Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[nfmax]

Agilent ones are good. My only complaint with those supplies is the buttons fall to bits and the calibration is dangerous as hell as for some reason they always put the trim pots right next to the mains switch.

True dat! I put a piece of plastic over the switch when calibrating - maybe I should 3D print something

[SilverSolder]

Agilent ones are good. My only complaint with those supplies is the buttons fall to bits and the calibration is dangerous as hell as for some reason they always put the trim pots right next to the mains switch.

True dat! I put a piece of plastic over the switch when calibrating - maybe I should 3D print something

Plastic screwdriver, like used for adjusting RF/IF transformers?

[Saskia]

that would be a safety device and we all know that those would hinder evolution.

[nfmax]

Agilent ones are good. My only complaint with those supplies is the buttons fall to bits and the calibration is dangerous as hell as for some reason they always put the trim pots right next to the mains switch.

True dat! I put a piece of plastic over the switch when calibrating - maybe I should 3D print something

Plastic screwdriver, like used for adjusting RF/IF transformers?

I tried that, but none of the trimmers in my set fitted Besides, for meter calibration the pots are on the front panel PCB so you need a very short screwdriver or the transformer gets in the way. I use one that came with a 1970's hifi receiver, to tune the preset stations. Had it for the best part of 50 years and still just does the job!

[mnementh]

OK, first world people problems and the dragon can go piss up a rope.

Dear Amazon, how can my coffee order arrive today when it hasn't even been fulfilled and shipped yet? 

Well, it's only Sunday and I usually do my rope pissing on Wednesday (both up & down; I like to knock it all out at once and then take a long, hot shower ), but I can spare a whizz for a good friend. *turns away, makes an adjustment...*    *sighhhhh*

Okay, now that's accomplished, does this have to do with me...? I've repeatedly said that Amazon delivery is effing amazing... until the exact moment you come to count on it. 

mnem
You don't wanna be around tomorrow... Monday is stick-shitting  day (straight & crooked, up & down); it can get kindof splatter-y.

[mnementh]

Yeah, shows really what a bloody great bunch of people use the forum generally. OK you get the odd so and so but by and large we are all similar minded people and share the same great passion.

Hey!!! I resemble that remark!!! 

True, you don't get much odder than me...  but I do try to make up for it by being amusing. 

mnem
Here, have a taco.

[med6753]

OK, first world people problems and the dragon can go piss up a rope.

Dear Amazon, how can my coffee order arrive today when it hasn't even been fulfilled and shipped yet? 

Well, it's only Sunday and I usually do my rope pissing on Wednesday (both up & down; I like to knock it all out at once and then take a long, hot shower ), but I can spare a whizz for a good friend. *turns away, makes an adjustment...*    *sighhhhh*

Okay, now that's accomplished, does this have to do with me...? I've repeatedly said that Amazon delivery is effing amazing... until the exact moment you come to count on it. 

mnem
You don't wanna be around tomorrow... Monday is stick-shitting  day (straight & crooked, up & down); it can get kindof splatter-y.

Because last week you tongue lashed me and Spec for being critical of current Amazon Prime policies and wanting to call them out on it and you countered with something like first world problem when the rest of the world was going to shit. But then apparently you got a case of "hoof and mouth" and back tracked. 

[mnementh]

Agilent ones are good. My only complaint with those supplies is the buttons fall to bits and the calibration is dangerous as hell as for some reason they always put the trim pots right next to the mains switch.

True dat! I put a piece of plastic over the switch when calibrating - maybe I should 3D print something

Plastic screwdriver, like used for adjusting RF/IF transformers?

Oodles of this set for US$10-13: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=ceramic+screwdriver&_sacat=0&_sop=15

At that price, no reason not to get two sets so you can have one to carve individual drivers down to fit specific applications.

mnem

[mnementh]

OK, first world people problems and the dragon can go piss up a rope.

Dear Amazon, how can my coffee order arrive today when it hasn't even been fulfilled and shipped yet? 

Well, it's only Sunday and I usually do my rope pissing on Wednesday (both up & down; I like to knock it all out at once and then take a long, hot shower ), but I can spare a whizz for a good friend. *turns away, makes an adjustment...*    *sighhhhh*

Okay, now that's accomplished, does this have to do with me...? I've repeatedly said that Amazon delivery is effing amazing... until the exact moment you come to count on it. 

mnem
You don't wanna be around tomorrow... Monday is stick-shitting  day (straight & crooked, up & down); it can get kindof splatter-y.

