Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[bd139]

Sell it to idiots in smaller bottles for way too much money

[Brumby]

Not as easy as it was 3 months ago.

A local supplier has prices sliding backwards.  They even have their 1 litre 100% IPA on "special" ... down to $10.

[Saskia]

@bd139 I still have about 70l of Ethanol 96% that I would part with, it makes excellent disinfectant when mixed with H2O2, ...

[bd139]

I'd sell that to tramps 

[Specmaster]

CAD$12 for two .5L bottles, or US$8.82 or €7.74. IIRC, I used to pay ~US$5-6/qt before I left the states for 91% IPA; this is 99% and still the middle of a healthcare crisis, so 

   In comparison, I bought a gallon of 99.9% Methyl Hydrate at the hardware store a couple months ago for CAD$11; they had a shelf full because the marching morons don't know it's another name for Methanol.

Problem is there are a number of common marking pens and adhesives which IPA will cut but Methanol will not, so I wound up doling out my last half a pint of IPA very sparingly; until now I've been using the Methanol on a rag for sterilizing stuff and first attempts at cleaning parts, etc on the bench.

mnem
Just glad to have it again, m'self...

Over here, the best price I can find today is here https://www.ebay.co.uk/i/164239311025 which makes me feel gutted now when on the 1st of July the best price I could find was Amazon of £19.68 for 1.5litres, 

[Ero-Shan]

Today my Rohde & Schwarz NGT 20 power supply arrived.
What a nice and cute PSU. It has no fan and is completely silent. 

I did some checkings and all is working well.
I did not see the jumpings Ero-Shan mentioned,  but the output voltage changes for about 20 - 30mV when the knob for the voltage setting is slightly touched or pushed.

Here are the pictures of this quick teardown:

The front side, looking nice and clean, same goes for the back:


This is the top side with the mains switch and a brittle shrinking tube:


The left side with the transformer in detail:


The right side and the mains input and lots of dust:


The main controller board with lots of 741 and a detailed view of one of the 10x potentiometers, Made in Switzerland:


The bottom, the output capacitors (date code 9033) and the 2N3055 output transistors (date code 9141):


I really like it. 

They are likeable PSUs, especially when they work flawlessly like yours!

Congrats. Now I really want one (or more  ), too.

[Ero-Shan]

So my "Fixer-upper through sheer boredom" just turned up. It's a Racal Dana 9904 that I picked up for €26. A bit dirty, but it's all there and doesn't look like anyone has tried to fix it so far. It powers up, but doesn't count. Lots of retro goodness inside and no custom IC's. There's a nice ovenised 5MHz source inside that I can use even if the device isn't fixable.

McBryce.

Nice catch!

I was tempted by that for a short while. But then I thought better of it. I ought to have enough counters for the time being, and a repair queue that lasts well beyond my demise ... 

[Ero-Shan]

Making some progress along the cleaning/sorting task!

Just to show you how those drawers looked before (and after):



And a new set of labels (the colors looked better on the monitor, but they'll do):



Hope I can finish this during my 2-week holiday.

[TERRA Operative]

I think I just scored big....

10,000yen (US$94).


All complete internally, including the often pilfered extender card on the far centre left. 
Gonna be fun replacing bad capacitors and drifty carbon resistors... (The magic unicorn resistors will not be touched of course).

[tonyalbus]

Making some progress along the cleaning/sorting task!

Just to show you how those drawers looked before (and after):



And a new set of labels (the colors looked better on the monitor, but they'll do):



Hope I can finish this during my 2-week holiday.

Yes same here... i will put them in the dishwasher .. after 25 years.. it does not look that nice...
Also i decided to buy these ikea drawers..5cm high. each...i think it has 15 drawers in one cabinet .... in there i put all those little plasic drowers..12 sould with.. = 180 little drawers..in one ikea drawer cabinet.  and then i can get rid of the drawer racks... it takes to much space.. i need to have TE there..

Good luck on you cleaning organizing... these tasks takes hours 

[syau]

Getting ready to head out on road trip. Leave here at 0400 hours and gas up the CR-V and gas me up with a coffee and perhaps something to eat.

I have no idea what awaits me in Gettysburg. 

Red Bull's and chocolate Med and you'll be there in no time.

Can't stand the taste of Red Bull and chocolate no good for the blood sugar. 

But take a bottle with apple juice with you, just in case of getting low blood sugar.
Apple juice is best fighting low blood sugar I've learnt.

Cloudy apple juice from Germany 

[Ice-Tea]

Spot the problem.

[BU508A]

Spot the problem.

