 -> PC desktop / virtual machines

Plan is to run the core off a Cisco 2921. This will handle the FTTC connection, do NAT, DHCP, firewall etc. The router will have EHWIC-4ESG card for core switch and EHWIC-VA-DSL-A card for VDSL connection. Will get a Cisco 1252 AP for WiFi. Using the 2921 as it has PoE option installed so I can power the AP from it. Only problem is it's quite noisy!

The test gear VLAN will run off a Cisco 1901 with serial card and another EHWIC-4ESG. So the router will be a slave node on that VLAN, do DHCP for it and act as a terminal server for non ethernet hardware.

All this is crap I picked up from work or ebay for virtually nothing so far. I bought a cisco 1941 just to get the VA-DSL-A out of it for £38 the other day and that's it. Stuff is sooooo cheap and it all runs latest IOS 15 and is all still under support until 2022/2023 

I've basically got about £8k worth of cisco shit here for £40 spend

Edit: The Cisco 2921 is getting the 4G LTE card in it when I get one suitably cheap as well so I can fail over my FTTC onto 4G if I need to. Those cards are going for serious money though 

Wow, well well done! For a beginner like me it seems rock solid.
 

Give me some time to digest all these infos.

[tautech]

Nutthing much doing here today other than more frigging painting and more planned for tomorrow. 
Shiity weather will be here soon enough and then more time to peddle products again as we'll be out of full lockdown in a week.