Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[AVGresponding]

Snap-On don't own Bahco, they are both part of a large co-operative that shares costs on raw materials, marketing, shipping etc. Draper do own Knipex though, and DeWalt, Stanley, and a few others are owned by Black and Decker.

The Bahco web site pretty clearly states

2005 gick Herramientas Eurotools SA och Bahco Group AB, två verktygsföretag som ingick i Snap-on Incorporated sedan 1995 respektive 1999, samman och bildade SNA Europe. ("In 2005, Herramientas Eurotools SA and Bahco Group AB, two tool makers who were part of Snap-on Incorporated since 1995 and 1999, respectively, were fusioned into SNA Europe", my translation.)

I stand by my "owned" description. ;-)

My bad, it seems my source information was incorrect, though I don't believe intentionally so.   

Latest eBay win - £21. TEA of a sort:

[ Attachment Invalid Or Does Not Exist ]

Very nice, and definitely TE, even if not powered by angry pixies.


Mmmm, 5 digits of vintage LED goodness:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Solartron-7050-Digital-Multimeter/233627599713

[BU508A]

I have had excellent results repairing "difficult" plastic projects (e.g. switches and other high stress items) with Devcon 22045...   it smells to high heaven, but it is the best plastic repair material I've ever used.

This one?

[SilverSolder]

I have had excellent results repairing "difficult" plastic projects (e.g. switches and other high stress items) with Devcon 22045...   it smells to high heaven, but it is the best plastic repair material I've ever used.

This one?

Yes.  The most recent project I wielded it on,  was the switches on an ancient HP 3575A where both plastic paddle switches on the front panel had detached from the underlying switch.  Note picture below, there is supposed to be a second switch (similar to the Power paddle) in the hole marked "Amplitude" on the right.  On my specimen, both had broken off...   -   After a little cleaning, the Devcon urethane took care of the problem and I have played with it quite a bit after fixing it about 6 months ago.

The worst thing about it is the strong chemical smell, but it is a price worth paying for something that actually works!  (Of course it stops smelling as it cures / dries...)

As always, it is worth testing on an inconspicuous part of your project to make sure it is compatible with the plastic that was used...

[mnementh]

Straw Poll time.

Ferrules or Bare wire into screw terminals in a mix of Low Voltage DC and Mains AC? I have never used the Round ones in the past or really seen a need for them 

Some non E types like them but I take that with a grain of salt as to good or bad. The relevent discussion is aimed at those same types of users with limited skills.

If I click on the pics on the post above I got other pics displayed that not match the little preview...
I am the only one?

Most strange yep they are broken for me too when clicked I got pics from my two minute Laser teardown  Has TEA broken EEVBLOG 


EDIT Most Strange. Removed the attachments and replaced them and it seems fine 'now' 

I think somehow it was me... this happened to me immediately after I posted this copy of med's Homer Simpson KMA with transparent background. I went back and replaced all the affected pics with new copies to try and fix it, but then all the posts that quoted me were similarly FUBAR or missing the pics altogether. 

Sorry guys... 



Right now, when I click on the thumbs in bean's post I get the pics seen here as they should be.

mnem
 

[BU508A]

I think somehow it was me...
[...]

Nasty Dwagon!


Source

And while typing this, I've faced several times this:



Nasty Dwagon!

 

[Ice-Tea]

I feel like I've seen that probe before 

Interesting. I was thinking ABS so I could smooth things out a bit with acetone...

I also have a DDA-260 with a smashed front panel https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/test-equipment-anonymous-(tea)-group-therapy-thread/msg2812236/#msg2812236

I tried having someone (supposed pro) print the front panel in ABS but it failed. They told me it was warping too much.

So I now have my own printer and I'm planning to print in 2 parts in PLA. Then use epoxy to smooth the surface. Finishing with paint.

It's a lot of work and will never look like the original. If not for yourself, you should just sell it as is.

Almost forgot, test the encoders. I had to change most of them on my unit. Got the digikey replacement part # somewhere if you want. Also the LCD backlight can be converted to LED easily.

Yep, have replaced a few in the past. ALso have some donor parts. Should be fine.

I'd offer bean (or someone like him) 75€ to make you something actually nice out of hardwood that incorporates the intact knob subpanel. 

Eh... WOOD?!?