Because last week you tongue lashed me and Spec for being critical of current Amazon Prime policies and wanting to call them out on it and you countered with something like first world problem when the rest of the world was going to shit. But then apparently you got a case of "hoof and mouth" and back tracked. 

Griping about Amazon shipping is one thing; fuck, I'm ALL FOR griping about shit. That's what this place is for! 

Y'all were talking about rage-quitting Amazon; THAT is just dumb.

mnem
Bite my scaly dwagon arse.

[bd139]

Yeah Amazon is a social advantage, much like a smartphone, and tossing them on the street is insane.

Someone keeps suggesting I should quit Amazon and return to the retail outlets on the street after they got done over by the bizarre high street marketing PR going around here under "gentrification" and "out with the old ways" and "protect our local business". Fuck 'em in the ass. The high street was and still is a shit show which would turn on you in a second if there was a problem with anything you bought and I hope it burns.

Edit: decided I'm going to swap my case out for a Fractal Design Meshify C as it's getting a bit toasty in the coolermaster for all its silent insulated glory.

[0culus]

TEA day, as seen on discord earlier. Very nice shape Tek Type 184. There's one problem. The seller listed as tested and working, but the fuse and fuse holder are missing! Looking back, they were missing in the listing pics too, so I messaged them. They said they'll look for it on Tuesday.  And I don't have a .6A slowblow on hand either, so I can't even scrounge a fuze cap to test it out. 

Scored one recently, most output spotted on except those below 50ns. Carried out adjustment all fixed except the 2ns  The 2ns output never make a stable waveform except when my adjustment tool (esd safe plastic) touch the C70 

I changed the input voltage to 220V as I am living in 220v area, the 10MHz oven started giving out smell and blow the fuse (0.3A) after around 1 hr  Disconnect the heater as temporary fix.

Any chance to help me to measure the resistance between pin 1 to 5, 2 to 5, 1 to 2 on the 10 Mhz crystal after removing it from socket ?

Pin 1 to 5: 3.9K
Pin 2 to 5: 1.4K
Pin 1 to 2: 5.3K

[Specmaster]

OK, first world people problems and the dragon can go piss up a rope.

Dear Amazon, how can my coffee order arrive today when it hasn't even been fulfilled and shipped yet? 

Well, it's only Sunday and I usually do my rope pissing on Wednesday (both up & down; I like to knock it all out at once and then take a long, hot shower ), but I can spare a whizz for a good friend. *turns away, makes an adjustment...*    *sighhhhh*

Okay, now that's accomplished, does this have to do with me...? I've repeatedly said that Amazon delivery is effing amazing... until the exact moment you come to count on it. 

mnem
You don't wanna be around tomorrow... Monday is stick-shitting  day (straight & crooked, up & down); it can get kindof splatter-y.

Because last week you tongue lashed me and Spec for being critical of current Amazon Prime policies and wanting to call them out on it and you countered with something like first world problem when the rest of the world was going to shit. But then apparently you got a case of "hoof and mouth" and back tracked. 

Griping about Amazon shipping is one thing; fuck, I'm ALL FOR griping about shit. That's what this place is for! 

Y'all were talking about rage-quitting Amazon; THAT is just dumb.

mnem
Bite my scaly dwagon arse.

Nah, I wasn't and I think neither was med, merely pointing out that we weren't getting the service that we were paying for while others, who may not have paid for prime were going to get prioritised because Amazon deemed that their items were more essential than ours. We feel that it would not hurt Amazon to give us some extension to our prime membership, its not as if Bezo needs our money when he's on his way to becoming the worlds first Trillionaire is it?   

[Specmaster]

Yeah Amazon is a social advantage, much like a smartphone, and tossing them on the street is insane.

Someone keeps suggesting I should quit Amazon and return to the retail outlets on the street after they got done over by the bizarre high street marketing PR going around here under "gentrification" and "out with the old ways" and "protect our local business". Fuck 'em in the ass. The high street was and still is a shit show which would turn on you in a second if there was a problem with anything you bought and I hope it burns.

Edit: decided I'm going to swap my case out for a Fractal Design Meshify C as it's getting a bit toasty in the coolermaster for all its silent insulated glory.

Ouch, that's a bit harsh, I would like to see a healthy high street and that is within easy grasp if only the high rent and rates they have to pay could be brought back into a more realistic setting.