(Attachment Link)

       

[tonyalbus]

Spot the problem.

(Attachment Link)

       

Perfect placed... power saving methode

[nixiefreqq]

for those following along at home.

our own version of Odysseus (med) arrived on schedule in gettysburg.

he departed with a small amount of plunder and is currently wandering the battlefield before setting off to his homeland.

upon his return we hope for songs or poems about his encounters with one eyed giants and sirens in pennsylvania.





 

[tonyalbus]

todays score...
Big meter with temp sensor and C en Transitor options.. just becouse is was cheap and new.


a fake Fluke ;-)


and 6 KG of electronic parts, knobs and stuff and an other 27Kg comming ;-)
Then i drawers should be full of part..



Still waiting for my BG7TBL stuff

[Ice-Tea]

Spot the problem.

(Attachment Link)

       

Perfect placed... power saving methode

I would guess CRT saving method.

[Cerebus]

I aknowledge that you have commented about flying on the edge and what can happen.
If a collision occurs (like recently in Germany) a SAR helicopter will come and fly the survivers (if any) to the hospital.
The SAR pilots are the most risk-adverse people I know because they have seen so much going wrong.
Murphy never sleeps, so play safe. Having fun is oine thing, being plain silly is another.

You'd think that about Air Ambulance pilots too wouldn't you?

In the satellite photo below I used to work in the office building that I've stuck an orange star on. I watched a London Air Ambulance pilot put a chopper down on the off-ramp of the six lane road in front of it, the red circle roughly indicate where his rotor tips where. The off-ramp slopes upwards at about 6 in 1, has 10m lampposts and trees to the left and steel rails to the right, two multlstorey buildings further to his left, an aqueduct over the road 100m behind him (just out of shot) and as you can see an overpass 20m in front of him. Not what you'd call an uncluttered environment. I reckon that he was no more than 2 feet at rotor height from various objects that could have completely ruined his day.



A Google Street View look at where he landed:

[Cerebus]

Dang. Interest in passing the savings onto me?  Kosmic’s Microwave Shop. 

Good name for a ebay store, I should open one 

How about "Dr. Kosmic's Microwave Shop and Weiner Roast"? (For those of us who remember Dr Dobbs Journal of Computer Callisthenics and Orthodontistry.)

[AVGresponding]

I think I just scored big....

10,000yen (US$94).


All complete internally, including the often pilfered extender card on the far centre left. 
Gonna be fun replacing bad capacitors and drifty carbon resistors... (The magic unicorn resistors will not be touched of course).

There's no doubt about it, this warrants a

[bd139]

Random question. Decided I’m doing a full restoration on this fluke 8050A when it arrives. Factory condition or bust. Probably the latter but we’ll see.

That means I need to source some NiCd batteries. Does anyone know anyone in the UK that still stocks them?

[Specmaster]

Those air ambulance pilots are well versed in landing into confined spaces, but they also have the assistance of police on the ground acting as guides  to help steer them away from trees, lampposts and the like. A couple of years ago I witnessed one land as well, just to the rear of my house and landed on the front lawn of a 2-storey infants school surrounded by tall trees that were more than rotor height. It had circled around for a few minutes looking for somewhere to land and to the right of the school is a massive school playing field that could have been used but the problem there is that it is surrounded by a 8ft high fence and the only way out is approx half a mile to the north on the other side of the school again has large locked gates.

Where it landed eventually, there was a low gate about 4ft tall that they could clamber over, just to the left of the tree with dark red leaves. I show where it landed by a red circle and it was attending a nasty RTA indicated by the red triangle. These pilots are chosen from the very best of the ex RAF helicopter pilots.

[Specmaster]

Random question. Decided I’m doing a full restoration on this fluke 8050A when it arrives. Factory condition or bust. Probably the latter but we’ll see.

That means I need to source some NiCd batteries. Does anyone know anyone in the UK that still stocks them?

Yes, Amazon, Rapid Electronics and Mouser stock them, but as always it depends on what types they are.

[bd139]

Ok haven’t even looked yet. They are technically banned in EU other than for alarms and emergency lighting. Will shop around. Not sure of size yet. Think they are C/sub-c

[Ice-Tea]

Random question. Decided I’m doing a full restoration on this fluke 8050A when it arrives. Factory condition or bust. Probably the latter but we’ll see.

That means I need to source some NiCd batteries. Does anyone know anyone in the UK that still stocks them?

Yes, Amazon, Rapid Electronics and Mouser stock them, but as always it depends on what types they are.

Had some decent luck with TME. Not so much with eBay (some geezer shipped me NiMH equivalent  )