Seriously... I saw the work Mechatrommer did on his. If I still had access to my old metal shop, I'd literally still rather weld & mill it out of aluminum flat stock by hand than what he did.

Well, I'd hope with a few generations of 3D printer improvement, it would be better.. But imagine it isn't. Would you consider the machine to be more or less attractive with his bezel?

Commercially it is a loser due to the time involved and what it will do to the sell price. If they were sold as is with Mechatrommers blessing (I think he may have pulled the design from thingaverse?) as is but here is a solution to the problem then it might help sell it for a few $ more.

Spoke with him a while ago. He seemed fine with it.

[tggzzz]

The worst thing about it is the strong chemical smell, but it is a price worth paying for something that actually works!  (Of course it stops smelling as it cures / dries...)

As always, it is worth testing on an inconspicuous part of your project to make sure it is compatible with the plastic that was used...

(Attachment Link)

Looking at the MSDS, it seems to be a cocktail of many solvents, one of which will be relevant to your plastic.

[TorinoFermic]

got a call from Farnell regarding that Tektronix probe. They cannot deliver and will cancel the order.

In other news, I ordered the Philips Electronik-Lehrbriefe.

Well damn, it was worth a try.

[Specmaster]

Snap-On don't own Bahco, they are both part of a large co-operative that shares costs on raw materials, marketing, shipping etc. Draper do own Knipex though, and DeWalt, Stanley, and a few others are owned by Black and Decker.

The Bahco web site pretty clearly states

2005 gick Herramientas Eurotools SA och Bahco Group AB, två verktygsföretag som ingick i Snap-on Incorporated sedan 1995 respektive 1999, samman och bildade SNA Europe. ("In 2005, Herramientas Eurotools SA and Bahco Group AB, two tool makers who were part of Snap-on Incorporated since 1995 and 1999, respectively, were fusioned into SNA Europe", my translation.)

I stand by my "owned" description. ;-)

My bad, it seems my source information was incorrect, though I don't believe intentionally so.   

Latest eBay win - £21. TEA of a sort:

(Attachment Link)

Very nice, and definitely TE, even if not powered by angry pixies.


Mmmm, 5 digits of vintage LED goodness:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Solartron-7050-Digital-Multimeter/233627599713

Good win, thats nice. I nearly went for it but I stopped myself because I have enough meters for now   

[Saskia]

finished #*$%&/ Migration of a critical system at work. Will need to do documentation tomorrow.
After that it is back to LDAP. Need to find a way to get LDAP to work with postgres. Bloody hell.

At least I got postgres to work with its management interfaces, now I need to setup OpenLDAP
and find a way to feed it. Bleh.

Fighting to keep my colleague on board, however management is inclined to let him go and replace him with a Randstad-critter. 1 year of training down the drain, plus, we would be losing someone with 40+ years of Unix know how.  Because of German labor law and the "Scheinselbständigkeit" 

Did an ITX build (@Kosmic): Z370N Wifi in a Fractal Design Core 500 with a Bequiet SFX 400 power supply, a core i5 8400, 16 GB mem and a GTX1060. Looking at cooling this is marginal at best. I don't see how anybody would really want a faster CPU in such a small environment.

Oh well.

[bd139]

Fun fun fun. I’m pissing around with auth as well ironically. Cognito vs LDAP vs Oauth2 vs AD all in one pile of shit trying to talk to Kibana. Ugh.

Mini PC action here too. Bought a Mac mini for “testing” aka pissing around. 

[Specmaster]

Had to dash off out to Stansted Airport this evening, caught wind of a rare Russian plane coming in to land today, an IL76. It departs sometime tomorrow and if possible I'll grab some more shots as it departs for home again, no doubt laden once again with more cargo.

If anyone would like a high-res picture to make a wallpaper etc, please PM me and I'll email you one.

[mnementh]

VERY IMPORTANT Works:

I went Thrifting a few days ago... after wiping down with sanitizer and leaving in the mud room for a couple days quarantine, it was time for this VERY important project.

   I shoved aside my relatively unimportant racing micro-quadcopter build, and got to work. 