[bd139]

Even if it was you’re at the mercy of small business owners who operate their businesses like spiders operate webs.

[Neomys Sapiens]

Agilent ones are good. My only complaint with those supplies is the buttons fall to bits and the calibration is dangerous as hell as for some reason they always put the trim pots right next to the mains switch.

True dat! I put a piece of plastic over the switch when calibrating - maybe I should 3D print something

Plastic screwdriver, like used for adjusting RF/IF transformers?

I tried that, but none of the trimmers in my set fitted Besides, for meter calibration the pots are on the front panel PCB so you need a very short screwdriver or the transformer gets in the way. I use one that came with a 1970's hifi receiver, to tune the preset stations. Had it for the best part of 50 years and still just does the job!

Well, ain't that a reason to go fishing for a nice set of alignment tools? Most of those which I have (Belzer, Bernstein, FriDaRem, GC Electronics) have some stubby drivers too.

[Neomys Sapiens]

Guys (and Gals, of course), if someone is into processing of really difficult materials, especially non-metallic ones, HERE (EBay USA, will sell to EU) is something to consider:

https://www.ebay.de/itm/Ultrasonic-DRILL-MODEL-100/273090372653

SEE BELOW - Maybe not recommended!

[Specmaster]

Even if it was you’re at the mercy of small business owners who operate their businesses like spiders operate webs.

We might all one day be forced to trade on the high street to reduce CO2 emissions. It has be more sensible than having load and loads of white vans criss-crossing each other every day, so a solution needs to be found to enable the high street to be more competitive with on-line trading.

[Specmaster]

Agilent ones are good. My only complaint with those supplies is the buttons fall to bits and the calibration is dangerous as hell as for some reason they always put the trim pots right next to the mains switch.

True dat! I put a piece of plastic over the switch when calibrating - maybe I should 3D print something

Plastic screwdriver, like used for adjusting RF/IF transformers?

Oodles of this set for US$10-13: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=ceramic+screwdriver&_sacat=0&_sop=15

At that price, no reason not to get two sets so you can have one to carve individual drivers down to fit specific applications.

mnem

I have a set of those, but one of the problems with them is that sometimes the shafts are not cemented squarely within the handles, sometimes rendering them unusable in some locations because they are to much out of square to usable in confined spaces. 

[Wolfgang]

Guys (and Gals, of course), if someone is into processing of really difficult materials, especially non-metallic ones, HERE (EBay USA, will sell to EU) is something to consider:

https://www.ebay.de/itm/Ultrasonic-DRILL-MODEL-100/273090372653

... watch out this guy has a really bad reputation on eBay ... 

[Specmaster]

Can't be that bad with a 98.1% positive feedback 

[bd139]

Even if it was you’re at the mercy of small business owners who operate their businesses like spiders operate webs.

We might all one day be forced to trade on the high street to reduce CO2 emissions. It has be more sensible than having load and loads of white vans criss-crossing each other every day, so a solution needs to be found to enable the high street to be more competitive with on-line trading.

I'd go do some research. The net environmental effect of getting stuff delivered is much much much less because the transport is efficiently shared between thousands of consumers. Average Amazon van can do 100 drops a day. Compare that to 200 individual journeys to pick up stuff from multi-sourced retail.

Only winners at the moment are transport operators and parking companies.

[Saskia]

I very much want an Okuma Multus for difficult materials.

[Specmaster]

There are many times that I have had to pop out and grab something that I needed that day for certain, mind you that happens less and less these days because we just don't the diverse range of shops like we used to have, the big sheds and supermarkets dominate and if they don't have what you want then you're screwed and resorting to going back online. And often finding that the item you want is going to be far longer to be delivered than you anticipated. Some of those delays are because, although you order from who or what purports to be a UK based supplier only to find that they are merely ordering points for the far eastern suppliers.  

[Specmaster]

I very much want an Okuma Multus for difficult materials.

A bit on the large side aren't they?

[Saskia]

spending most of the fucking day in bed because I am worn out and tired.
Fixing PCs for the rest of the day.

Latest small build: Z390-A Pro with a parallel port on board, 16GB, i5-8400, GTX1060-6GB and a 240GB NVME disk. Activated W10Pro installed (I know it sucks ...). 2nd NVME slot free for Linux SSD (or something better ...)

About to revive the X99 board ...