First things first... this thing has sirens and diesel horns, AND a really aggravating diesel engine sound whenever anything is running. But the little sound PCB-blob is pretty sensitive to drastic changes in loading; it sounds like staticky crap if you just dump a 100Ω resistor in series. A little trial & error with alligator leads came up with this solution that drops volume 60-80% while not making it sound like rocks in a camshaft all the time.

   Next came time for a battery solution...

This thing came with 3 C-cells clusters of rust where 3 carbon-zinc C-cells used to be... I had no interest in going back to disposables, so cleaned the compartment as best I could without unwiring all the motors & stuff from the other side. Not very good, I know... but carbon-cell electrolyte does not clean up as well with Windex as alkaline-cell electrolyte does. 

I got a couple of this cheap-ass "half load" (meaning that inside the cell is only half-filled or less with li-po jelly roll) batteries free with a flashlight; actual ~600mAH capacity is worthless for intended "purpose", and I can't think of anyplace else I'd ever use the damned thing.    Add a cheap (80c each in Qty 10) 18650 BMS-Charger module, and we have a power solution that's cheap as chips and easy as pie.

      Charging and testing...

Everything lights up, the sounds all work at a very ignorable level, and the motorized ladder boom & wheels all work.  Time to give it to my daughter and collect my reward!

   

There it is... that thousand watt smile! *sigh* An afternoon well-spent. 

mnem
Priorities. 

[mnementh]

I am SO jealous that I didn't get to be part of this egregious misuse of 3DP and drone power!!!

I actually have SOME experience with the "Fire-Breathing" part of this exercise; when my son was 4, I participated in his church's "Trunk-or-Treat". As my "trunk" was a big ol' pickup truck with cavernous fiberglas capper, I decided to make a dragon's cave complete with fire-breathing dragon. 

   A bit of Colin-Furze-type testoterone-induced gas-range-parts molestation later, I had some oven gas-jets & tubes installed in the nostril-holes of my dragon mask; I played it safe and used only regulated dino-juice and was able to get 2 nice yellow flames about 2-3 feet long shooting diagonally across the bed of the truck and stopping about halfway up the bed of the truck. A little speaker connected to an old CB in PA mode with too much reverb allowed me to produce a convincing dragonish growl from the right location just before thumbing the button for the fire-breathing. 

My wife and mom who was visiting at the time painted a mural backdrop; along with some prop shrubs & rocks and a few puffs from a little smoke-machine, we produced a little diorama that looked (from a short-person's view at the end of the tailgate where the candy bowl was)  for all the world like a candy bowl at the mouth of a dragon's cave.

Needless to say we were the hit of the event; not only little ones but even the older kids & adults lined up to have their pictures taken at the Dragon Cave.

*mnemories*

[ArthurDent]

Latest eBay win - £21. TEA of a sort:

(Attachment Link)

Mitutoyo makes some really nice micrometers. This one I own is over 40 years old.

[beanflying]

Straw Poll time.

Ferrules or Bare wire into screw terminals in a mix of Low Voltage DC and Mains AC? I have never used the Round ones in the past or really seen a need for them 

Some non E types like them but I take that with a grain of salt as to good or bad. The relevent discussion is aimed at those same types of users with limited skills.

If I click on the pics on the post above I got other pics displayed that not match the little preview...
I am the only one?

Most strange yep they are broken for me too when clicked I got pics from my two minute Laser teardown  Has TEA broken EEVBLOG 


EDIT Most Strange. Removed the attachments and replaced them and it seems fine 'now' 

@GNIF - found debugged and resolved https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/website-error-reports/msg3104210/#msg3104210

[bitseeker]

The FG503 dial fix is completed. I printed the dial markings on the clear sticky laser paper flipped horizontally so they would be correct when stuck on the back of the dial. I carefully trimmed the excess material around the plastic dial with a razor blade. I also re-painted the gray center as it was worn when it arrived. I had a modelling color that was almost a perfect match - Tamiya IJN Gray (XF-77).

A couple of friends just left; one was the owner of the Kikusui scope who was here to pick it up. I asked them both to look at the FG503 to see if they could spot anything that looked "home made" on the front panel, but they couldn't. I just have to finish a few cal items and then it can be added to my set of Tektronix plug-ins.

Outstanding job, x! Looks factory-fresh.

[bitseeker]

So, the LeCroy I mentioned before made its way cross the pond. Was a bit apprehensive, as I feared the shattered bezel would be indicative of the general state of the machine. It's not. Almost scratch and scuff free. Must have been a fluke accident or inexperienced dissasembly.

Shattered foot in the rear, also common. I should have one laying around somewhere, possibly not the same color, though.

So, all in all not horrible. The DDA-260 is essentially a Wavepro 960 with some additional disk drive manu features no one will ever use (anymore).

Million dollar question (well, maybe a bit less...) is whether I should use this as an excuse to get a 3D printer and print a new front bezel. Would like your take on this. Would a decent 3D printed cover seduce you to pay another, say, 100€? Or would it pull you over the line on this if you would have otherwise left it alone?

Anyone with an opinion?

Good to see it made it safely over the pond.

I'd pay more for it with a genuine replacement front panel, but not a 3D-printed one. I'd be fine with printing one to use myself, but I'd still be on the lookout for one with bad organs and a good face for a transplant.

[bitseeker]

   Million dollar question (well, maybe a bit less...) is whether I should use this as an excuse to get a 3D printer and print a new front bezel. Would like your take on this. Would a decent 3D printed cover seduce you to pay another, say, 100€? Or would it pull you over the line on this if you would have otherwise left it alone?

Anyone with an opinion?

I'd offer bean (or someone like him) 75€ to make you something actually nice out of hardwood that incorporates the intact knob subpanel. 

Then when he counters with an offer of 100€, reluctantly pay it because I know it's still worth it in the long run.

Seriously... I saw the work Mechatrommer did on his. If I still had access to my old metal shop, I'd literally still rather weld & mill it out of aluminum flat stock by hand than what he did.

Yes! Nicely finished wood panel or Power Designs-esque alumin(i)um with finely ribbed knobs. The screen might not fit in with the art deco metal look, but it'd be shiny.

[bitseeker]

...

First things first... this thing has sirens and diesel horns, AND a really aggravating diesel engine sound whenever anything is running. But the little sound PCB-blob is pretty sensitive to drastic changes in loading; it sounds like staticky crap if you just dump a 100Ω resistor in series. A little trial & error with alligator leads came up with this solution that drops volume 60-80% while not making it sound like rocks in a camshaft all the time.

...

Everything lights up, the sounds all work at a very ignorable level, and the motorized ladder boom & wheels all work.  Time to give it to my daughter and collect my reward!

Taming the blaring toys: a very necessary project, indeed! It's good that everyone involved is happy with the results.

[0culus]

I took the plunge and ordered a NanoVNA v2.

[mnementh]

I wanted to as well SOOO BAD... but then I read in his messages that the 4-in model is in the works and a only month (now a couple weeks or so) away:

Stefan | June 6, 2020
NanoVNA
Thank you, it is received yesterday.
Is a version with a bigger display, 4 inch or more available?
best regards
stefan

Response from HCXQS group | June 9, 2020
We are working on a 4 inch display version, it may take a month

mnem
*wibble*

[0culus]

I wanted to as well SOOO BAD... but then I read in his messages that the 4-in model is in the works and a only month (now a couple weeks or so) away:

Stefan | June 6, 2020
NanoVNA
Thank you, it is received yesterday.
Is a version with a bigger display, 4 inch or more available?
best regards
stefan

Response from HCXQS group | June 9, 2020
We are working on a 4 inch display version, it may take a month

mnem
*wibble*

I thought about it, but then I figured that I plan to use it in conjunction with a computer anyway, so the larger screen doesn't buy me all that much.

[mnementh]

I wanted to as well SOOO BAD... but then I read in his messages that the 4-in model is in the works and a only month (now a couple weeks or so) away:

Stefan | June 6, 2020
NanoVNA
Thank you, it is received yesterday.
Is a version with a bigger display, 4 inch or more available?
best regards
stefan

Response from HCXQS group | June 9, 2020
We are working on a 4 inch display version, it may take a month

mnem
*wibble*

I thought about it, but then I figured that I plan to use it in conjunction with a computer anyway, so the larger screen doesn't buy me all that much.

Yeah, that's why I'm still wibbling over it. 

mnem
*toddles off to ded* 

[tggzzz]

Had to dash off out to Stansted Airport this evening, caught wind of a rare Russian plane coming in to land today, an IL76.

Complete with a location for the bomb aimer, of course.